Perfect way to sum up this team (article)

[raptorsfan13]

"To watch the Raptors this year has been an exercise in frustration because all too often the team looks satisfied being average. They'll beat the teams they're supposed to beat - despite awkwardly close results - and they'll be satisfied losing to the teams they see as better than they are."

This is from Tim Chisholm of tsn.ca. I think he hit it bang on with his assessment.

The rest of the article can be found here

http://www.tsn.ca/nba/news_story/?ID=227920&hubname=nba

good read

[The_Dark_One]

"To watch the Raptors this year has been an exercise in frustration because all too often the team looks satisfied being average. They'll beat the teams they're supposed to beat - despite awkwardly close results - and they'll be satisfied losing to the teams they see as better than they are."

This is from Tim Chisholm of tsn.ca. I think he hit it bang on with his assessment.

The rest of the article can be found here

http://www.tsn.ca/nba/news_story/?ID=227920&hubname=nba

good read

it's a nice assessment but he needs to take into account injuries and bad play at the beginning

[alfie123]

"To watch the Raptors this year has been an exercise in frustration because all too often the team looks satisfied being average. They'll beat the teams they're supposed to beat - despite awkwardly close results - and they'll be satisfied losing to the teams they see as better than they are."

This is from Tim Chisholm of tsn.ca. I think he hit it bang on with his assessment.

The rest of the article can be found here

http://www.tsn.ca/nba/news_story/?ID=227920&hubname=nba

good read

Sad to say, but i agree

[random_hero891]

We have an understanding at where we're at, we're still developing, so I think it would be unfair to go out and expect them to win every game, because as of now we're upper middle class in the league, we haven't been able to make a jump to elite status yet.

[Morris_Shatford]

I think as a fan base our expectations were too high,

Had you told me a week after BC was hired that in January of 2008 we would be three games over .500 nipping at Cleveland's heels I would have done a jig.

How good is this team? I really am not sure.
If you take away any playoff team from last seasons starting PG for most of the from last season and starting SF from last season do they even still have the expectation that they will even make the playoffs?

Granted Calderon has played amazing, but how many of those closer games did we lose because for 10 minutes a game we have Dixon/Delfino/Dmart handling the ball?

Bottom line is that we are a few wins out of 4th place in the east which is where we were last season, and considering the injuries that ain't half bad.

To have expected this team to contend with Boston with these injuries was unrealistic.

[PopAGat]

Injuries my friends. Injuries have been a key factor why the Raptors have a record slightly over.500. I guarantee if Bargnani played well,TJ wasn't injured and Garbajosa was 100% we'd have a 30 wins.

[raptorsfan13]

Injuries my friends. Injuries have been a key factor why the Raptors have a record slightly over.500. I guarantee if Bargnani played well,TJ wasn't injured and Garbajosa was 100% we'd have a 30 wins.

as much as i would like to agree with you we can only use that excuse for so long

[The Notic]

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as much as i would like to agree with you we can only use that excuse for so long

How does that make any sense?

We have the focus and the talent to beat the teams we are suppose to beat, and the teams that are beating us are more talented and equally focused.

This has been repeated dozens of times by dozens of posters and is a perfectly correct sentiment to this teams play so far this year.

[freamon]

You might also say the team looks like they're building toward peaking in the playoffs. You might... if you're an optimist/homer.

[Korr]

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How does that make any sense?

We have the focus and the talent to beat the teams we are suppose to beat, and the teams that are beating us are more talented and equally focused.

This has been repeated dozens of times by dozens of posters and is a perfectly correct sentiment to this teams play so far this year.

We aren't the only team with injuries. Good teams learn to adapt with the injury and still find ways to win. Last year when Bosh was injured did we decide to suck? No, we worked their asses off and went on a tear and turned our season around.

If you're telling me we're beating the teams we're supposed to beat (we just came off a loss to Philly, by the way) you might want to look at your own team a little bit closer. As others have pointed out in many other threads, our record is abysmal against teams over .500, and if we don't change that pretty soon this team will stay underachievers for the rest of the year.

[ender]

We have an understanding at where we're at, we're still developing, so I think it would be unfair to go out and expect them to win every game, because as of now we're upper middle class in the league, we haven't been able to make a jump to elite status yet.

Nice sig. Reminds me of the old days at U of T.

[The Notic]

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We aren't the only team with injuries. Good teams learn to adapt with the injury and still find ways to win. Last year when Bosh was injured did we decide to suck? No, we worked their asses off and went on a tear and turned our season around.

What's your point? The Raptors have found ways to win despite the injuries all the while enduring the 3rd hardest schedule of any NBA team. In fact, if we continue our pace against the sub .500 teams, we're on pace to match or eclipse last years record, all the while suffering injuries to two of last years starters for a big portion of the season (TJ + Garbo), and a piss poor season from Bargs.



If anything, this team has 'adapted' about as well as you can reasonably expect from any team.

If you're telling me we're beating the teams we're supposed to beat (we just came off a loss to Philly, by the way) you might want to look at your own team a little bit closer. As others have pointed out in many other threads, our record is abysmal against teams over .500, and if we don't change that pretty soon this team will stay underachievers for the rest of the year.

We've won 6 of our last 8, and I'm happy with our play as of late. We beat the hottest team in the league (Portland) and suffered a loss to a Philly team on our 4th game in 5 nights, a completely understandable loss.

Everyone on the team seems to clicking as of late, sans Bargs, and we're looking at a February similar to the January we had last year (COM, POM, ROM).

[HighOctane]

Oh my goodness, one criticism I have of Sam Mitchell. Every game that they win, he turns his back on the mistakes because he figures they won! The proof is in his interviews. It's disgusting, we're not gonna improve with this attitude, just because we hit more "shats" we can be ignorant.

[Duffman100]

Every team deals with injuries, its not an excuse.

We're still missing that 'it' factor that makes us a great team.

[Mack11]

People still tend to forget that we are fairly young, and arent expected to make this kind of progress yet. played together for a year isnt going to cut it especially with adding 2 new players that are getting major playing time atm.

[The Notic]

Oh my goodness, one criticism I have of Sam Mitchell. Every game that they win, he turns his back on the mistakes because he figures they won! The proof is in his interviews. It's disgusting, we're not gonna improve with this attitude, just because we hit more "shats" we can be ignorant.

Sam's not dumb. He doesn't need to devulge anything to the media regarding his teams shortcomings in a loss. It's a stylistic thing that some coaches choose to do and others would rather focus on in practice/tape study.

I mean, what advantage does he gain by saying, "Yeah we won, but Bargs was god awful on the boards and Calderon couldn't guard a city with a citadel against a toddler." There's no strategic advantage from doing something like that. It doesn't motivate his players, it makes him come off like a negative individual and gives the media tons of ammunition.

Sometimes it's better to stand your ground and defend your team in the media and chastise your players performances behind the scenes. Remember, Sam is a players' coach after call.

[The Notic]

Every team deals with injuries, its not an excuse.

We're still missing that 'it' factor that makes us a great team.

Yeah, talent.

Gawd, some posts just make me question why I post here.

[Tacoma]

People still tend to forget that we are fairly young,...

Accoring to RPIRatings.com, the Raptors are the 7th oldest team in the NBA at 27.7 years. Their key players (Bosh, Bargs, TJ) are still fairly young, but given TJ's injury concerns and Bargs' regression, it's really only Bosh.

BTW, Portland is the youngest team at 24.07 years. This is a team that you can point to their young age (key players Oden, Aldridge, Roy) with a great future.

[Sun Tzu]

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Accoring to RPIRatings.com, the Raptors are the 7th oldest team in the NBA at 27.7 years. Their key players (Bosh, Bargs, TJ) are still fairly young, but given TJ's injury concerns and Bargs' regression, it's really only Bosh.

BTW, Portland is the youngest team at 24.07 years. This is a team that you can point to their young age (key players Oden, Aldridge, Roy) with a great future.

TJ, Bosh, Bargs, Calderon, Kapono, Delfino, Hump, Moon - every player that means anything to this team with the exception of Parker is young.

Don't get me wrong - i like Portland's young guys better, but we aren't exactly an old team.

[will]

Injuries my friends. Injuries have been a key factor why the Raptors have a record slightly over.500. I guarantee if Bargnani played well,TJ wasn't injured and Garbajosa was 100% we'd have a 30 wins.

Whereas in reality, Bustnani is sucking, TJ is hurt, and Garbo is out, so yeah...