I know many of us aren't feeling to good about the Raptors right now (and with good reason). I was hoping we could post some positives here. From the break through the Knicks game the Raps have the leagues eight best defense. Remarkable progress from the historically poor defense of the last couple years. With a full training camp, a young shot-blocking centre and with luck the addition of a talented young perimeter defender through the draft the Raps could be a force to be reckoned with on one half of the court next year.

Just saying, we didnt fight like we meant it out there tonight guys come on raps, got to play til' then end of the hwhistle!...They really played like they meant it especially in the end. Maybe if we had a decent big we could have stopped the wild mustache man, (Joakim Noah). I mean Calderon is semi mustache but Rose had him off the dribble all night. The Bulls played fantastic basketball and all out deserved it more tonight. Good job Chicago.

So it's no new news that Steve Nash didn't demand a trade from the Suns, he's just too nice and polite and loyal for that. But when he becomes a free agent, there are likely to be a number of teams making a run at him for a 2 or 3 year deal to push them "over the top" and vie for a title.

It has been rumoured that the Raptors have high interest in making him an offer, writing a nice little tidy storybook ending to his career and legacy, retiring back in good ole homeland Canada.

It would appear from past experience that Steve would like a Championship if one fell in his lap, but that he doesn't have the need to chase one to feel fulfilled about his career. That being said would he get more enjoyment out of wrapping up his legacy in the land of the free and the home of Steve Nash or from a good heavy chunk of jewellery on his finger?

I suspect he would hold more stock in retiring north of the border after giving the lone Canadian franchise the boost to it's playoff chances and history than he would from finally getting a banner hung.

So, I believe we have a viable shot at acquiring him if we made that push.

But my question is, do we want to do that?

It would be a nice story, and Steve can still play well even though he was at dirt's first birthday party.

We could trade Jose for something and use Steve to be our general and teach our future PG. I would say that Steve could even be had for cheaper than Jose's last year of his deal or at least very close to it.

Could Steve get through to Bayless better than Jose has? I would say that at this point Bayless has probably taken all that he is ever going to from Jose and that Steve might offer a different angle that would push him further.

And Steve would be a better mentor for a young drafted future PG as his Hall of fame status gives instant credibility that Jose just doesn't match.

Add the other bonus of big name players really liking the idea of playing alongside Nash and it just may be the lure we need to spend the rest of our money on a real honest to goodness Star that is willing to "suffer" some of his career in the freezer.

I know that he likely wouldn't be around or at least contributing much by the time we're built for a proper run, but I think he just may bring some assets to our ledger that can boost the timetable AND quality of our rebuild.

I really would like to know what you guys think.

Should Captain Canada finally suit up in the red and white?

First I have to give credit to Mik and Mas for the great new term. I, without any permission, stole it and plan to use it often until it feels like it was I who actually came up with it. Suckers.

A few weeks into the 2010/11 season something dawned on Brian Colangelo and MLSE. That the Toronto Raptors were not a good enough team to compete at a high level in the NBA and they would have to rebuild. Its probably a situation that should have been self evident the day Chris Bosh refused a contract extension. Its probably a situation that should have been self evident the day Hedo 'balled' his way to the hearts (or colons) of Raptor fans. Its probably a situation that should have been self evident the day Jermaine O'neal and the theoritical triple towers toppled.

Yet it wasn't. But as people say, better late than never.

It has been approx. one and a half NBA seasons since the day a 'rebuild' was declared. And guess what? Its over. Yes ladies and gentleman your Toronto Raptors have rebuilt an NBA team in 1 offseason, 1 draft, and 2 trade deadlines. No joke:

" But we’re past rebuilding, we’re now in the building phase." - Brian Colangelo

http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news?slug=capress-bkn_raptors_prepare-15389865

I'm pretty sure its a new NBA record.

I know what you are asking yourself..... how does that work? Most teams spend years tearing down their roster, adding young players via the draft and making moves to find the right mix of talent. Well those teams don't have Brian Colangelo now do they? When a team gets Colangelowned this is how your rebuild works.

1) a couple draft picks that we assume will be top notch talent because we assume the GM is amazing at drafting. Witnessing actual on court performance is hardly important nor a step towards any meaningful success.

2) keep the core of the team pretty much the same. Sure they were all part of that team that 'wasn't good enough'... but that was a season and a half ago. Its pretty much assumed that Linas Kleiza, Jose Calderon, Andrea Bargnani, Amir Johnson, Demar Derozan and Ed Davis are better than last year... so we can assume they'll be better in coming years to.

3) 13 games is more than plenty to identify your Franchise player. Why waste time with getting a reasonable sample size or comparing it to his historical work? That takes time and effort and you aren't breaking records by doing that.

"but how we fit together as a unit, what needs we have, what guys can do with him (Bargnani) in the lineup, what are our weakness with him. All of those things matter" - Coach Casey

http://sports.nationalpost.com/2012/03/10/raptors-not-planning-to-make-splash-at-trade-deadline/

(And yet there were some who doubted me when I said Casey was brought in specifically for Bargnani - you crazy cats!)

4) start adding veterans. Thats right, add age. Why you ask? Well we are already assuming the young guys will be good enough... so I ask you: why not?

"I don’t think we can bring in a lot of young guys in next season and expect to make the big steps that we want to make next year. I think we’ll be looking for experienced guys, guys who are tough, battle tested and been through the wars...." - Coach Casey

http://www.torontosun.com/2012/03/07/raptors-torch-rockets

5) Cap space. One of the sure signs you have rebuilt a team is by having Cap Space. Lots of it to. Don't waste it on assets like trading for bad contracts to go along with additional picks or quality young players. You NEED that space.

i) because you never know when you'll be ready to give Derozan a 12 mil a year contract extension.

ii) you can make a great game of pretending to sign free agents with your new BCF (best crony forever) Ed Stefanski.

6) any missing pieces are easily added through trades, and since you find making trades a lot of fun and they have historically ALWAYS worked out in your favour you are therefore very good at making them.

Continue reading this post »

What if the ping pong balls are friendly this time, and we end up with the #1 pick in the draft? What should BC do? It isn't a straightforward decision, as there's a wild card in the deck, by the name of Jonas Valanciunas. Here are the options. (1) BC could keep the pick, and draft Anthony Davis. (2) He could do that, and then trade Jonas V. (3) He could trade the pick to someone else in the top 5, thereby handing the Centre spot to JV.

If BC takes Davis, there's no guarantee Jonas signs. We only have his draft rights; there's been no pen put to paper yet. If I'm Jonas, my enthusiasm for the Raptors might quickly diminish if I think I'm going to be coming off the bench for years.

If BC trades Jonas, there's no way to get full value. The guy hasn't stepped on the floor in an NBA game, so no team will pay what he cost us, namely the fifth overall pick.

If BC trades down, we miss a chance to draft Davis, who is being touted as the league's next superstar. That said, this is the option I'd choose, but only if we stay in the top 5, and extract a huge ransom (our trade partner's first rounder this year and next, plus a starter, for example) to do so. Let's play this out: assume the Wiz have the #4 pick, and want our #1 slot. We take their #4 this draft, their first-round slot next year (sure to be high in the lottery, as a quick fix in Washington isn't likely), and Nene. Is that a good deal for us, and for the Wiz?

Over to the commentators - what do you guys think about all this?

The intention of this post is to create some discussion about the SF position in this draft, especially since March Madness has just kicked off yesterday.

When it comes to the draft, I believe the Raptors should draft a SF. Though, a SG may be another possibility.

Watching the games today, and the previous games, I think of three names for the SF spot; MKG, Harrison Barnes, Terrance Jones (though listed as a PF).

MKG has always looked and been a defensive stopper. There has been numerous times when the coach calls on MKG to stop the opposing team's best player, and he never backs away from the occasion. In his interviews, such as this one, he prides his defense and always looks to improve on that aspect. Defensive highlights here. He seems to over-commit to the play sometimes, but he keeps improving. He is a freshman at Kentucky and he is listed at 6'7"; 228 lbs according to DraftExpress.

Harrison Barnes is a proven scorer and clutch performer. You can see some of his clutch shots here and here. He puts up points, and he can do it in multiple ways. Of course he is not a finished product, but that extra year in college served him some justice by polishing up his game. Compared to MKG, he is not a defensive stopper, but he can help the offense in a variety of ways. He is a sophomore at North Carolina and he is listed at 6'8"; 223 lbs according to DraftExpress.

Terrance Jones is used as a forward, but switching off from small and power. He has the body and height to compete at a power, but he also has the explosiveness and range to be a small. An in-betweener if a description is necessary. Highlights here. Highlights explain it all and what he is capable of. In a team surrounded by immense talent, I believe sometimes he is underutilized. It's no one's fault, but I feel that should play a factor into deciding what to do or pick. He is a sophomore at Kentucky and he is listed at 6'9"; 249 lbs according to DraftExpress.

Personally, I believe that MKG is perfect for Casey's system. As we all know, Casey is an avid fan of defense, and what better idea than to draft a player mainly focused on defense. Casey would utilize him to the fullest of his potential (defensively at least). However, you can't ignore Barnes and Jones. Barnes is a pure scorer and clutch performer. Something the Raptors would need in a star if the Raptors are looking to draft a potential "star." Even then, Jones is so powerful and versatile for his position. He may even develop into an incredible player if used properly. Ah, so many choices and only one pick...

Stephen Jackson, the captain of the Malcontent All-Stars, was traded last night. I mention this non-Raps news to illustrate a point which I think our current management "gets" very well: DON'T DRAFT, OR TRADE FOR, TROUBLEMAKERS. Golden State's coach, ex-Rap Mark Jackson, now has the task of either keeping a lid on Stephen or throwing him overboard with a $10M anchor (images of Alonzo Mourning flying across my brainpan - make it stop!)

While I think Coach Casey could handle a problem player very well (unlike Brown in Laker-land, who is accused of not being able to stand up to Kobe), why would any decent GM put his coach in a bad position? I don't have a man-crush on BC, whose drafting record is questionable, but he's been consistent on this matter since he came to T-Dot. Stephen Jax is a terrific ballplayer, but he and his ilk (I'm looking at you, T-Mac) aren't worth the distraction, which seem to lead inevitably to a forced trade or other undesirable outcome.

Having edgy players on the court = goodness. Elsewhere, not so much.

John Shannon formerly of MLSE TV Production side, nonchalantly dropped this bomb on the FAN590's Bob McCowan's Primetime Friday round table. John said in the summer of 2001 that at a senior MLSE management meeting Glen Grunwald admitted that he passed on a deal that would have sent future MVP Steve Nash and Dirk Nowitzky in exchange for Vince Carter and Antonio Davis.

WTF?!?! To be fair, this was at the peak of Vincemania and only weeks after the clunk vs the 76ers in game 7. Steve Nash was getting booed. But AD would have just been a piece.

What would Raptors nation have looked liked if that deal had gone through? How many more wins would we have racked up over the last decade? Or would MLSE have figured out a way to have screwed it up?

I probably would have remained a season ticket holder, and considering how weak the east was during that period I'm fairly positive there would have been a couple of good runs. Excuse me while I go hurl now.

Several sources indicate AB will be back for Sunday's Bucks game . Assuming that's true, what does it mean? I'd venture to say not much. Here's why: Coach Casey isn't going to damage next season for this one. He's not coaching to save his job, or BC's - they are both safe. Nor is he thinking "Let's sneak into the playoffs", as he's aware that ship sailed several weeks ago. Coach knows AB's injury is chronic; I'd be astonished if AB played more than 30 mins/gm till season's end. AB can't score if he's on the bench, so I doubt we'll see him average 20 points/gm.

I hope AB's return means fewer minutes for Jose, who won't need to carry as much scoring load. That means we'll see more of Bayless (and Gary Forbes, with Carter's likely departure? Yikes!).

I predicted a record of 22-44, or .333 winning percentage. After last night's pleasant surprise, we are at 13-26, which is a .333 winning percentage (spooky!). Given the duration of AB's injury, we're actually doing better than I thought, so a few more wins might be in the cards. However, Coach will be careful - how about 25-41?

I'm seeing a lot of chatter along the lines of "Let's trade Calderon while his value is high". That's got me wondering what I would do if I were BC, with the trade deadline approaching. My short answer - nothing. Here's why, starting with Jose: If you are going to trade a starter, you better have someone ready to step in to the departed player's shoes. Anybody feel comfortable with Bayless as our starting PG? Show of hands? Yes, that would be zero. And I don't want to hear about trading Jose for another PG. If we are, what's the point? Andrea is due to return, and he's acknowledged that he & Jose have chemistry after the years they've played together. And Amir & DeMar are both better when Jose is finding them for easy buckets. Finally, there's an argument, which seems seductive at first glance, to the effect that Jose will be too old to start when our rebuild is finished and we're ready to win. To which I reply: has anyone heard of Steve Nash, Jason Kidd, Andre Miller, all of whom are kick-ass PGs in their 30s? Tony Parker turns 30 in a few months, and he's fantastic, and getting better.

So we keep Jose. Do we have anyone on the roster who has to go (like Jax in Milwaukee, the poster boy for whiners)? Not that I'm aware. Can we dump any of our roster ballast (Forbes, Jamaal...)? No, who would trade for those guys? Who's left to trade? DeMar, Andrea, Ed, Amir, Barbosa. I suppose you could build a deal for one or more of them, but I can't see BC trading DeMar or AB. Ed is viewed as an underachiever. Amir's contract has been flamed in the press, and I doubt any GM would risk getting burnt by taking it off BC's hands. Let's remember that in the NBA, GMs don't trade players, they trade contracts.

That leaves Barbosa as the only serious trade candidate. Any offers?

I just don't see the urgency to do anything. This miserable season will be over soon enough, and we'll (hopefully) get a quality draft pick. We can rejig the lineup when Jonas and WonderKid arrive next year.