Tip-In: Toronto Raptors' Post-Game Report - A Mess
by Adam Francis on Mar 25, 2010 9:03 AM EDT
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Another game, another drubbing. The HQ recaps this one with some interesting quotes from the likes of Jay Triano and Deron Williams, and tries to make sense of what is slowly becoming a real mess.
"The effort was good...they're just bigger, faster, stronger."
And with that statement last night by Jay Triano, the Toronto Raptors 2009-10 NBA season may have gone down the drain.
Toronto was absolutely dominated last night by Utah, 113 to 87, and post-game, Raptors' coach Jay Triano waved the white flag, essentially saying that the players on his team just weren't on the same level as the those of the Jazz, especially regarding Deron Williams.
"We could not contain Deron Williams from the start of the game. He goes out, we get it to 14, he comes back in, it's 20." He just goes where he wants to go, does what he wants to do, delivers the ball to everybody..."
And my personal favourite? Jay indicating that "his (Deron's) line was deceiving."
You mean his 18 points and 16 assists?
What? As Doug Smith slightly sarcastically pointed out to Jay post-game, Williams had more assists than the Raptors' entire team last night! What exactly is "deceiving" about that?
I'm not sure about the rest of the media post-game, but Triano's acknowledgement that he's coaching a group of D-Leaguers threw me for a loop. I was expecting the usual "the effort wasn't there" type answers, to which I had multiple questions prepared. But this? Isn't that the ultimate cop-out?
Not that I don't agree to a certain extent that this club is sorely lacking certain intangibles and talents; I've preached that since last off-season. But would we hear Jerry Sloan say something like that? This club isn't the Nets! You're telling me Jay that there was nothing you could have done to at least make this one competitive?
After sitting there in a daze, wondering these type of thoughts, I finally asked Triano therefore about his use of the zone defence in the second quarter, a move that while not perfect, disrupted Utah's offensive flow, and did a nice job cutting into a good chunk of Utah's lead.
RHQ: "The zone seemed to be effective for periods of time, second quarter and stuff like that, were you thinking of going back to it, maybe to start the third quarter?"
Triano: "We did go back to it for a couple of possessions there and got four or five stops, but when you don't score, you're back in transition you're in man-to-man and they picked us apart with the man-to-man again. I thought the zone was ok only because it made five guys have to guard one (Williams) and make him do something else other than break us down and score, or dish off to someone."
Wow. Again, another answer that blew my mind on several levels.
First of all, if that's not a stinging indictment of the Raptors' individual defensive talents, I don't know what is. Triano is essentially saying that it took five Raptors to stop Williams, and that even that wasn't enough in the end.
The obvious next thing to do then was to talk to the Jazz's havoc-wreaker himself, Deron Williams:
RHQ: "Jay said he had no answer for you all night and that he couldn't stop you off the bounce, was there anything in particular you saw that you were trying to exploit? Match-ups say?"
Williams: "Yeah, match-ups, just knowing personnel...we were just trying to get going early. I think that was the most important thing, establishing a good tempo early, executing, and getting stops, and I think we did that.
RHQ: "You've played this Raptor team twice now, can you contrast before and now? I mean you look at this team and they're sort of a mess out there tonight; they're not scoring the ball, they're not playing well at all defensively..."
Williams: "They are a different team than what came to Salt Lake for sure. I'm not sure what's going on with them right now, but part of that is that we're playing well right now, we're on a mission it seems like, which is how you need to act this time of the year."
RHQ: "Pre-game strategy, when Coach Sloan talked about playing the Raptors, what particular things did he look to emphasize?"
Williams: "We know how they like to play, they like to get up and down and score a lot of points, and we didn't want to get too caught up in that, but it kind of worked to our advantage. We're a team that can slow it down, we can speed it up. We're like to mix it up and I thought we had a good balance of that tonight."
Apart from Williams responses, what I found most interesting about this interview was the discrepancy between what questions I was asking, and what the Utah media who had made the trip, were querying. Outside of being Raptors-related, my questions were regarding a team that is still trying to figure things out this late in the season, whereas the Jazz reporters' questions all dealt with a team who is looking ahead to the playoffs, and the mentality needed to close the season out, etc, etc. Again, it just reiterated how far away this Raptors' club is from being an elite level club.
Antoine Wright reiterated this point to several of us as well in the Raptors' locker-room post game, and you can hear the piece here:
As you can hear, unlike some of my previous talks with Wright, he didn't bite this time on line-up changes or singling out teammates. However it's obvious that he feels the effort level isn't there each night, and it's not simply a matter of the other team being "bigger, stronger and faster."
After all, by that logic, how does Kansas lose to Northern Iowa, and how does Toronto compete with the likes of Orlando, Dallas and the LA Lakers, all of whom Toronto has beaten this year? Aren't those teams "bigger, stronger and faster as well?"
Really, the issue with this team is and has been two-fold, and until some changes are made, fans can probably kiss the playoffs goodbye.
First of all, the players themselves. From my bird's-eye view of the court last night from the Foster Hewitt Gondola, I watched a team exhibit about as little effort as possible defensively at times.
Best example?
After a great block by Andrea Bargnani on an attacking Utah Jazz player, three Raptors (most egregiously, Hedo Turkoglu) are outhustled for the rebound by Jazz rookie Wes Matthews, who secures the ball, resets the possession, and ironically ends up with a look for an open 3 which he nails.
Rinse and repeat.
This was the case all game as only Sonny Weems and Antoine Wright appeared to up to the task last night at both ends in terms of hustle, defence and aggression. This team simply has too many players who aren't willing to go that extra mile for the win, (Hedo Blatcholu, who apparently announced at half that he wasn't feeling well enough to go for the second, even though the coaches knew nothing of any illness pre-game) or who don't know how.
DeMar DeRozan is an example of the latter. It's mind-boggling at this point in the season, with the club trying to make a playoff push, that he's still out there. What other team would do this? It would be one thing if like his counterpart last night, Matthews, he was constantly contributing to the team's success. But he's not. He's getting absolutely killed each night on the defensive end, and most of the time he's invisible offensively. He's not nearly aggressive enough for someone with his hops, (how do you get blocked by Okur??) and his jump-shot is still pretty busted.
While some of this is on DeMar for his lack of on-court success (the Jazz media made the point pre-game, much to Jay's chagrin, that if you took away their draft status, you'd never know which one of Matthews or DeRozan was the lottery pick), the rest falls on Triano, which brings me to the second issue, coaching.
I've been a Triano backer for most of the season. I've called into question some of his decisions, and some of Toronto's losses I've pinned on him (OT loss to Memphis being the best example.) I do think he's a solid coach overall, but last night for the first time I really got the feeling he was out of his league. His statements, which I opened this post with, are a cop-out plain and simple. Even if that is true about the Jazz being a superior team talent-wise etc, (which I feel is true), it's a very risky proposition to state that to the media. Not only does it pass the buck to Bryan Colangelo, the man responsible for assembling said "talent," but inevitably that gets back to the players, and that could make for an ugly finale to the season.
On top of that, his refusal to make line-up adjustments is downright disturbing.
Pre-game, I asked him about the starting line-up.
RHQ: You made some changes to the starting line-up obviously, a few games ago, how have you felt they've been? The third quarter has been a lot better recently...
Triano: The third quarter has been better, I don't know if that's a different group of players out there or a mindset. We're looking to shake things up a little bit and we've won 3 of 4 since then. Has it worked? I don't know. Like I said before, who starts doesn't matter, it's who finishes the game. Jarrett's been on the floor in that situation the last couple of games after not being a starter because I thought when he was on the floor the team was doing really well. It could be the complete opposite tonight, Jose could be on the floor down the stretch, depends who's playing well.
RHQ: I guess what I should have asked is if you feel you've gotten the end result you were looking for when you made the switch, and if not, are there other positions you're looking at moving players in and out of?
Triano: I don't think so. I still think what we do is a collection of all 48 minutes put together and who starts doesn't matter, our rotations haven't really changed that much. We need to have support from guys off the bench and we've been forced into it because of early fouls against different players. And I'm sure that will be the same. We gotta keep guys ready in case there are fouls and guys have to be ready to go in whether it's on schedule, or because it's off schedule because of foul trouble.
I don't get it.
The team regularly gets outplayed in the first and third quarters, and yet there's no notion of swapping anyone but Jose? I haven't looked at the numbers yet, but outside of wins, (and really, do wins against the Nets and Wolves count?), I feel that this switch has hurt Toronto more than it's helped and that Jack needs to be re-inserted as a starter. At least one of Wright or Weems need to take DeRozan's place as well, something the stats have supported all season.
But apparently stats aren't on Triano's mind too much.
RHQ: There have been some articles out lately talking about your use of stats now, I think you employ a third party group to do this, any particular ones you guys look at each and every game to sort of get players prepped and for yourselves and the coaches?
Triano: Not really. We look at players' tendencies and what they want to do but for the most part, the stats, sometimes a one-game sample isn't enough so we look at them more in groups, hopefully to give us ideas on the tendencies of teams and what we may do differently to make us more effective at both ends of the floor.
RHQ: What about post-game, are there any stats you emphasize, adjusted plus/minus etc?
Triano: No, not immediately no. We look at plus/minus but it's gotta be waited and scaled a lot of the time because of who's on the floor. For the most part we just look at a box score after the game and our stats guys will compile things after five or six games to see if they notice any trends.
I don't know about you, but this could explain the constant use of Hedo, Andrea and Jose together defensively, not to mention the issues with the starters and various other substitutions.
The overall point being here, this team is in trouble.
Denver is up next, then two tough matches against Miami and Charlotte, which could very well determine the Dinos' playoff fate. Chicago has an easier schedule over the next few, so it's not impossible that Toronto is looking up at them in the standings after this stretch.
The club needs to find a way to come together now, otherwise their playoff hopes will have vanished like most of the players post-game for interviews last night.
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Last Night....
confirmed that this team has thrown in the towel. I fully expect them to miss the playoffs and BC will be left to clean-up this mess.
As Franchise points out the answers to the questions made no sense. Triano actually said the effort was there last night which better not be the case. The Nets could have put up for of a fight.
Call me crazy (and I have no grounds for this comment other than intuition) but I think Triano is sick of being the “yes” man. I think he see’s the problem but is not being given the autonomy to fix it. You can read that from his quotes.
Here’s looking at Colangelo.
When was the last time someone actually said “In Colangelo we trust.”?
Dave "Howland" Randell
Co-Creator of RaptorsHQ.com
by RaptorsHQ - Howland on Mar 25, 2010 9:27 AM EDT reply actions
Absolutely Mind Blowing
To suggest that 100% of the problem is the players BC has provided him with is career suicide.
To suggest that you need 5 guys to stop one is saying you are completely incapable of implementing any kind of defensive system.
Most disturbing is the “it doesn’t matter who starts, its who finishes”. I am so sick of getting down early and trying to catch up. Even when we were winning against bad teams, we were coming from behind. To think that you can do that against a good team is idiotic.
Yeah...
and look who finished the game against the Thunder and the Jazz…..
Dave "Howland" Randell
Co-Creator of RaptorsHQ.com
by RaptorsHQ - Howland on Mar 25, 2010 9:57 AM EDT up reply actions
Strategy Break Down
You knew this wasn’t going to go well when the Jazz got a fast break bucket right off of the opening tip-off. Seriously? I’ve never, ever, ever, seen that happen before.
I’ve been noticing something of late and I couldn’t quite put my finger on it, but I think I’ve pieced it together. Apologies as this is going to get a tad technical.
Defence
The Raptors have been employing a different strategy then their opponents. If you watch closely, what we do is try to stay out of the line of site of the opposing player taking a shot. Once the ball is in the air, our defender attempts to jump in the way to block the opponents view of the perfect swish in an attempt to piss him off and ruin the karma. Our competitors, somewhat surprisingly unanimous in this approach, have been taking a different approach. What they attempt to do is get in our way, and this is the key, before the shot is off. That way, in effect, they are going after the ball. It’s just a different mind set. Ball vs. Karma. It’s the age old question, what strategy does your team employ? We have players that have grown up with the Karma philosophy, that’s just what works for our guys.
Offence
Again, this is a minor tweak and I hope I don’t lose anybody here with the technical mambo jumbo. What I’ve been able to pick up from watching the recent games is that our competitors have taken to shooting the ball when they are wide open. Watch some game-in-an-hour footage if you don’t believe me, but it’s true. Brilliant strategy! I guess that’s where experienced coaching comes in.
Minor tweaks but making a huge impact!
Brilliant
I appreciate technical analysis like this. Keep it coming.
A complete mess
What the hell has happened to this team? The towel has been thrown alrIght. Am at a loss to express my disappointment with this squad, but due to daughter with a cold, have sometime to vent.
Triano has lost this squad, and he is mostly to blame. The juggling of the PG’s has blown up in his face. What’s he to do now? Go back to starting Jack? I tell you, watching last nights game, Marcus Banks deserved to be starting. Jose was horrible and something has changed with Jack. Last night exposed just how “deep” we are at PG.
Bosh does not like Bargnani. There I said it. Cats out of the bag. Mitchell didn’t like him either. Four years together, very few glimpses of chemistry. It’s just not there. There’s a rift in the locker room and its spilling out of the court.
Bosh’s body language lately disgusts me. Max money? Get serious! Seven years and what has he done? Where have you gone, CB4 ?
Again with the Bosh Criticisms?
His body language disgusts you? You all are going to be sorry when he leaves next year and we get nothing for him and this team becomes the new “nets”. We can talk about lineups and rotations all we want, but the fact is it’s not our job. It’s Triano’s job, and if it’s not working he obviously doesn’t know how to fix it or he isn’t being allowed to fix it. It is very frustrating to play on team that is disorganized and badly coached. I don’t blame CB at all and he is a max money player. Do you think if we swapped CB for Kobe or Lebron this team would be doing that much better… comon. Lebron would fix all of the defensive issues and lack of heart, no he would score more get more assists but get less rebounds which is exactly what we need right?
Both Kobe and Lebron put in a consistant effort on offense AND defense every night. They make the players around them better. They hold themselves and their team accountable and are true leaders. And this is coming from the biggest of all Lebron haters.
Do I think we’d be a better team if we swapped CB4 for Kobe or Lebron? Damn right I do.
But by how much?
Everyone remember Kobe + Phil with a similar supporting cast pre-Gasol?
One and done in the playoffs…
One guy can’t do it all.
Adam Francis - Publisher - RaptorsHQ.com
by Adam Francis on Mar 25, 2010 10:51 PM EDT up reply actions
Thanks Franchise
I really don’t see Kobe or Lebron working their tails off on a team that may not even make the playoffs at this point in the season, especially when guys are missing the second half with a tummy ache. Don’t forget Bosh has been playing like a beast all year, it’s only recently his intensity has dropped off.
Experiment Over
I never understand getting rid of Sam and hiring Jay Triano who was Sam’s assistant with all the coaches that was available with NBA experience at the time. Its time MLSE take a good look at the Lego master. I think they should let him clean up this mess and then send him packing. It was nice while it lasted, especially if they get oust from making the playoffs. We don’t need Sam back, we need Dennis Scott.
URGGG
I really don’t get the comments by Triano last night. There are just some simple ways for this team to get better and we’ve pointed them out ad nauseum already. Swapping Jack and Jose was pretty much pointless as Triano pretty much well acknowledged since they play the same amount of minutes. So how about doing something that actually CHANGES this team? Limit DeRozan’s minutes. Put Weems in more. Put Wright in more. Toss in more Belinelli (when he’s back from his injury). Put the clamps down on Turkoglu. Go all Stan van Gundy on people.
It’s ridiculous to just say that there’s not thing more that anyone can do. That kind of stuff is just disheartening. There’s always lots more that you can do to try and jump start this team, and while he may have run out of options, there’s lots of people out there that have opinions that differ.
Maybe it might tick off Colangelo to bench Turkoglu, but without wins, Triano, your job security is also non existent. If Bosh leaves, there’s no way that the Raptors will keep you as you’re the coach responsible for ruining Toronto’s chances at re-signing their most important player of the past 6 seasons. DO WHATEVER YOU CAN TO WIN AND WHO CARES ABOUT ANYTHING ELSE.
Your job, career, and season all hang in the balance.
Kinnon "Vicious D" Yee
Author - RaptorsHQ.com Twitter @RapHQVicious
by Raptors HQ - Vicious D on Mar 25, 2010 11:10 AM EDT reply actions
Nice call
Go all Stan van Gundy on people.
Greatest line ever.
Dave "Howland" Randell
Co-Creator of RaptorsHQ.com
by RaptorsHQ - Howland on Mar 25, 2010 11:21 AM EDT up reply actions
Totally agree and would love to see Triano go “all Van Gundy” too. He’s done it to clipboards, time to do it to the team.
Seeing him trot out the same line-ups last night over and over, regardless of the situation, was just torture.
Adam Francis - Publisher - RaptorsHQ.com
by Adam Francis on Mar 25, 2010 11:26 AM EDT up reply actions
agree
I mean start the bench if you have to as an experiment and let the starters come off the bench for one game…that would throw a monkey wrench in the opponents preparation….lol. But I agree there is always something to do or try. This is a crucial time for the team for the coaches for everyone. Heck start Reggie at centre and let Bargs come off the bench…Not to mention Turk he just needs to be benched. How many times have he scored more than 20 points, what twice…for 50mil he needs to do a lot better than just talk.
There was a quote by Jack Armstrong during the second or third quarter that really got me thinking. He said “This Jazz team has really come out to play, against a Raptors team that is scratching and clawing and fighting for their playoff lives”
Instantly my reaction was…there is no way the Raptors have the look of a team that is playing with a sense of urgency. They are folding in the most important stretch of the year. There is no fight, there is no pride. When an opponent raises the level of play, this team succumbs to the pressure. Very disheartening as a fan. It only gets worse from here if Bosh leaves. What a terrible season.
In the audio file of Antoine Wright talking with the media, you hear him discuss this. The team has no sense of urgency and maybe doesn’t understand that feeling. Guys like DeMar, Sonny, Amir, and even Reggie and Jack, haven’t had a ton of playoff success.
What burns me then is that the one guy who SHOULD be getting in the team’s ear and raising the level of desperation is Hedo!
Oh yeah…he had the flu though.
Adam Francis - Publisher - RaptorsHQ.com
by Adam Francis on Mar 25, 2010 11:28 AM EDT up reply actions
"Bigger, Faster, Stronger"....Uhhhhh?
What’s Triano talking about? Boozer is undersized. Okur is slow. Even Williams was overlooked by a few teams in the draft because he did not have the athleticism of the Chris paul’s of the world. We did not get beat by a bigger, faster, stronger team? Then again, maybe Triano meant Bigger Heart, Faster Thinking Players and Stronger Will.
Plain and simple, we were beat by a mentally tougher and better coached squad.
Or maybe...
that was just singing the intro music from last season…..
Dave "Howland" Randell
Co-Creator of RaptorsHQ.com
by RaptorsHQ - Howland on Mar 25, 2010 11:33 AM EDT up reply actions
Plain and simple, we were beat by a mentally tougher and better coached squad.
My comment of the day. That’s exactly how I felt sitting there last night.
Adam Francis - Publisher - RaptorsHQ.com
by Adam Francis on Mar 25, 2010 11:42 AM EDT up reply actions
Led by the best PG in the NBA, 1-2 with Paul, who led his TEAM with 18 assists to 4 by Jose and Jack and 14 by the total Raptors collection of individuals who played.
I cannot name one individual who played well, maybe Wright, but even he took 7 3pts shots and made 1, to combine with Jose & Jack to go 4/18 from 3pt land.
Even if Rap’s had played some defence, shooting 40% was not getting it done.
Sloan commented that Williams played an outstanding game, in leading the Jazz, which I would agree, as he did whatever he wanted vs anyone.
I thought Wright was the only player who brought it last night too. I can’t even imagine the score minus him and Bosh.
Adam Francis - Publisher - RaptorsHQ.com
by Adam Francis on Mar 25, 2010 10:52 PM EDT up reply actions
Plain and simple, we were beat by a mentally tougher and better coached squad.
To be fair though, the Jazz are consistly among the top 2 or 3 best coached teams in the league year in and year out. There’s a reason Sloan’s been there since 1988. And toughness is characteristic Sloan teams typically have.
The Raptors definitely have room for improvement, but getting outcoached by Sloan shouldn’t be a suprise.
Boycott
Maybe they listened to that NBA announcer who said “the Raptors are one piece away” and have all decided they really need that first round draft pick after all. That’s the only explanation I can think of.
I’m boycotting this team until they put in some starters who play D. That means no Jose and no DD, at minimum. Those are my demands.
Reality
The reality though is We were beaten by a better team. The Raps are not in the same league as Utah, not yet, the way we are playing right now…the raps are in the D league
Toronto vs Utah
There’s no question the Raps were beaten by a better team, a much better one at both ends. However it’s the way this team lost, and by how much, that should be a major concern. The Jazz aren’t the Cavs or Lakers, two teams Toronto has beaten or held close at various points this season.
It’s not good foreshadowing for a playoff run, playoff success, and/or keeping Bosh.
Adam Francis - Publisher - RaptorsHQ.com
DeMar is 19
I don’t know how many AAU games he’s ever played, but in college last year he played about 30. He’s now coming up on game no. 70. It’s ridiculous to expect him to be able to hang with the best in the world, night after night. Would you try to run a marathon just because you can complete a 6 mile run?
This is not an indictment of him. I think he’s got potential to be a stud in this league. But he’s not mentally ready for the grind of an NBA season and playoff stretch. To leave him in there is a sign to the rest of the players that “this year don’t mean shit, and we’re looking down the road.” That’s a crazy approach when your alpha dog is in the last year of his contract and is going to be wooed by everyone with the cap space.
What message are we sending Demar
By no means am I giving up on DD. I agree we are sending the wrong message to the rest of the team. Quite frankly, I’m not sure that continuing to roll him out there is good for the long term either. What message are we sending him. How hard is he likely to work in the offseason if there are no consequences to poor play.
Everyone says he is a good kid and I have no reason to doubt it. But I am not liking his body language of late. Complaining about calls. Pissed off looks when he gets pulled out of the game. My fear is that we are creating a sense of entitlement within him by continuing to roll him out there, irrespective of how he is playing, that will affect him long-term.
Assisstant
why does JayT even have assistant coaches, clearly they are not helping or he is not listening to them. The case with DD and the Marathon and 6 mile comment, that is strickly the coaches fault. DD is starting a whole season against the best players on the opposing team and the coaches don’t realize that that might be a bit too much for a young player in his first year. Yes there is alot of rookie in the league but very few is starting on a team that is contending for a playoffs spot. Its time to slow it down with DD and let him get a run at the other teams second units. DD will be a very good NBA player down the road, no need to force it at this point…..I am rounting for the Heat tonight anything to help the Raps
That’s what I don’t get. Why draft DeMar, one of the youngest and most raw talents in last year’s draft, and then hang him out to dry all season, a season predicated on having a good run to keep your franchise player?
Adam Francis - Publisher - RaptorsHQ.com
by Adam Francis on Mar 25, 2010 10:53 PM EDT up reply actions
So, do we now all agree that
A. Coaching Matters
B. Triano is not an NBA quality coach
C. Butch Carter was the best coach in Raptors history and should be considered for the job next year and several years beyond.
Some of you have noticed me mention this at the end of my Triano rants and might think it a joke, but I’m serious.
Butch Carter was an exceptional coach, and was even able to hold off the mutiny until the playoffs. He put his players in position to succeed, all of them, and because they were playing systems that made sense and that they could implement, even if the players didn’t like him they went out and showed effort each night.
The secret to Sam’s teams were low turnover numbers that kept inferior squads in more games than this group. In retrospect he micromanaged effectively and his firing was a mistake. Strangely, not having access to the numbers so speaking anecdotally, he kept his team in more games and was not subject to, and thus didn’t allow proud players to fall victim to, as many embarrassing losses.
I would still like to argue that outside of Reggie Evans and POB, this is the most talented Raptors squad we’ve had in years. Talent is being wasted because the reigns have been handed to someone who was not prepared for the job.
The players realize this. They go out and implement a game plan that is structured to fail and suddenly are blaming each other. In one’s work environment, continued collective embarrassment is detrimental to productivity. You’re not proud of your work, have no faith in it putting you in a good light so you simply follow orders and let the chips fall where they may. The players no longer take ownership of team performance, choosing to deflect after putting up requisite numbers (see Bosh)
There is more than one solution to the problem, but the one chosen depends on quite a few things.
The team can either choose to go completely unconventional and bring in a proven high winning percentage coach from the Euro Leagues and allow him a while to acclimate himself to the NBA game. The reason I don’t allow Triano this same leeway is that (a) he has been an assistant for several years and should know what to expect and (b) he hasn’t really proven himself as much of a winner when it has counted even back to his National Team days. In brief — little upside and no track record of exceptional success.
The other option is to bring in Butch Carter, accommodate his unique mindset and appreciate that with the baggage comes a basketball mind honed under proven winners with a true grit and passion that translates to how his teams play on the court.
He lives in Toronto, so no real extra convincing needed.
Unfortunately, the organization doesn’t strike me as one with an appetite for the right decision.
Fifteen years of mediocrity, the only period of legitimate promise coming under one man. This maps directly to the coaching hires, going for cheap and convenient or overpaid and beyond its expiration date.
From now on, I’m not going to make a fuss over the free agent acquisitions or draft picks. What’s the point of making a big deal over the body if the head isn’t right. It’s kind of like having a hottish girlfriend who is a serious, emotional mental case. The very rare nights of wow are accompanied by so so many nights of wtf am I doing here?
lol. I got blasted by Doug Smith a couple years ago for suggesting that Butch Carter should be considered. I still believe he was the best coach we’ve had, even though he went a little too far in the end.
While I’d love to see him back, I think the chances are slim to none.
Kinnon "Vicious D" Yee
Author - RaptorsHQ.com Twitter @RapHQVicious
by Raptors HQ - Vicious D on Mar 25, 2010 3:15 PM EDT up reply actions
Again, if Phil Jackson was the coach I don’t think we’d see a huge difference in wins. This team is soft, and without a few years in a Jackson or Sloan-esque system, that’s only going to change marginally with a new coach. New players are the solution, and then time with a superior NBA coach.
Adam Francis - Publisher - RaptorsHQ.com
by Adam Francis on Mar 25, 2010 10:55 PM EDT up reply actions
Doug Smith is such a tool
I’m recalling a quote i read somewhere that said that the only basketball experience Doug Smith has is being picked last in highschool gym class. He’s been saying all season in his blogs that he has no problem with DD starting because games aren’t won or lost in the first and third quarters, when those quarters have been the worst for Toronto all season. Maybe in his world the final scores aren’t a sum of 4 quarters, but just the sum of the second and fourth.
Deceiving
I’m not sure you caught Jay’s full quote. He said that Williams line of 18 point and 16 assists was deceiving because Williams actually had a bigger impact on the game than that indicated. Think about that for a second, you see 18 and 16, and you think a point guard dominated, one player is directly responsible for 50 points, Triano’s saying Williams was even better that.
Don't bother
Triano has officially replaced Bargnani as the whipping boy of choice for the followers of the HQ.
I did catch the full quote, and get what he’s saying. But how is 18 and 16 deceiving when 16 = more assists than your entire team? Yes, it’s scary that Deron was even BETTER than that, but 16 assists is hardly what I’d call a “deceiving number.”
And again, I’ve been a Triano back all season for the most part, but last night was a tough one to swallow as a supporter.
Adam Francis - Publisher - RaptorsHQ.com
by Adam Francis on Mar 25, 2010 10:57 PM EDT up reply actions
Bigger plans?
Laugh at me or agree with me, scold or praise; I can say with confidence and honesty that Bosh is not in the future plans for this team. I have two main points to make, along with tons of sub-points, but my main concern is that fans relish the thought of retaining Bosh for the rest of his career, when he’s simply not in the scope of the upper management.
I read in earlier posts that there has been no chemistry between Bosh and Bargnani – YES. Entirely accurate. Bosh is a go getter, a hustler (mentality wise), whereas we have Bargnani who is absolutely the opposite personality of Bosh. Bargnani needs to be handed a title before playing up to it. He doesn’t want to earn it through hard work. I believe when Colangelo went all “Italiano” with the team, he was going to give Bosh and Bargs these 4 years to play together, see how they did, and make a decision – which is now. Decision is, we have Maurizio at the helms, who single handedly fed Bargnani’s reputation to BC, putting his arse on the line for this kid. No matter what Bargnani has failed to accomplish in his career, we’ve never heard one trade rumor, one benching (look what happened to Mitchell) and on top of his woes, he’s somehow earned a fifty million dollar contract to boot. The upper crust has all but named Bargnani the A-1 chief of staff of this team.
I know all of you are going to say “Bargnani at the reigns???!!!” Like I said, Bargnani seems to have that personality of the ‘evil-genius’. The quiet type, who lurks around but always has some plan brewing. He is remarkably confident, as reported by his pre-draft caliper testing, and I can’t help but think he knows what is going on upstairs at the ACC, and is simply waiting for the word that he is the guy. This caliper test showed that Bargnani is incredibly resilient to criticism, to pressure – can we say the same for Bosh? Yeah he provides, but it’s because he is supposed to. He’s the superstar. There are times during a game I see Bosh – and almost believe he doesn’t want to be the go to guy. He wants to support the go to guy.
Rambling aside, my bet goes to Bargnani being the man in charge – the team getting whatever pieces we can for Bosh (Lee, or whathaveyou) and giving Bargnani the key. Like I said – he’s got so much confidence, he feels like he doesn’t have to prove something. He feels he deserves that number one stunna position. So until he has it, he’s going to play like he’s trying to show everyone what they’re missing. Unlike most skeptics, i’m excited to see how the team could pan out with Bargnani in the driver seat.
Some supporting (theories) facts:
-DeRozan starting every game of the season as if we were an experimental team.
-Bargnani inking a 5 year 50 million contract, never hinted in trade rumors, never benched. The Italianizing of the team overall – the amount of influence and support for Bargnani.
-We always see Hedo and Bargnani talking on the court. Serious conversation it seems. I’ve never seen Hedo talk like that with Bosh. I believe Hedo was brought in to make an impact next year, and the remaining 4 years of his contract. The turk could have been brought in order to get that toughness instilled in Bargnani – We all know Bosh has done nothing of the sort.
-Bargnani staying in games later than Bosh. More opportunities to have the offense flow through him and solely him.
When Bosh sat out those 7 games with the ankle (a ridiculous sitting time considering how light the sprain looked, he did finish the game remember…) he watched this team play without him, and more than likely thought to himself – “if this is what the team is without me; this weak, heartless display of organization – I want nothing of it.”
We can all agree he has NOT been the same since he came back – never taking over games, never playing with that fire that gave us 21 wins in 25 games, the energy, the urgency… I believe Bosh is playing out his days in TO, and will book it as soon as he can.
Hook, line, sinker.
Interesting take on things.
Frankly I’m scared as hell about Andrea being the go-to option, with Hedo as his side-kick, unless BC finds a way to flank these two (and maybe Jose as well) with some of the best defenders on the planet. Otherwise the club’s going to look like an unathletic version of Golden State each night…and you know how many wins they have this year.
I hope I’m wrong, but I’ve seen nothing this year to indicate that Andrea can be the go-to guy.
Remember, there’s a difference between “being immune to criticism” and simply “not caring.”
Adam Francis - Publisher - RaptorsHQ.com
by Adam Francis on Mar 25, 2010 11:00 PM EDT up reply actions
I don’t know if I agree with the conspiracy theory, though I am a big fan of them in general, so I don’t discount it … I mean Andrea has definitely shown he mainly wants to be a scorer and not the do-anything-to-win type player … I will say that bosh would be a fool to stay with this team based on what I’ve seen since the all-star break
i think bosh is leaving no questions about it lets see what peices colangelo can get back for bosh
by raptors_run_the_show on Mar 25, 2010 7:41 PM EDT reply actions
Very few.
Teams with cap space will have little incentive to give the Raps anything in a sign and trade and people can forget David Lee in such a scenario….he is unrestricted.
Dave "Howland" Randell
Co-Creator of RaptorsHQ.com
by RaptorsHQ - Howland on Mar 25, 2010 7:42 PM EDT up reply actions
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