Tip-In: 16 Deep

How about Bargs getting ONE rebound? Was he at center or somewhere else? As the tallest player on the court for the Raps the whole game, I think one reb is pretty shabby.

Comments? Thoughts?

And before Marcia and the rose-colored glasses gang gets on my case for criticizing a Raps win...

This is preseason, the time when folks are supposed to find the flaws in order to fix them. Preseason games only mean nothing if nothing is learned from them.

A Del tha Funkee Homosapien reference? NICE! And, oh, I had to chuckle at the scalped tickets, and security story.

Gerry, I agree with you. Last game I was lauding praise on Bargs for getting 8 boards in only 19 minutes. But now, getting 1 in ~25 minutes. Eesh!

Well Gerry...I watched the game last night on Raptors TV, and ofcourse I agree with you, but it is also preseason for the fans it is to get us back into appreciating our beloved Toronto Raptors, and by the way Gerry what do you think of Moon?, I personally think they should keep him and get rid of Jackson, we need a guy like Moon, he is going to be a very good player, he is going to give players problems when guarding him. Love you all Raptors fan. Yah baby!!!!

I think as a whole the team held its own rebounding. You know, Barghani was the best player(Moon?) on the court last night. He was boxing out and playing solid D. Doubt you saw the game(plug -RAP TV really worth the 3 bucks a month)don't just read the boxscore.
He's been averaging almost seven and last night spent more time outside than in. His outside game was on fire.

I agree, Bargnani was the best player last night (I just thought that Moon was the one with the eye-opening performance) and did a lot of little things on the defensive end. He was in position for probably four or five boards but Delfino and Graham grabbed some off the rim before they fell to him so he's still going to have to be more aggressive in that regard. The funny thing is that in our fantasy basketball league we have three keepers each, and Bargnani is one of Howland's. So while I'd like Bargs to grab a lot more than a board a game, it was funny to see Howland's disgruntled expressions at his fantasy player's rebounding performance.

Could some one explain to me how Derrick Martin who is so highly respected by our young point guards play with such disregard for game flow chucking the ball every chance he gets should be taken seriously? Some one should pull him aside and talk to him about effective floor management…oh yah, that’s his job.
What is his purpose if he does not practice what he supposedly preaches?

He's a buffer between for the players and Sam. His knowledge of Spanish can in handy last year as well. Billed as a future coach. If he remains a more talented player will be cut. He should retire and join us as coach. A chucker...

Bargs did play great, 19 points and he could have easily had more(shots at least), but passed up some open threes to get teammates involved. He was boxing out, but also playing the PF position and not in place to grab as many boards as the other night but it did seem like he was trying to box out and stay with his man under the hoop.

Thought delfino played good, just couldn't get the shots to drop.

D-mart could not get his shot to fall either and ignored his teammates, except juan dixon. I don't know what he was thinking really, but it's pre-season so maybe smitch just wanted him to try to get going?

This is not based on this performance alone, but I think d-mart and juan dixon should be the ones to go. They know how to play, but d-mart just seems done to me. and dixon is just too small and shot happy.

Although I did not see the game I hear from most readers and other people who saw the game that Jamario moon had a temendous game on the defensive end and on the boards. I think that is really good and all but how can we just put him in as a starting small forward like many other posters are writing? He has played one game in NBA preseason and I would have to see a bunch of games to believe what some of the raptor fans are saying.

Moon was impressive last night. From what I've seen so far, he appears to be a poor man's - maybe a homeless man's - Gerald Wallace. His freakish athletic ability allowed him to contest shots, rebound well (especially offencively) and finish his opportunites. He is exaclty the type of bench player they need, as other than Moon this team really lacks athleticism. Obvioulsy he would be an end of the bench player, but in the case of injury he would provide a different option. Sory "cool hand" Luke... thanks for the memories. Moon has more potential to help this team.

can't watch the games. I live in Japan. You guys and boxscores are all I have (sniff...).

Agreed, if Moon can play with passion every night, then he should get the nod over Graham.

Did Baston do anything?

gerry - you can download the games the next day, and you can do the whole Slingbox thing that's been mentioned on here about 30 times.

Franchise, please fill me in on the scalper ticket problem you had. I usually purchase from them when I go to Rap games.

I’ve never been more anxious for a sports season to commence but until it does, a couple of thoughts continue to nag at me:

- Is it unreasonable to think that the Raps will depend less on the perimeter jump shots, as Franchise stated, than they did last season even with the acquisition of Kapono? Last year was stage 1 with regards to building a team for the future. This season Sam Mitchell has been preparing Bargnani, Bosh and Parker to go for the higher percentage baskets by encouraging them to drive or post up. Kapono will enable them to have the room to perform preventing the opponents from clogging the centre. I think, contrary to the experts, that the Raptors will be less a shot happy team as they mature through the season

- The style of play where all five players are involved in the execution of a play, copied by the Europeans, is the same style Americans played before Michael Jordon dominated the sport. This is the same style that many basketball veterans claim has gone missing and fans claim boredom when too many games devolve into a 2 man pickup game. Am I wrong? Why is the onus on Raptors to prove this system works when it’s been proven to be the purest form of the game? There is no grand experiment going on here. It’s like it has been identified as a European style by the Americans and anything European can’t be good.

I know. I have too much time on my hands.

Now if memory serves, you are usually critical in your posts, lasr year leading the fore Smitch campaign. Living in Japan(lucky dog, always had a soft spot for asian women- married one)how many games can you see?
Never noticed Baston when he was on the court - can't be a good thing.
One other observation on last nights game - Noah did not look NBA ready!

Lots to discuss...

First off, Maceo. Two different opinions on this one. I thought he looked great. He didn't do much on the stat sheet, but I thought he at least looked comfortable in the set plays as most of the fourth quarter resembled a Raptors practice more than an NBA game.

Howland on the other hand, felt like Baston was a bit lost in the offence and still needed to figure things out. What we both agreed on was that he's not going to see much action this year. Right now it looks like he's backing up Humphries who's probably backing up Garbo who's backing up Bosh.

As for Moon, not sure who was saying he should start at 3 but it's not me. Love the kid, hope he makes the team, but let's wait and see what he can do in the regular season before promoting him. We don't want Pape Sow part II.

Old School - Ticket thing was shaaaaaady and has made me reconsider the scalpers for a couple of reasons. What happened was that Howland and I bought two tickets that were season tickets, only the owners had apparently lost them (or had them stolen) so when they showed up later in the first quarter, security noticed that their ticket code numbers had already been scanned in...by Howland and I. So I'm not sure how the scalper we dealt with got his hands on the ticket, but that of course makes you think twice. The second, and scarier thing, is that while we were being escorted to guest services, one of the ACC's staff explained that people had been making fake tickets and unfortunately, they were scannable! So you could totally grab tickets, get in to the game because they scanned fine, and as you're drinking your big beer and thinking nothing of it, security could give you the old heave-ho.

Moon is the second coming of Josh Howard..

Delfino is the second coming of Fred Jones..

I agree with Rubik! What’s not to get exited about with Moon? Not only did he look better than pretty much every, (bench) player on the Raptors squad, except Juan Dixon. He looked better than everyone on the Bulls squad. When evaluating his game and what he can bring to the Raptors, ask yourself….
When is the last time anyone on the Raptors, except Bosh, completed an alley-oop? When is the last time anyone on the Raptors, except Bosh, got a shot block?
Joey Graham, can’t create his own shot or defend. Derrick Martin is the chuckers chucker. Jackson is a homeless man’s Luke Walton, and that’s not good. Baston will average two minutes a game and suck every second.
Can we all agree to get excited about Moon? Isn’t that what pre-season is for?
P.S. Pape Sow is a totally different situation, at best I think we all realized he was a mediocre player but we figured he deserved a chance on a below mediocre team.
Moon is GOOD!

OldSchool are you trying to find someone to pick on, I repect Derick's game for his age he is still a good respectuful player in case you have not been following the Raps he is been trained for coach right now the point guards need his input and Jose learnt a lot of English from him for the fact that he speak Spanish, some of you Raptor's fans are just so fickle you just live to find and criticize and when you have no one to be critical of then you Criticize the whole team why can't we just love our players and our team, and in regard to Moon I thought he was the most defensive player on the floor, I hope they keep him he is going to be a Scotty Pepin kind of player, I really don't see what Luke is doing to improve his play on the team we need guys like Moon.

im actually out of breath after reading that mongo sentence. The 'Pepin' comment was classic too. Hooked on phonics worked for marcia

Franchise – Thanks for your response although I’m at a loss at the moment as to what I’ll do when the need to take in a game or three overcome me. It’s usually a time for me to reconnect with my sons and it most enjoyable when it is a spontaneous night out.

Marcia – enough said regarding D-Mart. He’s not that important. Actually, ordinarily I would not waste much thought him but Tinman got me riled up.;-)

I was surprised that Delfino got no love from Steve Buffery in yesterday's Toronto Sun. His article implied that he had a bad game. If I didn't read the stats line afterward, I would have never known that he was only 1 for 7 from the field. He seemed to do all the little things, (i.e., rebounding, he played very strong defensively, and was very quick in transition). I was kind of annoyed at Juan Dixon for refusing to look at anyone else on the court, even though he had a great shooting night. Anyone else impressed with the team's overall quickness and flow of the game?

Frank, Where can you download the game?

The flow was better than previous games. Hard to take Buffery's article, although not blown away its obvious that Delfino can contribute to this team getting better.
Dixon just doesn't seem to fit, although if his shot is sinking who cares.
Oldschool - for the record I do not think DMART should make the team this year. I don't like riling anyone up.

@ Erezona and whoever else wants to download Raptors games (sorry if this isn't allowed, Franchise & HOWLAND; delete it if need be) - Check http://bt.davka.info/, and http://hoopsfanforum.net/ to find Raps games :D

Not surprisingly, you need a torrent client.

Ron my dear what is im actually? are we trying to say I am or is I'm? my how we love to trow stones at glass houses when we live in a glass house, don't worry I will go to my room and get out my HOOK ON PHONICS, but only if you promise to get out yours. YESSS....

haha..whaaaaat? I dont even know how to respond to that mess of a sentence. Keep on trucking though. Oh and my house is actually brick but thats neither here nor there.