Tip-In: Mitchell's Conundrum

It's been awesome to read (I havent seen any of the preseason games) that the team is playing so well.

I love that PJ is playing himself into the rotation. I think this guy is going to turn into the type of role player any championship team would want. Defense, boards, and the occasional strong finish is all that will be asked of PJ and I think he'll fill this role well.

This may be a little nuts, but I really want the raps to get a couple of losses in the preseason. Teams, especially young teams cannot keep up a torrid pace of winning, and I'd hate to see it all come crashing down when the regular season starts. What will be very interesting to see when the regular season starts is who our finishers are. It's going to be up to 3 guys, I think to put games away in the 4th quarter. Bosh, MoPete, and Parker. Of course Jones and Calderon will have their chances to step up from time to time, but I think those three starters will be our clutch guys, and need to assume that role on a nightly basis, otherwise we could have another season of gritty, close games that are lost in the final two minutes.

Another concern we have to be prepared for is the 2nd half of the season. Will all of these young players and Euros hit the wall after the break? Our depth will certainly help that. Bargnani playing controlled minutes will certainly help him minimize that rookie wall, but he will hit a wall nonetheless. If TJ goes down (and I think he will for stretches) can Calderon and Jones hold up at the 1 for an extended stretch of games?

All that said, our depth is nothing but encouraging, and it should be very interesting to see how this rotation plays out. Who to play will not be a factor as the season goes on and players start going down. I think the key will be for guys not gettting a lot of run early in the season to stay sharp and be prepared for extended minutes as the season wears on.

IS IT NOVEMBER YET!!!!

I couldn't agree more..... Although this team has a lot of growing and developing to do, this is obviously a group of guys that seem to work together very well and have a lot of potential. By no means is this team championship calibre at this time, but I begin to get a good sense of BC's vision for this team and what he was trying to do with all the different moves he pulled off during the offseason. There are a lot of solid pieces on this team that seem to be ready to make for a push for a very entertaining season. Also, I know we lost a very likeable piece in Charlie V, but I think many of the new additions will be embraced by this city which loves the workhorse, team first mentality. Although I am not expecting the Playoffs at this point, Raptors TV is ordered up and ready for a fun season!

.. . but there is an ' I ' in wIn according to Michael Jordan . I guess they have to win first before the new Raps can really be considered a success.Then Cabbie can rap for the Raptors !

Looking great so far. "D" & shooting best yet in 2nd half vs Maccabi

Lets wait till after the Cav's with Lebron if he plays, & the Bulls and Celtics

on the road. Should see more play from starters & some idea of rotations

I was at the game last night, and was similarly impressed with most of the players, even if we were playing a Euroleague team (Did anyone else notice how chippy Maccabi was?). Bargs looked completely out of sorts early on - he got the ball in the post twice and had two utterly wretched 'moves' that resulted in turnovers. When he finally got off the bench again in the 2nd half, he didn't exactly light it up. But there was one (almost) shining moment - he made one (unsuccessful, I think he was fouled) very aggressive drive to the basket that was incredibly quick for a 7-foot Italian rookie. If he wasn't fouled it would have been a monster jam. 'Not even Bosh moves that quick,' I thought to myself. Once he learns his role in an NBA sytem and settles down in the post he will blow up, IMHO.

Bargnani is going to lessen the blow of having lost Charlie V., and I think there is no question Il Mago is going to be an elite level offensive player in the league. If he can turn into a serviceble center, his value increases even more. On the other hand, the fact that we got so little for CV means I will forever be left with the What-ifs? Here is my summarry of why the trade was a poor one:

1) We received a player in return who could have been aquired in a different manner. Due to TJ's situation in Milwaukee, where he was falling out of favour to MO F-ING WILLIAMS!!!, TJ almost certainly could have been aquired by overpaying in cap space (of which we had a surplus) thereby putting Milwaukee in a situation where they did not want to match an above-market deal for their 2nd choice PG. We could have done a sign-and-trade and tossed in one, or even several, of our young prospects and deep bench (Tucker, Graham, Slokar, Ukic, 2nd rounders from A. Williams trade, Garba, etc. Take your pick of non-core players.) and do a sign and trade in the Summer of 07. If we had signed him for what is currently being rumored (4yr/36 mil. range), we could merely have made it a 4yr./40 mil deal, and there is no way the Bucks would have matched. They would've been happy just to get something back for a piece they didn't want.

2)It hurts our cap space. I'm sure all readers are well-aware of the negative cap implications due to rookie contract v. TJ's re-upped deal.

3)No draft picks. Come on, next year's draft is phenomenally deep. If Eddie Curry was worth 2 first rounders, you can't tell me we couldn't have gotten at least one.

4)TJ sucks. He MIGHT be marginally better than Calderon, but from at least Calderon has showed improvement on their shared weakness, namely outside shooting, while Ford has consistently shown that he is simply a bad shooter.

5)We could have gotten so much more. It might end up being a VC-like error where the motivations behind trading the player lead us to a rash, and ultimately incorrect, decision to pull the trigger, resulting in a lack of value on your return on assets.

Apart from that, Colangelo has added some really nice pieces on a shoe-string spending spree, so I still support him. The only difference now is that he's revealed that he is capable of errors in judgment, just like all GM's, so the halo is slightly tainted forever. Bring a Championship though, and all shall be forgiven.

While Chuck Swirsky (resident corney nick name giver) may have started refering to Tucker as "Nails", I think that the nick name given by Coach Mitchel is one of the funniest nick names ever! "Baby Mule"... hilarious!

Rory, we gave Hoffa 2 years before we counted him out. Lets not judge TJ in five PRESEASON games! That said he has been less than advertised but is improving from game to game. I am a little worried about chemistry on the starting 5 though, dont want them to leave the bench in a double digit hole every night. But before the season, the consensus was the team will need 20 or so regular season games to jell..and lets judge them after that.

And no GM bats 1.0. Even if TJ turns out to be a complete bust (improbable), he's made enough good decisions so far to yet be executive of the year this season.

Rory,

Not sure what you're talking about in terms of a sign and trade for TJ. You can't do that with a player under contract.

And not that you said it, but I don't buy into this 'never trade a skilled big man for a little man' stuff I keep hearing. I think TJ will be a great player for this team in the not too distant future. Charlie was a good player, no doubt, but I think without the right kindof coach and constant motivation (ie Stephen "I can't stop this diarrhea from coming out of my mouth, check my ass for relevant thoughts" Smith) he has a very good chance of becoming another Derrick Coleman: Talented as hell, forever inconsistent, always on the losing end.

I think I read earlier in training camp that Sam called PJ a "dirt worker" which I thought was an equally fitting moniker. Not really a nickname of sorts, but a great way to describe his tireless work ethic.

Remember when the Raptors had Keon Clark and Chris Childs, their bench then was pretty good. But we all remember what Childs did at half court...

I like the look of this year's second unit (and spare parts). Big improvement over past years.

I was thinking about a name for it and this might be a bit sophisticated but how about "Raps Redux."

Redux is the common name for a drug called Dexfenfluramine hydrochloride. It is used as an Appetite suppressant. After the other teams see our second unit a few times, they will not have an appetitie for them anymore.
It is also used for Performance enhancement, which the second unit is.
It is also used for Relief of fatigue, which is what the first unit gets when the Raps Redux hits the floor.

The word itself means brought back or returned, like Anthony Parker, or the European invasion.

Just a thought.

Sam Mitchell has shown in the past that he's not afraid to sit starting players if things are going well. Early in his first season, he left Rose, Carter and others on the bench when the subs were playing well and even let the second unit finish a couple of wins. MoPete is one player whose playing time will be reduced when he's not going well because of the number of options available. As well, depending upon the opponent, I can forsee that there will be games when we don't worry about who is playing centre and go with Bosh, Garbage and or the Hammer on the frontline.
As for Ford, except for the Boston game where the opponent's guards were faster than TJ, he's looked OK and will look better as the season progresses. Both he and Calderon have the capability of providing the best point play in the franchise's history. By the way, I was in Milwaukee last Saturday and took in the Bucks-Mavs game. The Bucks won but the Mavs weree without Dirk, Stackhouse, Terry and Harris and CV Smooth contributed very little to the victory. He also got in foul trouble which he has been doing consistently throughout the pre-season. For the most part he seemed to be just going through the motions, particularly on defence.
That was the knock against him in college and I think the Raps saw that often enough last year to make them concerned, hence the trade for TJ.
There's no question that Charlie has major talent, but I think it's recognized that he lacks the motivation to bring it on a consistent basis. The NBA is full players like that and the Raps could not afford the luxury of carrying someone on their roster who doesn't show up on a regular basis.
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