Tip-In: Toronto Raptors Post Game - Monkey...removed.

Andrea Bargnani is my favourite Raptor but even I chuckle a bit when someone calls him a defensive weapon. Lord knows he's improved at the defensive end but only to the point where he's no longer a weapon pointed at his own team. He needs to rebound better as you noted and he needs to be a much better off the ball defender. He gets lost in space too much. He's shown signs of improving both but I doubt he ever becomes a stopper. Let's enjoy his appearance act without obscuring what he still can't do.

Hi all,

I'm driving down from Hamilton for the Kings game...probably my one game of the year. Any suggestions on a somewhat close and reasonable place to park down there? I'd use GO Transit normally but for a variety of reasons I have to drive.

Thanks

Really enjoy the site and insightful comments. This is my first time joining in. It was a great game and I agree with the keys but I think Joey Graham played extremely well and like Bargs, is now turning into the player we expected. GO RAPS

Parking around there can be rough JD - but last time I went with my Dad who was in town, we parked the rental in the LCBO parking lot. Yep...a bit sketchy perhaps but it's free and only about a 7 minute walk. The LCBO is at 2 Cooper Street, nearest intersection being Queens' Quay and Yonge.

PS - Solid win last night. With games against the Kings, Nets and Bucks coming up, could this be a start of a mini-streak?

the garbo-year raptors were in the same boat at about the same time of the year and they put on an amazing run to get into the playoffs... healthy JC I think it's possible, not to mention JO takes our bench to another level...

solomon with the dnp-cd, hopefully roko is the regular third string from here on out

Jdbar,

If you want legitimate pay parking that is pretty close to the ACC, I will give you a couple of options. I agree with you Franchise about the LCBO and have parked there a few times when visiting friends nearby. I just would not want him to get towed and spoil that great feeling after the Raps win by 36. The first location is the Royal Bank Plaza underground (on Wellington, between Bay and York Sts.) It is a 3 minute walk and costs around $6-8. The second location is the underground at Roy Thompson Hall again on Wellington, just past University (or Simcoe). I think the weekend rate is between $7-10. It's about a 5 minute walk, but there is no traffic from that lot after the game. I hope this helps!

It should be obvious to all that Calderon is the engine, and emotional leader, that drives the Raptors, even if Bosh is the best player and supposed team leader.

A great game by Bosh, the best on the defensive side with 2 blocks & 6 steals this year, where he expended most of his energy.

Let's remember Bargnani spent all summer working on his "C" skillset, and with consistent 30/40 minutes is starting to get a comfort level in the role. He is still only 23 years old, with lots to learn about the role, and in another 2/3 years will be someting SPECIAL as an NBA player with All Star potential.

Thanks for the suggestions guys, much appreciated.

Jose didn't give the ball away. That's the bottom line. Do not give the other team extra possessions. While not flashy he's fundamenatally sound.

Devlin said something the other night that struck home. We knew if this team were to be hit with injuries we could be in trouble. Prior to season it was said repeatedly we were one injury away from the lottery if Jose went down. Well, Jose went down and we sure looked(and played) like a lottery-bound team.

Am hoping we can put the nightmare of first half of season behind us and move forward. And stay healthy.....

Short of the Marion trade actually happening and Marion and Jose developing a Nash-Marion telepathy I'd rather we stayed in the lottery, even though it's a weak draft year. Another first-round exit does nothing for this team but deprive it of a few more choices of young talent.

Some Monkey Businesses for y'all..

1. Jose Calderon's 'Amigo Monkey Removal Service', in 48 minutes or its free;

2. Ezekiel 4.17
"Get your hands off of me, you damned dirty ape";

3. I got my mind on my minkey, and my minkey on my mind. Dollar dollar billz yo' - DJ Jah-Moon-Key

Strange, one win and optimism abounds as if we're witness to the second coming. As one of those who has often stated that Calderon is not that special and that BC should consider moving him if necessary, I would like to offer my apologies to this board. Perhaps Calderon has been tentative and hence not as good as last year because of injuries after all. Part of what he's been missing this year is a subtle confidence in his game. Last night I saw a much more confident Jose really impose himself on the game, and also noticed a little SWAGGER. Sometimes teams beat their opponents before the game starts because they simply believe they are better than the other team. The raptors have to start believing they are better than their opponents and things might start to turn around. I still think a few good draft picks will balance things out but I guess I wouldn't mind watching a hectic chase for a playoff spot either.

I'm a big Jose supporter and I have stand up and defend him time and time again which make this win so much sweeter for me. I have even provided a list of offensive stats which shows he is one of three PG in the league to be in the top 5 in almost ever offensive stats regarding PG.

Good to see him back and looking healthy

Interloper I give you mad respect for your above comments. Jose is a very good PG in this league. He is not an all-star yet but will be in the near future.

All you Jose haters stand up...

Here's an interesting stat I noticed today: Bargnani is officially the second leading scorer on the Raptors (essentially tied with JO and Jose, but marginally ahead).

Even stranger, he is 4th in the Eastern Conference in scoring for Centers -- only a shade behind Okafor and a couple points back of David Lee.

So, if AB could only grab a rebound once in a while (5 rbs/game is awful for a 7-ft player with 30 minutes/game) and get back to around 1.5 blocks/game, he would have a legitimate shot at being the backup C for the East All-Stars in the future.

It would be truly bizarre if Bargnani made the team before Calderon.

I also noticed Charlie V's stats today... he is having a great season in limited time on the floor: averaging more in 23 minutes/game basically what he did as a Raptor in 29 minutes/game.

Gonna put on my rose coloured glasses for a moment and find some positives.

1)The play of Bargnani. The kid seems to finally get it and appears to be back on track. His defence has improved and will only get better and he's finally putting up the points we knew he was capable of. His confidence is growing - this is not his peak - he will continue to get better.

2)Bosh is still an all star. Still growing as a leader, he continues to back up his words with consistant play at both ends of the floor. That being said he still has to grow as a player and leader. Would like to see him not get stripped of the ball so much.
His acceptance of Bargnani becoming scoring option # 1 will be a key to future success.
I also firmly believe Bosh will resign.

3)Jose Calderon is one of the better PG's in the game. Any criticism of his play this year is unfair. Since his first hamstring pull(somewhere around game #10) he has not been playing at anywhere near 100%.

4)This one might surprise some but Jermaine O'Neal was playing some good ball before his latest setback. He has also been harshly criticized but I think he has brought everything we expected to the team when healthy. You can't BOO a guy for getting hurt. Lets hope he stays of the DL and keeps providing solid play off the bench.
Also with O'Neal, his contract is a huge asset to this team. Whether we trade him this year or next, or even keep him to its end, his contract coming off the books is huge.

5)Anthony Parker can play on just about any team in this league. Whether starting or coming off the bench, playing the 1 or the 2 he does his job well.

6)Joey Graham has earned his playing time this year. Lets hope he continues to progress when given theopportunity.

7)From all indications, I think Roko Ukic will be a good PG down the line.

Our next losing streak I'll present my negatives

interesting article weighing pros and cons of a marion trade at cbc: http://www.cbc.ca/sports/blogs/2009/01/longterm_price_for_oneal_deal.html

Thank god Sam Mitchell was fired. I believe that Sam was the main reason for Andrea's lack of solid performances. Its no coincidence that Andrea's improvement has come since Jay has taken over.

Sam's badass tough guy routine was the complete opposite of what Andrea actually needed. The same could be said about Joey G to a lesser degree.

As Jay continues to give these guys confidence I think we will continue to see better and better performances out of those two.

I'd like to know what Sam's thoughts are on Andrea's recent improvement and what the causes of it are....

We all agree Banks is not the ideal player coming in the deal for Oneal. Unfortunately, he is who we are most likely to get. He could (maybe, possibly) contribute off the deep bench (and maybe Jessica Alba will put out for me tonight). It could be worse though as his contract is not huge and it doesn't run for another 6 years or something.
I think the real issue here is that the other trade rumour (Odom) is much more intriguing for the Raptors (assuming he would actually play here). Odom is a good ball handler and would actually fit a lot better with Toronto's system. This is why the NBA is so frustrating. In any other league, the Lakers could swing this deal without too much problem but the NBA salary matching makes it practically impossible to make this deal without another team getting involved (I wasn't too fussy about getting Mihm back in that deal but I like Mihm more than Banks). Altough Marion is better than any option on the wing we currently have, he is not going to save this franchise.

I'll echo WTF's comments on Sam, but I think it had less to do with the tough guy routine (which may have helped Andrea avoid being a spoiled brat) and more to do with how Sam managed minutes and trust on the floor.

He rarely let Joey or AB have a fixed role with guaranteed minutes and often jerked them from the game after a bad play, fouls, or just because he felt like it.

Triano clearly has a better grasp of what those two needed in the way of minutes and trust - and he is being rewarded for it.

Was Sam just trying too hard to keep his job? Was he too fixated on his hard line of bad play equals bench time? I'm not sure, but I wouldn't put all the blame on his macho shtick.

Nice win against the Bulls. Jose had a huge night great to see. This game against the Kings is big. Gotta come out aggressive and play hard for 48 mins. As we've seen the Raps aren't good enough to coast to victory.

I agree about JO Tinman. This guy brought it every night and was playing his ass off for us. It is unfortunate that his injury hindered him from developing a better chemistry with Bosh. All that being said, his contract is workable for us both this year or next.

As impressive as Calderon looked last night, let's remember he had only an average night (10ast, avg 8.5,10 shots, avg 9.2)for 23 pts,(avg 13.2), 4/4 ft's.

The impressive part was that he made 9/10 shots and 10 assists and ran the offense
so well after missing 10 games due to the injury, and the way the team played.

Andrea's game had nothing to do with Sam/Jay change.
It had to do with starting at C after O'Neal's injury and playing 35/40 mins, every game, able to use what he has been working on all summer in training to play C.

Under Sam he was coming off the bench as a B/Up or starting at SF, with inconsistent role and minutes because O'Neal was the starting C.
Under the circumstances he was the only option to play C whether it be Sam or Jay.
The position now belongs to him, and O'Neal has to be moved or Jay has the challenge of creating an effective 3 man rotation without impacting Andrea, which is key.

I was on basketball-reference and Jose has the NUMBER ONE OFFENSIVE RATING IN THE LEAGUE!!!!!

For comparison sake, Jose is at 127 (estimated points produced per 100 posessions) Lebron F’n James is at 120.

Oh and Jose’s true shooting % is 3rd in the league.

Somebody get this kid Mo Shats.

I was reading another post somewhere where it was indicated that the raptors would be 1 of only 4 or 5 teams with significant cap space this off season if the Marion trade goes down.

IMHO, I would rather compete with 4 other teams versus a plethora of other ones this off season as compared to 2010.

Just another reason to like the Marion trade.

http://www.sportscity.com/nba/2009-nba-free-agents has a list of unrestricted free agents. My first choice would be Marion and then a complementary scoring piece but since I’m not sure he would want to sign in Toronto, I’d still take Artest (at a reduced salary) and a scoring piece.

What would my fellow posters do??

Considering Shawn Marion's age, I wouldn't sign him to a deal. I can see him getting at least a 4 year deal on the open market, too much for somone who leans so heavily on his natural athleticism without a refined skillset to fall back on. Do you think he could make the same adjustments for Father Time as Anthony Parker?

Sign some combination of the following:

High Profile Wing: Lamar Odom or Hedo Turkuglu from Orlando.
I'm not that familiar with Odom's game, but his reputation for both versatility and inconsistency precedes him. If we overpay he's attainable, but I think he plays best when he touches the ball alot. Put me down for a maybe, since should injuries occur, he's a great candidate to his role expanded without hurting his production.

Turkuglu seems to have better skills, less athleticism compared to Odom.

Young Player:
I'd throw a big deal at Linas Kleiza, Nuggets are close to the luxury tax, and Klieza is a good blend of power and skill, perhaps like Nocioni in time.

Bench Swingmen: Matt Barnes or Carlos Delfino.

Physical Role players: Keith Bogans, Malik Rose

As an aside, having cap room in 2009 instead of 2010 also guarantees we can resign Delfino. If we keep JO, we'd risk losing Delfino to another teams offer sheet.

If we obtain Marion and then let him expire.

I would potentially look into aquiring Artest and Jamal Crawford (If they could be had for the approx 8 million they are getting this year). Then if you let Parker expire, You're left with approx 5 million to match for Delfino. Or you could just keep parker (I think Delfino's younger so I'd try for him but Parker is better at this point IMO).

If we were to get Artest, we could put Moon in the second unit and have him, joey and AP/Delfino as the main players there.

I think Artest could shore up the perimeter defense while Crawford would be an upgrade on Kapono and would represent a slasher.

Make the O'Neal for Marion trade so that we can ensure that we're able to sign Carlos Delfino? What the hell are you guys talking about!?

We've just played that last bunch of games without Calderon, our extremely solid (near-allstar PG last year), and most without J.O., our key offseason acquisition.

Let's see what we have here!

Another random thought: Imagine Solomon and Ukic as primary point guards on nearly any other team. Would you be sursprised if they lost 7 games in a row?

It wouldn't matter if they had Shawn Marion, Deshawn Stevenson, Sean Williams, Or Sean "Puffy" Coombs. They're likely going to lose.

Solomon and (the young) Ukic are not merely average point guards, they're far below average, and easily flappable.

Is it any wonder that we lost so many games in the last 5 minutes?

Observer,

I was indicating in my post that I would want to get artest, crawford AND Delfino. Would you, if you had a chance, take those 3 players in the place of O'neal? I would.

I agree with you that we were missing Jose and Jermaine and that really hurt us. However, I repeat:

Artest + Crawford + Delfino/Parker > O'neal.

I get your drift, Statement.

However, I think that no matter what ultimately happens with O'Neal, we should see what we have when we're reasonably healthy under Triano. At present we're getting the internal development we need from AB.

Right now I'm leaning towards trading O'Neal next year, or simply using the cap space in 2010 to acquire a high quality free agent.

Artest + Crawford (which won't happen anyway, in my opinion) might give a temporary bump, but they're both trouble, and why do we need a temporary bump, anyhow?