3 in the Key – Toronto Raptors Game-Day Preview vs. Knicks

I personally didn't think JC was playing off ball against Orlando because Smitch wanted to use him as a scorer. It looked simply like they wanted to get Delfino some burn at the 1 but with JC on the court to help him out.
On one play you could see JC directing Delfino to simmer down (couldn't see whether he actually called the play as well).
Obviously, JC's percentages are Nashesque and it could help if he scored more, but I trust JC will know enough to get all players involved and only really take over the game in close matches. I think we'll really see him bust out more scoring in the playoffs when he knows his team's got to win. Think he could average a 20-12 in the playoffs.

Actually, Calderon was being used at the 2 out of necessity because the Magic, in an effort to contain him in the 4th quarter because he had been destroying them off the high pick and roll all game, started double-teaming him right as he was getting to the mid-court line. The Magic announcers, which included the extremely observant Matt Guokas, did an excellent job predicting this was what Stan Van Gundy would do as the struggled in the 3rd quarter, and that's exactly what he did. So after the Raps struggled for a couple of possessions since JC was being hounded by Rashard Lewis and I-can't-remember-who-else would run right up to JC just ahead of the mid-court line, Sam Mitchell made the best in-game coaching adjustment I've ever seen him make by switching up and making Delfino handle the ball off the in bounds and spotting up JC as a shooter (while still being the one calling the plays, mind you).

I'll never forget the reaction of the announcers when Delfino found JC open on the wing for two swished 3-pointers on the next two possessions:

=====

Play-by-play Man: "Delfino is now taking it up court instead of Calderon."

Guokas: "Looks like that's how they're countering the Magic's pressure on Calderon. The Raptors have a lot of confidence in Delfino handling the ball and running the point."

*Delfino dishes to Calderon on back-to-back possessions for 3-pointers

PBP Man: "Now that's just not fair! Here you got a guy who runs the offense to perfection off the pick and roll all game and you take the ball away from him and he instantly becomes a deadly spot up shooter?! That's not fair *laughs*"

Guokas: "Incredible. All you young boys and girls out there who want to learn how to play the PG position, get a tape of this game and watch number 8 in the white jersey."

=====

And then I smile. =)

The overall plan to develop the Raps team is still in place.

I like this deal. We can’t loss. If 7’ Brezec, who may be a step up from Baston, does not work out he gets no PT and is gone at season end. If he rediscovers his game, he will be a useful big for playoffs.

All Raps expiring contracts still available for dramatic moves next year.
We are in the Eastern conference folks and don’t need to do anything dramatic other than avoid playing Cleveland in the first round of playoffs.

Costas - GREAT quote. The Orlando commentators are one of the few sets in the league that I enjoy.

As for Jose at the 2, I think why it works so well though in terms of breaking the pressure, is that if teams try and concentrate then on Delfino, an open Jose is going to burn you because of his shooting ability.

Question for everyone that just popped into my head - do you think BC would have signed Kapono if he had known that Jose was going to shoot the way he has this year?

Nice. Grange said exactly what I posted in the comments section yesterday. I don't get his arithmetic though. We have Rasho (8.4 million), Parker (4.55 million), Garbs (4.35 million), Baston (2 million), and Moon (500 thousand?) coming off the books. How does that add up to 12 million in expiring contracts? Looks more like 20 million to me. Is there something I'm missing?

Good question, Franchise. Then again, if we knew JC would be this good, would the CV/Ford trade have happened? Things would look very different in Raptorland.

Nope and I don't think he would have brough in TJ prior to last season if he knew how good Jose was going to be.

Both Mitchell and Colo admitted they did not know that Jose was going to ever be this good.

He's still not an elite pg because he gets burned too easily on the defensive end however he is certainly just one notch below whereas I think TJ is two notches below (needs to be able to shoot more consistantly and not take as many bad risks)

The more I though about the random trade I came up with the more and more I was hoping it would actually happen.

TJ+Kopono for Jarrett Jack+Travis Outlaw+Raef Lefrenz

However TJ is going to have to stay healthy and continue to put up big numbers if he is going to have any trade value.

I really want TJ and Kopono out....nothing personal I just don't think that we need to invest that much in a backup PG with a massive injury history and a one dimensional specialist.

Also wouldn't mind getting that 14 million to use on a star 2 or 3 player.

Maggette could opt out of his contract after this season. Could probably get him for around 8 or 9 million which would be nice.

One team to keep an eye on is Cleveland. Not sure how this has changed with the addition of Wally but two things the cavs really wanted was outside shooting (kopono) and a pg (TJ Ford)

They have an abundance of big men that could help in the rebounding department for the next one or two years

And perhaps they have an expiring contract they could throw our way.

Actually judging by recent contracts it would probably cost us 10-12 million....wouldn't be willing to pay more

For Toronto: The Euraptors were crestfallen when they acquired Dixon at the deadline last year and found out he was American. Exchanging him for Brezec fixes that nagging problem.

are they friends with someone else we know? lol

Just wanted to add that I LOVE this deal. I couldn't stand to watch Brixon lay any more bricks. I would have dealt him for a sack of turds. The fact that we could get NBA player with an expiring contract in return is just gravy.

Home and home against the Knicks. MSG on a Friday night! Lets take the crowd out of it early.
CB is talking that the 3rd seed is up for grabs, lets start that push.
The last person we got from the Pistons has worked out fine, lets not rule out any positive contribution from Brezec just yet. Serious doubt that anyone has seen enough of him play to pass judgement.
Still looking for info on Garbo's recovery......

Re Calderon I do not believe either Colangelo or Mitchell relalized what they had in Jose. He is only 38 games into starting. Give him 2/3 more years, his upside is unlimited. BC has,in some interviews, given praise to Babcock for his forsight in signing him.

Everybody kept talking about trading Dixon for a backup PG when the raptors have the bigger concern of signing their starting PG. BC traded Dixon's expiring contract for Primo's bigger expiring contract and cash (which could be used to pay the luxury tax if the team goes over). It is like trading 10 dollar bill for a twenty, that for me that is a good deal. Is Primo going to win raptors a title, probably not, but Jose Calderon signed with his salary might.

I'm a little sad to see Dixon go. He's a pretty remarkable dude. Both his parents died of AIDS and he had raise his family himself. Plus he won a NCAA championship.

Another strange tidbit. His aunt is the Mayor of Baltimore. Anyone who has ever watched The Wire, knows what that entails.

But now that he's gone, I think we should all drop the Brixon nickname. I much prefer "Juan-and-done"

Takers?

There is another side to the Dixon-Brezec trade...BC showing that he deals fairly with players, which will help sway free agents and resignees to TO. The trade itself has no impact whatsoever (someone who was not playing for someone who won't play), but the Legomaster still managed to get something positive from it

The more I think about this trade, the more I like it although I really wish we were getting joe smith instead. But who knows what we would have had to give up to swing that.

The only question with Brezec is: is he an upgrade on humphries? Obviously the proof is in the pudding, but I think he is. It's true, he's been on the decline since his best year in 2004, where statistically he delivered twice the production of rasho on roughly the same minutes while getting the starting nod for every game he played. I never payed much attention to him myself, but from all accounts, he tries to be an "energy" player though in the jump hook, short-shot euro-center mold. He is 7'1", 250 lbs, so he's got to have some effect on the Ilgauskas's of the world, if not the Shaqs. Not to mention, with fellow slovenien rasho to hang with, we might see a Garbojosa effect like the one we (arguably) we saw with jose (but admittedly haven't seen with baston).

His downfall seems to have been not so much injuries, but "exhaustion" which got him shipped out and buried in detroit. So by now, he also may be another delfino chomping at the bit for a chance to prove himself.

And there can be no argument for keeping dixon, shooting a buy-out worthy 36% this year, being a total liability on an already bad defensive team, proving himself worthless as a back-up PG and then having the temerity to want out. Please. His delusions of granduer at the start of the year, claiming he was going to be a regular rotation player should have been the writing on the wall. If he has a honeymoon period with detroit like he had with the raps, he might help them short term, but I'm surprised he's stayed in the league as long as he did.

The move might also give some flexibility to try other things with Bargs, who might be more effective at small forward.

Hey, if Lamar Odom, or Garbo for that matter, can play sf, maybe bargs can to. I always thought sf was just just the position bargs played before he grew 7 ft. tall, but when kenny smith said during the rookie/soph game something like, "he plays center, but has more of a small forward type skill set", which struck me as true, I got to thinking that maybe bargs just *wants* to play sf. The argument against of course, is that he can't guard sfs. But that might explain why bargs always seems over eager to switch off onto smaller players - maybe he's trying to prove to mitchel/colangelo that he can do it. He hasn't done that, but looking at the playoffs, I can't help but think rasho's going to mainly play center over bargs if the matchup is howard or ilgauskas. So to try bargs at sf might be a bit of neccessity so his scoring is not wasted.

Anyways, that's some heavy conjecture, but food for thought.

Franchise - Caldy's shooting would have made it a tough call, but at the end of the day I think BC stills signs Kapono even with Caldy's shooting. Mopete was ready to move on and I think Kapono was a safe bet as far as a trade piece.

All you people slagging Juan Dixon have short memories. When he came last year he played 26 games for Rap's. His stats 26min;2.8rb;11.1ppg
and starting 6gm 30min;4.3rb 2.8ast;13.7ppg, not bad for what he is, a scorer as a 2.

This year his mins taken by Delfino, Moon, & Kapono who all do different things than Dixon but are all scoring less. Not Dixon's fault, just life in the NBA. One yr your useful, the next your reduntent.

Colangelo made this trade to allow Dixon to go to a team who may be able to give him a chance that he was not going to get in TO. Brezac is just who he could get back for the $2.7mil, as well as someone who could be a project,and expiring contract, because a couple of yrs ago he put up some numbers and he is 7'-255.

The trade can only be positive. Dixon wasn't doing anything for the Raps. Brezec might turn out to be useful, but even if he doesn't it really doesn't matter much.

Man - lots of great comments as usual...

Garbo's recovery - great question as we haven't heard much from the media about this lately, something we'll have to check into.

Solid point JYD on Jose's contract. I'm wondering too if the reason Grange only had $12 million down is because he was assuming Jose's contract (as BC as intimated that Calderon is not going anywhere) will be about $8 when all is said and done.

Would have loved to have had Joe Smith too and a great idea by Colangelo...anyone else find it hillarious though that Smith has gone from being the biggest bust pick for a number one draft choice to being one of the league's most underrated players??

I think I too am in the minority here by saying that I will miss Dixon. As Mazel stated, this is a guy who has overcome an incredible amount of adversity in his life and I really didn't think he was as bad as most people have been led to believe. What you see is what you get, an undersized scoring guard who has managed to hang around the league a lot longer than many predicted when he was drafted by the Wiz.

For the stat lovers, Dixon's Player Efficiency Rating this year was actually ahead of players like Raja Bell, Keith Bogans, Matt Carroll and most importantly perhaps, Fred Jones. He's not far behind Jason Kapono in this area either and the player directly in front of him in the NBA for shooting guards in terms of PER? - Mo Pete.

Speaking of PER - I just noticed that Chris Bosh trails only Lebron, Chris Paul and Amare in this category in the ENTIRE LEAGUE at present!

Here's some more of the stats stuff that makes all you guys hate me, but I'll go ahead and link it anyway. =P Someone on the APBR forum compiled a list of the leaders in the league so far in mid-range jump shot percentage. It was first linked by Kurt at Forum Blue and Gold:

http://www.sonicscentral.com/apbrmetrics/viewtopic.php?t=1654

Scroll down all the way to the last post in the thread for something to smile about. =)

I too was a big fan of Juan Gone - when he played for Maryland. He was solid for the Terps.

But not too sad to see him go as he was at best a bit player.

I think the pieces are in place for the Raps to make a big run next year...baby steps people.

It's not like they're the Leafs - BC has a plan and it's going to pay off in 1/2 years with GOLD baby GOLD!

Costa,

HOLY CRAP! Great link... If Jose keeps that up, we're talking hall of fame career. Unbelievable, considering how fast (less than 3 seasons) he has progressed into one of the leagues best Point Guards. What I love best about Jose is he has yet to take a bad shot this season. i defy anyone to point out a bad shot he's taken this whole year. He only shoots when he should, great decision making. Unbelievable...

Have lots of time on my hands today. Doug Smith posted this tidbit on Garbo in Wednesday's mailbag:

"Had a couple of queries about Garbo earlier this week. He’s got the full cast off, wearing some sort of brace but that’s about to go and he can begin full rehab shortly. It’s not like he’s been doing nothing, though, we’ve seen him in the weight room doing a variety of exercises almost daily.

Don’t get your hopes up, though, it’s still a longshot that he puts a uniform on this season."

Good point on the PER, I think it's a good measuring stick, but what the raps need right now is dee-fense.

I'm a Dixon fan too. He was a major improvement over Freddy "the finger" Jones, and basically class all the way (compare to Jalen Rose, in the end). Why so many people slag him here is beyond me. Good luck baby!

Maybe somebody better show this link to Gilbert:

http://www.sonicscentral.com/apbrmetrics/viewtopic.php?t=1654

Another link to make you smile:

http://www.basketball-reference.com/leaders/off_rtg_season.html

Jamaal Magloire was just waived by the Nets.

http://www.nba.com/nets/news/Jamaal_Magloire_2_22_08.html

I have never been a big fan of Mags, and I certainly don't buy the whole "he's from Toronto so we should get him" line, but we could pick him up for next to nothing right now, and he CAN rebound. Signing him for the rest of the season seems like a risk worth taking. He's definitely a better fit than Primo the Gangsta.

Completely random coincidence but thought you boys and girls might find it amusing; I fubared my ankle last week and today was my scheduled surgery date to insert a metal plate and screws and such.

So, guess who was wandering down the halls of Sunnybrook rambling on his hands-free with his pipsqueak Slovenian homeboy in order to get his incoming Raptors physical? Yup, none other than the big štruklji himself (štruklji = a savory cheese strudel).

So as we waited, I ask Primoz if he knows how to rebound... just kidding, I do welcome him to the Raps, to which he replied that it is great to be here, the Raptors have a good team, and he was wondering, since it’s so cold and shitty outside, where he could get some good downhome žganci (žganci = buckwheat dumplings in soup). Before I could respond I was taken into the OR.

My conclusion: The man likes to eat, he's really fricking tall (my being in a wheelchair didn't help that perspective), and he will fit in with the "nice guy" nature of the team, since he didn't have to take a break from his call with his mistress in Ljubljana to chat with me for 10 seconds. I'd also be surprised if he's on the bench tonight in NYC unless Tannenbaum flew him over in his private jet.

Early opinion on the game early in the second quarter, 32-18 Raps...

The Raps are playing extremely erratic and sloppy ball, except for Chris Bosh (who punched an awesome dunk in transition almost from the free throw line!) and TJ Ford, and yet they've still opened a big lead... It's easy to see why this Knicks team is such a nightmare. Even with the bad ball by the Raps, they manage to find a way to give them a bigger and bigger lead.

Spoke a little too quickly, the Knicks have woken up and cut the lead to 6 while the Raps continue to sleepwalk. I'll just shut up and let the game play itself out. =P

Bargnani was a small forward for Benetton!

WTF?!?! Jonathan Coachman from the WWF is now doing the MSG network sideline reporting?! LOL

I'm sure Isiah wanted to make a move, but if you were an NBA GM, who would you want from the Knicks? Virtually everyone on that roster is overrated and overpaid. David Lee and Renaldo Balkman are nice pieces, but they're exactly the kind of players that the Knicks need. What a mess. You have to feel for Knicks fans. And although we may watch Isiah's bumblings with kind of horrified fascination, the league needs a strong New York franchise.

End of the 3rd quarter, Raps down by 6, turning the ball over left and right, committing bad fouls and just looking overall ugly. If they somehow manage to pull this one out, it certainly won't be because they deserved it. =(

These are the following players, better than Bargnani in his draft class. It's really hard to argue against this point when he only averages 10 pts, gets 3bds, and fouls 3 minutes for every 8 minutes.
L. Aldridge, B. Roy, R. Gay, R. Brewer
Sean. Williams, M. Williams, J. Boone
K. Lowry, J. Farmer
That's 9 players! We have the number one pick. But BC had to go for Il Mago,
the phantom center. Can you imagine if we had R. Gay. This guy is tearing up the league right now. Or how about an all star in B. Roy.
Critics say, hold on and be patient. But, I'm sorry, if you have talent in the NBA you demonstrate it day and day out because NOBODY should be able to stop you. For instance, CB4. This guy is dynamite! He's amazing. He's basically made major improvements in efficiency of scoring every year because he has TALENT.
Bargnani is a SF who's playing center for us right now. And he doesn't even play in the most critical minutes of the game. He has limited talent. What a waste of a pick.
I do love BC, but nobody's perfect, and this was a dumb pick.
Imagine if we had J. Boone or Sean Wiliams, at least we would have interior rebounding and an athletic player.

Embarassing !!!and we want to be top tier team...What was our 3 pt champion doing on the bench with Moon launching threes,I dont get it....what a mess.

That was disgusting, I just threw up in my mouth.

Our swingmen has no idea how to guard Crawford, not forcing him to drive at all.

Gawd awful! Good enough to beat Orlando, bad enough to lose to the Knicks. Not happy with Sam's coaching tonight. He tried a few adjustments but they didn't work. He got outcoached by Isiah! That hurts to say.

Crawford was unreal and AP couldn't guard him. Moon the rookie had a good game but in clutch situations he is too timid. Hopefully that will change when he learns that he belongs.

CB4 was solid but didn't drive to the hoop as much as he needed but the referees were brutal tonight. I think I saw Zach smack CB4 upside the head knocking a contact outta his eye with no call.

Bargs played solid defense bu the shots weren't dropping and he got in foul trouble early. I would have let him play though it but not Sam.

And of course Kapono was sitting on the bench. Since they don't run any plays for the best shooter in the NBA why not park his a$$ on the bench.

Not a good game for SAM.

I absolutely hate these types of losses, and we seem to have them all the time. Why can't we just win when we are supposed to and steal a few we aren't supposed to! Will we ever have a win streak over 3 games?

Bargsbust, I don't totally disagree with everything you say, but you are a one trick pony. You keep making the same point over and over and are starting to bore me.

Yeah, i'd sign Magloire. We need a rebounder. Who cares if he is Canadian, he's tough, he boards no one else on our team combines those qualities.

Primo the gangsta, i thought nothing could make me smile after that loss. Jeesh, I hate losing to Isiah, especially as a Knick.

The Indian food I had for dinner tonight won't stay down after that loss...might take me a while to summon the strength to recap this fiasco. It's as if Toronto looked at my 3 Keys in the pre-game, then decided to do the exact opposite...

PS - Get well soon JJ, not a fun deal with the ankles...no plates for me but can't count how many X Rays and rehab sessions I've had. Funny about Brezec, you should have rigged the physical so he flunked and had to return to Detroit. Anyone else think that Magloire sitting in Primo's bench spot wouldn't be a better idea? And I'm not even a big Magloire fan!

Robert Archibald,
neeeiggh, or whatever a horse noise makes. LOL.
Truth be told, I believe that the Raptors have a great team, with the exception of Bargnani.
Chris Bosh = Fantastic, charismatic franchise player
Jamario Moon = athletic forward who plays like S. Marion, fantastic role player
Anthony Parker, fantastic role player, good defence, good shooting, great teammante, never takes a night off.
Jose Calderon or TJ Ford. Both like playing with each other on the same team and don't mind sharing minutes.
Then you've got off the bench, Carlos Delfino, who has not even come close to reaching his potential yet. He'll be a really good slasher one day getting to the basket on a routine basis because he LIKES contact.
Kris Humphries is a banger and I think he deserves more minutes because he is an interior presence.
Then you have Rasho as a European leader for the team
And finally Jason Kapono. I think Jason Kapono does not get more shots is because - well, I don't know why, I'm mystified.
Raptors are an efficient offensive machine and a pretty good defensive team to boot.
They also have the coach of the year in Sam Mitchell, and BC is an amazing GM, who just made a mistake with Bargs.
Henceforth, the Raptors don't have a lot of weaknesses.
The only glaring weakness is the Centre position in Bargnani. Get read of him (or play him at the SF), for someone more decent and the Raptors could probably get into the Eastern Conference Finals or NBA Finals.
If Primo Brezec starts, and figures out he can fit into the Raptors system, while putting up good numbers, I think the Raptors have a good chance of getting into the Eastern Conference Finals.
Go Raptors!!
And guys, this is just one stupid loss. In the bigger picture it doesn't mean much. It just means that Bargs sucks., which you already knew before tonight.

Ok, moon is really pissing me off now.

"For instance, CB4. This guy is dynamite! He's amazing. He's basically made major improvements in efficiency of scoring every year because he has TALENT."

Yes. CB4 has made major improvements every year. Would you then agree that CB4 is a totally different player today than he was in his first year? If you did agree, would you then be admitting that NBA seasoning can improve a players overall performance?

Chris Bosh rookie season: 11.5 points per game in 33.5 minutes.

Andrea Bargnani rookie season: 11.6 points per game in 25.1 minutes.

...just my thoughts.

This isn't such a productive suggestion, but we need the Oak Tree.

And the Knicks aren't as bad as anyone thinks. Not that that's any consolation.

Assistant G.M. great comparison Bosh/Bargs....Bargsbust ?.....We all know that Pasta Boy always gets into foul trouble...but can anybody remember the last game he fouled out in ? neither do I,Sam just has a hate for this kid.

...and yes I am comparing AB to CB4.

I was in Boston in October visiting friends enjoying beer(s) and steak. The topic of conversation that night was the emergence of Andrea Bargnani. My friends watched the playoffs last year against NJ. After watching AB's performance that series, they were ALL convinced that AB was going to overtake CB4 as the team's franchise player in a few years. They discussed how easily the Nets controlled Bosh because he was being too tentative. They also discussed how Bargnani had ICE IN HIS VEINS...

Now fast forward into February of this year...

AB is not having the type of season any of us expected (to the delight of my Boston friends who believed he was going to be a thorn in the revamped Celtics side).

There have been many theories as to why Andrea has not been playing to his potential, and many of us agree that the main one being the difficult transition into the 5 position.

What AB becomes in the next few years really depends on Andrea. But, I do believe that many of us have seen enough positives (his improved defense on the blocks, and willingness to drive to the basket) over the last month or so to still believe that BC is a far better GM than you or I. I for one am content with the direction our team is heading in. Heck, every once in a while I still wake up in a cold sweat remembering the Raptors that were (or weren’t), where VC was an injury away from retiring, Kevin O’Neill was a shattered lamp or two away from having a nervous breakdown, and Rob Babcock was… well…Rob Babcock (who I don’t dislike as much as many of you)…

So, what am I saying…

…that the glass is finally half full, maybe even three quarters full and our core group of players are all under 25 years old…

…just my thoughts!

The first foul on Bargnani was garbage. Defender was clearly moving. Upset at way Sam is cutting his minutes. Moon can jack up 3 after 3 yet stays on the floor.
Always been a huge Sam supporter but think its time for BC to tell him to play the kid more. Yes I am disappointed in Bargnani's lack of progression but understand he is being asked to play a new position. I HAVE NO DOUBT HE WILL ADJUST FINE. Have already seen glimpses.Our championship contendership, at best, is still two years away.
Games like this remind us where we are as a team. Jeckell and Hyde performances that piss me off.

Brutal game!
Seriously can we use Magloire? Doug Smith doesn't think so?

Yes, we need rebounding, but I don't think Jamal's the answer. I have to agree with BC in that we don't really need someone that can't shoot a mid range jumper. The Raps often seem out of whack on offense when they have a guy on the floor that can't hit an open 15 footer. It allows the defenders to play off that man and reduce the open space for our primary shooters. I know Jamario hit some threes last night and they were in rhythm, so I don't mind, but after he missed one, the next time he had an open opportunity he passed up, clearly in doubt that a) I got lucky the first couple of times, I can't really hit this; or b) Sam says I'm not supposed to do this. We should hire whoever Monta Ellis had coaching him this past off season to help Jamario really work on hitting those open mid-range jumpers. I think then he'll have more chance to do the slashing we want from him. Hump too would really take a step up in this world if he was good enough that he didn't have to pass up a completely open shot from the top of the key like he did last night. If JC could get so much better then so can those guys. What a team we'd have in that situation. Just need to tell myself to be patient.

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