RealGM

Since it's the All Star break and the focus now should be narrowing in on the playoffs what missing pieces can be addressed to contend this year?

Break down by position

C - Bargs and Rasho ( 1 of the weaker areas this year for the Raps but Bargs development is crucial to the long term goals of the club and Rasho provides an experienced defensive minded backup to Bargs) (I don't see BC being able to upgrade at C this year other than getting Bosh more mins at C or Bargs suddenly fulfills 80% of his potential, he's currenty at about 50% - 60%)

PF - Bosh, Humphries ( The strength of the club is Bosh and his abiity to get to the line and his very good % from the stripe. Humphries is hit and miss as his backup but if Humps can focus his game on rebounding like Rodman and stick to put backs and pass otherwise he would become that much more valuable to the club)

SF - Moon, Kapono ( Gotta love Moon's enthusiasm however the SF spot continues to be a weakness on the Raps and 1 that can be addressed this year through a trade with a rebuilding team. A highly efficient player (one who scores 1.4+ points regularly per FGA would vastly improve our odds of making some noise in the post season - Maggette fits the bill to a T)

SG - AP, Delfino ( 2 streaky shooter who bring intangibles and with APs experience and leadership he's a great roleplayer. While not a strong point of the Raps the SG position is serviceable and not neccessarly in need of an upgrade)

PG - Jose, TJ ( The strongest part of the Raps is the play of Forderon and Jose's play of late has been superb.)

Thoughts?

Great Assessment and Post. But I really do feel BC will make a move or a little tweak at the SF OR PF/C spot because of our rebounding and defense woes against opposing teams slashers.
Bargs/Rasho-C-
Bosh/Humps-A-
Moon/Kapono-B-
Parker/Delfino-B+
Calderon/Ford-A+

Only if Bargs played this way through Oct/Nov/Dec/Jan and TJ didnt go down. We would have an even better record.

mintsa wrote:Only if Bargs played this way through Oct/Nov/Dec/Jan and TJ didnt go down. We would have an even better record.

If David Robinson wasnt hurt for a season then the San Antonio Spurs would not have drafted Tim Duncan.

If only Vince Carter gave 100% everygame, he'd be a first ballot hall of famer.

Get the point, thers so many 'if's' no need to dwell on them

Im not dwelling on anything, im just saying.

Vince does not give 100% every game? WTF

Good analysis, Maybe its the lack of scoring bigs in the Eastern conference but Toronto usually has trouble guarding people on the perimeter rather than the paint. (Maybe this breakdown focused more on the offensive side of the ball?)

If Toronto wants to make noise in the playoffs they're going to have to tighten up their rotations to shooters and slashers. In my own opinion Rasho is a capable defender with playoff experience while Delfino and Parker get caught out of position a bit too often. I'm not worried about Toronto's rotation of bigs. SG is actually more of a need than people think. Delfino and Parker dropping treys gets the fans excited, but they are defensive liabilities.

IMHO, of course.

BC needs to get Calderon some help if we want to win a playoff round. Calderon is becoming a superstar, but he needs another superstar to help him out.

Would Dunleavey be enough of an upgrade at SF?

cdel00 wrote:Would Dunleavey be enough of an upgrade at SF?

I don't think we necessarily need another scorer. I think we need defensive presence at SF (Moon is good, but we need a physical defensive presence, not just an athletic defensive presence). Someone like James Posey comes to mind.

With calderon taking an initiative to be more of a vocal offensive weapon, and with Bosh and Bargnani being major offensive pieces, I don't really see that there is much more ball to go around.

Also think about our cap situation. If we got Dunleavey we'd be stuck with him, and I don't think he'd bring that much value to our team.

Pretty much as I see it, we need to get guys who will do the little things to score (grab 50-50 balls, dive on the floor, get offensive rebounds, etc.)

I also don't see us being able to absorb any contracts that are above $8 (unless they are a future piece as well and not just for a year or 2). Because Calderon is about to get his, and bargnani will be getting his in a few years as well.

And when we're paying guys the big bucks, we gotta ask ourselves, "can this player take us to the finals and win us a championship?" Cus I don't see how players like Dunleavey or Maggette will take us that next step, but they will get paid.

I'll do it player by player

Jose Calderon - A+ - nothing more to say. He's been fantastic

Anthony Parker - B+ - solid as ever, he seems to have picked up his game of late, though his shot has been off for a week or so.

Jamario Moon - B+ - his offensive game is coming around - shot much better in Jan and Feb than in Nov and Dec. Nothing to say on D that hasn't been said.

Chris Bosh - A+ - another great season for Chris - though it started a little rough, he is a better player at this moment than he has been at any stage in his career. And he still may have not hit his ceiling.

Andrea Bargnani - C - a few weeks ago, this was a D. Need to see more of what we are seeing to bump it up to a B. With a summer of hard work, an A in the future now seems plausible.

Carlos Delfino - B - a great find and a wonderful component off the bench - but his overall shooting needs to improve...A LOT. He needs to shoot 45% or better consistently to take the next step.

Jason Kapono - B - January was a bad month for him - no, forget that - it was brutal. Dude shot under .400 for the month. But he's come back strong in February, shooting almost 60% from the floor. Call me crazy, but I think Kapono is going to be a very important player in the playoffs.

Kris Humphries/Rasho Nesterovic - C - both have been quite capable. Neither has really set the world on fire. They both saw increased minutes in December and both did well with their extra time. But Kris did not do enough to separate himself from Rasho for this season - and going down to the playoffs, my guess is that Sam will opt more for Rasho's experience than Humphries' energy.

Juan Dixon - C - a solid stopgap for this season - filled in admirably in a role he is not comfortable with, so his numbers have suffered - and the fact that he is surrounded by scorers makes his contributions seem less significant.

Joey Graham - D - hardly seems fair to judge Joey, but clearly he has not made enough of an impression to get any real burn. And in limited minutes, he hasn't shown much on the floor either. This is a bad situation for him and he should be begging to be traded so that he can try to earn a contract next season, cuz it seems unlikely he'll be able to do that here.

Darrick Martin - A+ - Martin gets all kinds of crap for his performances, but the stats bear out a different story. On 82games.com, he is the 4th ranked player on the Raptors. And while he has a reputation as a chucker, while he has played 1.12% of the minutes, he accounts for a paltry 0.99% of all the shots. Of course, he doesn't hit at a high percentage, but that's just because he rarely shoots. What more can you ask of the guy?

Good recap Hank but you forgot TJ who I would give an A to as well and downgrade Calderon to a A from an A+ due to defensive issues

My Player Rankings

Chris Bosh: A (Very Solid)

Jose Calderon: A+ (Amazing. Above and beyond what was expected.)

Anthony Parker: B (Great some games, terrible others.)

Jamario Moon: A- (Way above what was expected. NEEDS to stop shooting)

Andrea Bargnani: C- (Expected to be much better. Has improved alot over last few weeks compared to early in the season)

Carlos Delfino - B+ (Great addition. Needs to stop getting in the habit of chucking)

Jason Kapono - B+ (Dude is a shooting machine, needs the ball more.)

Kris Humphries - B (Better than expected. Had some solid games during the season. Needs to stop forcing up shots)

Rasho Nestervic - A (Very solid player and good backup center. Plays defense and can rebound. Puts up solid numbers in short amounts of time)

Joey Graham - F (Hard to asses when he rarely plays, but this is probably because he doesn't bring 100%, in game and in practice)

Juan Dixon - C+ (Did an average job backing up Calderon in a few games)

Darrick Martin - F (Bad. Useless player. Doesn't teach PGs. Chucks when hes on the court)



Sam Mitchell - B (Meh)

Bryan Colangelo - B- (Some good off-season moves but has yet to address teams urgent needs)

OVERALL TEAM GRADE - B+

If Bargnani can rebound in traffic -- we will win the East.

cdel00 wrote:Good recap Hank but you forgot TJ who I would give an A to as well and downgrade Calderon to a A from an A+ due to defensive issues

Oops - yeah - I'll give an A- to Ford - he's been great, just needs to be healthy.

As for Calderon, I am partly grading based on expectations - and Calderon has far exceeded any that anyone would have had for him.