Tip-In, Toronto Raptors’ Post-Game: 5 Alive?

I am actually in shock that the Raps won this game. I mean it was in Orlando, and Orlando is fighting for home court advantage in at least the first two rounds of the playoffs and for them to get beat by a team that has almost no depth and one of its starters playing less minutes due to foul trouble is just mind boggling. I wish I could have seen the game but, alas, I do not have Raptor TV.
I am going to continue to harp on Kapono's poor fit for this team. I know people think that his outside shooting will benefit the club down the road but my question remains. What outside shooting? He played 20 minutes last night and didn't attempt a single 3 point shot (at least according to the stats) so I do not understand where everyone thinks his 3 point prowess is going to come from. In fact, I haven't mentioned it before but my biggest concern about him came about at the 3 point shooting contest during All-star weekend. Of all the people in the competition, Kapono had around half as many attempts from 3 as the next lowest competitor. Think about that. He was considered the only true 3 point gun-slinger in the competition yet he had attempted only about half as many shots as the next lowest shooter. What the hell is going on here? I am sorry but I strongly believe he needs to go in some way shape or form as he just either does not fit into the Raps offense or his confidence is so low he will need a change of scenary to reboot it. It is simply unacceptable that he would play 20 minutes in any game and finish with 0 3 point attempts, even if it is in the flow of the offense. He is a shooter and he should shoot. Period.

God we need a slashing wing! With the space created by Andrea and CB4 and the rebounding machine that's Marion I can only imagine the damage a slasher would do to the other teams. Could Delfino be that player? Could he stop shooting 3's and take it to the hole every other possession? Als, could he be a second Manu? I watched him play for Argentina the passed summer and I was really impressed as to what he can do. Tough, tough job for Colangelo this summer.

"Was Jose having legal problems? Whatever the case..."

Pun intended?

Nice write up, I wonder what the tank squad would think if we did win out. We always knew it would be difficult to tank given our competition, but beating the Magic is different ish.

The cohesiveness of our four pieces have been great.

Even if we effectively tanked, I doubt we would have been any better than bottom five seed. Obviously you would have the chance to move up, but likely you pick at 5. In my estimation, the benefit of the 5th pick over the 11th pick would not be worth going into the offseason with large question marks hanging over most of our princible assets.

Of course, this. All be fools gold. But given the coachin change, personnel adjustments, and injuries, there is cause to speculate that this recent stretch is a fair indicator of the teams abilities.

As much as I think people over react when they lose, this might be a case of some mild over reaction from their win.

Triano had the ability to log heavy minutes for their starters because their next game isn't till Saturday. A rare 2 days off. But if this game was in the next two weeks where they play 7 in 11, I don't think the outcome would have been the same.

Not taking anything away from the well deserved win, but it was a little bit of luck with the scheduling as wel. :)

I missed the first three quarters of the game, but was impressed that they were up. It was more than a little unexpected.... but I can say it really didn't seem like Orlando was going to Dwight in the 4th. Yeah the guy can't hit foul shots but he is an almost unstoppable force. He can keep any opposing bigs in foul trouble for entire games. Oh well... so much better for Toronto.

I think you brought up some good questions regarding our starters.
1) CB4/AB Connection - finances are right. I can only see us keeping one of these two. The better AB plays the higher his contract is bound to be. If add to that what Bosh's contract will be like come 2010, there is a need to do something this offseason.

2) Marion - I think this is one of the toughest choices. Can he keep up this play next year, does he want to stay here, what kind of contract is he worth or atleast willing to stay for? I think he is a real tough read when it comes to next year.

3) Jose - I can explain why Jose's game has looked so much better recently. Its because his teammates are playing better. Jose has been the model of consitency throughout the year (with the exception of a few weeks around his injury). I know people don't feel this way, but he has shot 50% from the floor, 40% from three, nearly perfect from the line, 9-10 assists and 10-12 points with limited turnovers almost all year. He has not changed. Its the team around him that has finally showed some game making him look alot better. Jose is a distributer and not a scorer which means when his team is on he looks good, when they are off he doesn't.

4) Raps win streak - it always amazes me how teams start to play better when the games no longer matter. Maybe its less stress and less worry about how the season is going. It sure is fun to watch... and yet disappointing knowing how each win is a step backwards on a draft pick.

I am on Chris Bosh's Side.... we are not playing ina bittersweet streak... the playoffs are still alive!!! The teams we need to lose are losing (Chicago, Det, and Charlote...well charlote at least last night)....

WE ARE GOING UNDEFEATED AND BEATIng THE BULLS ON OUR FINAL GAME TO MAKE IT

Maybe I'm in the minority here, but I think Kapono still has a place on this team long term, but it all depends on how he is utilized.

Can you blame a shooter for not getting enough attempts? Some portion of his lack of production is his fault (of course), but I would argue alot of it is the team structure. It's not like there is an issue of having a guy with a low 3pt shooting %.

Kapono is best suited 1) to a draw-and-kick type game as a stand still shooter 2) a team with a dominant Centre who draws a mismatch in the post or 3) a team that plays a high tempo transition game. Since Bosh is not quite at that level from an offensive standpoint to be double teamed on every possession, and we don't have a slasher that penetrates and kick out to shooters, Kapono can't get free to take three pointers. I also don't see alot in the way of screens/picks near the 3 point line to get him open for shots and our transition game has not developed.

I still think on the right team / structure he would be a fantastic piece... We are talking about the best pure 3pt shooter in the league here as far as I’m concerned… We just need to build the right offense around him or decide we don't have that structure in place and cut our losses and trade him.

playoffs?? who's talking about the playoffs? [herm edwards voice]

I think the bulls only need to win 1 of their last 8 games to mathematically eliminate the raps. Give it up already! Toronto will win 13 in a row and finish 9th :( Maybe we should call them the **cough** Leafs

I think you're right franchise the win streak is a bit of fool's good, but at the same time it's not confirming the "blow it up" talk either...

UTES - that is not true.. the bulls win one and we win all of ours and we make it... its gonna happen! lol

Franchise:

I have some thoughts based on your article. Please bear in mind that most of my experience in sports comes from being a hard nosed soccer defenceman. I think there are some parrallels that can illuminate further on what you have written today.

1. Regarding Jose: When Jose isn't 100% the Raptors are like a soccer team with no 'goalkeeper'.
While one could say 'insert a Marcus Banks' as a stop gap, it seem that unless that particluar PG is an agile distributor; can shoot and break down the interior of the opposition - then it seems that quite often for PG's 'the best D is a good O'

Solution: do what soccer teams do - you need more than one goalkeeper to finish a season with any pretence of success. This is a KeyStone. (Can't wait for Nash to arrive). Plus, why is there all this dogma in basketball that a team can only have one PG? I mean once ego and cap management is put aside - what else is stopping it?

2. Regarding Marion and Moon. I liked Moon, I loved his story of struggle and his hops. As the starting SF for our team ...B*tch PLEASE!..... The ammount of softness, refusing to take advantage of open spaces, 3 ball chucking, refusing to make cuts in the ways that earns Marion so much praise - at the end was very very irritating to watch near. Add this to Jamario's method of trying to cover up his shortcomings and his allergy to physical contact and kaboom we have a dysfunctional team where other players have to compensate for inside scoring, slashing, physical contact, tenacity on the offensive glass, plus the dreaded missed 3-ball ending up in something else. These symptoms add up to having something like jaundice.

As a D man, I always have a hawkeye for opening spaces and that slashing/cutting forward (who is going to burn your team into cinders) is up to. If you can't spot it in a millisecond - youre going to pay dearly.

Rest assured Marion has this kind of awareness, to detect; and take advantage of It's refreshing to see.

Anyway, those are my two cents.

PS - I thought the reffing at ORL was scandalous - but at least I am not surprised by it. It's when KG gets kid-glove calls that I need to be physically restrained.

"Is this team we’re watching now a sign of things to come next season? Or at best, is this still a 38 to 42 win team?"

Bear in mind that lately the Raps have had 2 to 3 days between games, the Bulls were missing Deng and (for most the game) Salmons, and the Magic are missing their all-star PG (Nelson), I would say this continued hot streak is a fluke.

The defensive problem posed by having two offensive-minded big men is not going away. Bargs' foul troubles last night were evidence of that, if more evidence was needed. The Raps as is (with the addition of Delfino and a decent MLE signing) should win 40-45 games next season, but are still fundamentally flawed.

why is everyone so worried if we can keep cb4 and barg, come on lakers have kobe, pau,odum all making serious money, Boston have kg, paul p, ray allan, all making major change, believe me BC can sign bosh, bargs, marion, for less than what kobe and gasol is making so don't worry about keeping players. The core of this team including marion is very strong and bc should look to get all 3 players sign in the off season. Tanking to get a better draft pick is out of the question, after the first 3 picks in this years draft all the players from 4 - 12 is basically the same. So it does not make sense to tank because you will only move to the 7 or 8 pick from say 12. If bc wants the 7 pick he can trade up for it, he is the GM. I love Bosh's attitude its not over till the fat lady sings and I see the Raps finishing the season 12-2. Can't wait for the next game I love the way the team is playing. And Jose put it best its the first time the team has been healthy this year. BC made a mistake when he picked up JO but he corrected it with Marion all last year the cry was for a wing player but the lego master could not get one with the resources he had, so he did what he thought was best, getting a true centre, unfortunately or furtunately it did not work and thats how we land Marion so everything happens for a wise purpose and this winning streak is for a wise purpose as well, it shows that a healthy core of the current core players can play with anybody in the nba. My only regret is that we don't have 2 many of the top teams left on the schedule because I know the Raps would beat them....raps4life

blanco I am with you..Last game of the season what a story that would be in the nba. Knocking off the bulls the last night of the regular season and making it into the playoffs...like Dev would say..You gotta love it..raps4life

I fear the Raps are doing a Luke Jackson from a couple of seasons back. Luke droped 30 some points in a season ending game for the Raps but is still toiling in the D league. If the Raps don't overhaul this roster, next year they will be in the same position in the standing with or without Jose's injuries.
Never put too much stock into what happens in summer league or in end of the season meaningless games.
Having said that it is still a pleasure to see the team play good ball.

I watched the entire game online @ atdhe.net

Stream quality was really good. I finally have a way to watch those TSN 2 games. Too bad season almost done :)

The Raptors beat Orlando in early January. I think that the Raptors just have the right mix to cause Orlando problems. It's nice that they're playing better as a team but I'd like to see them take another west coast trip before I started agreeing that they've turned things around. I'm happy for the players though, it's been a miserable year and even success that's too late to be meaningful has to be a good feeling. I can't help but think that the addition of Bop was the catalyst that showed the others how much they'd been playing with no heart. I think Triano needs to give him more than the 5 minutes he saw against Orlando. Kopono played 20 and I think the team would be better served if those minutes were more equal.

Blanco, time for a reality check. If there is one thing I know about the Raptors this season, it’s that they will beat teams like SA or Orlando only to loss to OKC. Before we get a head of ourselves, regardless of how bad the competition may be down the stretch, you are asking an awful lot for the Raptors to win out the season.

But let’s, for a second, entertain these fantasies of yours. If we win the rest of the games, what would it take for us to get into the playoffs? We’ll the top 6 teams in the East have already eliminated us. That leaves the 7th and 8th spot. The Pistons are one win away from eliminating us as well. So let’s assume for a moment that they can win one more game the rest of this season (against any of PHI, CHA, NYK, NJN, IND, CHI and MIA.) In fact if they don’t, that makes it worse for us as both CHA and CHI would pick up another win. Let’s assume they can win one more. That leaves us with the 8th seed as a target.

That position is currently occupied by Chicago. If we win the rest of our games, we will have the tie breaker against the Bulls which means that Chicago has to win two more games the rest of the way to eliminate us. Two out of their games against NJN, NYK, PHI, CHA, DET (and the Raps which of course we assume they would lose to keep our perfect steak down the stretch alive.) I will give you this, they may struggle against DET and CHA which means they can only win one of their first three games. Unlikely, but possible.

Problem is, Chicago is not our only team we are trying to beat. Assuming we can leapfrog MIL, NJN and IND who are only one or two game ahead of us, we still have to deal with Charlotte. CHA has the tie breaker on us which means that down the stretch, they can only win two more games the rest of the way as well. Yes, the same team that beat the Lakers and took the defending champs to double overtime last night has to lose five of their final games against MIA, DET, PHI, OKC, CHI, NJN & ORL.

To summarize, one more win by DET AND two more wins by CHI (7-3 over their last ten) OR three more wins by CHA (6-4 over their last ten) and we are toast. To make it even more entertaining, CHI plays CHA down the stretch and since someone has to win, that’s one more win for one of these teams.

But, if you still believe …. Toronto HAS to win every one of the final games AND get a lot of help. It starts tonight. With a bucks loss at PHI, we would in effect remove MIL as an obstacle. It continues tomorrow with two must haves with SA at IND and MIA at CHA.

Sorry, slight correction. We would have the tie breaker on CHA and therefore they can win three more games down the stretch and still finish behind the Raps.

I've been using atdhe.net a lot too, even for some college ball and other things. I'm just hoping it doesn't get shut down because I find the Justin.TV feeds to be pretty brutal at times.

Raps4Life - The reason the Lakers and Celtics have all of those guys is because they're willing to pay the luxury tax. And even the Lakers may not be so financially generous going forward and may try to let Odom go or move him.

Zona - FANTASTIC breakdown, I was going to do this for tomorrow's post but I couldn't have said it better. The Raps need to win out, and they need A TON of breaks. This isn't like the version of the team that strung together 12 or 13 in a row minus Vince last decade. This club needs to leap-frog a number of other teams in the process, all of whom will be playing each other down the stretch.

And let's talk Kapono for a second. If he was only playing 10-15 minutes a game, wasn't so foul prone, and most of all, wasn't making nearly $6 Millon a season, I'd agree that there is a role for him. But right now, I'd much rather see Toronto move Kapono if possible, and re-sign Parker for less than half the amount.

Seriously, looking at the percentages, Parker is shooting 40.4% from downtown.

Kapono? 43.1%

I'd rather take Parker's superior all-around game at half the price and suffer a 3% reduction in 3-pointers made. This is ESPECIALLY true once you factor volume in. As was pointed out, Kapono doesn't even take that many, so in fact his percentage is probably a lot closer to AP's.

Raps4life - the Lakers and Celtics (Knicks and a few other teams) are big market teams. Always willing to spend big bucks (above the salary cap) because they can. I would love to see T.O. do that to but good luck convincing MLSE to do that. You have a better chance wrestling a carcass from a starving badger than having them spend extra cash.

Oaley - I do agree Kapono has potential to be a good player on the right team... but this just isn't his team. Maybe after the potential changes this offseason he could be... but I just don't see it. I still thinking let MoPete go in exchange for Kapono was a mistake.

I think its funny that most of us are suprised by this win streak (myself included) when at the start of the season this would have been expected. The wins against Orlando, SA etc. remind me of the old crappy Raps teams. Always showup against the good opponents... disappear against the weak ones.

I see your point about Kapono, but if you take a closer look, his career avg 3pt FG% is 45.4% including this year.

If you break it out by year looking at number of attempts >100 per year:

04/05 - 41.2%, 194 attempts
06/07 - 51.4%, 210 attempts
07/08 - 48.3%, 118 attempts
08/09 - 43.1%, 197 attempts

I don't see a clear correlation here, i.e. higher attempts doesn't mean lower 3pt%; it was actually higher for a few years with higher attempts.

So the only point I would make here is his 3pt% may go up or down... it is all in the way he is being utilized (see my earlier comment).

His career year in 06/07 was with Shaq down low and D-Wade dishing out to him...

This is not exactly a situation we have in T.O... nor will this change without a serious roster overhaul or radically different offensive schemes (hello Ettore Messina!). Hey, maybe we should trade this guy....

Oakley - You're right, the year with Shaq and Wade was by far his banner year. Not only did he take more 3's, but made more as well. However like you said, when you've got Shaq drawing doubles, and Wade getting into the paint and drawing defenders at will, it's not surprising that that's when Kapono was at his best. It would be interesting to see if his numbers have improved since Marion has come on board...

Completely off topic, but has anyone looked at Moon's numbers in Miami the last dozen games or so? It looks like the Heat were the delusional ones after all. In addition, JO's numbers have been mediocre at best!

Assistant GM

It's hard to do anything in Miami when Wade puts up over 35 shots per game and next player is at 11