Chris Bosh – Defensive Player of the Year

Bosh and O'Neal as defensive stalwarts also gives Andrea Bargnani a clear role on this team - scorer. He's light years away from being the kind of defender O'Neal was (and hopefully will be) and which Bosh could be if he were allowed to focus on that. If Bargs shoulders a load offensively (a big if but smaller than him becoming the next Moses Malone), then the other 2 bigs don't have to carry the team offensively for the whole game. It would also mean reduced minutes since Bargs as scorer could be paired with one of the other 2 for long stretches.

Of course, all of these thoughts require careful coaching - both in terms of getting Andrea to a high level as an NBA scorer and in terms of in-game strategy and substitution. Not sure this team has that but a fan can hope.

Completely agree franchise, and to add, it's very heartening that bosh is so willing to accept this role. With team USA, he's like a super JYD. Plus, he'll always have the jump shot when it's needed.

Have to disagree with poster sam though, based on what we've seen, bargs best asset so far is his defense on other bigs.

I see bo'neal still being the go to scorers down low and opening things up for our smalls.

I like the point about the Lakers as really, they didn't have HUGE personnel changes cuz gasol is more a scorer then defender. Bynum made a diff for sure but the whole team really took up the torch defensively and you can see this olympycs just how good kobe can be in that regard.

One question. Why is it only august????????

Here's a thought...

With the interior defense of Bosh and JO, would this allow Bargs to play some 3-spot? If he gets beat, he has two solid defenders behind him; and at least his height would (hopefully) cause some defensive fits, especially against a shooter. But I guess thats what it would come down to...the matchup: maybe good on guys like Redd, not so hot on Lebron.

I was thinking the same thing. Barney could slip in at the SF spot to make our lineup huge. It will depend on who we are facing because we can now matchup with teams like the Detroit Pistons. Barney has reduced pressure on him also to perform. I'm hoping that he can get back to his form in his rookie season. Barney will be the main catalyst this season.

Bargnani at the 3:

If he gets beat bosh and JO are there for help. Are you expecting Bargnani to know where/when to rotate after he gets beat? Won't happen....becuase it never happened once last year...the guy was a good indivdual defender on bigs but probably the worst team defender on the Raptors.

On offence if Bargs plays the 3 what are you expecting him to do? Post up? I don't think those words are in his vocab. His biggest advantage is taking big guys out of their comfort zone, if you play him at the 3 against another 3 what speed and outside ability does he then have?

Bargnani for his long term development's sake and for the sake of the raptors needs to be put in a position to succeed so he can get his confidence back.

Playing him out of position when he couldn't play his own true position well will not do that.

Playing bench players at his natural position will be more comfortable for him and he can work his way up and become a productive starter in the long run.

Will the raps improve defensively? Like the rest of the season that depends on the health of JO's knees.

One thing is for sure although Sam was a good defensive player none of the teams he has coached on were strong defensively and he is not shown he is a defensive minded coach. He was brought in to replace Kevin O'Neal's defensive game play with an uptempo offensive game. It was Sam that wanted to get 100 shots up a game.

So we'll see....he has a group of guys who can do anything he wants the two questions are what does he want? and will the raps stay healthy?

Would love this team to show some defensive intensity. Pride.The commitment that the Celtics made to defence won them the championship.

Bosh is playing for his country right now, lets hope this commitment leads over to the regular season. No, Bosh is no KG, but KG is not 24. Lets not forget that Bosh still has his prime years to come.
With Bosh and JO healthy, we have never had such an inside presence on D. Lets hope this sense of pride becomes contagious.

As for Bargnani, leave him be. Let him roam from the outside in. Let him regain his scoring touch, because his defensive game did improve. His most glaring fault last season was that his open shots did not fall like his rookie year. He had the opportunity to get 14-15 points a game. I read somewhere that he was quoted as saying that last season hardly ever practised his shooting, mainly defence. Hope Sam lets him shoot more in practice this year. I expect a bounceback season.

With CB and JO hopefully we show more zone this year. A little modified 2-3 and 3-2 against dribble drive teams with athletic SFs whom we struggled with last year might do the trick.

I have to agree with some assessements of Bargnani. The comment by the Tinman about Bargs not practicing his shot seemed to have been the case judging by the way he shot last year. We have to believe that he was learning other aspects of the game and just wasn´t focussed on his shot. That will benefit him in his development over his career, but hurt his contribution in the short term. It should also go to Sam´s head that Bargnani is only really an asset if he is able to hit his shot! Otherwise, he´s only a shade more useful than a Hoffa. He needs to spend hours with Kapono before working on developing a post game.

I still have a sneaky suspicion that JO may become the head Dino. If he does outplay Bosh, will Bosh be able to handle it? He´s been a great leader in terms of attitude, especially for a young guy. Maybe the experience of playing with great players at the Olympics may help him deal with having another great player on his team.

Hey everyone,

I just got back from my European vacation and spent the morning trying to catch up.

First off, are all the basketball games being shown on T.V or will we have to settle for the highlights? If yes, which stations are showing them? I guess I got a little spoiled over there. They show every game either live or via tape-delay.

As for my two cents, I really love what Bosh is doing for the Americans. It seems as if he is being used more than big Dwight in key situations. I find Howard's game doesn't translate very well on the world stage. How about the Redeem Team as a collective? They truly are a powerhouse. I was in Greece when they played the U.S. and the way the Greeks played in the first quarter, I truly believed it was going to be another upset. They seemed to have the Americans playing their game. Then the Greek philosophy shifted and they began to deconstruct. Kudos to Team U.S.A for smelling the blood and jumping on them. Jose has played very well on the whole, but I was a bit confused with his sporadic minutes against the U.S. in favour of Ricky. Rubio definitely has skills, but I thought Jose would have been a better option. This was the only game where he was really transparent. Watched some Croatia, but whenever I tuned in, Ukic was not on the floor. As much as I would have loved to be watching b-ball all day long, the beach and ice cold Heineken's kept diverting my attention.

The positive info I received from friends over there was about Printezis. I got to watch him throughout the tournament (in limited minutes) and he definitely has skills. He is very athletic and can shoot from both inside and outside the 3. He can slash and isn't afraid to go to the basket and is a very energetic rebounder. He was just named to the Greek National team and is still very young so obviously plays limited minutes. My friend is a die-hard Olympiakos fan and is quite depressed that his contract expires in two years. The team would have liked to build around him. Even Panathinaikos fans (who hate each other) re-affirmed that he is definitely a player. His role on the team increased this year and Olympiakos is always challenging for a championship, which bodes very well for Giorgos. He seems to have a high basketball IQ and knows where to be for rebounds. He had 14 points and a couple of boards in 13 minutes against Angola. I liked the fact that he scored in many different ways. In summary, he has many skills that the Raps lacked the last few years. Let’s hope these skills translate to the NBA. That really is it in a nutshell. Can someone please remember to answer my first few questions!!!

Thanks Assistant GM, nice update on Printezis!

I just saw both Raps PGs duel it out in Spain's comfortable win over Croatia (72-59) in the Olympics quarter-finals. Calderon seemed to have found some his rhythm and scored 10p in 18min, with 4/5 FG including 2/2 3p, and 2 assists. Ukic did not make a good impression on me, 7p in 20 min with 2/7 FG, his two baskets coming from easy fast-break layups but missing 0/4 3p and not looking comfortable with his show. But watching games like this, I understand what many have said already that his game (more slashing than playmaking) seems to be better suited for the NBA than for the international style.

Oops, replace "not looking comfortable with his show" with "not looking comfortable with his (outside) shooting" in my previous post.