Schedule Talk

by RaptorsHQ - Archives on Aug 7, 2008 12:00 AM EDT in General

The Raptors get four more kicks at the can against Boston this year...

Aaaaah.

Schedule release day.

Well, that was yesterday, but still, it’s a day I always look forward to each summer.

I guess for me it’s because it just feels that much closer to the tip-off of the upcoming Toronto Raptors season. In fact, it’s tough not to project ahead and get excited about next year after seeing next year’s slate of games for the Dinos.

And at first glance, this seems to be the first pretty balanced layout of games I’ve seen Toronto get in years.

Remember two seasons ago when Toronto started on like a 16 game road trip with six back-to-backs during that span?

Ok…it wasn’t that bad but for at least the past three years it seems that Toronto has gotten the scheduling shaft to a certain degree. While schedule makers insist that there’s no real favoritism that occurs when an upcoming season is planned out, it does always seem to me that the better the Raptors project to be on paper, the better the upcoming schedule.

And this year, things look better than they’ve been in a while:

-Four games against divisional foes with two home and two away.

-The remaining 10 conference teams played twice at home and on the road with the exception of four teams - two will be played once at home and twice on the road (Cleveland and Washington) and two will be faced twice at home and once on the road (Detroit and Miami). Each Western Conference team will be played once at home and on the road.

-Friday is the busiest day for the Raptors with 21 games on the schedule while Sunday features a season-high 16 home games.

-And while Toronto has a few West Coast road trips, most are only about three games in length.

The toughest stretch on paper without a doubt occurs around Christmas time. Toronto every year seems to get stuck with a deadly West Coast swing around this holiday season with lots of back-to-backs and teams like Phoenix, San Antonio and Dallas involved.

This year, even though Toronto is away from December 19 to the 29th, the West-Coast adventure has the Raptors up against juggernauts like the Clippers, Sonics and Kings. Add in the Warriors who probably took a step back this off-season and really it’s the Spurs and Blazers who Toronto play on the second nights of back-to-backs that are definitely going to be tough wins.

However besides that West-Coast stretch, what really makes December tough is that Toronto takes on New Orleans and New Jersey back-to-back (albeit at home), then welcomes the Mavericks before heading out West.

Upon returning to the ACC?

Well there’s nothing like a welcoming committee of the Denver Nuggets on New Year’s Eve and then Houston and Orlando coming to town in the next four days.

However this piece of the puzzle aside, the breakdown of competition and home and away games is pretty good:

-One home and one away in October.

-Seven home and seven away in November.

-Six home and 10 away in December (the toughest stretch as mentioned.)

-Eight home and eight away in January.

-Six home and six away in February.

-Nine home and four away in March.

-Four home and five away in April.

It’s a pretty balanced look and while the Raptors will have 17 back-to-back games this season, that’s down three from last season. On top of this, with 13 of Toronto’s final 22 games at home, it bodes well for the stretch run.

In terms of noteworthy appearances, Lebron comes to town once on February 18, Toronto gets to take its first shot at the World Champs early in the season on November 10, Steve Nash arrives January 18, 2008, Kobe and his Lakers appear on February 4, and the Raps take on the Pacers for the first time December 10th.

Best of all as mentioned yesterday, Toronto gets to see the new-look 76ers on opening night, October 29th.

The local television schedule will be released at a later date but all 82 Raptors games will be aired nationally here in Canada. On the down side, the Raptors have only two nationally televised games in the Us at present; one on ESPN on December 5th against Utah and one on ESPN2 on Friday, April 10th versus Washington.

Of course, as we saw last year, if certain teams that are expected to be top draws fade (like Miami and Chicago last season), or if Toronto takes off, that could change.

For me, the matches I’m already looking forward to are against Philly and Boston obviously, but I’m also anxious for a little "how do you like them apples?" against Orlando and a few good tests against Detroit. Toronto needs to get off to a good start if they aspire to grab home-court advantage early in the playoffs and games against Milwaukee, Atlanta and Charlotte through their first six matches could put them right on track towards this goal.

Yes, there’s still not a lot of US exposure…but come February if the Raptors are sitting near the top of the conference I expect that to change.

The schedule is out, and in a few short months, we’ll soon see what this newest version of the Raptors can do with it.

FRANCHISE

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Comments

Certain Sixers forums/blogs seem to think that the Raptors will be competing for third place in the division with the Nets. They seem to think the ranking in the Atlantic will be:
1)Boston
2)Sixers
3)Raptors
4)Jersey
5)Knicks

I say Sixers fans need to have their collective heads checked.

by VelociRaptor on Aug 7, 2008 12:00 AM EDT reply actions

I'm with you velociraptor.

Maybe I'm guilty of the same thing the sixers fans are, but Boston better watch out for these raptors.
I'll be laughing when the sixers are struggling for a playoff spot.

by andre on Aug 7, 2008 12:00 AM EDT reply actions

If T.O. is competing with the Nets in the standings, it is a BAD year in raptorland.

I agree that the Sixers *should* be improved (and they were essentially tied with the Raptors last year), but they could easily fall out of the playoffs if Brand isn't fully recovered or if there are issues with Iggy and his contract.

I don't see a scenario where Toronto falls out of the playoffs unless 1-2 key players get hurt.

by BC on Aug 7, 2008 12:00 AM EDT reply actions

The Sixers have a lot of questions remaining. Firstly how will Brand recover from the surgery? Just as importantly will Iggy's contract situation be resolved? Having a unhappy superstar is not what you want when you are trying to compete for a championship. We saw what happened to the Bulls when Deng and Gordon did not get their extensions.

The one x factor for that team is Thaddeus Young....I was screaming for the Raptors to do anything to move into place to grab him and I predict his development will be a lot like Iggy's but instead of a 2/3 he will be a 3/4.

The Raptors only big question is JO's health. Andrea's productivity is also a question but he is not going to swing the balance for the Raptors like Brand or Iggy would for the 76ers.

Hopefully the Celtics start showing some wear and tear.

One game I can't wait to see is the Raps vs. Nets....I want to pound them into the ground. Unlike some of you I will boo Vince Carter until he's a very old man....if he's healthy at 50 years old and I see him walking down the street I will run to boo him.

He might have forced his way out of town, diminished his trade value and beat us in a playoff series however I think now he will get what he deserves.

Question for you guys:

What top 3 teams are you most excited to see this year excluding the Raps?

Mine would be: Portland, 76ers and Rockets

Basically I'm interested in seeing how the teams that made dramatic changes do.

by wtf on Aug 7, 2008 12:00 AM EDT reply actions

Interesting read boys and ur right, this i think is the best schedule the raps have had in a while. December is tough but might be a good way to gauge how good this team is. If the team is struggling around .500 by mid Jan, maybe BC makes some changes by the trade deadline.

PS - I think philly is overrated too...and not jujst as a biased raps fan. A lot of their succes last year was because of the runandgun style of play and with Brand, im not sure theyll still be able to do that.

by fromlongrange on Aug 7, 2008 12:00 AM EDT reply actions

I'm most looking forward to seeing the games against Indiana. With the whole JO thing and of course TJ. I really liked TJ and wish him all the best. I hope this bit of overblown venom that is percolating amongst raptors fans doesn't turn into boos when he comes to town. The Raptors made the right choice with Calderon, but still... the guy did put it all out on the floor while he was here. We all had high hopes for him when BC signed him; and I remember being pretty devastated when he was taken off in a stretcher against Atlanta. I wish him well.

Also I'm excited to watch Portland (just to see how Nate doles out minutes to a team so stacked, albeit young), the New look Sixers, Houston (with Artest), Knicks (just to see what D'Antoni does with that team), and strangely enough the Clippers (if Davis makes them fun to watch it will be really nice to catch teams coming through LA without having to pay a Lakers premium for tickets). And of course I'm really looking forward to measuring stick games for the Raptors:

Celtics (how close are we?), Detroit (can we be physical enough to finally go toe to toe with them), Orlando (o comment) and the rivalry that came out of nowhere with Washington.

Damn I wish the season was starting sooner.

by LAs Only on Aug 7, 2008 12:00 AM EDT reply actions

Franchise or Howland:
could you guys maybe explain how fantasy basketball works to those of us who are ignorant about it. Have a vague idea, but would love a breakdown and advice as to when and where to join

by adam on Aug 8, 2008 12:00 AM EDT reply actions

Adam,

This is a question that can be answered a number of ways but here are the basics:

Most fantasy basketball is played at sites like Yahoo Fantasy Sports or a specific league type site that specializes.

You would join a league that's open to the public or you and your friends would create your own league.

If you chose the latter option, let's say you had you and nine friends creating a 10 team league. The whole thing can be done for free at Yahoo quite easily and then you would simply proceed with either a live or online draft to chose your respective teams.

Most fantasy basketball leagues play a "rotisserie" style system, that is to say that the players you draft contribute in various statistical categories and their totals give you team amounts which compete with other teams in your league. Popular categories include points, rebounds, assists, steals, blocks, field goal percentage, free-throw percentage and 3 pointers made.

However the players you drafted do in those categories during the year determines how well your team fares in comparison to the other nine teams your friends have.

This also affects your draft strategy as you want to select players who excel in these areas. (Ie Ray Allen for 3 pointers and shooting percentages, Chris Kaman for blocks and rebounds etc, etc.)

That's the basics but for more, check out ESPN's fantasy sports site:

http://games.espn.go.com/frontpage/basketball

PS - New article will be up before noon...should be a fun one...

by Franchise on Aug 9, 2008 12:00 AM EDT reply actions