Lunchbox Links

by RaptorsHQ - Defensive Stance on Oct 5, 2009 2:27 PM EDT in Daily Links

With the first game of the preseason tipping off tomorrow night in London, Ontario, let's take a look at players in the news:

STARTING FIVE
Newsflash: Chris Bosh likes playing in New York. That means he's definitely going to sign there in the offseason. Or maybe he'll ply his trade with Chicago or Miami.

Andrea Bargnani is expected to be a key contributor this season... on defence. If that expectation turns into reality, Bargnani could end up being worth every penny of his recently inked contract extension.

Bryan Colangelo compares the Hedo Turkoglu signing to his acquisition of a 30-year-old Steve Nash. And that move seemed to work out OK.

DeMar DeRozan can jump out of any gym and make it look effortless.

Coach Jay Triano doesn't expect to lose sleep over the point guard position.

BENCH FODDER
Comparing rebounding machine Reggie Evans to Rudy.

Arsenalist drops an interesting gem at the end of today's post: Bargnani and Marco Belinelli were the 13th and 16th most improved players in the league last season.

How Rasho Nesterovic, Patrick O'Bryant and Amir Johnson fit into the centre position.

Antoine Wright and Sonny Weems join the list of walking wounded.

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Comments

I’m looking forward to seeing this improvement in defensive effort from Bargnani during the regular season. He gets that defense down and maintains his 19 ppg offensively, he definitely will be the total package.

by Mike Klander on Oct 5, 2009 3:06 PM EDT reply actions

You don’t need to actually point out when you’re being sarcastic, it kills the joke.

Reggie Evans is a terrible one-on-one defender 12-feet out but I still think he brings more of what we need than Amir Johnson. Johnson’s more talented and has a finer offensive game but unless he’s not clearing rebounds in the second unit, it’ll leaves us very prone to getting dominated inside. I’d rank Johnson’s paint-defense and Belinelli’s sharp-shooting as the two major X-Factors off the bench.

by Arsenalist on Oct 5, 2009 3:45 PM EDT reply actions