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

by RaptorsHQ - Archives on Oct 16, 2008 12:00 AM EDT in 3 in the Key

Uh oh...don't listen TOO carefully Kevin...

If someone was to ask me back in September what I thought the five worst teams in the league would be this year, I would have said:

1) Oklahoma (Team needs 10 Durants just to get out of the basement in the West.)
2) Memphis (Some nice young talent in the back-court and wings but…right…they have Darko.)
3) Minnesota (It’s going to take more than Mike Miller and Kevin Love to get this D League crew to the 30 win plateau.)
4) New Jersey (If they were in the West, they’d take top spot.)
5) New York (This team should be worst in the league in terms of their chemistry, however they have enough individually talented players to beat any team on a given night.)

In fact, it would have been a real tough call not to put Memphis at 3 and Minny at 2. Yes, I really believed the team was going to be that bad.

I mean, you take out Al Jefferson and is there a single player on the rest of the roster who would start for a good team? I think not. Even the newly acquired Mike Miller is more of a sixth-man option.

This roster reads like a who’s who of NBA retreads for the most part and even some of the highly touted youth like Corey Brewer, Randy Foye, Sebastian Telfair, Rashard McCants and Rodney Carney have yet to show and prove.

If Carleton is considered "Last Chance U" by Canadian students, Minnesota has to be the NBA equivalent.

David Harrison? Calvin Booth? Brian Cardinal? Mark Madsen? Kevin Ollie? Jason Collins?

Are you kidding me?

However there are those who think the Wolves might surprise some teams this year.

In his team previews, John Hollinger actually predicted that the Wolves would top the 30 win mark this season, thanks mostly to the club’s improved offence due to the additions of Love, Miller and Carney. The team was the 27th worst offensive club last year so one could indeed argue that they have no where to go but up.

However we as Raptors’ fans know just how far that climb can be at times. Back in the Rafer Alston era with only Chris Bosh to really look at as a "light at the end of the tunnel," things sure seemed bleak. It was a few seasons and some new management before Toronto got out of the NBA basement.

In fact, it’s slightly ironic that one of GM Kevin McHale’s head honchos in this rebuilding process is none other than beleaguered former Raptors’ GM Rob Babcock. Babcock is tasked with a very similar situation to the one he inherited in Toronto; one potential All-Star power forward and not much else.

The problem is, he’s working with Kevin McHale.

Does anyone realize that McHale could possibly have orchestrated two trades that led to NBA Championships in the last two consecutive years if Philly wins it all in 2009? The KG deal has been analyzed to death but how about this one; remember how the 76ers cleared cap room to sign Elton Brand? Oh right, they dealt Rodney Carney and Kevin Ollie to Minny, where Kevin McHale said he’d gladly take them off their hands!

Carney might still turn into a decent pro but give me a break here. McHale at times has even made Isiah Thomas look competent!

Alright, enough management bashing for now. I should probably save some ammo for the regular season.

Tonight’s game, while another preseason match against a lesser foe (who picked Toronto’s schedule this year as an aside?), should still be very interesting from a Raps’ fan’s perspective.

Here are four questions for tonight which have peaked my curiosity:

1) Who plays the majority of the back-up minutes at point guard?

While early on in preseason it seemed to be a foregone conclusion that Solomon was going to be the back-up to Jose when the season began, that’s hardly the case. Sam Mitchell in speaking with the media today at practice discussed how pleased he’s been with Roko Ukic’s play and how he needs to get him some more minutes in the final two preseason games. However this may not be at the expense of Will Solomon. Apparently Jose asked to play more last game to get some more rhythm going and now he’ll probably sit more in the final matches so Sam can get a really good look at both Will and Roko. Apparently Roko’s a complete gym rat and has been making like Jay-Z and asking a "Million and One Questions" to the Raptors’ coaching staff.

This is all great stuff to hear and combined with Mitchell’s displeasure over Solomon’s play last game, I’m excited to see just who comes out on top tonight. The bottom line is that the second unit needs to start getting a better feel for playing together and whichever point guard can do that, probably gets the nod. Which brings me to my next question…

2) Can the second unit get on track?

Remember last year when TJ got hurt and Jose took the reigns in the first unit? Well Jose’s play was off the charts and the starters cruised without missing a beat. However the second unit suddenly became very stale offensively and failed to function as a cohesive unit. Neither Darrick Martin nor Juan Dixon were the answer and couldn’t wait for the return of Ford.

We all know how that worked out but regardless, the point here is that if neither Roko or Solomon are able to get the offense going with the second group, then what? At least last year the team had the playmaking abilities of Carlos Delfino to fall back on, and the sometimes sparkplug scoring of Juan Dixon. This year? Not so much, and even though Eddie Jones is now a free agent, I don’t think he’s the answer either.

Therefore it’s going to be interesting to see what lineup combinations Mitchell uses as he looks to find the right mix of subs that works. This extends beyond the point guards as well since Hassan Adams has yet to have much impact and Jason Kapono still looks much more at ease playing with the starters. It sounds like Joey Graham might be back as well so I expect Sam to try his luck with a number of different player variations.

3) Can Bargs keep it up?

He was hardly Dwight Howard on Tuesday night but Dino fans did see Andrea doing some things that he rarely did last year, in particular, taking the ball to the rim. He got to the line eight times, scored on some tough moves in the paint, blocked three shots, and grabbed six rebounds, three of them on the offensive end.

I expect Andrea therefore to play 30 plus minutes tonight in match-ups where he should have the upper hand. He’ll likely be playing against grinders like Mark Madsen and Craig Smith so he’ll have his work cut out for him on the glass, but offensively he’s much more mobile than either of these two, and hopefully we’ll get to see him going one-on-one with Kevin Love as well.

4) Couldn’t Babcock have waited until after this game to cut Hoffa?

Perhaps Rob was saving Araujo from a Vince Carteresque treatment tonight by waiving him only days ago. We’ll never know, but a battle of Andrea and Hoffa would have been worth every penny of the over-priced preseason ticket fare from an unintentional comedy perspective alone.

FRANCHISE

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Comments

Oh, this will be interesting, if nothing more than to see how Babcock's other good pick has finally earned some burn on the court. Roko is easily becoming the guy I root for (a distant second behind Calderon) as I just love his attitude. In light of Mitchell's comments in yesterday's scrum, I'm really looking forward to seeing just how Roko handles his playing time.

2nd unit, I just hope will start to see some secondary passing. It's usually just one pass, then a jacked up shot, rather than any passing around the perimeter... Hopefully that will change.

Most importantly, I want to see if the Raptors have learned to re-post guys like O'Neal. It's been a while since they had a back-down center, but I've noticed that the Raptors often throw the ball into the post only once, rather than trying to repost when the center gets pushed out of position. It happened a few times in the CSKA game, so I hope the Raptors will begin to weave that into their game.

by Kinnon Yee on Oct 16, 2008 12:00 AM EDT reply actions

Seeing as Twolves are taking on salary, why not ship Joey g and Roko for Foye? hmmmmmm.

Seriously though, I haven't seen enough of Roko to know whether he will be good or not but what I am hoping to see is that he is at least as good as Calderon was in his second season in the NBA. If he can manage that by the mid point of the season, the backup PG spot won't be a complete disaster. Anything more than that would be a bonus. Mike James as your backup oopps I meant Solomon (a poor mans Mike James and taht is not a good thing) scares the crap out of me. Unless Solo can learn to play with the others and play a more controlled game, I smell a massive hole in the Raptors plans.

I hearby Nominate Willie Solomons nick name to be Solo from now on. The end.

by McGateway on Oct 16, 2008 12:00 AM EDT reply actions

I'm definitely an early roko supporter. After seeing his euroleague play, I thought he should have been brought over last year (and I think they would have had they not had TJ).

But the kid's got onions, size and speed - and so far it seems like good instincts.

Solomon, I can't get over all the chucking he's done so far. I understand a pg has to score but it seemed like he took his own shot too much, and they were threes. I almost hate threes now after last year's jumpshooting overload... besides we have AP and Kap for that.

by axl on Oct 16, 2008 12:00 AM EDT reply actions

23 games on TSN 2. WTF!
This is retarded.

by sharpy on Oct 16, 2008 12:00 AM EDT reply actions

WHICH CHANNEL IS TSN 2...DOES EVERYONE GET THAT CHANNEL OR DO YOU HAVE TO ORDER IT...I like when Roko is pg and solomon is the 2 guard but I doubt if Sam will do that during the reg season with AP and Kap on the bench.

by raps4Life on Oct 16, 2008 12:00 AM EDT reply actions

I didn’t read all the comments on RealGM but seems that the anger is focused on Rogers not carrying TSN2. Am I the only one who’s anger is focused elsewhere?

The real issue here is how many channels does one need to subscribe to in order to see the Raptors? The finger is pointed squarely at MLSE for branching out to another channel. I don’t really care if Rogers carries TSN2, I’ll just watch less games. And in the process, if I should happen to find another way to occupy my time and figure out that life goes on without the Raptors, than that’s just MLSE’s loss, isn’t it?

by Zona on Oct 16, 2008 12:00 AM EDT reply actions

Well this is the first I have heard of the TSN2 crap. Please, Franchise & Howland, organize something to convey just how incredibly pissed we are. I am willing to help, drive to Toronto from Guelph for any sort protest ... literally anything reasonable. I agree with Zona that we must absolutely blame this on MLSE. This is a coordinated money grab, and if Raps management wants to treat me like a piece of trash, then I will work to move on from being so interested in Raptor-happenings.

by Branden on Oct 16, 2008 12:00 AM EDT reply actions

For those of you who live in the Maritimes(Nova Scotia and NB)TSN2 is included in the regular digital channel package. No extra charge. I'm told however that Rogers has not yet included TSN2 as part of their line up. I'm willing to bet however, that before the begining of the season, you will see TSN2 on Rogers.

by OneandDone on Oct 16, 2008 12:00 AM EDT reply actions

Howland and I have been discussing this via email this morning and we're none too impressed either. I think Doug Smith did a good job of laying things out in his blog this morning and really, there are a lot of parties to blame here, MLSE especially for basically bad marketing. You KNOW that TSN is going to show hockey and push Raps' ball to TSN2, that's at their own discretion. So why the hell would you allow this? It just reeks of double talk considering only a few weeks ago you had BC on TV talking the benefits of a training camp in Ottawa and a game in Edmonton in effort to expand the game in Canada.

Right. So to follow that up, let's sign a deal with a station that's going to possibly ensure that fans can't see a quarter of the games.

(Shaking head.)

And so yes, we are going to organize something. We'll probably start via Facebook (the HQ has its own page) and then branch this out to Rogers etc.

The other thing I'm going to bitch about in this rant is Rogers and Bell as companies. Yes, business decisions so their own perogative in terms of who gets what stations, however considering both's abysmal record for customer service etc, it's pretty hard as a fan to not want to seek Hoffa or at least Nathan Jawai on their executives...

by Franchise on Oct 16, 2008 12:00 AM EDT reply actions

As a tennis and BBall fan, I'm really po'ed at Rogers for missing the US Open Men's final. BTW, love Sam's comments on Roko.

by tfan on Oct 16, 2008 12:00 AM EDT reply actions

Let's add a small wrinkle to the topic of televised games. I have recently added RaptorsTV HD to my channel package without realizing that games shown on their HD channel will NOT be in HD!!! At first I thought it was just the preseason games that were standard def, but then I stumbled across this article....

Raptors TV pushing for HD signal in Canada
by Darren Murph, posted Sep 28th 2008 at 5:09AM

It's not easy to light up an HD channel in the Great North, but what is typically the biggest hurdle has apparently been overcome by Toronto Raptors Network. Amazingly, the CRTC approved an application by the aforementioned company to offer a high-def signal of Raptors TV in Canada. Conditions require that the HD version carry 95% of the same content as the SD flavor, while the other 5% must also be high-definition material. Now, TRN must persuade cable and satellite companies that Raptors TV HD is worth the bandwidth, but it seems that industry analysts are pretty bullish on its chances. We can't say our hopes are that high yet, but we've definitely got our fingers tightly crossed for you NBA-lovin' Canucks.

Aaarrrrrggggghhh!!!

So not only am I missing games because of this TSN2 B.S. now I have to watch the ones on raptors TV in standard def!!! NooooOOOOOooooOOOOoooo!!!
**whimper whimper**

by McClarky on Oct 16, 2008 12:00 AM EDT reply actions

Re: McClarky

5% works out to one game every other day - and Raps TV won't have every game - so I think you are covered!

by DanH on Oct 16, 2008 12:00 AM EDT reply actions

Dont get me started on stupid rogers. Yeah, maybe not all their fault but trying to deal with them and bell is like having two crazy exgirlfriends; both trying to one-up the other even though in the end, they both are the wrong choice.

Any chance you guys at the hq can start broadcasting games on the site??????

by fromlongrange on Oct 16, 2008 12:00 AM EDT reply actions

I'm just glad to see that I wasn't the only pissed off about this TSN2 bull%$#!

by sharpy on Oct 16, 2008 12:00 AM EDT reply actions

Re TSN2
You know, it makes you wish they would just put it on Raptors TV while they're at it. I mean seriously, at least EVERYONE gets Raptors TV if they have a digital set top box in the GTA...

But we'll see. I think they're monitoring this backlash very closely already. It's just nice that Smitty gave us a heads up on it all.

by Kinnon Yee on Oct 16, 2008 12:00 AM EDT reply actions

LOL. Raptors are down by 15 to Minnesota. The Timberwolves teammates must have read this website personally and said, lets go out and beat the Raptors. Or JO could still suck and have porous defence. It's probably one or the other.

by BargsBust on Oct 16, 2008 12:00 AM EDT reply actions

The Raps TV broadcasting situation is nothing short of a joke. Either its the TSN2 fiasco, the Raptors HDTV disapointment or the insult of the sports ticker on the Score during live Raptors games. The ticker on the score pisses me off to no end. It forces them to squish the broadcast thereby compromising the quality, not to mention the anoying distraction of having hockey scores constantly paraded at the bottom of the screen... They really have to fix this situation. One alternative might be to have more games on CBC which has the capacity and technology to simultaniously broadcast the games in true HD on CBCHD. They would not have to compete with Hockey night in Canada as Raptors seldom play on Saturday nights.

They have had over 10 years to get this right... Now its getting insulting to Raptors fans!

by MAS on Oct 16, 2008 12:00 AM EDT reply actions

I am a closet Joey Graham fan

by Davl on Oct 16, 2008 12:00 AM EDT reply actions

Joey did OK. Bargnani looks confident.
Solomon does not appear to get it. Why not Roko?
Hump has gotta lay off that jumper.
Worried about JO. Need a more consistant Moon.
In Jose and CB4 we have two allstars.
Devlin sounded ill - hope he gets better. Think he is a great announcer. But tell me why do I miss Chuck.

by Tinman on Oct 16, 2008 12:00 AM EDT reply actions

What is TSN 2, and does Starchoice carry it?

This coupled with the ultra boring Matt Devlin (sorry dude, I'll try to give you a chance.) Anyone get the feeling they tried to get the furthest person from Chuck Swirsky that they could find? I felt like I was watching a golf match.

Damn....might be going back to listening to radio only.

Oh yeah, Bell and Rogers are the worst companies with the worst customer service. That's why I deal with Starchoice and Virgin Mobile.

And it will ALWAYS BE THE FREAKING SKYDOME....we named it, we paid for it, you can't just change the name you arrogant jerks.

Have a nice day all.

by DayOner on Oct 17, 2008 12:00 AM EDT reply actions