Tip-In: RaptorsTV Needs to Give Out Refunds

Sam should start the second unit and bring the starters in after the first quarter. The starters except Mo look shaky. Ford has had no time to build chemistry with his mates, Bosh will have to shake off rust and Parker is way too tentative. I guarantee double digit deficits by the starting unit at the beginning of the game and I think the Jones for Parker substitution will happen by the end of the month.

Raps won OK, but need to do better shooting. 39% won't do it !!!

They won @ the 3 pt & foul line (+ 10 pts) & kept Rondo from scoring, but

missed a lot of lay-ups (Jones not going to the hoop)

Bosh, Bargnani, and Ford's durability may be a concern when real action begins

From what I read the CHICAGO game Friday will be from their feed .

Maybe Chuck will do a web audio again ??

I think you have to go to Norma about this one. She was tearing the Boston guys a new one last night. I'm not sure why Raps TV can't mix feeds (get the audio from Chuck and Eric and still have the game broadcast via FSN) but it might have to do with the rights of the local broadcasting entity. In any case, Norma Wick for Premier!

After Telfair left Calderon in the dust on that badass crossover, Heinsohn says to his partner, "That was Fred Jones he just beat."

These fools are just throwing darts in the dark.

On a side note, if Parker is out there for his D, he had better do a better job than he did on Szczerbiak last night. So far, he just barely looks like he belongs in the league.

The most annoying part about their broadcast was when Tommy said something about Toronto having to get so many Euro players because Toronto finds it nearly impossible to sign american players!! I've never heard such pure ignorance. Insulting too!

That's when I put the tv on mute and listened to the swirsky webcast!

Actually I find it kind of humours to hear another cities prespective of Toronto and the Raps. Makes you wonder what they'd think of picking up a feed of Chuck and Leo.

And is it just me or does the Raptor TV game day need some energy. Other then Eric Smith and Jack Armstrong I get all sleepy and tired watching Norma, Chuck and Sherman go at it.

Can't we get a former Raptor to do commentary or something? I think Butch Carter would give them some serious credibility.

Yeah, I think that's the solution from now on. Norma Wick for Prime Minister and mute on the game while you listen via radio to Chuck and co. I mean sometimes I found myself laughing out loud because the commentary last night was so bad...or just non-existent in parts. And I forgot about him calling Calderon, Jones...

As for Rondo, he didn't really get the minutes last night with Delonte West back. However, he's really impressed me and I was a huge Rondo backer last year. At KY, he just didn't get to play the style that best fits his game. I think in Boston he'll excel.

Sorry by Butch Carter doing commentary I of course meant the halftime and pre-game shows when offering analysis. He'd be to gruff to host anything or do play by play.

The Celts annoncers however have credentials . At least Tommy H. He's a great b'ball player and later on, coach for Boston . Also they don't give silly names to all their players left and right
Chuck has the habit of giving nom de guerre to practically all of the Raptors . And the new players have not proven the new tags with their games yet . Even the Raptors 2nd unit !
Sacramento's bench players before earned their title 'coz of splendid play IN THE REGULAR SEASON . It's becoming ridiculous really .

I think muting the broadcast is the way to go. I've gotten into the habit of doing this while watching football because its so hard to find a broadcast team who won't pick one superstar and talk about them the entire time, through plays even (ie: Terrell Owen's facial expression on the bench, Polamalu's Hair, how Tom Brady is a winner after he hands the ball off to a running back). The downside of this is that you don't get to hear the crowd noise which takes from the enery of the game. I'm hoping with the ever evolving technology of the television broadcast there will soon be an option to 'turn off' commentary as you can do in video games like NBA Live and Madden. It's nice when you get some X's and O's, but that's so rare.

A lot of the missed lay-ups early in the season are a result of the ball change. The players will adapt and there will be less missed easy buckets later.
Watch Sports Centre because there will be a lot of highlights of players missing dunks. Book It

I can just imagine Calderon and Garbage Man's confidence level right now. Even though it's the pre-season, since the summer they have't lost for somewhere around 15 games in a row including the WC.

Makes me wonder why there are so many boring broadcasters still out there, I mean please show some emotion for the game on potential highlight reel plays. Rather than just "broadcasting" each game, which the announcer does for you (i.e "calderon makes a basket, offensive rebound by humphries") PLEASE make it interesting for us viewers by putting some emphasis on it. But on the bias issue, I sometimes do feel like chuck can be very raptor biased on some occasions, but he says it in a inspiring way, or in a hopeful way that "this young man will be good etc." Unlike other broadcasters who truly believe the BULL**** coming out of their mouthes and sometimes crossing the lines by comparing them to other players.
*** I'd like to see the Sam mitchell continue with the shared minutes and rotate the whole bench through the begining stretch of regular season, I have high hopes that they will be fine doing so if not even a better team. Give the starters the 30+ mpg but share the rest the minutes, I really dont think there is a player on that roster that deserves a DNP at the boxscores. BTW: Garbajosa, Parker, and FORD are really not playing up to their expectations in my view, hmm, I hope this will turn around by December because these guys were suppose to be key players during the off season signings.

It's true, Tommy H does at least have the credentials...I guess my point is that a good player/coach/assistant does not necessarily make a good colour commentator or broadcaster. And while I do enjoy Chuck's exuberance at times, the constant "pro Raptors organziation" and "nick-name" giving is tiring at times.

On another note, tonight's game against the Bulls is a big one in my books. Besides the second Cavs matchup, I think this will be the first real test of the pre-season for the Raps. The Bulls are expected to be a conference finals contender and with this being the last pre-season game of the year, we should see basically a regular season game. Oh...and sounds like Bosh and TJ are going to be playing.

http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1161899442694&call_pageid=969907729483&col=970081562040

PS - Denham Brown was cut by the Sonics...anyone think another team will give him a shot this year?

Remember when they had Vince sit in for all those games? He was pretty good. That's all they have to do this time to spice things up. Wait until the inevitable injury parade that haunts Toronto crops up, give a couple of the guys TV contracts, and presto better broadcasts.

It'll be interesting to me to see whether Calderon's play in the preseason and Ford's lesser-than-expected play will translate into the starter's job. Then again, by all accounts Mitchell had already worked out his starting five, plus various rotations, the day training camp started.

Denham Brown - I think he'll probably have to go to Europe for a year or two to solidify his credentials. But he's a smart player at both ends of the floor, and I imagine you'll see him on some NBA team's second unit down the road.

Can we sign Luke Jackson or what? If Derek Martin's such a good guy why don't we make him an assistant coach and sign Jackson now that the Celts have released him.

I take the Celts announcers with a grain of salt for the most part but I do like hearing their evaluations of our players because it gives us different perspectives.
A bigger concern is the lack of incisive and interesting commentary on Raptors TV.
As well, I was pissed that instead of getting a post-game show after the Celts game Raptors TV switched over to some in-progress program. I was out and didn't get to see the whole game and would have appreciated seeing some highlights. I wasn't holding out too much hope for interesting commentary. Eric and Jack Armstrong probably come closest to providing quality analysis.

i don't agree that ' credentials ' are not essential in broadcasting . considering all things equal , i will rather have a former nba in front of the mike than a non baller
why do you think nbc,abc and cbs hire ex tennis stars , ex skater and ex jocks to be their color analysts.
i remember several years ago , some raptors questioned ' who is this leo rautins critizing us all the time in the air '. rautins is an ex nba baller but the equivalent of say pape sow or bradley . a benchwarmer who after a short stint in the league was banished to the spaghetti league . credility is needed .
the raptors broadcasting team and raptors tv are lacking tremendously in that area. maybe it's budget costraint or lack of former raptors ( try jerome williams ) available but our broadcast team is below standard.
take it from someone who watches different games not only raptors games. sattelite tv , baby !
chuck sucks from other nba viewers point of view . jack is not even known . i remember a portland fan asking who the f--k is that guy with a horrible voice .

"i remember a portland fan asking who the fâ€"k is that guy with a horrible voice". Who cares? I happen to like Jack and find him informative and interesting. I have watched many games too as I have satellite also, and I happen to think we are quite fortunate with our broadcast team. So they are homers sometimes, and the barrage of nicknames can get annoying, but all in all it's a good package they put together. A lot of people seem to bad mouth Raps TV...but they have improved immensely since I've been a subscriber, and seem set to continue to improve.

Yeah I have to agree with Scott F. Fact is that the programming is better and there will always be something to complain about. I mean some people love Bill Walton and other hate him. Same with Hubie "I know every stat EVER" Brown.

There are some things that are not cool, like Marlie ads. Not quite all ball all the time.

I think Jack is pretty solid. He knows ball and is a nice guy to boot. The main concern I have with the broadcasting of the Raps is that Swirsk (even though he is entertaining) is employed by MLSE and that takes away from true broadcasting. Bias is inevitable when you cover a particular team but when this team was crap this team was crap. I didn't like being told otherwise by an employee of the owners that they were not.

Nike,

I have to disagree with you about the NBA experience thing. Leo has been around high level ball long enough to know the game well. Yeah, it would be nice to have a long time NBA vet, it certainly wouldn't hurt if they can communicate their thoughts well and not babble, but I think Leo and those like him are experienced enough to give us quality commentary. Mind you, when Jalen Rose calls it quits as a player, I definately wouldn't mind seeing him behind the broadcast table in Toronto.

i think we may ' love ' our tv team but the other nba cities may not in the same way as some of you found boston broadcasters ' irritable '.

i find tommy h . rather good in explaining the plays like when telfair was on a fastbreak - ' he did it the right way . telfair run in the etc. etc ..'

compare w/ swirsky asking jack - ' jack , for the benefit of our viewers , what is double screen ? what the f--k ! nba basketball has been around for years in canada now and even then stop treating tv viewers as morons !!!!

honestly . i watch the raptors games on their opponent's home channels .

I actually like listening to the other broadcast during the preseason. I am going to get more than enough (WAY, WAY, WAY MORE) of Chuck and Leo for the next five months. It is nice to hear the game from the other side. When I had the US dish, I would watch the other team's feed every five or six games...

Portland, with Snapper Jones, is by far the best regional coverage in the league.