3 In the Key – Toronto Raptors Game-Day Preview vs. Pacers

Some great points here. I am completely on board with you about Sam. Your point about Kobe applies to Bargs as well. The kids is only 22 years old and I'm sure he'll break out of this slump soon. When he does, the Raps will be so much better.

Just wanted to make a point about Kapono. He's still trying to figure out his role in the offense but when he does, and when his teammates figure out when and where to give him the ball, he is going to be extremely effective. Mark my words.

Free Garbajosa!

Does anyone know if Rasho is starting tonight,I read somewhere he was day to day ? If not who gets the nod? Hump,with Garbo off the bench? I agree we have to go inside to Bosh early and often ,to open up the wings. T.J....Nash....James...great comparison.I'm starting to refer to T.J. as good T.J. and or bad T.J.,if it applies to Joey ,it should also apply to everybody else,especially an all star want to be....dont get me wrong ,when good tj shows up he is great,however...head down Mike doesn't do it for me...go Raps

Kapo was one of the all time leading scorers at UCLA if I'm not mistaken and that should demonstrate the potential so it's up to the coaching staff to tap into that.
The garbo situation is interesting. Sam said in a interview that if a player earns his minutes he'll get his minutes so apparently Garbo has not earned his minutes. Strange that the media stressed the loss of Garbo last year as a major factor in the Raptors exit in the playoffs and now he's not even in the second line.He must not be putting out much effort in practices. Too bad

I think we would all like to see Garbo - if in good health its hard not to think he's getting shafted.
Even Hollinger made mention of him yesterday when he ranked our 4-4 Raptors 9th overall.

Interesting, insightful stuff about sam mitchell. People have have to realize that the term "young team" really does mean something. It may take five years for the raptors core to develop and guaranteed there will be a lot of ups and downs. I just hope BC sticks to his guns and keeps them together despite the inevitable criticisms of analysts, radio call in show people and blog commenters.

As for the indiana game, I expect the raptors will be razor sharp after that Utah game. Really the best way to get better is to play better teams even if you lose, so bring on that west coast trip I say.

Some follow-up to this post. No word yet on who starts at centre tonight. Mitchell wouldn't say yesterday so I'm guessing they'll see how Rasho's ankle is tis morning in shoot-around and then decide. Might be Hump who starts if Rasho can't go, might even be Bargs to try and kick-start his shooting.

Also, as much as I sometimes give the gears to the Star's Doug Smith, he presents a great take in regards to the final possessions from Toronto's loss to Utah. It also relates to my thoughts on Mitchell's "still growing as a coach" mentality:

"Okay, there’s no timeout with 17 seconds left ‘cause Sam wants T.J. to penetrate for a quick two, a foul, and an attempt to extend the game. Arguable but that’s okay. Not sure about the suggestion he didn’t call timeout because he didn’t want Utah to set up its defence – on a made free-throw, the defence is going to be set up.

The perfect scenario is to have T.J. drive and kick to an open shooter for a game-tying three, which gives Utah one last shot to win. If second-best scenario is for a quick two, a foul and – likely – two Jazz free throws, a three-point deficit again, the need to blow the last time out to set up a game-tying three. Worst-case scenario, they don’t score, foul, give up a free-throw and lose by four.

So, to recap: At some point, Toronto is probably going to have to use its last time out to call a play designed to get a game-tying three-pointer. Do you want to call that timeout with 17 seconds left? Or with, let’s say, six? Me? I want it with 17. But I’m not an NBA coach. And I don’t even play one on TV.

And here’s another thing to think about: During the Williams free throws, they subbed Jason Kapono for Jamario Moon, giving them a better three-point shooter in the corner. Why not send Andrea Bargnani in for Humphries? First, despite being 1-for-11, he’s an exponentially more dangerous offensive player. Second, if they left Hump in because of his rebounding, that’s silly. They’re probably not going to have to rebound anyway, if the free throw is made. And if 7-foot Andrea Bargnani can’t get the rebound of a missed free throw when every Utah player would have been skedaddling back down the court, that’s unbelievable.

With Bargnani in the game, the Jazz have to cover him behind the three-point line and maybe Ford gets a better look if he insists on taking a three. Or maybe Bargnani actually hits a shot. Whatever happens, we aren’t subjected to Ford and Humphries playing some sort of goofy hot-potato game with the outcome on the line.

With 20-20 hindsight, I’d call the timeout with 17 seconds left and, if I didn’t, I’d have Bargnani in for Humphries. Oh, and I’d make sure T.J. knew he was supposed to attack the rim, not shoot a three.

Not Sam’s greatest moment. But, as my son’s report card says, a Learning Opportunity."

Watching that last play over and over I asked why Humphries was on the floor. Utah sure capitalized on it.
My only thinking is that Sam did not think Bargnani deserved to be on the floor after such a poor performance. IMO a mistake.

Why Humphries was on the floor? Can anyone say offensive board?

I just don't understand where all this Garbo controversy is coming from. In his limited minutes on the floor I've seen terrible shooting, a bit of heady team defence, and opposing players MAKING HIM LOOK LIKE A PYLON IN EVERY 1 ON 1 DEFENCE SITUATION. Am I the only one seeing this? He might say he's healthy but I see a guy who doesn't have NBA-level athleticism. And I know quickness was never his strong suit but it appears to me he's fallen below a certain threshold in that area - if he gets back over that threshold, he'll play again. Pau Gasol needs to butt out...

Why Humphries was on the floor? Can anyone say offensive board?

Last night Jack Armstrong was on the Fan saying that in that type of late game situation, many coaches will call a timeout, but lots won't. It was Sam's call.

But honestly, did it matter who else was on the floor after Sam decided not to call the TO? TJames had his blinders on, and as far as he was concerned NOBODY else was going to take that last shot. So who cares who was on the floor or where anyone was positioned? We can't blame the coaching on that last play because the play was so utterly retarded, there's no way the coaching staff foresaw TJames' brainfart (his second in the final minute).

If TJames does what he's supposed to (quick penetrate for two or penetrate and dish for the three), we're not here discussing whether or not Sam should have called a TO and subbed in the ice-cold Bargnani.

I actually think Sam made the right call and here is why.
There were 17 seconds left on the clock and the Raps were down by 3 and had only one 20 second time out left. If the Raps burn the time out, they then have to go for the 3. By not burning the time out at that juncture, they can still do the drive and dish, or layup for a quick 2 and hope to draw the foul with plenty left on the clock so if you tie it you can still foul and put Utah on the line and still have your T.O. to run the final play of the game.
As for people blaming TJ for the lose, yes he had a brain fart by wasting all that time off the clock with his litte game of catch with Hump but the Raps lost that game because as a team they just didnt hit enough shots to win. Think about it. Bosh was outscored by Moon and it wasn't that he didnt get opportunities but like the rest of the Raps, fell in love with his jumper. Just like I stated a few days ago, this team relies way to much on the jumper and as long as they do that they are at best a low playoff team. They are most effective putting pressure on the d by attacking the rim as it opens up the floor. Yall better get used to this cause its going to take them time to realise that attacking the rim is the only way to win consistenly.

Interesting article from Feschuk on TheStar.com this morning. Looks like there's a reason why Garbajosa is seeing more pine that usual. http://www.thestar.com/article/277022

This is a very sad situation, but if he's as hurt as it appears he is, we may never see Jorge back to 100%.

Neil,

Totally agree with you on the Garbo subject. A lot of the comments I read here come from the heart, are based on emotional reactions and not logic. Garbo’s leg IS STILL BROKEN! He opted to play in a meaningless tournament (Spain was already guaranteed a spot in the Olympics) as apposed to having the surgery required to repair his leg. Doug Smith had a great quote this morning from BC stating that there was a 99% chance Garbo’s leg would NOT heal properly without surgery. He opted not to have the surgery, his leg is BROKEN and therefore he is not the player he used to be. Why should he get minutes over other players on this team (namely Hump, Bargs, Delfino, Moon) who are able to produce more?! I see these emotional responses all the times with the "trade TJ, start Jose" crap simply because Jose is arguably a more likeable guy. I say this because it can’t be based on player skill or potential.

In regards to the papers twist on Garbo...I think the Raps re. the insurance policy must be carefull ...why does Garbo insists he can play,when his ankle is the size of a small child ? Was it worth it? Spain was already in anyway.At first, I felt that B.C. was hard on Jorge,but looking back ,B.C. was wise to get Spain to pay for the insurance policy.He doesn't come cheap,but Brian is worth every penny.

If all of this is true about Garbo leg and no surgury is done then He is of little value to the Raptorss. Even in a trade who will take the chance?

Ustation, it’s exponentially harder to get an offensive rebound from the top of the three point line.

Neil, you have me and Sam Mitchell as company, you are not alone. As mentioned, good article in the Star today about Garbo. It says that: "Bryan Colangelo, the general manager, told reporters that there was, according to doctors, a "99 per cent chance" that the bone would not mend without further surgery".

Why would the Raps not go with the surgery option at this point? Can’t they force him to undergo surgery? Maybe it has something to do with the insurance and they have to wait until it expires at the end of November before they can force the issue? In either case, I can see both sides of the argument. On the one hand, Garbo clearly has not played well enough to justify any minutes on this team. On the other hand, CB4 has sucked more often than he hasn’t this season and you don’t see him being benched. CB4 is considered a valuable starter and will play through his suckieness, but Garbo isn’t being offered the same opportunities (even while coming off the bench) even though he did start many games last year and was valuable to the team.

No one has really focused on this point yet, why on a team that is struggling so badly with it’s offence do you not see Dixon on the floor at some point? He’s offence has been decent this year.

On yesterday’s discussion about coaches and the players they have, one additional point is that Riley in Miami had Wade. CB4 is NOT Wade. Wade can carry a team on his back, CB4 can’t. Caulk this up as another draft we screwed up. Bosh is a great guy and will do well, but he is not Wade.

Erezona
Not quite sure if I agree with you on Wade. Take away all these little "tap fouls" which eventually the NBA will have to address, and his scoring goes down 6-10 points a game. Bosh plays a bigger mans game which takes longer to develope. Just to add no Shaq, no title in either Miami or LA. If you wanna go back a few years didn't Orlando go far in playoffs with Big Daddy? Miami were. no contender until the Diesel arrived

Erezona,
Agree with your logic in principle, but you got it wrong in terms of Bosh Vs. Wade. Tinman was right, Bosh will take longer to develop to his full potential as he is only 23 and Big men take a while to grow into their bodies. To say we "screwed up" that draft is way to far. Having said that, how soon we forget that last year, at only 23 their were chants of M.V.P. raining from the rafters at ACC when he was playing exceptionally well. I agree that he has been struggling to say the least to start the season, but he is fighting through an injury and is usually a slowish starter. By mid December we will have our double-double Bosh back and everything else will fall into place around him.

I know Garbo loves his country but he should have listen to the Raps and stay in Toronto and take care of his body...He keep saying he is a 100% but even in garbage time when he is playing you can see that he is not the old Garbo...MY suggestion though out of loyalty to him for his hard work last year...This game against INdy is the perfect opportunity to see what he can do...Suggestion..Sam shoud start Garbo at PF tonight. Pust Bosh over to Centre and have Humphries coming off the bench...If Garbo is labouring then he could get a quick hook and bring Humphries in...Franchise what do think?

I think if Carter blows up a littler sooner in Toronto, we get Wade. However, at the time we had a productive Carter so there was no foreseeable need at the swing position so now we have Bosh.

Yes, big man take longer to develop. However, there have been some trends in Chris’ development that this far into his career are not just trends but rather habits that will stay with him for the rest of his playing days. Being more comfortable with the outside shot, not taking it to the basket when the team needs to get going, not attacking opposing players with foul trouble, not taking hard fouls when he needs to even if the coach says he needs to (recently this came up and Chris said that’s not his game). It’s all part of the warrior mentality which some players have and others don’t. I think you need that mentality to be a consistent winner in this league. Wade has that. Like it or not, he knows how to exploit the rules and get to the foul line, he can single handedly take over games, he always has the ball at the end of games and usually good things happen. Shaq has certainly had a hand in the Heat’s success in it’s championship run but there is a reason this is Wade’s team and not Shaq’s.

This isn’t a knock on CB4, I think he is a good player and will continue to do well. A superstar? I’m not sold.

In either case, we are splitting hairs. They are both good players.

I'm sorry to dissent on the general feeling over here, but i believe what Garbajosa is saying time and time again: that his leg is just fine. Some notes:

-Noone can make an impression playing only 8mpg, all of them in garbage time. Even Bosh would look terrible.
-It's not only him saying he is fine. It's the entire medical staff of the spanish national team who oversaw all of his recovery. I'm not say they are right and the Raps meds are not (although i'm inclined to believe so), just for you to consider that there are two sides of the story.
-Also I don't believe you can play like he did in september with a broken leg.
-If the Raptors medical stuff really do think he is playing on a broken leg, shouldn't they prevent him from playing? Wouldn't they make the exams public, ask him to go to surgery? If supposedly he said no, wouldn't the meds at least
make that fact public in order to avoid any liability?
-In a similar vein, why wouldn't Mitchel flat out say that Jorge is injured instead of giving generic excuses for his lack of PT?
-Also, for those who insist on the Eurobasket tournament being "meaningless" for Spain, let me again repeat it was just the opposite: it was the most important tournament Spain has played in the last 15 years. Yes, the Eurobasket, being played at home, was a *huge* deal. You may agree or disagree with Garbo's decision to play and i totally respect that, but please stop saying the tournament was "meaningless".

Moving on, the saddest thing is that i don't see a way out for Garbajosa in this situation. At this point both sides (Jorge and the Raps organization) seem to feel betrayed by each other, and i can't see them restoring their confidence. The best short-term solution would probably be a trade to another NBA team, or maybe even a mutual agreement contract termination so he can return to Europe, where i'm sure many clubs would be willing to take that "supposed" injury risk.

I cannot help but be skeptical when Feschuk describes Garbo's left ankle as "the size of a small cantaloupe". If its that obvious, then why haven't the Raps placed him on the IR? They obviously aren't showcasing him for a trade because he get's no burn. Feschuk has been known to be a tad sensationalistic at times. Perhaps he's exaggerating his observed swelling to get his point across.

On the other hand, Jack Armstrong maintains that Garbo's lack of PT is a result of the improved depth on the Raps. Moon, Delfino and Kapono have cut into his PT. I don't really understand this either. Sam raved about Garbo on a daily basis last year. Furthermore, Garbo was clearly in the mix for the starting SF position in preseason. But as soon as the season started, Garbs' ass got nailed to the end of the bench. How does one go from an integral piece of a 47 win team to a 12th man so fast?

To me this is a total mystery. I can't assess Garb's health or conditioning because he barely plays. Are the Raps holding a grudge against him for playing in Spain? Is he playing hurt (he looked fine in Spain and preseason to me)? Is it really just a matter of him getting bumped all the way down the depth chart by Delfino and Moon?

One thing I agree with Feschuk is that we won't be seeing Garbs get regular PT anytime soon. Especially with the emergence of Moon.

Looks like another great discussion brewing.

Re: SonicSuper, I'm in full agreement on the Kapono point.
For him to contribute he has to find open looks within the Raps offensive system, and it'll take time for him to find his place.

He's a sharp contrast from Jamario Moon, who can make a contributions like deflecting the ball, outjumping people for rebounds, and playing tough defense without depending on anyone else.

Like Bosh said, he contributes in ways you can't scout.

To address a point that ustation brought up last day, I think Bosh's foot is hurting more then he's letting on.

A theory to throw out there is that how bad the injury is varies day to day and even quarter to quarter, affecting how much he drives to the hoop.

That could account for why he didn't drive the basket until later in the Jazz game.
(didn't watch the game, so let me know if it was actually a result of the Jazz defense)

A really interesting article on coaching experience:

http://www.realgm.com/src_goaltending/129/20071101/the_crucial_mistake_19_nba_teams_are_making/

It notes that every active coach with a championship won it within their first 3 years coaching.

Maybe the experience angle is overrated with respect to coaches

Sergi P,
•Spanish team would say what they needed to in order to have Garbo play. Can’t say their medical staff was not biast
•You can not dispute the fact that his leg is still broken. This is not subjective, either the X-ray shows the leg broken or not
•Can not trade Garbo. Who is going to take a player with 2yrs left on his deal who has a broken leg and refuses to fix it
•Of course Euro teams would take him as they have less talent available to them as the NBA. Got to admit they do take the NBA’s table scraps, and this might be the case with Garbo

Don’t get me wrong, I love Garbo as a person and as a player when he was healthy. Bottom line is, he is not healthy and should not take minutes away from players who are healthy and are producing. For arguments sake let’s say he is healthy. Then why can’t he crack the rotation... because he has been getting killed by Hump in practice (Doug Smith wrote this about a week ago, from a source close to the Raptors). If he is hurt and will not get the surgery to fix it I wish him all the best in Europe.

Interesting story about John Salmons:

"Salmons was frustrated with Kings coach Reggie Theus' criticism of the team after a loss to previously winless Minnesota Wednesday night, the Sacramento Bee reports. Salmons stormed out of the Target Center locker room before the coach was done lecturing his players."

My advice to John is to just talk it over with God and see what he tells you to do.

Pumped for this game tonight but once again, some great discussion to get into.

Ok, Garbo. Great to hear from ya Sergi, was hoping that you'd give us the other side of things. Like I said in my article a few days ago, something is going on. If Feschuk is right about the ankle (and I agree, he tends to stretch things a bit at times) then why is Garbo playing AT ALL? For the record I don't think he's that hurt. Yes, the bone is probably not healed etc, etc, but he can obviously play on it. The question then is "how effectively" he can play? And to that question, I'm not sure. I've seen some good from Garbs (couple nice looking 3's in garbage time against the Bulls) and some bad (pilon defence as one reader described.) However he's played so little that unless I was at each and every practice, I'm just not in a position to say whether or not the injury is affecting his play.

So really I think Garbs is either being outplayed by his peers, or Mitchell and co. are holding him back because of his off-season decisions. Who knows for certain which it is at this point.

It reminds me of Chris Webber last year in Detroit in a sense. With Philly, everyone was saying how old and banged up Chris looked and how he should hang them up. Then in Detroit, he miraculously looks like his old self and we start hearing stories about how the Philly coaching staff and management had been holding a grudge on him.

However the story didn't end there. Come playoff time, he again looked like he was a supreme liability on D and was out of the rotation for good chunks of Detroit's playoff run. So perhaps Philly knew what they were talking about all along.

Right now with Garbajosa, I think like Webber in Detroit, if he got steady minutes he'd look ok. But I trust B.C. and co's judgement and perhaps they know that the reality is that the injury has affected one of his better qualities, his defence. Mitchell isn't going to send Garbs out just so he gets worked by the likes of Jermaine O'Neal so he can say to the fans "see, I told ya he wasn't the old Garbo!" That's why instead we're getting these "his time will come" explanations from the Raps' coach.

Who knows how this will play out as I'm not sure he's got much trade value at present. But unless Jamario Moon or Kris Humphries get injured or cool off, the reality is that Garbs, along with Joey Graham and Juan Dixon (not to mention Maceo Baston which is another whole story) isn't likely to see much action except in blow-outs.

As much of a fan I am of Garbo I gotta side with MAS over our much appreciated European correspondant, Sergi P.
Spain had already clinched an Olympic berth - do not think it was a wise move for him to play and stated that back when the Euro's were starting. I hope it hasn't cost him his NBA career.
Raptorman - interseting point about the coaches and winning within three years but look deeper(did not follow link yet to article). Jackson inherited MJ's Bulls. Riley inherited the Showtime Lakers. Popovich got Duncan in the draft after playing without David Robinson. Not sure when Rudy T joined the Rockets, but I also think he inherited a pretty good team.
Statistics and fact sheets don't tell whole story.

Another point to add to the garbo situation is that he is a known quantity. Smitch knows his game and how he reacts in most situations. Whereas moon, hump and really the whole sf/pf backup people are new or improving and now is the time to find out where they're at and their limitations under the big lights. From the sounds of it, they're all outplaying garbo in practice anyway and mitchell needs to see if that translates to games (like it doesn't with JG). I still miss the calm(ing) demeanour of garbo, his unselfish and smart passing. The way he orchestrates things to set up mismatches (like dixon on yi). With the bad ankle though, the things I wanted him to add/improve, the drive and kick, a post move or two just aren't going to happen.

Ok I'm sold, Garbo needs to be playing more. I absolutely loved his movement on offence, setting picks for guys in trouble, opening up passing lanes, and hey, dropping some open shots. Quickly coming to the realization that Kapono is absolutely not capable of creating shots for himself. Didnt watch him enough in Miami to know if this has always been the case. Ok, so if Garbo was sitting for not playing well, and Bargs got demoted for not playing well, at what point does Sam cut down on TJames (not sure who came up with that, but I love it) PT? The absolute selfishness was out of control in the first half. This guy has got to be put in his place. Thats all for first half thoughts. Let's hope for a few less Pacer offensive rebounds in the 2nd half, and a little more Jose and Garbo.

As tempting as it is to refer to myself as Nostradamus on this site after my last post, I won't. LOL. Nice game for the Raps, and I willingly admit, Sam did a nice job with the rotation tonight. It's Tinman's time to gloat. Have a nice Saturday everybody, but get up early enough to watch highlights in the morning, its such a nice feeling on nights when they win.

CALDERON: TRUE POINT GUARD AND PROVEN WINNER!!!

Ugly win but take the home victory.
Our subs came up huge. I wish Sam would of kept TJ on the bench for last few minutes.

Take that Dave Feschuk!

I find it amazing how NBA centric this crowd can be. Eurobasket was not a meaningless tournament. The fact that it is also an olympic qualifying event is really secondary. It was the European championship being played at home. Its not about the olympics its about national and personal pride.

Bosh sat out the Americas championship.

if sam is still figuring out lineups, then calderon has earned at least one start, and the chance to win that role away from TJ.

benjibopper says:
November 17th, 2007
if sam is still figuring out lineups, then calderon has earned at least one start, and the chance to win that role away from TJ. IT DOES NOT MATTER EVEN IF JOSE STARTS 1, 2 OR 3 GAMES BC AND SAM HAS MADE IT CLEAR TJ IS THE TEAM STARTING POINT GUARD, THE LEADERS ON THIS TEAM ARE BOSH, TJ AND ANDREA AND THE STARTERS ARE BOSH, TJ AND ANTHONY PARKER, WHAT YOU ARE WISHING FOR WILL NOT HAPPEN.

I agree with Marcia.
You Maple Leaf Bobble-Heads
need to understand that!
It will never happen!!
Never!
And this TJames sh*t is Racist
and needs to stop.
Raptors are a much better Team
without Bargs, He needs to be traded. Hopefully get a slasher like Maggie form the Clips in here.
Bargs is just not NBA Material.
Let The flood gates open, god forbid someone talks smack about Bargs!
But Bosh and TJ are nonstop
Joke material for these Leaf Fans......*sigh*
Iam Done.
Peas&Luv

How is this TJames sh*t racist?

I was thinking the exact same thing Tinman.

Gotta feel good about his performance last night. There's just something about him thats impossible not to like.

Wanna make sure you understand last comment was made about Jorge - not TJ.
KC -You back on the pipe?

I am in absolute amazement that someone would suggest calling TJ Ford, TJames, is racist. I just want to make sure that Keon Clark here understands that Mike James is an African American, just like TJ. I will not speak for others, but I was referring to his selfish nature of late, and increasing tendency to stop playing like a point guard. I still cannot believe that this needs to be explained to someone, and especially from someone with such revolutionary and intelligent thoughts. The first one to criticize Bargs? Are you serious? He has absolutely sucked in the last two games, now there's two of us Keon. Maybe we can get another 298 people to agree and get a movie deal going here.

is it racist to hope for a pass-first point-guard? that's a bizarre analysis of racism, or basketball, or both.

btw, if that leafs fan comment was directed at me, it really hurt. we don't cheer for the leafs in these parts.

marcia: you're probably right, but a guy can dream.

You don't have to explain yourself Branden. I am sure everyone understood your reference...I loved it!