Unreasonable Expecations - Blueprint III and the 2009-10 Toronto Raptors
by Adam Francis on Sep 9, 2009 8:47 AM EDT
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With 48 days till opening tip, Franchise takes a look at expectations for the upcoming Raptors' season...
How often have you anticipated the release of a new album or new movie, only to be disappointed when it finally arrives?
This summer was full of examples of this from supposed Hollywood blockbusters like Terminator 4, to new music releases such as the latest from the Arctic Monkeys and Method Man and Redman that fell flat.
In today's world of social media and billior-dollar marketing machines, it seems at times that it's almost inevitable that this occurs. Things become over-hyped and over-produced in a market that's often over-saturated with similar content to begin with, and sometimes I wonder if this doesn't create a sense of desperation amongst the public who longs more than in past decades to have that sense of anticipation rewarded. This creates an even wider gap between "hype and delivery against said hype" and the result of course is a giant sense of disappointment.
Think about it - when was the last time something lived up to its hype?
For me from a film perspective, it probably would have been the sequel to the rebirth of the Batman franchise, last summer's Dark Knight. It was a film in my opinion that truly raised the bar for summer blockbusters in that it put forth not only a great story line and intense visual stimulation, but also some terrific acting performances.
The past few weeks has brought forth another interesting example of meeting expectations, this time from the world of music and more specifically, hip-hop.
For those who were unaware, Jay-Z, arguably the greatest rapper of all time and one of music history's most iconic solo acts, was preparing a follow-up to his magnum opus, The Blueprint. Over the past few months the music industry and online world had been buzzing about this much-anticipated release with many preparing for a classic in the same vein as some of his other work such as "The Black Album" and "Reasonable Doubt."
Last week the album was leaked in advance of this Friday's official release date and so far the response to it has not exactly been overwhelming. To this point the online world has either reacted to the finished product with indifference or lukewarm appreciation, and most reviews read a bit like this.
In fact another follow-up to a classic hip-hop LP which was released yesterday, Raekwon the Chef's "Only Built 4 Cuban Linx II," is receiving much more praise from critics, even though it hasn't received the same degree of hype as Blueprint III.
In my books Blueprint III isn't a terrible album.
It's got some highlights such as the Alicia Keys collabo "Empire State of Mind," but it simply doesn't hold a candle to the original Blueprint release.
So was the problem that yet again too much hype surrounded this release or in reality is the finished product just not that great? And why do I bring all of this up?
Well for us Raptors' fans, we know all too well about having huge expectations only to see these dashed soon into the advent of a season. Last year's Jermaine O'Neal-led squad was a perfect example and numerous other incarnations of the club (the 2002-03 and 2003-04 Dinos) have failed to leap over the bar that fans had set. This season the bar seems to have been set high once more although I'd argue that after last season's fiasco, most fans are cautiously optimistic.
The Jay-Z/Raekwon back-and-forth of late got me wondering just how as fans we should define our expecations of the club this year.
Should we consider a return to the playoffs a success?
How about a certain win total or certain individual player accolades?
Getting past the first round?
There's really no limit to the ways in which one can define meeting expectations and the hope of course is that the hype from this offseason's exciting flurry of transactions, doesn't cloud the fact that we've still yet to see this team play a game together.
For myself, a return to the playoffs regardless of the outcome upon arrival, would make for a successful season.
Again, I'm not quite sold on all the pieces of next year's roster so for me, simply getting back to that level would be a great first step.
For others, that likely won't be the case.
If the team wins 50 games and fails to get out of the first round, disappointment I'm sure will abound. This would be akin to Jay-Z topping the Billboard charts next week (which I fully expect) only to have sales then fall off sharply under the weight of both criticism from fans and reviewers.
In the end it's a hollow victory.
So let's poll the masses here; how exactly would you define a successful season?
Would it be a Raekwon-esque solid regular season that culminates in a very strong first-round playoff performance win?
Or would it be a Jay-Z-esque "in like a lion" regular season followed by an "out like a lamb" playoffs?
FRANCHISE
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You skewed the results
If you want to get true results from the huddled masses you can’t give your opinion of the answer.
Giving your opinion and worse explaining why will convince some fence sitters or sheep to vote the same way. In order for your poll to be a true representation of your readers you need to stay away from giving them your opinion in the post. (Those that read regularly will already know your opinion) You could always do a follow-up post or a comment later on with your opinion.
This post makes me laugh
Did I really just read this post? Did you really compare the outlook of the upcoming Raps season with Rae’s new album as well as Hova’s? Seriously? “In like a lion…out like a lamb”?
You need to listen to two songs from BP3 and listen to the words carefully in both: “Hater” and “Reminder”. When has Jay ever “gone out like a lamb”? Maybe after stacking a couple hundred million and going on vacation with arguably the hottest girl/wife in music……..maybe??
And since THIS IS a Raps site after all, how many posts do I have to read about “expectations” of this upcoming season? Not to mention, what will be acceptable results and what won’t after the JO debacle/last season and all the changes this offseason?
Time for some new content!
Maybe like how all our new additions look forward to being in Toronto, how they think they’ll adjust, what they’re doing in the off season and how they’ve been preparing?
Before making judgements on the Greatest Rapper of All Time’s content look at your own – you guys aren’t at that level yet that you can make those types of comparasins. You went after the MJ of Hip Hop? Makes no sense!
Sorry, I love the Raps and everything but sometimes you guys need to get a grip.
Woah…that shook things up!
I wasn’t comparing our content to Jay-Z’s ha ha (and PS Hater is possibly the worst track Jay’s ever done outside of Hollywood) – I was examining the idea behind “hype” in general; be it sports, movies, music, whatever. I could have easily started the whole piece by talking about a friend promising to set you up with an extremely hot girl, only when you meet her, you realize that she was made to be hotter than she really is. The Jay-Z-Rae comparison just seemed apt considering how much discussion it’s generated over the past while.
And don’t worry – we’ll have lots of content regarding the new additions etc in the next few weeks, including hopefully a solid Q and A session with Sonny Weems.
Jay Z
I am not familiar with this fellow. Didn’t he play the second drum kit for live ‘Godspeed You Black Emperor!’ sets?
Fantastic Post
Loved when you guys did pieces like this on the old site too.
It’s interesting that hype drives so many things in todays media crazy world and i agree, think thats why so many things seem to be disappointing. As for this upcoming season, i think fans did learn from last year and so even the poll so far seems to show that just getting back to the playoffs should mean expectations are met.
For me i think this team has the upside of a 50 winner but i’ll wait to see how the season starts before going to crazy.
And the rae album IS much better than the new jay one. Although that seems to be everyone elses take as well.
Here's my breakdown
If the Raps don’t make the playoffs, the season is a DISASTER (unless they somehow win the lottery).
If they make the playoffs, and go out in the first round that’s meeting expectations… BARELY. It’s like graduating with a C- average. (There’s a little flexibility here depending on how good of a performance they put in, if the Raps play with heart and ultimately lose in 7 to a better team a la the Bulls/Celtics classic last year, the season could get upgraded to a solid B).
If the Raps make the second round the season is an unqualified success.
I would tend to agree with this, except with slightly higher expectations. A hard-fought first round is my bare minimum for a pass (C-), whereas second round is pure success (B).
Following it up with a hard-fought second round would upgrade to an A in my opinion. Anything above that is just gravy (and exceedingly unlikely).
I don’t care about just making the playoffs. If the Raptors don’t make it past the first round and at least don’t make a second round series interesting, this season is a bust. It won’t matter what I say though, it’s going to all depend on what CB4 thinks.
By the way the Raekwon album is wayyyyyy better than Jay’s.
I think climbing to .500 or better regardless of whether they make the playoffs is a step in the right direction (you have to crawl before you can run). Considering how many steps backwards this team has taken in the last few years I think people are only setting themselves up to be disappointed if they start talking playoffs for a team we haven’t even seen play together yet. As for the concept that this team was put together to keep Bosh happy, I am not convinced of that either. If it is going to take a long playoff run to keep Bosh then you should prepare for him to bolt and that may not be a bad thing. The more I look at this roster the more I can’t help but think that a solid center is all that is standing between this team being mediocre and being juiced (Bargnani moves over to PF in this scenario) for multiple years of playoff success. If the Raps can flip Bosh for one then we might have something to get excited about (not really sure who fits the mold of solid center at this stage as center seems to be an extremely weak position in the NBA).
In conclusion, people need to chill and cut down on the Rapaid as expecting to go into the second round is seriously premature and expecting to make the playoffs is the absolute max you can tag them with to have a “successful” season.
Not quite sure who JZ is but how dare you.......
A repeat of last season would be a disappointment, no doubt.
The Raptors won 33 games last year, second half of season had no purpose. There were several games last season that I would turn off at halftime.
This season I expect to Raptors to keep me watching.
I expect Bosh to quit talking of being an all-star, a leader and start playing like one.
I expect Bargnani to live up to being the #1 pick, for an entire season.
I expect at least three good seasons from Turkoglu. Why does it seem that only he is ageing. Carter is with Orlando, older, yet not a peep. Sheed’s game seems to be declining. Shaq? No- we only think about Hedo.
I expect a season above 500 for coach Jay Triano.
Now for the hopes, … too many to list.
.
I picked 'other'
because really I missed a bunch of games last year and for the first time in four or so years, I didn’t care. It was just the boringest most predictable thing (kinda my opinion of jay-z too, sorry) to watch until the Marion aquisition.
So to me, like tinman says, they got to keep me watching this year for it to be successful… and make the playoffs. But ninth spot is fine, because the schedule guys are killing us this year again.
Here’s some hopes:
- multiple shooters get hot on same game
- bargnani defend the paint, no more switching onto smalls at the worst possible time
- no more buddy buddy with the other team before game, reggie should help with that
- I’m not even going to mention effort, if that doesn’t improve… ugh… competing against the clippers for the laziest team in the league last year was embarrassing
- foul out more, triano let guys foul out more, gotta shed that soft label
- BC, hand a large suitcase of cash to the refs before each game
"BC, hand a large suitcase of cash to the refs before each game"
Hey, the game might get called evenly that way ;)
by dhackett1565 on Sep 10, 2009 8:05 AM EDT up reply actions
Rae
Cuban Linx 2 is amazing! Forget the Raps, it’s the return of the Wu!
My prediction: the Grizzlies sign Rae, Ghostface, RZA, GZA and Method Man (the starting five), with Masta Killa, Inspector Deck and Allen Iverson off the bench and they win the tile!!!!!
by Original Aaron on Sep 10, 2009 10:30 AM EDT reply actions
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