Preseason Begins - Raps Kick-Off the Preseason With A Loss

by RaptorsHQ - Howland on Oct 7, 2009 6:01 AM EDT

The Toronto Raptors kicked off the preseason last night against the Philadelphia 76ers in London Ontario. Howland takes a look at the positives and the negatives in the 107-98 loss.

Well let's call it a work in progress.

In the opening game of the preseason the new look Raptors really did look like a new team. Amidst the many positives to be taken from the game, which will be discussed below, they were mostly overshadowed by the numerous errors, turn-overs and mistakes that plagued the Raptors throughout.

Before we get to the negatives (and there was one in particular), let's kick-off the first recap of the season with the positives.

First off, props to the crowd in London. In a city where hockey rules the fans last night at the Labatt Centre looked to be in fine form. From what I saw and heard from the comforts of home it looked like an active and vocal crowd for a preseason match-up. If anyone was at the game last night we would love to hear what you thought about it.

Second, what's clearly obvious is that despite missing CB4 and the off-season's main acquisition in Hedo Turkoglu, this Raps team looks nothing like the teams of the past. This team is athletic from top to bottom and the depth is already apparent.

A lot of the raw athleticism was on display as a result of Coach Triano getting every player into the game from Calderon down to Banks. The minutes were spread equitably and each player had an opportunity to show what they could do. The results, for the most part, were solid. Players like Sonny Weems and Amir Johnson really stood out to me this evening. Both were extremely active on both ends and you had to love the aggressive style of play each of them brought to the floor. Weems was attacking the rim relentlessly and Amir did a great job on the glass, running the court and blocking shots.

While on the topic of athleticism DeMar DeRozan got his first action and was thrown straight into the deep-end. Starting at the SF position he was matched-up against Andre Iguodala. It wasn't a particularly noteworthy evening for the rook but he also didn't look out of place. As one would expect, he made some mistakes on the defensive end and on more than one occasion he left his man resulting in an open jumper. Offensively however, DeRozan managed to get his points in the flow of the game which is more than can be said for others including Marco Belinelli. On many occasions the Italian tossed up an ill-advised jumper. Hopefully his shot selection improves over the course of the preseason.

The newest Raptor who really stole the show last night was Reggie Evans. Right from the opening tip fans were witness to that gritty, physical style of play that has made Evans such a known commodity. Evans was aggressive on both ends of the court and early on took the game to Elton Brand. The result was a loud chant of "Reggie, Reggie!" coming from the stands. Evans found himself in foul trouble but that is something you can expect from him all season long due to his style of play. It's obvious, even at this early stage, that he is going to play a significant role on this team as he brings brings an energy and intensity that has been missing in the past.

Evans was not the only player in foul trouble last night as the refs were whistle happy, to say the least. The game itself was fairly choppy due to the frequent foul calls but also the tremendous number of turn-overs. Both teams look rather rusty and consequently the game didn't have much flow.

One player who looked particularly rusty was Jose Calderon. He had a bad game for his standards but there's little to take from this other than the fact that on nights where Jose struggles the team will really appreciate Jarret Jack. Jack played at both the PG and SG positions last night and looked under control and confident.. There's no question we should all feel much more confident this season when the second unit comes into the game as compared to last. Other than one questionable shot, Jack was solid.

Although Calderon struggled, Andrea Bargnani did not. In his 22 minutes of playing time Andrea had 22 points and they came from virtually everywhere. Bargnani's full offensive skill set was on display last night as he attacked the rim, used the pump fake to create space and shot the ball very well from the mid-range and beyond the arc. Of course the natural inclination right now is to check his rebounding numbers which were below par (3), but it was nice to see a confident Andrea who was not shying away from the paint.

All the positives aside however, the team's defense last night looked too much like last season's for my liking....as in fairly bad. In the first half, the Raps D was particularly pour. On many occasions players did not close out on shooters and too many rotations were late. One player that took full advantage of this was former Raptor Jason Kapono who had 12 points. It's a good thing that the regular season is three weeks away because if last night was any indication the team still has a lot of work to do on the defensive end of the court. Obviously in addition to the bad D there were way too many turn-overs but for now I am marking that up to the fact that these guys are still getting accustomed to one another and are just getting started.

Of course it is just one game and tonight's match-up may show us fans something different. It is totally possible that the defense looks much better. Obviously there is not much time for Triano and the staff to fix all that went wrong last night but it's simply too early to make any judgments at this point.

The only thing I can say with any certainty is that at first glance it looks like this team could be a lot of fun to watch.

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Comments

About andrea, would you say he is the same “good Andrea” of last year second half of the season or did he show any improvement? (not that 22 points in 22 minutes is anything less than very good).
in relation to the poor rebounding, I looked at the box score and Dalembert had quite a bad stat line, had it anything to do with a good defense by Andrea?

Here in the old sweet EU we could not see the game on tv and there was a precarious streaming
out of justin tv, interrupted every 25 seconds because justin tv now wants a “premium subscription”…….

by renato on Oct 7, 2009 6:53 AM EDT reply actions

Weems

Weems is going to be useful this season bec he looks like he can play SF which might allow us to move Wright to SG. Lastnight I couldn’t see the game but I was interested in Weems because watching him in college I always thought he should be able to make an NBA team and contribute something. He’s my pick to surprise this yr. Let’s hope he continues to impress bec we need another body at SF.

by Member29 on Oct 7, 2009 7:17 AM EDT reply actions

justin.tv

In response to Renato’s comments about justin.tv and their lame “maximum users per country” policy. You can use U95.exe to effectively solve this problem – just run it first, then refresh the justin page. Download here:
http://www.mediafire.com/?lt5zvhamunm

Questo è utile anche per i siti NON RAGGIUNGIBILI in Italia, come siti di giochi, lotterie ecc; Some soccer games are broadcast on bet365.com, which is not reachable in Italy due to another lame policy/law.

by Vlad C on Oct 7, 2009 8:15 AM EDT reply actions

what is it, a stealthy proxy server?

by renato on Oct 7, 2009 8:23 AM EDT reply actions

Thoughts from being at the game at the John Labatt Center

Derozan looked nervous to start the game. He looked a little lost out there. Can’t blame him though, since it is the first time he’s going against real NBA competition. He started to come around in the 2nd half with a couple of impressive moves, but I think the biggest thing is growing confidence.

Bargnani was impressive. Scored from everywhere, and even picked up an offensive putback (can’t say I’ve ever seen him be on the offensive glass). Looked to play defence well and was communicating with his teammates… I think we’re going to see a different Andrea this year.

Weems is an exciting player, and looked to be very aggressive whenever he was on the court. He reminded me of ‘good Joey’ but with more hops.

It was a fun night at the John Labatt Center. Fans were loud, and really loved the agressiveness of Reggie REGGIE!. He’s like Charles Oakley and JYD combined into one person.

by visx on Oct 7, 2009 9:08 AM EDT reply actions

25 bucks for some long-anticipated raptor ball

With so many new faces, and the first exhibition game, I already went in with some tempered expectations. The JLC didn’t have the stats showing so it was tough to keep up with everyone’s performance especially bargs, (22 pts, was definitely surprising) Reggie was a monster from the get-go, grabbing an offensive board, and getting some timely steals, ( i wasn’t sure whether to go along with the MVP cheers for reggie, or be embarrassed with such low standards) but definitely struggles to finish, whether it’s dunks, or layups or putbacks.. haha at least he gets the other team into foul trouble.

Jose definitely looked rusty, and the turnovers were expected with the new faces.

The ball movement early on was pretty good, then everyone started to drag their feet, and there was no motion on our offense for awhile. Demar definitely took his time to make his presence known in the game, but he didn’t do anything that made me want Jay take him out.

Marco definitely forced a few shots, and there were some pretty bad turnovers, with Bargs passing it behind Marco, as Marco cut to the hoop, but again, that’s just lack of familiarity

The increased athleticism definitely was noticed, with a few dunks, and back and forth blocked shots. Bargs pump fake-to throw down brought the crowd to its feet.

JJ looked okay, and it was interesting to see Banks on the floor actually driving and splitting the d at times. Quincy broke some ankles at one point and then proceeded to pass it off to Banks.

In terms of the crowd, I found it funny to hear “Let’s Go Raptors, Kapono sucks” I didn’t understand where the hate for Kap was coming from. The smaller environment, meant the individual chatter was more noticeable. Even with the cheapest seats, we were a lot closer than expected. I would attribute a bunch of the 24 second shot clock violations to the lack of a shot clock above the basket, and it really helps you appreciate the 2837029384 million dollar hd scoreboard at the acc that much more when you’ve got a dinky little old school center court
screen to look at all night.

All in all, I was satisfied, even though we lost, I like our bench already more than last year.

Let’s see what we look like on opening night.

by gdon18 on Oct 7, 2009 3:47 PM EDT up reply actions

I thought the defensive rotations were pretty bad (as expected) in the first half and in the early part of the 3rd quarter. I noticed an improvement in the latter part of the second half. Again, this is just game 1 of the preseason, but I’m wondering if anyone else noticed this as well in the second half. I also thought that Marcus Banks played with a chip on his shoulder and was doing a good job of trying to drive to the basket and find his teammates. Maybe this type of effort can make him a useful piece (I can’t believe I just wrote that) or at least tradeable!

by Assistant GM on Oct 7, 2009 10:01 AM EDT reply actions

Losing two out of your 3 SF is going to ruin most of your chances at stopping people from penetrating from that position. Especially when you’re losing Wright, this team is going to struggle defensively. Rotation wise, the defense was especially bad, but this is a new team whereas Philly is largely unchanged with mostly the same starters. I won’t excuse it though, but the Raptors have to get that communication level up and read scouting reports. It’s concerning that no one could keep Williams in front of them, and I’d imagine that our team will still have that trouble against super speedy point guards.

Kinnon "Vicious D" Yee
Author - RaptorsHQ.com Twitter @RapHQVicious

by Raptors HQ - Vicious D on Oct 7, 2009 12:35 PM EDT reply actions

76ers have a festive team

Christmas Holliday with Green Ivey

by siggian on Oct 7, 2009 1:46 PM EDT reply actions

Hi, I saw Andrea’s highlights, if he had taken two rebounds more and his team mates had scored on a few of his brilliant passes, I would have not been ashamed to use the word “dominant” to describe his performances.
I saw also something new, and it is the first time I see it: He was posting up the opposing C and Dalembert, down low or anywhere else had nothing on Andrea Bargnani.

by renato on Oct 7, 2009 3:10 PM EDT reply actions

NBA League Pass

It would be good to get a discussion going on the various alternative methods of watching Raptors games outside of US/CA. A few years back there were some excellent streams from hoopsfanforum, but now it seems they are gone. BUT: is such a discussion "permitted" in these forums?
-——————————————
if you have broadband speeds you can sign up for NBA League Pass. it was about $100 last year for over 40 games a week including archived games. So if you want to watch NBA games out of your local cable viewing area and don’t have or want to get NBA TV this is a great alternative.

If you have the right TV you can buy a video and audio cable, one each for about $10 total cost and connnect them from your laptop to your TV. This way you can download the games through your laptop and watch them on your TV just like they were coming in over the TV. If your broadband is fast enough the picture is very good

The $100 for the season works out to about $18 a month but if you are a NBA junkie and like to watch different games of your choosing from across the country this is great. The only downside is that games that are on NBA.TV are not on NBA League Pass either live or archived. So to get complete league wide coverage of all teams with archived capability and the local announcer feeds it would probably run a little over $200 for the season when you combine NBA.TV with NBA League Pass. I will get the NBA.TV in the future because of its non game stuff plus the best games of the night tend to be on NBA.TV, if my carrier ever makes it available.

www.nba.com/leaguepass/index.html?x=1

by Buddahfan on Oct 7, 2009 3:34 PM EDT reply actions

Familiarity should not be a problem with Andrea and Bellineli

Don’t they play on the same national team?

I didn’t get to see the game but I looked at the stat line and though POB had ok numbers (0pts, 5 reb, 2 stls 1 blk 15 minutes). Would anyone complain if he gave those stats every night? I would be curious to hear from anyone who saw the game to get their take on his contributions.

It is also good to see the Raps not get dominated on the glass (each team had 39). If the Raptors continue to be in that range (+- 1 rb avg) does all the worry about AB’s rebounding issues become moot? The issue for the Raptors is that they need him to rebound to keep up with other teams. It is only one game but Philly should have dominated the boards considering Toronto’s best rebounder didn’t play and Evans only had 3. Admit it, if you heard before the game that Andrea and Evans totaled 6 boards, you would have thought that the raptors got skunked on the boards not broke even.

by McGateway on Oct 7, 2009 5:48 PM EDT reply actions

Myself, I was very impresses with what DD was trying to do. He was really going after rebounds and trying to work his way to the rim even when there wasn’t an open lane. His passing and ball handling looked good as well. I’m starting to think he’ll shortly be a rookie beasley or possibly d-rose ish type level and style. Still early though… he’ll have to settle down. Anybody who misses joey g or j moon, can look at weems and feel ok.

Bellinelli, while he’s looking slightly better than kapono in some ways, really pressed and wasn’t playing the team game too well. We’re going to miss AP…

by axl t on Oct 7, 2009 6:09 PM EDT reply actions