At the end of a regularly scheduled board of governors meeting, Toronto Raptors president and general manager Bryan Colangelo met with ownership to discuss the state of the Toronto Raptors.
Tom Anselmi, president and chief operating office of Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment, confirmed that there were “informal discussions about basketball” following the board’s holiday luncheon. Anselmi went on to say that Colangelo still has authority over basketball decision making, although certain moves would continue to be subject to board approval.
http://sports.nationalpost.com/2012/12/ ... e-of-team/
DeMar DeRozan still has faith in Raptors coach Dwane Casey
TORONTO — DeMar DeRozan has not even been a Toronto Raptor for four years. It must seem like half of a lifetime, though.
He came here as the starting shooting guard, but as a project of a rookie. His first season was Chris Bosh’s last as a Raptor, and turmoil was everywhere — Bosh’s free agency was pending and Hedo Turkoglu was delivering sad comedic moment after sad comedic moment.
Since that year, a lot has changed: Bosh left for Miami, Turkoglu was sent packing to Phoenix, the Raptors have added three first-round draft picks to the roster, DeRozan has somehow become the face of the roster and head coach Jay Triano gave way to head coach Dwane Casey.
DeRozan would prefer that the pace of change slowed dramatically, especially when it comes to Casey.
“It’s important because it’s tough going coach to coach,” DeRozan said. “It was tough last year. Even though we did well on the defensive end, you still struggle at parts. You’re still learning. [Casey] is definitely good for us.”
http://sports.nationalpost.com/2012/12/ ... ane-casey/
Raptors' Lowry needs to change style of play
For the Raptors to go anywhere this season, top player Kyle Lowry needs to come back from his latest layoff healthy in both mind and spirit.
He will miss the next 10 days or so because of a torn triceps.
Lowry likely is Toronto’s best player, but he has had an up-and-down, injury-ravaged start to his Raptors tenure.
While 15.8 points, 5.8 assists and 5.6 rebounds per game are stellar numbers, Lowry is shooting just 40% from the field and has been turning the ball over too often in the clutch.
He and Andrea Bargnani took some heat in a recent team meeting for their comportment so far, starting talk that Lowry is a selfish player.
Head coach Dwane Casey indicated there’s a fine line between being selfish and wanting to win at all costs.
http://www.torontosun.com/2012/12/13/ra ... le-of-play
Raptors' Bargnani 'depressed'
Andrea Bargnani has had the toughest start to a season of his NBA career.
He’s not a happy camper these days, aware that he’ll have to miss weeks of action due to a torn ligament.
The enigmatic Roman even used the word “depressed” to describe his current state of mind, though head coach Dwane Casey believed something might have been lost in translation.
Bargnani: “I’m very upset that it’s something very bad again (Bargnani missed most of the 2011-12 season due to injuries), kind of depressed,” Bargnani said before lightening up a bit.
“It was a bad fall, could have been worse, could have broke some of my bones, my wrist, so I got lucky in certain ways, but it’s really bad. Bad moment, bad timing, everything.”
Casey said he would talk to Bargnani to make sure he isn’t actually depressed.
“Down is OK, but depressed is pretty strong,” Casey said.
“Nobody is happy about losing. I’m not happy. Fans are not happy. Players are not happy, but I’m not depressed. Depressed is when you’re looking at Christmas or whatever is coming up and you don’t have food for your kids and gifts for your kids. That’s depressed. We’re blessed”
http://www.torontosun.com/2012/12/13/ra ... -depressed
CHISHOLM: DAVIS FINALLY SHOWING HIS STUFF FOR RAPTORS
Did you know that Ed Davis was leading the Toronto Raptors in PER? After spending two seasons hovering around the league average, Davis has jumped up to a 20.8 rating early this season, and that has put him in the top-ten amongst NBA power forwards. That means that Davis has a higher Player Efficiency Rating than Kevin Garnett, Zach Randolph, Paul Millsap, Kevin Love and Serge Ibaka - the next five guys on the list.
Of course, Davis' achievement requires a big ol' helping of context, because he's been posting that career-high rating on a career-low 17.2 minutes per game. While it's all well and good to make the most of limited minutes, Davis needs to prove that he can maintain that production when he's gifted with a larger dose of playing time, because he's going to be getting it with Andrea Bargnani out for the foreseeable future.
Fortunately for the Raptors, Davis showed Wednesday night that he might be up for the challenge. While the Raptors lost (try and contain your surprise), Davis was borderline dominant, posting 24 points on 11-for-13 shooting and pulling in 12 rebounds in a team-high 45 minutes against Brooklyn. He teamed effectively with Jonas Valanciunas in the frontcourt (the pair combined for 39 points on 17-for-19 shooting), scored in a variety of ways from the field and gave the Raptors an unexpected go-to weapon in a game where DeMar DeRozan was struggling to make an impact.
http://www.tsn.ca/nba/story/?id=411593
ANTHONY INJURED AS KNICKS TOP LAKERS IN D'ANTONI'S RETURN
NEW YORK -- Sensing a fellow shooter had become gun shy, Kobe Bryant had a message for Carmelo Anthony last summer.
Ignore the critics, he said. Stop worrying about fitting in and get back to a scorer's mentality.
"You have to do what you do best," Bryant told him.
That's what Anthony did in a spectacular first quarter Thursday night, and by the time he was done Bryant and the struggling Los Angeles Lakers had no hope of ending their slump.
Anthony scored 22 of his 30 points in the period, and the New York Knicks held on after he departed with a sprained left ankle to beat the Lakers 116-107 in coach Mike D'Antoni's return to Madison Square Garden.
"I was zoned in. I was locked in," Anthony said. "Tonight was one of those games where I had that feeling. I wanted to get it going and I had that feeling going early in the game. My teammates were feeding off of that."
Firing in 3-pointers and moving the ball to open shooters, things they often struggled to do under D'Antoni, the Knicks won for the eighth time in nine games and improved to 9-0 at home for the first time since the 1992-93 season.
"I wanted to beat them. I wanted to beat the Lakers, especially protecting our home court," Anthony said. "It had nothing to do with Mike. I wanted to protect our home court and win the basketball game."
http://www.tsn.ca/nba/story/?id=411622
Is Vince Carter a Hall of Famer?
1. Is Vince Carter a Hall of Famer?
J.A. Adande, ESPN.com: No. His career seems defined by what he hasn't done: such as, he has never led the league in a statistical category and never gone to the NBA Finals. The last part is even more remarkable because he joined two teams (the Magic and Mavericks) that went to the Finals the season before he got there, and a third (the Nets) that went two years before he arrived. He has had a habit of always arriving after the meal was eaten and the bill has been paid. And of course, he left the Raptors before they even served the main course
http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/page/5-o ... -hall-fame