Lowry to fans: Stop booing Bargnani

[Neutral 123]

Two arguments from those opposed to the booing are a questionable. The first one is that he is playing worse than before due to the boos. In reality I don't see any difference in his play since he has become a bench player. During the Memphis game the boos didn't stop him from taking 3 quick shots close to the rim in the span of about 10 seconds. Even if booing your own player is wrong, you would still expect a professional to suck it up and use the booing as motivation to try harder. In my opinion this argument is purely based on opinion and a reach to criticize the booing.

The second one is that booing him hurts his value on the market. I don't think GMs will somehow think more or less of because he is getting booed. The reality is that he doesn't have much value even without the boos or in other words there isn't much lower his value can go. GMs around the league have enough knowledge from scouting, stats and game tapes to make their decision on him. They're not going to use fan perception as a gauge for his value to a team.

Well I guess if you believe the excuse that the booing his hurting his play then i guess you would believe that's why his value would go down. Since I don't buy that the booing is hurting him, I don't see why it would hurt his value.

If Bargnani fans are upset with the booing because their fave player is being booed then just say it that way. To make up excuses why the booing is wrong, to start whining about how bad the fanbase is, how classless the city is and all the rest is just a waste of time.

Amen!

[OAKLEY_2]

Good on Lowry.

I think the thing we should ask ourselves is why we always need a scapegoat? Is that the sad and pathetic price to pay We can critique his game, come to the conclusion he is this or he is that but we should save our boos for the opposition. I agree he is trying to fit into a situation that his changed coming off a significant injury. It would be nice ideally to judge him healthy. We should tell Lowry as fans let's just see Bargs dive for some loose balls and at least equal the number of boards Lowry can get before calling out the fans. Bargs can do that sht he just chooses not to.

[pharring]

if a player is on the ACC court wearing a Raptors jersey I'm not booing him period. I'm encouraging him.

I'll boo if I think his attitude and/or effort is not worthy of wearing a Raptors jersey. Wearing a Raptors jersey doesn't entitle you to immunity from criticism. The players want it to stop? Get Bargnani to play better. Or at least play harder. Complaining back at us isn't the way to go.

I'm fine with the booing. It's sports. Can't take the heat? Don't play.

(at least we aren't throwing batteries like they do in Europe)

[daydaylarge]

The thing is, booing him is fine, but not as soon as he checks into a game. There isn't any point to that. Lets say he goes out there, plays his usually lack of effort way at home, then fine lets boo away. As soon as he checks in though? We're not even giving him a chance to even be some help to us. Hell, even is he scores 10 points, that would have gotten us over the hump in a lot of close games.

[UnderdogRaptors]

I'm convinced the Bargnani fanboys are not real Raptor fans this is the same guy who said the Raptors are the worst team in the league and when he gets injured we go on a win streak??? coincidence? I don't think so.

[Kariya]

Two arguments from those opposed to the booing are a questionable. The first one is that he is playing worse than before due to the boos. In reality I don't see any difference in his play since he has become a bench player. During the Memphis game the boos didn't stop him from taking 3 quick shots close to the rim in the span of about 10 seconds. Even if booing your own player is wrong, you would still expect a professional to suck it up and use the booing as motivation to try harder. In my opinion this argument is purely based on opinion and a reach to criticize the booing.

The second one is that booing him hurts his value on the market. I don't think GMs will somehow think more or less of because he is getting booed. The reality is that he doesn't have much value even without the boos or in other words there isn't much lower his value can go. GMs around the league have enough knowledge from scouting, stats and game tapes to make their decision on him. They're not going to use fan perception as a gauge for his value to a team.

Well I guess if you believe the excuse that the booing his hurting his play then i guess you would believe that's why his value would go down. Since I don't buy that the booing is hurting him, I don't see why it would hurt his value.

If Bargnani fans are upset with the booing because their fave player is being booed then just say it that way. To make up excuses why the booing is wrong, to start whining about how bad the fanbase is, how classless the city is and all the rest is just a waste of time.

agreed

on the flip side though, what do you accomplish by booing?

[Hero]

Booing sends the player a message to play better. That his lazy attitude and lack of effort are unacceptable. That if he continues that then he will continue to get booed. Plus I'm sure some people have fun doing it.

[Kariya]

^ You don't think he already knows he has to play better? You guys have been all up in his ass for the past two+ years.

[Neutral 123]

I'm convinced the Bargnani fanboys are not real Raptor fans this is the same guy who said the Raptors are the worst team in the league and when he gets injured we go on a win streak??? coincidence? I don't think so.

They are BC and Bargs fans first. They simply hide behind the fact that they work for the Raptors to defend them. These guys could literally cause the franchise to fold, and the fanbois would still be defending these guys.

[Hero]

^ You don't think he already knows he has to play better? You guys have been all up in his ass for the past two+ years.

Then he doesn't care about playing better. He is happy to just go out there and be lazy and play lackadaisically. I don't get what's wrong with fans showing their displeasure at that? That's a real fan, someone who doesn't tolerate a player like that, not the sheep who think "I'll support all my players no matter what." This is sports not some serious competition or war. People act like it's the end of the world because the majority of fans in the ACC are booing ONE player. I'm pretty sure he would get booed in just about any team if he played like he has for the past 7 years with them. Just because you're showing displeasure against ONE player doesn't make you less of a fan or classless.

[Kariya]

I'm not even a raptor fan.

It's just that none of you have provided any reasonable explanation as to why booing would be beneficial for your franchise. Ya'll just want him to feel like ****. That's the way I see it anyways. Someone feel free to enlighten me.

He sucks, he knows he sucks, and he knows he's likely gone in the summer.

[SirBounceAlot]

Two arguments from those opposed to the booing are a questionable. The first one is that he is playing worse than before due to the boos. In reality I don't see any difference in his play since he has become a bench player. During the Memphis game the boos didn't stop him from taking 3 quick shots close to the rim in the span of about 10 seconds. Even if booing your own player is wrong, you would still expect a professional to suck it up and use the booing as motivation to try harder. In my opinion this argument is purely based on opinion and a reach to criticize the booing.

The second one is that booing him hurts his value on the market. I don't think GMs will somehow think more or less of because he is getting booed. The reality is that he doesn't have much value even without the boos or in other words there isn't much lower his value can go. GMs around the league have enough knowledge from scouting, stats and game tapes to make their decision on him. They're not going to use fan perception as a gauge for his value to a team.

Well I guess if you believe the excuse that the booing his hurting his play then i guess you would believe that's why his value would go down. Since I don't buy that the booing is hurting him, I don't see why it would hurt his value.

If Bargnani fans are upset with the booing because their fave player is being booed then just say it that way. To make up excuses why the booing is wrong, to start whining about how bad the fanbase is, how classless the city is and all the rest is just a waste of time.

You're so wrong on so many different levels here. If fans on YOUR HOMECOURT are booing you how does that create motivation? That only works when you're on the road.

[Throwback24]

44 god damn pages?! This isn't even a trade tread or a BC firing. Holy. When BC gets fired the thread will probably shut down RealGM for days.

[elmer_yuck]

For the last 7 years I've been asking what Bargnani was good at that made him so "talented", and I never got a good answer. His only discernable "talent" is shooting, and the numbers show he isn't all that great at that, and those numbers have been getting worse every year lately. He's a bench player, not even necessarily a 6th man. He deserves no special treatment. He needs to fit in, and do his best within the role he is given. At the very least, we need to see him work his butt off every single night to earn even a fraction of the 10 million he's getting paid. If he does that, the booing will stop. If not, he deserves all the boos he's getting.

[BackseatBoss]

I really still don't understand, why some people consider booing a player bad. If they did that to someone who didn't deserve it, like let's say Derozan, who even though isn't any good on defense, often takes bad shots, but always gives his all on the court and you would never say he doesn't work hard on practice, I would criticize them as well. Meanwhile Bargnani has been on this team for such a long time and the fans are just frustrated watching him walk around the court not caring at all about defense, rebounding, offense, anything for the 7th straight season. Some people say he isn't used properly by Casey. Wouldn't you think that with having a lesser role on offense he at least would show some effort to stay on the court? Because the past few games he was completely useless. On offense he just stood in one place. On defense he played like he always does. Rebounding, well that's nonexistent. Really, playing Acy or Gray instead of Andrea would give us much more, because they at least can rebound and Acy's pretty good defensively.

[Geddy]

I'm convinced the Bargnani fanboys are not real Raptor fans this is the same guy who said the Raptors are the worst team in the league and when he gets injured we go on a win streak??? coincidence? I don't think so.

I'm not going to get into who are real fans and who are Bargnani fans, but it is interesting to see some of the members of this board who have been the staunchest supporters of Bargnani have been most upset by the booing. I think it's just a dose of reality to them that they can't handle. In their minds it was only a small group of "haters" on this board that disliked Bargnani, but now that they see the general public booing it has blown their minds.

I also think if it was other Raptors (past and present) getting booed they would be singing the "fans pay their money" tune.

You're so wrong on so many different levels here. If fans on YOUR HOMECOURT are booing you how does that create motivation? That only works when you're on the road.

Because a player would feel like they have an obligation to please his team's fans. If you are being booed due to your lackluster play then maybe you would give some more effort and hustle to please them.

[Mikestro]

Fans booing Bargnani is equivalent to kicking someone while they're down in a fight and expecting them to get up stronger.

Not everyone responds to negative reinforcement the same way. Booing him does nothing but giving yourself a false sense of satisfaction/comfort.

[ATLTimekeeper]

if a player is on the ACC court wearing a Raptors jersey I'm not booing him period. I'm encouraging him.

I'll boo if I think his attitude and/or effort is not worthy of wearing a Raptors jersey. Wearing a Raptors jersey doesn't entitle you to immunity from criticism. The players want it to stop? Get Bargnani to play better. Or at least play harder. Complaining back at us isn't the way to go.

I'm fine with the booing. It's sports. Can't take the heat? Don't play.

(at least we aren't throwing batteries like they do in Europe)

They throw batteries at the opposition. In a lot of places it's socially unacceptable to boo your own team/players. Imagine that reality? Would it ruin your experience? Ultimately, it's the fan's right to do what they want within the agreement on the ticket.

[Geddy]

From a 2007 ESPN article:

For years, NBA teams have used the Caliper Profile to evaluate potential draft picks. The Caliper is a personality profile used by numerous corporations and organizations to measure one's capacity to excel in specific situations. Over the past 24 years, Caliper has assessed more than 20,000 athletes, including NBA players from Detroit, San Antonio, Denver and Phoenix. Colangelo has long been sold on the system. When he heard how Bargnani measured up, he nearly dropped the phone.

"They said his upside and potential were off the charts," Colangelo says from the tunnel of the Air Canada Centre as Bargnani drains a three against the Cavaliers. "They said, 'Out of all the athletes we've profiled, we've never seen anything like this.' "

The test showed that Bargnani is virtually oblivious to what others think of him. And his tremendous ability to block out such potentially negative pressures enables him to focus completely on the task at hand. So the expectations and anxieties that come with being the No.1 pick, or the only Italian-born player in the league, or even taking a game-winning shot, don't even register with him.

Full story

So if what was said was true then the booing really should have no effect on him.

[Romaniano]

the more games we win the louder we boo