Tip-In: A Win is a Win?

I said the same thing about the game last night to friends: it looks like a matchup between two talented, but young and stupid, NCAA teams! Don't get me wrong, I like college ball a lot better than the NBA, but the kids do have a tendency to throw the ball around and take some ill-advised shots at times. The Rapcelts fell right into those traps yesterday.

So, the age-old question: what do you do with underperforming players??? Graham, Peterson and Jones combined last night for 2 points in about 30 minutes. If you throw in Garbajosa (the other regular SF for the team) you've got 2 points in about the full 48 minutes. Can you imagine where this team would be with Maggette? Yes, I know he is a bit of a ball hog and turns it over TONS for a forward, but we need some height, effort and leaping ability out there. I still think the draft is the better way to go, but if the Clippers would go for Peterson, Jones and a 1st-rounder for Maggette, I would be thrilled. Thoughts? (it would fit in money wise because Maggs gets around $7-8 per year, Mo gets $4 and Jones gets around $3.3)

Oh yeah, a quick caveat? Did anyone notice how (my personal pick for the Raps way back when) Danny Granger is doing? What a horrible mistake. Graham can be thrown into the garbage bin of idiot Raptors draftees.

My first instinct is to agree with you, but then I remembered a game we had against the second best team in the west. That team needed Nash heroics to take us on our home court.

So, here's my take. At this point in the Raptors development, I've promised myself not to read too much into ugly road wins. This is more than they've been able to do for a couple years. We're still an average team and games like this on the road are to be expected.

We don't have a great shot at beating Dallas at the ACC, but I fully expect a maximum effort on Sunday. If the boys play as well as they can, and they catch Dallas looking past an inferior team (unlikely, I know) we've got a shot.

Completely understand the point of view though. Good read, keep 'em coming.

Last nite was a stinker, but we came away with two out of three on the road. No sympathy for teams with injuries. Bad games like this will occur, especially for teams still growing, lets be happy with the win.
This team still has a big problems on the road - lets hope we steal a few more. After Dallas I sure like the rest of January's schedule.

Aaron,

I got a garbage bin large enough to fit Graham; it kills me every time I look at a Pacers box score and see that Granger had a good game. This team is competetive when they get good play at the 3 (assuming Parker is not having one of his off nights) but it happens far too infrequently. Can you imagine this team with Durant next year!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

ah, we missed a bunch of easy ones and they hit a bunch of they normally don't make. They're like the raps on the road w/o bosh just playing their guts out with no pride lost if they lose. We had plenty of pride and a division lead to lose and came out tight. Not to mention the refs were obviously boston fans. Taunting? cb4? please... I expect the raps to give dallas a run for their money on sunday.

ah, we missed a bunch of easy ones and they hit a bunch of they normally don't make. They're like the raps on the road w/o bosh just playing their guts out with no pride lost if they lose. We had plenty of pride and a division lead to lose and came out tight. Not to mention the refs were obviously boston fans. Taunting? cb4? please... I expect the raps to give dallas a run for their money on sunday.

d'antoni rips his bench players for not competing in garbage time, in a blowout against the cavs. mitch watches his lads almost get upset by decimated boston and milwaukee clubs and all he can say is 'a win's a win.'

The one thing that really stood out for me in this game was the awesome defensive and even offensive play from Anthony Parker. After seeing how he's been playing the past month or so, I'm all for trading Mo Pete, although it would hurt to see him go.

I wonder if there's any chance of including Joey G in a Mo Pete deal... much like Arujo, I would be happy to see JG leave for almost nothing - just to get over the painful memories of a bad draft.

For those who read the site when it was still with fan.ca you'll remember how upset we were that Granger wasn't Toronto's pick at 16 that year. It just blows my mind as to why Joey can't take control in a game like last night's. He's bigger and stronger than almost everyone on that Celtics club and he should have been backing his man down on every occasion. Instead he was virtually invisible.

I also think Sam should have given Freddie some minutes last night...might have been a perfect style for him to get some confidence back.

that would be the same Granger who had 6 turnovers and 2 airballs and didn't score until the game was out of reach?? For those quick to jump on Joey G. you should do the same with other players. Granger is all flash and no substance.

I see these as good wins... team plays a less than great game on the road and still wins. We should expect a loss to the Mavs, but unlike the past few years, they seem to have a chance to win every game.

Too bad about Granger, but there is no reason to lament the pre BC era. Maybe with Granger we will 5 more games last year and end up with up Williams or Thomas instead of Bargnani.

wondering why this site gets only 10 comments when raptorblog gets 170+ on a site that is seldom updated. Just wonderin...

For all who were complaining how the Raptors only beat the Celtic's by 9 pts please note. The Pistons at home were able to beat the Celtics who were playing a back to back )tonight 81-73 after being tied at 60 after 3 quarters.

On RaptorBlog there is a lot of back and forth chatter by the same bloggers

What do you guys think of Mo for Donyell Marshall, trade stright up? Marshall rebounds/defends better than Mo, and maybe a change of scenery would help both players. Win-win for both teams...

gerry - good question - I can't even read that site anymore though...I find it's the same 5 people posting back and forth about stuff that has nothing to do with the Raptors or even ball.

I think it's just that raptorblog's been around for about four years longer...

Report by New York Daily News
Pistons offered Flip Murray & Dale Davis for MoPete. Raptors asked for Antonio McDyess, but Pistons not interested in moving him.

ah man, mcdyess would have been perfect

Hey guys,

We don't mind the fact that we get less comments than other site. In fact one of the best parts for us about doing the site is that we get really well thought out comments which we feel really adds to the content of the site. Simple back and forth banter doesn't add much in my opinion.

The Raps played a good game today. Lot's of heart but you knew Dallas was going to make a run. Great teams find a way to win. I love the trio of Ford, Bosh, and Bargnani. AP can ball anyday. Mo Pete came to play (except for the last play). I will miss him if he's gone next year. Gonna be a kick ass team next season.

In my humble opinion Bosh should of got more touches early in the clock in the 4th and spent too much time on the bench. Is Garbo still injured? He's not the same player he was before Christmas. Joey Graham disappeared again.

The officiating was awful. Referees should be fair and consistent, this group was neither. Everybody misses a call or two in a game but how many times did CB4 get hacked in the 4th quarter? Does anything happen to refs who suck? Do they face any fines or have to sit games out?

I'll give Sam props for having his team prepped for this game especially after two mediocre wins. I would still like to see him ream the team out when they dog it on defense or when they fail to go inside and continue to jack up shot after shot when they aren't falling.

This team really needs someone who can rebound and play some defense when CB4 is on the bench. Someone to slash to the hoop and serve up some facials would be great too. It could have been Graham but his inconsistency drives me crazy.

Dallas 97 Toronto 96
Too much Nowitzki for 46:25
38pts,11rb,5ast,2stl,3blks
Can anyone doubt he's MVP
He did the same thing to the Raptors last year in TO