Watch out for the Raptors

[Patterns]

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[Ballings7]

Calderon, Parker, Delfino, Moon are not bad defenders, too. Not sure about Ford or Dixon.

Definitely have to upgrade up front, though. Rasho, Humphries, Garbajosa (when back) aren't top level support big men in the areas of defense and rebounding. They provide something there, but not what is needed.

[TheRaptor!]

Calderon, Parker, Delfino, Moon are not bad defenders, too. Not sure about Ford or Dixon.

Definitely have to upgrade up front, though. Rasho, Humphries, Garbajosa (when back) aren't top level support big men in the areas of defense and rebounding. They provide something there, but not what is needed.

I disagree, there is a reason why the dude played 28 mpg for us. He does things that helps you win and don't show up on stat sheets.

Rated, don't bother, I guess people don't like Canada and the Raptors in general. Raptors have decent defense, its the rebounding that we are lacking, Garbo is a pretty good rebounder too.

[magicfan4life05]

is there any chance after a month or so when TJ gets back into the swing of things, that he might start over calderon again?

[Hendrix]

Raptors suck. We(Lakers) rolled them over on the second of a back to back game. Most of the Raptors play absolutely no defense and their best player is also a jump shooter.

They are the 4th best team in the East and that's not saying much at all because they won't make the playoffs in the West.

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You guys are 17th in OPP FG% at 45%. That's decent defense but not good or great. All that while playing teams like Miami and Nets who can't shoot 45% if they're wide open all day long.

I love when some fan pretends to know a team after they've clearly watched them for 1 game. Bosh gets to the line more then any other big in the league. Suprisingly those fouls don't come opn jumpshots.

We're 13th in defensive efficiency while playing the 2nd hardest schedule in the league so far, lol. We've played a harder shedule then any team in the west besides Houston.


Congrats on winning 1 game.

[Flash3]

If they can get Kapono on track for them, he can be a DEADLY asset from the paint when Calderon attacks the paint or teams are doubling/focusing attention on Bosh, the Raps become an even deadlier team from the wings....

But, it seems he still has yet to get on track for w/ever reasons.

If the Raptors get the RIGHT match-up come playoff time, I can see them advancing, but if not.....

[C'mon Cavs]

The Raptors seem poised to get knocked out by the Cavs in the first round in 6 games.

[Duffman100]

I would like to reiterate that other team can make posts about how their team is 'up and coming' and the moment a raptors thread even touches the general board, people blast it.

Maybe previous abnoxious Raptor fans have ruined it for everyone, but the OP has some really good points. The Raptors have had something like the 2nd or 3rd hardest schedule. They're sitting 5 games over .500, having missed 24 games without their starting pg, their starting SF from last year, and pretty much their prized first pick as he's been non existant.

Are they title contenders? No, but nobody has claimed that. They are just a scary team that could knock a decent team out in the first round. And if they getting rolling, they're really tough to stop.

[yehyeh82]

im not a raptor fan.
but this squad is built for today's nba.
gotta tip the hat off to coangelo.
even if they dont make a lot of noise this year , you can rest assured they will reload and make some nice under the radar moves.
bosh and bargnani , once fully developed, is gonna be similar to having KG and Dirk..

Whoa there buddy, don't get ahead of yourself. They are much more likely to be like Keon and Raef than KG and Dirk... I guess I could compromise for KG and Raef since Bosh is so much better than Keon, that was actually unfair...But right now Bargnani would be lucky to become a Keith Vanhorn type of player imo...

[Duffman100]

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Whoa there buddy, don't get ahead of yourself. They are much more likely to be like Keon and Raef than KG and Dirk... I guess I could compromise for KG and Raef since Bosh is so much better than Keon, that was actually unfair...But right now Bargnani would be lucky to become a Keith Vanhorn type of player imo...

Can't really argue with that, Bosh is of course better than Raef EVER was...

Bosh is just a solid 20 10 guy right now, who gets to the foul line. But he doesn't have the passing or defensive impact that KG has, clearly.

The only thing is that Bargs is already a better shooter than Van Horn, and he's bigger. He might even be better putting the ball on the floor, but maybe thats just because I have a serious hate on for KVH.

I like the Okur comparison, pretty much identical games right now.

[magicfan4life05]

is there any chance after a month or so when TJ gets back into the swing of things, that he might start over calderon again?

[Duffman100]

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There is always a chance. The franchise has said, over and over again, that T.J. is the starter. Mitchell also seems to just like T.J. more than Calderon.

Personally, I would hate to see it this season, and I love T.J. Calderson is just playing at such a ridiculous level, and it would just break the flow of the team.

[JWiLL02]

I can't see TJ starting again this season. Jose is just so consistent from night to night that it's easy to keep him starting and let TJ play his way back into shape...although he looked pretty comfortable last night in Miami.

If you haven't seen the dunk TJ through down last night check the highlights! Has to be one of the best of his career.

[celticfan42487]

I would like to reiterate that other team can make posts about how their team is 'up and coming' and the moment a raptors thread even touches the general board, people blast it.

Maybe previous abnoxious Raptor fans have ruined it for everyone, but the OP has some really good points. The Raptors have had something like the 2nd or 3rd hardest schedule. They're sitting 5 games over .500, having missed 24 games without their starting pg, their starting SF from last year, and pretty much their prized first pick as he's been non existant.

Are they title contenders? No, but nobody has claimed that. They are just a scary team that could knock a decent team out in the first round. And if they getting rolling, they're really tough to stop.

How is that diffrent then WAS or the Cavs? Both have delt with hardships and are in similar positions. Yet neither have a gen board thread.

The last time a gen board thread about the up and coming Raps was really useful was 2001. Yet we've had hundreds of them since then.

Just think of all the Boston threads this year and you get the point. Raps are a team that's doing somethingother teams like ORL, CLE, WASH, DEN, HOU, GS in the league are doing yet we still have a gen board thread about just them. Gata keep the **** on the Raps board or people are lible to get sick of it and blast them for the hell of it.

[miller31time]

Alright, I'd like to make a few points regarding this thread.

It has just as much right to be here than any other thread on this board because A) the OP (Royce) actually put some thought and anaylsis into it, B) WAS/CLE/BOS/DET (etc) fans can post the exact same thing about their team when the same circumstances apply (ie: getting a major player(s) back, having a #1 pick regain momentum, and so on) and C) it didn't violate the TOS.

Let's be honest, the Raptors have the largest fanbase on RealGM, so there are naturally going to be more Toronto threads than most other teams. We, as mods, weed out the annoying nonsense that some Raptors fans put out (as we would with any other teams' fans who spew the same) but there's no reason to bash a thread in which some time, effort and thought was put into, be it Raptors related or not. It's one thing if the thread contained something along the lines of "Raptorz are the best!1!! Yur team sux" but this isn't that sort of case.

So basically, if a thread actually wants to discuss reasonable points and is in accordance to the TOS/GB rules, either post nicely or don't post at all.

If you have any disagreements with what I said, please feel free to PM me and I'll get back to you as soon as possible.

-miller

[RapZilla]

Werd!

[King Roosk]

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I love when some fan pretends to know a team after they've clearly watched them for 1 game. Bosh gets to the line more then any other big in the league. Suprisingly those fouls don't come opn jumpshots.

We're 13th in defensive efficiency while playing the 2nd hardest schedule in the league so far, lol. We've played a harder shedule then any team in the west besides Houston.


Congrats on winning 1 game.

Dwight Howard averages 11.9 FTA per game. Chris Bosh averages 8.6 FTA per game.

The Raps have a lot of good players, but I think the problem might be that they only have 1 all-star caliber player. The way the NBA is today, if you want to be a team to "watch out for", then you have to be loaded with star power and the proper role players. If the Raps had an all-star caliber swingman then I think they'd be a pretty damn good team.

[Ballings7]

disagree, there is a reason why the dude played 28 mpg for us. He does things that helps you win and don't show up on stat sheets.

Garbajosa is a very good defender and his oncourt grit is what we are missing. Hump is ok but he gets carried away at times on both ends. Rasho remains a stable defense, not the best but certainly not useless...however this wont get us far in the playoffs. If garbajosa comes back 100% we have a very good defender coming back.

I understand, but Garbajosa isn't a top-level big man defender. Like a significant presence at the basket (changing, stopping, and blocking shots and drives), and a good rebounder. Somebody that will make a real impact in those areas. Where he's the #1 guy, and in general is somebody like that.

In the mold of a...

Kurt Thomas (not a good basket defender either, but provides the rest of what he does defensively, and is still better than Garbajosa in the former)
PJ Brown (before the last 2-3 seasons)
Charles Oakley
Alonzo Mourning (with the Nets and on, being a complementary player then)
Haywood
Dalembert
Mohammed
Pryzbilla
Maxiell
Diop
Dampier
Ostertag (before his last couple seasons)
Keon Clark (not big mass-wise, but still was good overall)
Antonio Davis
Dale Davis
Ervin Johnson

Obviously a Ben Wallace, Mutombo are unrealistic and don't come around too much. So didn't list those type of big men.

Garbajosa can defend and rebound, but isn't a rebounder and defender like those guys are/were. Not the presence on the interior those guys were/are.

Garbajosa's not a significant intimidator in the paint. Where you change your shot consistently because of him, where you have to keep him off the boards every game. That's not Garbajosa.

Garbajosa's also not a center, which specifically, is what's needed next to Bosh. To complement and help him a lot. Now some of the guys I mentioned aren't centers too, or stand-out basket defenders, but I mentioned those guys because of the type of big man I was getting at. Garbajosa's not a guy who's going to be in the upper rankings for a defensive big man, or as a basket defender and rebounder.

There is little to no seperation between the role-playing bigs on Toronto. It's not large. They all are effective for sure, but only to such an extent in that effectiveness. Because the level of ability isn't good between them all, but just average-decent at most. More is needed than that from a big man/role-playing big man on a team. The historical evidence shows it.