Internal roster turnover a big factor for the Raps

C Court · Post #21 » by **C Court** » Tue Jan 8, 2008 3:06 am

^^^^ I couldn't agree more with SWAN...."injury free we would be the 3rd best team in the east right now".

Post #22 » by **TheDoctor** » Tue Jan 8, 2008 7:02 am

MacDaddy wrote:Apparently Parker has had a lingering groin-pull that was affecting him a bit through most of December.

Strangely this doesn't get much play, does it. A groin pull would make damn near anyone a step slower, and he was a slower starter the last few years in Europe too... so hopefully his great first half yesterday is one of many from here on in. He has looked much more aggressive and effective, and is finding his way to the basket a little more.

Our problems have more to do with TJ Ford being out than Garbajosa being MIA or Parker and Rasho playing a a couple fewer mpg.

What people fail to put in perspective is

Missed games Last year vs This year so far:

TJ - 7 vs 17 and counting - that's HALF our games so far.

While Bosh, Andrea, Rasho and of course Jorge have all missed games due to injury as well.

saham · Post #23 » by **saham** » Tue Jan 8, 2008 8:20 am

[quote="James699"][/quote]

So Who replaces these guys ?? Eddy Curry and Nate Robinson ??

Isiah you work for the Knicks not the Raptors so keep screwing the Knicks and spare us. :nonono:

dacrusha · Post #24 » by **dacrusha** » Tue Jan 8, 2008 2:24 pm

People need to relax.

We just finished the toughest road trip of the season and then came home to play the Pistons and LeBron.

After all that, combined with a pretty bad injury situation all year, we're still at .500 with a far more relaxed schedule coming up.

Things are looking up.

hoop_head · Post #25 » by **hoop_head** » Tue Jan 8, 2008 3:08 pm

I agree that last year's success set the bar too high for this year. The 06-07 season was a new beginning for the Raptors, and a highly successful beginning it was. A cast of new players came together to win the Atlantic Division title, and in this process we saw a group of guys develop great chemistry and team play. For the first time in many seasons, we had real hope for the next season, and expectations of more success to come.

The 07-08 season has been somewhat rough so far. Bosh had to play his way into game shape. TJ's health issues have been, and continue to be, a major hurdle. The realistic time frame for Bargnani to become a good Center is now thought of in years, not months. Garbajosa's contribution on the floor is sorely missed. Anthony Parker had to work through a groin injury in December. Our starting SF is a defensive-minded rookie, and to his credit he has helped the Raptors, but he's not a reliable offensive scorer.

I still think that we'll be in the playoffs this year. We're .500 in spite of all the problems, and it looks like TJ will return this season. If TJ can return and play at a high level, Jose can return to running the second unit, thus the bench's production returns to normal.

The current version of the Raptors is not the finished product. I think that Colangelo would improve the team at any point if he could, but until he knows what will become of TJ Ford, Colangelo really has no other choice but to stay in a holding pattern with the team.

omeloon · Post #26 » by **omeloon** » Tue Jan 8, 2008 4:44 pm

Parker was our MVP last season, but he's up there in age, we can't count on him forever. It's much more important that Delfino contributes something positive.

Rasho always seems to contribute something positive, Mitchell is just too stubborn to play him. No real complaints though since Bargnani needs playing time to develop.