Daily Papers (At least I hope they are all from today)

[Shaazzam]

Please feel free to add comments, articles etc. I don't have time to do a good thread, but I thought I'd throw this up there. All complaints can be directed to SS(hehehe).

http://www.torontosun.com/Sports/Basketball/2008/01/23/4788764-sun.html

http://www.torontosun.com/Sports/Basketball/2008/01/23/4788765-sun.html

http://www.torontosun.com/Sports/Basketball/2008/01/23/4788766-sun.html

http://www.torontosun.com/Sports/Basketball/2008/01/23/4788773-sun.html

http://www.thestar.com/Sports/article/296609

http://www.thestar.com/Sports/article/296167

http://www.thestar.com/Sports/article/296135

[theSkinny]

mmmmm tha magical mystery paper tour.....

Thanks for the throw up Shazz, I got a new sig

[GideonRapfan]

Thanks for the papers.

This should make a lot of people happy:

Mitchell said the news out of Houston, where starting point guard T.J. Ford is training with John Lucas, is good, although he did add that when Ford eventually returns to the lineup, he likely won't start for some time -- or perhaps not at all this season.

[MjM2xTreMe]

I guess the ends the debate whether TJ will start when he comes back or not. btw the feschuk article was from yesterday.

Thanks for stepping up.

[Fairview4Life]

I guess the ends the debate whether TJ will start when he comes back or not. btw the feschuk article was from yesterday.

Thanks for stepping up.

And maybe the Buffery article will slow down some of the "I wonder how Bargnani's teammates feel about him?" stuff.

[theonlyeastcoastrapsfan]

Good Papes

[Jimmy King]

Leave Andrea alone,

[theonlyeastcoastrapsfan]

Let me add...

http://thestar.blogs.com/raptors/

Smith: Of Bargs and Boston

You know, this Bargnani hate is really getting out of hand.

The inbox is over-flowing with vitriol aimed at the kid, who some want benched entirely, who some want sent to the D League, who some want sent home.

You gotta chill. All of you.

Yes, his last few games have been dreadful and he

[Spragga]

If Bargs and Tj go to lucas camp in the summer that would be pretty good. I want tj and Bargs to have the kind of chemisty that Tj and Rasho now have.

[theonlyeastcoastrapsfan]

Leave Andrea alone,

(picture)

that's funny, but C'mon. I found that his teammates rallying behind him reassuring. We, the fans, will be the only losers if Andrea cracks under all the negativity.

Maybe there's some parallels to the Brittany thing, I think as soon as she came out and said she was a virgin, everyone wanted to see her screwed. I heard some magazine have already written her obituary. I think that negativity is far from helping her, a young mother, get through some obvious issues. Those who'd rather have their assumptions realized by us giving up on him half way through his second season, will sure have fun patting their backs and watching the team lose.

[pspot]

Its weird cause he's actually had is career high in points this year and should have broken it again in that game he had 25 goign into the fourth

There have been chemistry issues with Bosh on the court
His conditioning is definetely an issue
Mitchell not knowing how to deal with him yet is an issue
He needs to get consistent mins and mins in general

Dirk never played under 35 mins since his 2nd year on

Going to Lucas in the summer would be great, non of this running on the beach ****. His conditioning needs to come up to be able to earn those mins

A big man coach would be huge and a must as well and I am surprised it has taken BC this long. Even for guys like Hump who is still only 22 or 23 himself. Andrea is learning a new game (nba vs europe) and a new position

[Shaazzam]

For those people who continually say"It's about time we got him a bigman coach," I think we need to remember that most of that type of development is done in the offseason.

And in the previous offseason, AB was training and playing with Italy.

[The Letter V]

-= original quote snipped =-



that's funny, but C'mon. I found that his teammates rallying behind him reassuring. We, the fans, will be the only losers if Andrea cracks under all the negativity.

Maybe there's some parallels to the Brittany thing, I think as should as she came out and said she was a virgin, everyone wanted to see her screwed. I heard some magazine have already written her obituary. I think that negativity is far from helping her, a young mother, get through some obvious issues. Those who'd rather have their assumptions realized by us giving up on him half way through his second season, will sure have fun patting their backs and watching the team lose.

And that's what drives me nuts. Why are we so quick to give up on him after all he showed us last year, is beyond me. It does us absolutely no good to give up on him so early- except for those that get gratification by coming to online forums and tell the rest of us how they knew he was going to be a bust.

He spoiled us last year- the least we can do is support him through hard times. I hope to God people at the ACC don't get to the point where they would boo him. If it ever comes to that point, it will get alot tougher for Bargs to rebound from this slump.

[Joker]

You know, this Bargnani hate is really getting out of hand.

The inbox is over-flowing with vitriol aimed at the kid, who some want benched entirely, who some want sent to the D League, who some want sent home.

You gotta chill. All of you.

Yes, his last few games have been dreadful and he

[user name]

He's a young guy, he's a great player, a great person, just give him a break," said teammate Rasho Nesterovic, who lost his starting centre job to Bargnani this season.

"He doesn't need a thousand people around him telling him what to do, and what not to do," Nesterovic added. "He doesn't need a thousand coaches, just one. And that's the only one he should listen to."

Nesterovic acknowledged that Bargnani set the bar high for himself by having such a solid rookie campaign, in which he averaged 11.6 points and 3.9 boards.

"So now it's his second year and everyone expected him to do much better than last year," Nesterovic said. "So you put a lot a pressure on yourself, so it's normal.

"He's struggling, but he's going to be there and we just have to have confidence in him," the Slovenian national team star added. "We can't quit on him after one year."

Rasho's quotes are very interesting. What most Raptor fans may not know is that Rasho's second season was very similar to Andrea's. He had a much better than expected rookie campaign, and he came in the second season putting a great deal of pressure on himself. He somewhat imploded from being so hard on himself. There were Minnesota fans who said he should be bought out and sent back to Europe, but he persisted and worked hard, and had a fine career in Minnesota. Granted Rasho was not a #1 pick, but he had accomplished more in Europe before he got to the NBA than Andrea had. Rasho has always said that it takes two years to adjust from Europe to the NBA. Here's hoping he is right about Andrea.

[vancityballer]

Love the post aligning Brit Spears and Bargs. I see the correlation, but I am enamored by the fact that so many of us follow pop culture these days and that someone took the time to relate the useless basketball info to the useless pop culture info.

I posted about it on the Pachulia board last night, but I'm not sure that there is an available big man coach who could really take Bargs too far this year. The guys who we've seen make the biggest difference this season are Patrick Ewing with Dwight and Kareem with Bynum. Those guys aren't leaving their respective benches anytime soon. Does anybody have any familiarity with any alternate big man coaches? I think I might start a thread with this question.

[Jimmy King]

I think I've come up with my new nickname for Bargnani, when/if he ever plays well again: 'Sexyback'.

[Vorticity]

That Steve Buffery piece was jokes!

[Jimmy The Greek]

That Steve Buffery piece was jokes!

It was hilarious!

[mintsa]

I'm surprised smitch would comment about TJ and the starting pg position. Normally he would even comment about stuff like that.