Toronto Versus Philly

[T-Spot]

The Philly's can lock down the paint, but I doubt that would be a major advantage of the perimeter oriented Raptors.

[Assassin_1]

Sixers in 5.

Toronto has a whole lot of offensive talent right now, but IMO they are a poorly built team around Bosh. Bosh's strengths are as an offensive player, and with this lineup he's forced to try and be a defensive anchor and top rebounder in addition to be being the teams number one option. This team will be poor defensively and on the boards, and is a jumpshooting team offensively that doesn't really have anyone that penetrates well or scores from the post.

The Sixers on the other hand should be one of the better defensive and rebounding teams in the league. Offensively they are a huge question mark since they still lack shooters and will be trying to implement a new system, but I think in this series they'd control the paint which usually leads to a victory.

How are the Raptors poorly built again? They surround Bosh with shooters and he basically plays one on one without worrying about help defense because Bargnani drags his man out to the three point line then torches them there too. We had no playmaking last season so we added Turkoglu we added Evans and Johnson for rebounding and Bosh is one of the best rebounders in the game. He was one of only two guys to get 20/10 last season.

Rasho
Bosh
Turkoglu
Wright
Jack

Thats a pretty good defensive team, we have good perimeter defenders and Rasho has good defensive fundamentals and Bosh can play defense on his man and rebound too.

[Assassin_1]

The Philly's can lock down the paint, but I doubt that would be a major advantage of the perimeter oriented Raptors.

Mainly because of Dalembert and if you put Bargnani on the floor thats going to shift Daly to the three point line. Where is the defense going to be coming from then a broken down Brand that Bosh will totally expose.

[Optms]

Raptors are better at every position except SG

It's not even about which individual player is better than the other teams player. That is a very ignorant way of determining which team is going to come out the victor. As for the OP's question; I'm leaning towards Philly just because they've been around longer and will have had another year playing together. That new Rap's team still has to mesh and figure who they are, and how they'll win.

[Assassin_1]

Raptors are better at every position except SG

It's not even about which individual player is better than the other teams player. That is a very ignorant way of determining which team is going to come out the victor. As for the OP's question; I'm leaning towards Philly just because they've been around longer and will have had another year playing together. That new Rap's team still has to mesh and figure who they are, and how they'll win.

That Raptor team can pick the Sixers apart just because of who their big men are. Bargnani is bigger and more athletic than any guy on your team, he is a seven footer that can run the floor the only other guy his size that can do that is Howard.

[youngcrev]

How are the Raptors poorly built again?

Too perimeter oriented offensively, poor defensively, poor rebounding. They just aren't very well balanced. Putting Bargs into a 6th man role would help balance them out a little more, but I can't see them doing that.

[eslr]

How are the Raptors poorly built again?

Too perimeter oriented offensively, poor defensively, poor rebounding. They just aren't very well balanced. Putting Bargs into a 6th man role would help balance them out a little more, but I can't see them doing that.

Pretty much, but you are being nice. The Raps will be horrrrriiiid defensively and a joke on the boards. Their offense would carry them over a team like the sixers, but they are a homeless mans Suns (of old) and that wont get them past the first round.

[eslr]

How are the Raptors poorly built again? They surround Bosh with shooters

Surronding a permiter orineted player with perimeter oriented players might get you a decent regular season records, but it is NOT how you build a team. Who is scoring in the post for you guys?

We had no playmaking last season so we added Turkoglu

No playmaking? Calderon was 2nd in the enire league in assist/minute!!!

Bosh is one of the best rebounders in the game.

If 19th for a PF is "one of the best" then......

Rasho
Bosh
Turkoglu
Wright
Jack

Thats a pretty good defensive team, we have good perimeter defenders and Rasho has good defensive fundamentals and Bosh can play defense on his man and rebound too.

ugh..........................

[Assassin_1]

How are the Raptors poorly built again? They surround Bosh with shooters

Surronding a permiter orineted player with perimeter oriented players might get you a decent regular season records, but it is NOT how you build a team. Who is scoring in the post for you guys?

We had no playmaking last season so we added Turkoglu

No playmaking? Calderon was 2nd in the enire league in assist/minute!!!

Bosh is one of the best rebounders in the game.

If 19th for a PF is "one of the best" then......

Rasho
Bosh
Turkoglu
Wright
Jack

Thats a pretty good defensive team, we have good perimeter defenders and Rasho has good defensive fundamentals and Bosh can play defense on his man and rebound too.

ugh..........................

All Calderon did was pass to guys coming off the screen and they shot it my grandma could do. Bosh was getting doubled and the system was to let Bosh operate one on one and if he got doubled you pass it around to get it to a shooter. Getting 10 rebounds a game is elite and there were less rebounds to get since they were doing well on offense and he was running on the break while Marion was suppose to get the boards.

[raptorforlife88]

Bosh is one of the best rebounders in the game.

If 19th for a PF is "one of the best" then......

Lay off the crack pipe bro. He was sixth in the league last year.

http://ca.sports.yahoo.com/nba/stats/by ... ualified=1

[Village Idiot]

The Raptors are a horrible defensive and rebounding team but they've done a good job of finding players who can play in their offense.

Philadelphia, on the other hand, has some great defenders and idividual players but I can't see most of them fitting into the system so I think they'll struggle.

Toronoto in 5.

[philly262]

Philly is always a team that plays better than their talent looks.

[The Main Event]

Alot of the Raptors defensive woes came from a mental defficiency on the defensive end IMO. When you've got the physical tools available, all that it takes is some tenacity and determination to box out/rebound and suddenly a "horrible" rebounder can become a good one. Our team has been underachieving on the defensive end. When Triano was given the role as head coach last season our team defense began to steadily improve. I can't find the spreadsheet that someone on the Raptors board provided last season but I can tell you that this claim is supported with evidence. Keep in mind that this was also during a transitionary period where the team was having to learn and implement new defensive sets mid-season, which can be tricky. I have a feeling that both Raptors fans and detractors alike are going to be surprised by a noticeable improvement in our teams defense this coming season.

[WesWesley]

Give me an example of when a "horrible" rebounder has become a good one in the history of the NBA?

[loserX]

Keep in mind that this was also during a transitionary period where the team was having to learn and implement new defensive sets mid-season, which can be tricky. I have a feeling that both Raptors fans and detractors alike are going to be surprised by a noticeable improvement in our teams defense this coming season.

And yet the Raptors have turned over about half their team. Teaching defensive sets will be starting from scratch in a lot of ways. I agree that the Raps' team defence may improve, but it'll probably take a while.

[lim206]

RAPS SWEEEP

[Kabookalu]

It's not even about which individual player is better than the other teams player. That is a very ignorant way of determining which team is going to come out the victor. As for the OP's question; I'm leaning towards Philly just because they've been around longer and will have had another year playing together. That new Rap's team still has to mesh and figure who they are, and how they'll win.

I think by losing Miller, the Sixers will have even more trouble with chemistry than we will. Miller was a fantastic point guard and with him, they essentially lose all essence of their running game. There was an article with some stats that calculated how good players are in the fastbreak, and Miller was one of the best in the league.

What people misjudge about the Raptors is that we were just incredibly dysfunctional in 08-09, and after realizing how really broken down we were, I'm amazed we won over 30 games. This offseason we really fixed most of our problems. Although we have the same core, we are not the same team at all. No longer is a role player like Anthony Parker our best perimeter player. No longer is Jason Kapono a guy we need to rely on with handling the ball. No longer will we have crappy backup point guards that don't have the slightest clue when it comes to playmaking. And no longer will we have crappy backup bigs like Patrick O'Bryant and Jake Voskuhl being relied to do anything at all with the ball.

We upgraded in every single way besides having a tough interior defender, but if Sixers fans are going to assume that Young's shooting will improve, then I have the right to say that Bargnani is going to improve his defense. We might actually be a better defensive team than last year.