Tip-In: Toronto Raptors Post Game – Alotta Bosh, and Not Much Else

Wwe already have Marbury's brother on this team His name is Joey

AB was demanding the ball inside early but was ignored, then he got cold. Solomon was atrocious. JO should have been left out there after 2 fouls. All in all, a terrible game.

I do no think Jose contribution will be just to limit the number of turnovers, but also to be able to give the ball in rhythm to our three bigs. I believe Andrea was invisible because he was never given the ball in a condition to score or while in motion. the same can be said about JO and Bosh, good for us Chris was able to score irrespective of it. Yesterday we did not have much from Will: little scoring, little slice and dice to open the shooters, very little passing down low. Our offense revolved around giving the ball to Bosh while he was static and hope he could score. He could, but he cannot win games alone.
On the other hand I have seen a very good JO performance, bringing superman down to earth. Howard did not command much of a double team, Joe could keep him at bay in single coverage. This Raptors team, with Jose can beat Orlando, better, for what we have seen, it should be expected to beat Orlando once it will be firing at all cylinders. That should not take forever tough.

you're being way to kind to Solomon. His 3rd quarter jumping in the air, getting caught, and then basically throwing the ball straight up in the air to no one in particular, was classic. Ukic has some nice ball handling skills, but can't run an offense and I'm not sure who has a worse looking shot - him or Howard. All other player moves in off-season may be excusable (maybe AB gets better, maybe Moon keeps progressing, etc), but this point guard situation is inexcusable, and if BC doesn't address it soon, then it's on him.

Agree with you franchise, this team is going to be an 8th seed at best if they dont get some help for boshy and jo. And not sure how exactly bc is going ot get help. 10 games in and essentially no improvement from the bench or wings. Maybe time to start looking elsewhere...

wow, our offense was terrible last night! we ran no plays, not even the pick and roll. after bosh set the high screen, he just popped out and waited to get the ball up top. it looked like he was scared to roll to the basketball cuz solo/roko would make a terrible pass resulting in a TO.

how about solo's 360 jump pass to no one?

I lay this defeat squarely on the feet of Will Soloman. Time after time, Jameer Nelson ran him through screens and then took the mid range jump shot.
I have to say that a team simply cannot have two NBA rookies backup point guards.

Solomon is useless beyond redemption. We should develop Ukic as back-up PG, the same we did with Jose. If Jose is a no go today I would start Roko and see what we got.
In every loss we see little signs of great things to come: last night it was JO's defense on Howard. It is absolutely maddening to predict which team will show up after 15-20 games: a powerhouse in the East if we put everything together or a treadmill .500 team if we get only bits and pieces every game.
I hope all the players not named CB4, JO or Jose took a long look in the mirror after last night performance. It is inexcusable to have such a performance from CB4 and JO and lose the game.
In regards to our defensive and offensive execution I'm really torn between coaching or the roster as the reason. However I believe we need a little bit more patience to see how things unfold (remember the start of 2006-2007 season?). I trust the brass will make the right decisions at the right time.

Let's try to finalize the Joey Graham thing. He and Mitchell simply lack chemistry and so Joey will never reach his potential in Toronto. Despite that some people have a hate on for Graham as fans, he really has not had a fair oportunity this year nor will he get one with Mitchell. It is very hard for this young man to perform when he is benched on the first mistake.From Mitchell's point of view, I'm sure he feels that he has given Graham lots of chances but although he would never admit it, it really comes down to poor chemistry between them. The right coach under different circumstances could get a lot more from Joey but it would be with a "pat on the back" rather than a "kick in the ass".

If I wanted to watch Mike James play point guard, I'd tune into the 2nd quarter of Hornets games...

I am beyond frustrated with this PG situation, cuz like PMD, I saw it comin'..

At least there was some excellent college hoops on, with Stephon Curry and Blake Griffin dueling it out...

Obviously solomon's in over his head, but did anyone notice that Orlando has become an excellent defensive team? The word is out, raps wings are easy to shut down - they don't make many contested shots and they can't and don't drive. Bo'neal can't do it alone. We need that wing more than a PG.

I can't believe I'm almost missing Delfino...

The biggest problem with the Raptors is their me-first first (backup) point guards. It would be fine if they were making shots but they're not. Remember in pre-season when Roko said that they are reconstructing his shot, so why the hell is he heaving up three's? Was I dreaming or did I see Solomon do an amazing "pirouette" in the air and then throw away the ball?

Like Franchise said if going into Bosh and O'Neal is working, why mess up a good thing?

I don't know what videos of Roko and Solomon Raptors scouts were watching because they can't even make proper entry passes into our bigs.

At this point, Marbury is our only option for a legit backup:

positives:
- Adding another scoring threat
- More fast break opportunities
- A deadly second unit
- Getting Calderon much needed rest time
- Combo guard option (Jose and Marbury)

Potential negative:
- Marbury might demand a start as a condition before he comes to T.O. It may fuel a TJ Ford incident all over again.

Overall, I would rather roll the dice and take an affordable Starbury, than hold on to two unproven pg's from Europe. I think Bryan C must still have ties with Marbury (from his Phoenix days), so he maybe able to coax him into coming.

"I hope all the players not named CB4, JO or Jose took a long look in the mirror after last night performance. It is inexcusable to have such a performance from CB4 and JO and lose the game."

I wanted to highlight this because I was thinking the same thing last night after the loss. A game here or there, fine, but does anyone else get the feeling that this is going to be the case all year unless BC doesn't find these two some help? And of course that has long-term ramifications for both Bosh, and the Raptors who want to retain his services.

PS - Steph Curry would have won us the game last night.

I agree with RT, Joey is not getting any burn and it drives me nuts. Last night it wasn't a great match up for him as he is undersized to cover Turk or Lewis but I would have thought that after all the bricks everyone else threw up in the back court, he might have gotten a few more minutes to see what he could do. As for Solomon and Ukic, yes Solomon looks at times like a poor mans Mike James but I am willing to be patient as 1. He wasn't expected to start so early in the season and after being in Europe for awhile, he needs time to get his NBA timing. Maybe he never will but I am willing to wait before pushing the panic button on him. Ukic is a rook and he makes rook mistakes. I can see his potential though and with a little more seasoning he can be everything the Raps need in a backup (needs to work on his shot though). Everyone needs to calm down on the PGs as I really do not think it is as bad as everyone is making it out to be. Could they be better? Obviously. They also could be worse. The real problem is out on the wings where Parker, Kapono and Moon look useless offensively. Kappy might have an excuse that the team isn't running plays for him but the other two need to do more when they get the ball other than jack up bad shots early in the clock. To be fair, Orlando looked like they were willing to let Bosh do what he wants and stop everyone else (which is good strategy and I am a little suprised that more teams don't do this when another team's star is stuck doing it all). At the end of the day though, they need help on the wing and will struggle until they make a trade or someone on the roster starts hitting the open looks they are getting.

You said it so well Rt... Smithell gives zero time for players to develop in his system. If you make one mistake and "Bang" you're in the doghouse. If they do consider making any deals, get rid of our coach first!

I guess I wasn't the only one who saw Solomon's 360 ---Degree of difficulty: 10
Execution: -2

Last night in a nutshell:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k6kbgAA8uhM

I love how Devlin says "What in the world are you doing?" That's just what I'm sure we all were thinking at that moment.

Weren't we all singing the praises of Solomon after the Miami game? Jumped off that bandwagon as quickly as you all got on it. I thought Solomon played bad even with his double-double in the Miami game, sometimes the boxscore don't tell entire story. I am not giving up on him because he is in our cards now and we have to play him. I am looking for him to bounce back from last nights disaster.

If Bargnani would of sunk them two 3's that he attempted back to back in the second half would we of been so down on him this morning? You tell me. Missed open shats. Nothing more. His 9 attempts were near his average. His fear of going inside against DH was disappointing but not unexpected. DH has that effect on many teams.

Branden you asked the over under on Sam the previous post. I am probably the biggest homer you'll meet but when I looked at the schedule prior to season starting I had them at 10-10 at the end of first 20 games(tough schedule to begin with). I am not gonna blame Sam if we don't go 15-5, it would be an unrealistic expectation.

Great clip - there were a few others last night that almost ended up like that too.

I'm not hanging this all on Solomon though, Ukic with his "rebuilt shot," was hardly an improvement and perhaps even more frustrating as he's supposed to be the "pass-first" type.

I threw out the Starbury comment partly because The Score did a little piece on him after the Raps' game finished. It was weird seeing him sitting at a press conference in Phoenix beside BC apologizing for his DUI arrest. Just shows that Colangelo has indeed made some questionable calls regarding personnel decisions. The good thing though is he identifies if something's not working, and tries to fix it quickly. Hopefully he can do the same here.

How This Team Wins:

Going forward this team should adopt the following path to a reasonable chance at victory: if Bargnani is going to be in the starting line up, get him going first before the other offensive options because it makes things easier for everybody else.

The San Francisco 49ers in their heyday used to have their first 20 or so offensive plays figured out before the game started and would just run them regardless of what the other team tried to do on defense.

In the Raptors context, because of the lack of quality at the traditional wing spots, the Raptors have to come up with a 3 Big Offense with the goal of imposing their will on the other team (which they NEVER seem to do). Their first 20 offensive plays should occur within 15 feet of the basket, they should be attempting to get the other team in foul trouble early and then simply work from there. The coach's (whomever that might be in ten games) thought process should be, "Ok, I don't have a small forward, but I have two power forwards and a third power forward who is pretty good at handling the centre position, all of whom can pass, let me just use what I have." We would like cake, but we have some bread and cold cuts, so let's start figuring out a way to make a sandwich we can live with. It's getting ridiculous.

HQ Associates: You stole my "space man" reference! :) I was just thinking the exact same thing.

All you Joey lovers: I've got some prime realestate to sell ya!

Well at least not everyone's jumped off their office towers just yet. However if the Raps lose tonight, I'll expect some headlines.

Come on.. who here didn't know we were going to have Guard problems sometime this year?

McGateway, you're right about our wings being a problem. I'm less likely to blame it on the players because the coach creates the plays. The Raps do not run enough screens. If you look at the Magic, every player had an open shot because alternate players laid down screens.

Kapono is a pure spot up shooter and it doesn't look like Smitchell realizes that. Why is Kapono creating his own shots? Check out some highlights of Dell Curry and you'll see that he worked around a lot of screens to get open.

"He and Mitchell simply lack chemistry and so Joey will never reach his potential in Toronto."

Mitchell is a horrible coach who is incapable of adjusting anything. That guys couldn't straighten his tie if it got coroked, let alone recognize ineffective interaction patterns, considering different approaches, deciding on the optimal option and implementing and adjusted approach.

If I was Joey, I would slap Smitch across the face. It is the only way.

But seriously. I wanted this guy gone ages ago. That COY award was the worst thing that could have happened. If Colangelo had any balls he would have still made the personel change.

I basically had a BC man crush untill he raised the divisional banner. Since then I haven't really agreed with much that he has done. I mean, a divisional banner. What self respecting adult male would do that? What is this? house league pee wee hockey? It was pathetic. My dad bought me one of those divisional championship shirts, and I told him it was totally gay. (not gay like homosexual [which i accept support and am cool with] but gay like a reindeer sweater [social inapprorpiate, and something that normal well adjust people shouldn't do regardless of sexual oerientation])

I know it's a combination of Don Nelson's system and his eye for talented combo guards and point forwards, but every year he finds a diamond in the rough... at exactly the position we need help with!

This year it's Anthony Morrow (granted too early to say he'll stick around), before it was Kelena Azubuike, and Matt Barnes, and way before that John Starks...

I know we got lucky and found ourselves one in Jamario Moon, and knowing how Smitch runs the show, none of the above mentioned players would get the same opportunity/leniency that Nelson affords, but there have to be some options out there...

We need to find ourselves a Ramon Sessions or a Kelena Azubuike... because I don't really like our trading chips at the moment... I know we don't have the money... but if things keep going like they did last night... opening up the pocket book to give an overlooked talent a shot would be a welcome gamble in my mind.

At some point the team needs to get rid of Mitchell and bring in a real coach, and/or bring in a starting 2/3. Our defense and its inablity to keep our man in front of us in brutal. Is that Mitchell's coaching? Bosh even said it in his post game about each man needing to stay in front of their own guy and not expect help all the time.

Any thoughts on Jerry Stackhouse? Cuttino Mobley?

What coaches are out there to consider?

Avery Johnson??

Bosh has said he likes Toronto. He gets paid well and is the man here. However ain't nobody gonna put up with "We're in a rebuilding year" 6-7-8 years in a row.

The cap space can't come soon enough. BC better get CB4 some more help. It won't be $$$ or MVP awards that keep CB4 in TO. It's gonna be "Can I get a ring here with this team?"

I've always been a reluctant Sam Mitchell fan. I like his no BS personality. Can't blame him for players not moving their feet.

However his one size fits all approach to developing young players doesn't work on everybody. If BC and Sam aren't on the same page it's time to move on.

I would have liked Marc Iavroni. I was one of those cats who thought it was a foregone conclusion he would be our coach going into the year, and went so far as to start a thread on the Suns RealGM board to ask them about him!

I remember I caught his press conference following one of the first games we played Memphis after he was hired: the guy had a stat sheet out during the question period and he was actually analyzing the game! It was almost as if he has put some thought into things, and further, was listening to questions, understanding them and responding to those questions. I forget exactly what Smitch said, but I’m sure we could all generate a generic caricature of what he might have said, and we would all be pretty close.

I mean, we are all fairly smart people: we recognize that a coach or GM isn’t going to divulge all of his strategy. But at least give us enough so our mind is at ease that your mind is at work. Obviously the Toronto (professional) media can be pretty weak, and dealing with them on a daily basis would be trying. But there has to be some sort of a balance.

I know hockey examples are somewhat fauz – pas, but take Ron Wilson. He has a no non-sense attitude towards the media, but he still presents himself in away that demonstrates that he knows his stuff, in addition to communicating that he thinks that the reporters are R-Tards.

I think Smitch can be a good coach under the right circumstances. But I don’t see him and BC ever being complementary to each other. He could probably coach the Celtics though!

Stack is struggling in Dallas right now with basically no one in front of him so guys like he and Finley I'd take a pass on. Mobeley's a bit of a chucker too although I'd rather have him than the other two.

I like your take on things Lessthanzero - you gotta be able to find those upside players, especially those for cheap. I know Gerald Green is no D-Wade but tell me even HE wouldn't be a help to this roster right now?? That's what frustrates me, a lot of these "under the radar" guys were available at various points and BC took a pass, instead, opting to go with folks like Solomon and Adams (who isn't even playing.) I mean Anthony Morrow, DeMarcus Nelson and Dahntay Jones are all making solid contributions to their teams as starters and all were up for grabs for cheap. The former two weren't even drafted (and Nelson was brought in for pre-draft workouts) and the Raptors took Adams over Jones from last summer's free-agent camp!

But enough crying over spilt milk, the team needs some help yes, but until reinforcements arrive, other players are just going to have to step up. Parker, Graham and Moon are all in contract years so they better get it together quick.

PS - Caino - the BC rant was priceless, especially the Reindeer Sweater part ha ha! I think my crush is fading fast as well...

Lol, thanks Franchise.

Anyone know how much cap space we are projected to have in the 2010 off-season?

Reason that I ask is that I have a few curiosities that perhaps someone can satisfy, or at least lend some feedback. (I may have posted similar thoughts at some point.)

Having cap space is great if you want to snipe someone else’s players (LBJ ain’t signing for the MLE), but doesn’t it make more sense for teams hoping to resign stars to not have cap space? So then, coming out of the offseason they will be able to have a higher team salary and presumably more talent?

We would need an insane amount of space to have any wiggle room after resigning Bosh. I’m not sure how much space we project to have, which is why I ask, but I’m assuming after Bosh, we’d be working with something between the MLE and 10 Million.

So we’d be loosing O’Neil for nothing, resigning Bosh, and then having a sum maybe between 6-10 million. (And then once we hit the soft cap that offseason, we cannot use the MLE > as is my understanding)

As opposed to being over the cap, stacked with whatever talent JO and his contract nets us this offseason as an expiring. PLUS after resigning Bosh, we could still use the MLE (As is my understanding).

In the second scenario, we’re probably in the Tax, which MLSE might be cool with. In the first, we are hovering closer to the soft cap.

Now, I'm not sure about the MLE rules there, nor about how much cap space we project to have. Also, we have this offseason upcomming, and a team with what seems to be a few holes.

The Good

- Bosh and JO is working fine (better than most of us thought),
- AB is doing fairly good but still needs a role on this team to been consistent. AB is NOT a SF. He could create miss match on none offensive SF (prefect example Miami) but will get kill by guys like R. Lewis, T. Prince, King James, L. Odom on so on…
- Jose is an all-Star…Top Two or Three PG in the East…
- If JO continues is 16-18pts 10-12red & 2blk we might have 3 all-star coming Feb. for a .500 raptors time

The Bad

- Sam O Sam still does not have the Brain cells to run plays for Kaponoo and Bargnani.
- I’m not sure what defensive scheme he creates.
- Won’t give Joey a long leash to show cast is skill for the better of the team
- Still have that Man Love for Moon
- And as per Doug Smith for the Toronto Star Sam Job is safer than most of us thinks…I feel crying because I’m losing faith in our head coach

The Ugly

- I HAVE ABSOLUTELY NO COFIDENCE IN SOLOMAN. Even after the Miami game. He is a bad version of Mike James. And we all remember Mike James.
- Roko needs time, practice, and change is Jump shot before he has a chance
- Our two and three spot is the worst in the NBA. Moon cannot guard for shit and does not have any basketball IQ there is.
- Parker and Kaponoo are struggling
- Our bench is so…so…Might have a good game here or there but that it.

Possible Solution with the players and cap space….a trade to GS as per rumor
See link http://bleacherreport.com/articles/81583-t...marco-belinelli

Not sure if it is true or not but this would solve at least 60% of our problem!!!!!!!!

in the post game scrum with solomon last night, paul jones was asking a question about making screen & decisions versus running a play or offence with a defined pattern...

seemed like a jab at sam and i'm dying to know the answer but the vid on the raptors site keeps timing out just before solomon speaks.

can anyone transcribe some of it for me?

As per usual, I've figured out some trade scenarios just for the heck of it:

To Chicago:
Hump, Bargnani and Kapono

To Toronto:
Ben Gordon, Andreas Nocioni and Joakim Noah

or

To Golden State:
Hump

To Toronto:
Belinelli, Marcus Williams

Just thought I'd throw that out there.

I think to trade to GS for Harrington And Belinelli would be good for the team.

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/81583-t...marco-belinelli

-I miss Darrick Martin!

-Shaddy, excellent summary. We shouldn't forget however that we do have the several good points that you listed!

-I don't think Joey is an all star, but he hasn't even had a chance in the past two years

-I like AB having a defined role as a back up for O'Bosh for the next two years. Bargs seemed to like it too.

-There were so many players available for cheap this off season that could have helped, this is the first time I have been disappointed in BC - though I am hopeful he will right the ship.

I'm not going to talk more about Roko and Solomon, cause I know all you guys know how I feel about it as a situation.

But I think it should be telling that he was just so indifferent to his responsibility about the loss after the game. I don't know if people are coddling him or whatever, but I dunno. Kinda made me more disappointed about the guy.

I'd rather salary dump Joey and sign Bonzi Wells than Harrington. Atleast he's show at some point in his career that he is an above average starter...

For all you Solomon bashers, as much as I like Calderon, Jameer Nelson ran circles around him in the playoffs last year and he would have done the same to Calderon last night. The offense may have been run better but I'll never confuse Jose with a defensive stopper.

Why all the love for Joey G? Seriously, I'm not sure how anyone can honestly think he's better than he's shown for 3 seasons, which is nothing. I doubt he'll get another NBA contract.

Shaddy made a great point - worst 2's and 3's in the league. In the league! I agree. How can you be better than .500 with that.

Give Mitchell some credit for dealing with a pretty talent thin roster.

Also, optimist here, but I do think the team will improve over the year and be better suited to compete in the playoffs with Jose at the point and JO in the middle.

Can we find some hidden gem 2 or 3? Unlikely, but we can hope.

worst 3 yes, but AP worst in the L? don't forget his defense. night in night out he gets tough assignments and does a decent job on them.

also, ukic can be developed - i have higher hopes for him than solomon anyway. the 3-spot is where we most need help.

but until then: free kapono. his D is suspect but at least we know he can score and he can even feed our bigs.

sorry, one last thought: smith = brutal. he nearly cost us an easy one tonight. they eat our 17 point lead in a matter of minutes...no timeout, no subs, no nothing until they take the lead. the rage. the rage.

Could not agree more benjihopper. I watched in disbelief as Miami ate the lead with Sam calmy sitting on the bench. For crying out loud, if Solomon is that useless, and Calderon can't play heavy minutes, use Roko. Seriously, I was trying to give Solomon a chance, but the man is terrible, as a PG at least. Man did Parker look weak on D last night. Hit a few clutch shots late, but still missed a bunch early. He is looking below average as of late, and not only on the offensive end. How did Moon get to stay on when he jumped at the head fake from Chalmers shooting a 3 and fouled him? Guaranteed Joey gets the hook for such a stupid move.

Its so simple,the raptors are a 500. team,actually the coach is a 500 coach.He does not have what it takes to take the raptors to the next level.The only reason the raptors won the atlantic the other year was it was the worst division.Now all teams have made changes and the raps are still the same.i feel the raps have the players to compete,but they need the mental apsect,and mitchell can not motivate the team.It takes more than hard work to win,you also need to be mentally ready every night and at the moment it seems only Bosh is ready.Players like Joey G need a father like figure not an arrogant SOB like Mitchell.Soon Bosh is gonna want to go cause he is a winner,and as long as Mitchell is in TO that is not gonna Happen.