Archive for Raptor Rants

Incoming: Reggie Evans – Grabs Rebounds and Everything Else in Sight

June 10, 2009 Nat Raptor Rants, Trades

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Action - The Toronto Raptors traded Jason Kapono for Reggie Evans
Reaction - I can’t believe the Raptors actually rid themselves of that contract and got something the team desperately needed in return!

What we gained: It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that the Raptors have lacked toughness and rebounding over the past few seasons. That problem is less of a concern now with the acquisition of Reggie Evans who brings both the qualities along with some heart. Calling him the next coming of Charles Oakley may be pushing it, but Evans has been in the top 10 in rebounds per 48 in minutes over the last 6 years. He is one of those guys you hate playing against but would love to have on your team. On the offensive end one can’t expect much. He doesn’t demand touches and when he does throw up the occasional shot you are sure to cringe. This actually works out better for the Raptors as he meets their defensive needs while not coming in the way of their offensive plan (see: Jermaine O’Neal). Colangelo has gone as far as saying Reggie will be the first man off the bench and we should be getting about 15-20 minutes of burn from him. The fact that we save about $1 million a year helps – Financial flexibility, toughness and rebounding makes this a match made in heaven for the Raptors.

What we lost: A pure spot up shooter who never seemed to be able to get his shot off. The thought of a guy to spread the floor was great but it never panned out and at almost $6 million a year Kapono’s price tag outweighed everything he brought to the floor. When the Raptors signed him to that huge contract they were expecting more than a 3 ball trophy from an All-Star game. One can blame the offensive system but in essence, with all his offensive abilities, an average of 7.7 ppg is just not good enough. Throw in the poor defense and the frequent traveling calls, Kapono was redundant on this roster.

Moving forward: Bryan Colangelo keeps to his word. The fact that he is fearless is the reason he is touted as one of the best in the business. As the Raptors season came to an end, he said there will be changes and this is just step 1. While all the media and fan chatter is around the future of Chris Bosh, you can bet Colangelo doesn’t plan to sit back and watch. He hates to lose and while the rest of the world speculates, I fully expect him to execute his plan to make sure his star player remains in Toronto next season and beyond.

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Inked: Jay Triano – New title… same guy!

May 12, 2009 Nat Raptor Rants

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Hardly a surprise, the Toronto Raptors made it official by signing long time assistant coach and most recently, interim head coach Jay Triano to a 3 year contract (final year is not guaranteed). Dropping the interim tag he becomes the first ever Canadian to be named a head coach, ironically for the for the lone Canadian team in the NBA.

A little history: Triano is the 7th head coach in franchise history. He joined the Raptors as an assistant under Lenny Wilkens in 2002 and served 7 years as an assistant (with Wilkens, Kevin O’Neill, and Sam Mitchell) before taking over midway through the 08-09 season. He also served as an assistant coach with the USA Basketball Select Team in 2007 and 2008 to go along with his international experience as a former head coach of the Canadian National team.

My take: This was a safe signing for the Raptors pure and simple. After dishing out a ton of money to Sam Mitchell,I don’t believe the organization was willing to go out and reel in a big ticket coach. Names like Avery Johnson, Eddie Jordan, Jeff Van Gundy, and even unknown Ettore Messina were floating around amongst the media and fans, but I think it was pretty much carved in stone at the end of the season that  Jay Triano would become the head coach of the Toronto Raptors long term. Was this the right route to take? Questionable. But the man with the plan, President and GM Bryan Colangelo, thought it was. My initial reaction to this signing was that it had to be financial decision, but after hearing BC in the presser and knowing how much he hates to lose -a fact that has been well documented- it seems to be a choice he really believes in. There are no more excuses now, he had the option to go out and get his own “guy” and chose to stick with Jay. Triano seems to be “co-operative” and probably has shown more willingness to carry out  Colangelo’s vision than former coach Sam Mitchell did. His coaching record from last season was far from stellar but I believe that has as much to do with what he had to work with than it did his abilities as an NBA coach. He has been doing all the right things since he got placed in this position and I give Kudos to Jay for sticking to the plan and in return he is rewarded with the job security he wanted.

Moving forward: Jay has been around the players on this roster from day 1, every single one of them has joined the team after he started with the Raptors so there is no excuse of familiarity. He is known to have a good working relationship with our “franchise” player CB4, and has played a big role in developing our future cornerstone, Bargnani. It is expected that Triano will get to put together his own coaching staff and early rumblings have names like Alvin “Boogie” Williams in the mix to come on board in some capacity. What happens from there lies not in his hands but in Colangelo’s, I believe a coach can only do so much at this level. He needs a better roster to work with and that is where the real work starts.

Colangelo has always been known to be able to shake up a team and have them do an about turn in record time- he has hardware to prove it.  If he believes that Jay Triano is the right man for this job, then as a fan I am going to put my faith in him. If this all works out, BC will once again be heralded as a “genius” and if it doesn’t, we can just “BLAME CANADA“

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Raptor Rant – Cuckoo for Coco POPS!

March 16, 2009 Nat Raptor Rants

cocopops119,000 + fans jumped out of their seats yesterday as they watched Pops Mensah-Bonsu throw down his 3rd dunk of the day. You see, Toronto Raptor fans have been involved in a game of Tug-of-War with the team over the past year. Being a fan is all about give and take and the team hasn’t been giving them much to cheer for. These days more often than not,the fans in the stands are heard booing the home team and cheering visiting players.

It was about a year ago that Chris bosh called out the fans in a video asking them to get behind the team and in return he received his fair share of backlash. What gives the player the right to tell the fan’s how to react at the game? Raptor fans have been bashed around the league for lacking basketball knowledge, cheering the visiting team and on most nights chanting for pizza in a loss but one thing no one ever should question is the passion of these Raptor fans… just ask Bill Simmons or Charlie Rosen.

Keeping the core intact, Bryan Colangelo pulled off some risky moves in the off-season that were to help the team get to the next level – GM FAIL! Luckily, its never been about winning or losing but rather about heart and hustle that will rally Raptor fans to get behind the team. Call it “The Hockey Mentality” or whatever – Toronto fans can bring it… they have proven it in the past. The talent may be lacking from this team, but more so on any given night there is no passion displayed by the team to win and I can’t help but point my finger right back at the leader of the team for setting examples. The same guy who called out the fans for not getting behind the team has me questioning what he has brought to that team this year. In the 30+ games atended this season there has not been a single instance where I was convinced that Bosh was trying his hardest. There are lots of excuses – Olympics, injuries and off nights but bottom line you want us to cheer? give us a reason to do so. This is not the worst season record wise for the Toronto Raptors in their short history, but this is the first time as a fan I felt I was being robbed by the team.

All these thoughts went through my mind as I cheered through the game v/s the Indiana Pacers yesterday at the Air Canada Center. I have not seen that much hurt being put on a rim at the ACC by the home team since the days of #15. There have been games the Raptors had no business winning and some they threw away but on this day the fans rose from their seats not for the dunk or the win, but for the man who gave us a reason to cheer. In no way do I think Pops is the “Messiah” and will lead the Raptors to go 15-0 for the rest of the season, but for one day I walked out of the arena smiling knowing that the game of tug of war had been called off (for now!!).

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Raptor Rant – Ball is in my court…

March 11, 2009 Nat Raptor Rants

Forget about playoff talk  and end of year awards, as a Raptors season ticket holder it’s that time of year again where I evaluate my ROI and wonder… will it get better? Multiple E-Mails and Phone calls from my account rep triggered off this open response to MLSE and the Toronto Raptors.

The Toronto Raptors are a business first and foremost and I understand that… my issue here is you need to keep your “investors” happy in order for them to keep funding your operation. I have been a STH for 8 seasons and hope to be again next year but all the flashbacks of the ’05-’06 season are making the decision much harder. I need a clearer idea on my return on investment before I fork out another 11 grand towards your product. I have heard your sales pitch one too many times and I need some answers before we move forward with this union

  • You want the Fans to get behind your team, you want to reach out to a National audience, you want to fill your arena and get us to buy your $4 Cokes… What are you going to do that should make me believe next season will be any better?
  • This year you don’t have the playoffs to use as a reason for us to give you our money in March you really think being in a lottery for a free TV is enough to lure me to re-up this early?
  • How do you want me to maintain my loyalty to the team when you as an organization made a deal that eventually led to me not being able to watch 1/3 of the Raptor games?
  • A discount on tickets is not going to cut it… what happened to all the other perks?
  • As a team 9th in attendance and in the top tier when it comes to renewal rates do you not have money in the bank to provide us with real half-time entertainment anymore? Watching two guys miss dunk after dunk is only amusing the first time around…

Bottom line, I am emotionally invested in this team, but there comes a time when you have to separate emotions as a wise investor would and re-evaluate your position. For now the ball is in my court and I don’t appreciate being hounded by you every March when come October you are already coming up with excuses for why the season was a disappointment.

Signed,
Heels on Hardwood

PS: I spent the first 10 games of the season staring up at that HD setup you boasted about all summer long, unfortunately it was not in awe that I looked at it each time but rather I kept checking to see when it would actually work!!!
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Raptor Rant: Clutchness revisited

March 9, 2009 Nat Number Crunchin, Raptor Rants

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As you know by now I am all about the numbers. I know they don’t tell the whole story but you can get a pretty good idea how the game is going to go if you just look at the numbers… history don’t lie!

The Toronto Raptors have yet to find a player since Vince Carter who can have the ball at the end of games and you know he is going to make something happen. According to 82games Kobe Bryant is the most clutch player in the NBA and one could probably guess that without looking at the stats. This season we have seen the most unlikely players step up to take the big shots (Roger Mason Jr. WHAT!!) yet the Raptors turn to Bosh and time and time again he comes up empty. Today’s game against the Jazz was just another example when the Raptors were up 1 late in the 4th I turned to my friend and said “now its time for Bosh to blow the game.”

Thing is I am not just trying to point out to game winning shots but the little things like boxing out to get rebounds, knowing time and score, making the right pass or simply knowing to call a timeout. CB4′s hands turn to butter and all signs of having a basketball IQ seem to disappear at the 5 minute mark of the 4th. The stats rank him 30th behind players like Al Jefferson, Danny Granger and even his long lost best friend T.J Ford. When it comes to game winning shots bosh doesn’t even make the cut going 3-15, but with 8-8 from the line, 2 assists, 0 turnovers (albeit the Raptors haven’t been in a position to take too many of those this season so the sample size is small).

I understand that on most teams you don’t have the C or PF taking the last shot so its unfair to compare him to many on those stat sheets, but when the team has been built around him the least he can do is give his teammates a chance to come through when he can’t. Sometimes its about the little things, Chris Bosh has been in the NBA 6 years and he still remains the anti-Jordan when it comes to the last 5 minutes of the game.

Clutch stats from 82games.com
Game winning shot stats from 82games.com

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