SB Nation - Quincy Douby

Ridiculous Transactions: 11/9 - 11/15, Plus Trade Analysis

Jon L — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 15:00:36 -0000

by Darron Cummings - AP

The Houston Rockets said goodbye to Pops Mensah-Bonsu this week. Frowny face.

A few relatively big moves happened (in our world, at least), but before I get to those, I realized that I never discussed the D-League trades from a few weekends ago at any length, so here we go:

Fort Wayne Mad Ants traded 10 pick (Alade Aminu) to the Erie BayHawks; Erie BayHawks traded Rob Kurz to the Fort Wayne Mad Ants

At least as it stands now, before any games have been played, this looks like a pretty good trade for both sides. Fort Wayne returns Chris Hunter and Sean Sonderleiter in the middle, so as talented as Aminu is the team was already set at center. Sure, Aminu most likely would've been an upgrade over Sonderleiter, Hunter gets the bulk of the minutes there anyway, and since he's a very good D-League center the Mad Ants were able to flip their pick to address other issues. The team also has several other forwards back from last year, but they're mostly defense or rebounding specialists. Rob Kurz should allow the team to stretch the defense a little more, to use that cliche, and because I assume he's going to start, it will be interesting to see if his presence at power forward pushes Anthony Kent to the bench, or whether Kent moves over to the 3 and Ron Howard, last year's starting small forward but 6'5", heads to the backcourt. If the latter is the case, then Kurz's shooting skill will be even more of a necessity as Howard's not much of a shooter (or scorer generally, come to think of it). Fort Wayne also had been angling to get Kurz as a local allocation player because of his time at Notre Dame, so the team is hoping that bringing him in (along with other Notre Dame players) will help them at the gate as well as on the court.

For the Bayhawks, Alade Aminu seemed to be one of the most sought-after players in the draft, at least among teams looking for raw talent. Aminu didn't play a whole lot for Washington's Summer League team, though his defense was alright when he did, and the Miami Heat gave him a look during the preseason. Aminu was a bit turnover-prone in college and needs to develop some post moves (along with some strength), but he's very athletic and handles the ball fairly well for a 6'10" guy. Erie needed a center to replace the departed Erik Daniels, and as I wrote around the draft, bringing in actual centers like Aminu, John Bryant and Jeff Skemp is a step in the right direction. Erie already had some guys sort of like Kurz (Ivan Harris is a three-point shooting forward, Jarvis Gunter is an okay rebounder but doesn't do much else), so they didn't need to duplicate efforts there.

Los Angeles D-Fenders traded Earl Barron to the Iowa Energy; Iowa Energy traded Anthony Tolliver to the Idaho Stampede; Idaho Stampede traded Dar Tucker to the Los Angeles D-Fenders

I've given some brief comments on this one, but to recap, I like this trade for both Idaho and Iowa, but I'm a little baffled by what LA is doing. To elaborate, let's start with Idaho. Last year Bob MacKinnon's Colorado team liked to run, and they led the league in pace. Sure they had Joe Dabbert and Kentrell Gransberry in the middle, but each of those players' proclivity for fouling meant that Josh Davis saw a fair amount of time at center. Anthony Tolliver isn't the same player Davis is, specifically in the area of three-point shooting (Tolliver is okay but not great there), but he's a good passer, a pretty good rebounder and post defender, and he can score a little bit (in the D-League, anyway). Tolliver should be a solid anchor for the Stampede, at least for as long as he's around (he has a history of leaving the D-League either to play in Europe or the NBA).

Iowa-wise, Earl Barron is a solid center with some shot-blocking talent and NBA experience (specifically with Miami). Barron upped his per-36 minute scoring averages and lowered his foul rates every year that he played for the Heat, so he's been improving. He's 28 years old now, though, so this may be his last go-round in the D-League. The Energy drafted a lot of scorers and wing players, and while Tolliver is a good player (see above) he likely would've taken up a lot of possessions that can now be distributed a little more equally.

As for the D-Fenders, it's not that Dar Tucker isn't talented, it's just that his shot selection is shaky. He made less than 30 percent of his three-pointers last year at DePaul, which wouldn't be great even if he hadn't averaged more than six three-point attempts per game. He shot just 39 percent overall, so it's not like he was great inside the arc either. He also averaged more turnovers than assists and can't really go left. Tucker is athletic, does a decent job of getting to the rim and is a decent rebounder, but his offensive game has a lot of negatives. Plus there's the fact that he's a shooting guard, and that LA already has Joe Crawford and Charlie Parker, who are nominally point guards but are more scorers than distributor, Ryan Forehan-Kelly, who's a swingman who can do a lot of things but who also probably got accustomed to having the ball last year, Deron Washington, who's another (more efficient) slasher, and Jeremy Wise, a shooting guard. As for big men, let's see...how does Longar Longar strike you? It's entirely possible that Barron asked for this trade, but as it stands now the D-Fenders have a glut of shooting guards and/or backcourt scoring without a ton of guys who can rebound or defend the post. This team could be really fun to watch, or it could be a horrible mess.

Rio Grande Valley Vipers traded Marcus Hubbard to the Reno Bighorns; Reno Bighorns traded Haminn Quaintance to the Rio Grande Valley Vipers

Here's the thing about Marcus Hubbard - I make snide comments about his game, but he's a decent player. At least he could be. He certainly has his moments. He's athletic, he can rebound a little bit, he stays out of foul trouble. But, somewhere in his career (it may have been at the beginning, who knows) he started viewing himself as a mid-range/perimeter player, and he's not very good at it. He likes shooting threes, and he's about as good at it as Dar Tucker is. Now that the Rockets are running the show, he really didn't fit what they look for in a big man, so it wasn't a surprise to see him go.

Quaintance, on the other hand, does seem like a Houston-type guy. I don't know much about him, and called him a "three-point shooter" around the draft based on last year's EuroChallenge, but he's actually a power forward who was an excellent defender in college (he was MAC defensive player of the year as a senior) and gets steals blocks as well as blocks, plus he can score a little bit and passes pretty well for his position. Oh, and he's athletic. He profiles very well, so I'm curious as to why Reno gave him up. He likely wouldn't have gotten a ton of minutes behind Boom Tho Rod Benson and non-boom tho Cezary Trybanski, but he could've slid into the lineup in the event of a Benson call-up just as well as Hubbard can.

Moving on to this week's, uh, moves, after the jump...

November 10: James White - signed with Spartak SPB (Russia); Ronald Dupree - signed with Telekom Baskets Bonn (Germany)

Well, White said he wasn't coming back to the D-League, so this is just a guy keeping his promise. Spartak just signed Goran Suton last week, so they have a pretty solid (American) inside-outside combo now. The question becomes whether White will come back next year for Summer League and/or the preseason, or whether he's fed up with the entire enterprise. He may cool off after a year, but if the NBA isn't going to seriously invest in him he may not see the point. Dupree goes to Telekom Baskets, also the current team of former RGV point guard Jared Jordan. He's in a similar position to White (but without the relatively-modest NBA success) in that he's ready to move on with his career. As he said in that interview I linked to yesterday, there comes a point in every player's career (the D-League/marginal NBA players anyway) where he has to seriously consider playing in Europe, essentially for the money. This was a tougher year than most for a lot of these players, but if someone has plans, or has plans to have plans, to settle into some kind of routine, live comfortably, start a family, whatever, as it stands right now the D-League/Summer League/training camp circuit just doesn't provide that.

November 12: Washington Wizards - waived Paul Davis and signed Earl Boykins

My interest in this move (other than as a Wizards fan) is to see what Davis will do. He could make a pretty good salary in Europe, and do pretty well on the court leading to future pretty good salaries, but one doesn't go on the "Millionaire Matchmaker" show and talk about how you're looking for someone to settle down with your millions of dollars if you're then planning on leaving the country. Of course, that was a while ago, and he probably wasn't planning on barely making a roster on a nonguaranteed deal, and playing in the D-League definitely isn't what people on "Millionaire Matchmaker" have in mind (I'm guessing), but I could see Davis sticking around here for a few months and using his Clippers years as a way to get another shot.

November 13: Eddie Gill - signed with Base Oostende (Belgium); Toronto Raptors - waived Quincy Douby

I don't have much to say about Douby being waived, as from my read on the situation his position on the team was already somewhat tenuous even before the team drafted DeMar DeRozan (and, hopefully, traded for Sonny Weems). He could do extremely well in Europe, obviously, but he has enough of a name that another NBA team is likely to take a shot on him at some point (hi Memphis!).

Gill, though, is sort of a big deal because he represents yet another talented, high-profile player (D-League-wise) who the Springfield Armor took in the expansion draft and who won't actually be suiting up for that team. Gill may or may not have been looking to head overseas for awhile, but his leaving right before training camp would seem to put the team in a tight spot. They may not have been counting on him being there, but they didn't really bring in any strong point guards through allocation or the draft, so one would assume that they were. Oh well. This leaves JamesOn Curry as the team's starting point guard, I'm guessing, even though Curry's not much of a distributor.

November 14: Houston Rockets - waived Pops Mensah-Bonsu and assigned Joey Dorsey to the Rio Grande Valley Vipers

Goodbye, Pops. You were enjoyed. I have no idea if Mensah-Bonsu will return to the D-League, as he's in a similar position to Paul Davis (but without the whole "appearing on TV" thing), and also Earl Barron. Mensah-Bonsu is younger than I thought, but 26 years old is starting to approach the "maybe I should just go to Europe" age. His national team coach Chris Finch is in the D-League now, and with the Rockets' affiliate no less, so he could wait around until they're at the top of the list and join the D-League player pool, at which point he'll do so well (he was a monster for the Toros last year) that the NBA can't keep ignoring him (again).

I also thought Dorsey was older than he is, or at least had been in the NBA long enough not to be eligible for the D-League, but that probably speaks to the fact that I need to brush up on this stuff. Even without Mensah-Bonsu in the picture, frontcourt minutes are scarce in Houston at the moment. Dorsey posted some decent numbers in RGV last year, around 10 points and nine rebounds per game (11 and 11 per-36), but his free-throw shooting was so awful it actually dragged his True Shooting percentage down a fair amount. Dorsey played well in Summer League this year, and I expect him to do very well for the Vipers. Assuming, that is, that he and Kurt Looby find a way to both play in the middle. They'll probably both start, but Vipers fans should probably get used to seeing those guys fighting each other for rebounds.

Your Sunday D-League Bullets

Jon L — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 15:00:28 -0000

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I've skipped linking to all of the various "local player gets drafted by a D-League team" stories, mostly because they're all pretty similar and also because some of those players may get cut over the next week and a half. There are still some interesting links to hit you with, as you'll see.

SLAM Online has a nice profile of Latavious Williams and the process he and his agent Tony Dutt went through to decide on joining the D-League. There is no relation between my linking this article and the fact that it and Dutt make a lot of the same points (he'll get to play against better competition, with better coaching) that I always make.
Quincy Douby just got cut by the Raptors, and the Erie BayHawks have first dibs if he comes back to the D-League. I'd bet he goes to Europe instead, but maybe he wants to be on hand for another 10-day.
Okay, so one exception to the kind of story I mentioned above: Robert Swift, who's trying to come back with Bakersfield. I'm a little skeptical that he can stay injury-free, but as the article notes, Swift has bulked up a little bit so perhaps his body will be a little more stable.
Ronald Dupree is playing in Germany this year, and Bonn's General-Anzeiger Online has an interview with him about being cut by the Jazz and his decision to play overseas. It's in German, of course, so you may need to use your translation website of choice, but here's a choice quote, roughly translated: "For me it was no longer meaningful to return there. It's okay if you're young and coming out of college, but I had come to a point in my career where I had to take the step to play in Europe.
I don't put much stock in "power rankings" as a general rule, for any sport or other thing that you can rank power-ly, but in the interest of full bulleting, D-League.com has released their preseason power rankings. I think Maine might be a little high and Idaho a bit low, but otherwise it mostly tracks with my own thoughts.
Jeff Potter has been posting his thoughts on how Fort Wayne's Mad Ants practices have been going, but the most interesting one to me is the idea that Sean Sonderleiter has slimmed down a bit over the summer. I doubt it's made him a whole lot quicker, but he was always active and a solid rebounder, so if he's a little leaner (he was never as bad as a Nate Jawai or a Kentrell Gransberry, but his conditioning could've been better) then he should be a very good backup for the Mad Ants this season.

3 In The Key - Toronto Raptors Game Day Preview vs. Clippers

RaptorsHQ - Howland — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 11:00:31 -0000

by Gus Ruelas - AP

Even without Blake Griffin the Clippers have a pretty solid front-court. (AP Photo/Gus Ruelas)

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After grabbing a win at home the Toronto Raptors have once again packed their bags and they are off to the West Coast for another road trip. Up first? LA's other team...the Clippers.

Could the Raps make it two in a row in this late night match-up?

Here is what I know about the Los Angeles Clippers.

The have a good team (on paper).
They have to love the fact that Elton Brand decided to skip town and end up with the 76ers.
They have to be somewhat disappointed with the play of Baron Davis.
They must be chomping at the bit waiting for Blake Griffin to hit the court.
They have one of the worst owners (Donald Sterling) in all of sport and I can't help but wonder if he and Al Davis are not the same person.
Mike Dunleavy is a horrible coach and this team looks like it is in complete disarray on both ends of the court.
Their three wins this season have come against Minnesota, Golden State and Memphis.
As much as the Raptors frustrate me sometimes, I am grateful that I am not a Clippers fan.

For those living in the Eastern Time Zone I don't think there is a worse opponent for the Raps to have with a 10:30 pm start time on a Friday night. Just a hunch, but I think viewer numbers are going to be down for this game.

Nevertheless, this is an important game. Given their upcoming schedule against some of the elite teams in the league this is a great opportunity for the Raptors to build of the second half of the Bulls game and secure back to back wins for the third time this season. I have said this before, if the Raps can get some momentum early on this season it is going to go a long way down the stretch.

Despite all my points above I don't think this Clippers team is simply going to hand the game over to the Raps as an early Christmas present. We all know that the Raps have a propensity to let the opposition score at will and this Clippers team with the likes of Baron Davis, Chris Kaman and Al Thornton can, if given the opportunity, fill it up.

Speaking of Chris Kaman, he alongside Marcus Camby, makes for an interesting match-up against the Raps two-headed monster in Andrea Bagnani and Chris Bosh.

After the win against Chicago there was a lot of talk on the site about Andrea Bargnani and Chris Bosh and which player is the most challenged on the defensive end of the court. It sparked quite the debate.

Well, now it's really time to evaluate and the NBA's schedule makers have provided a number of opponents, Clippers included, who will really help resolve the debate.

Kaman is an excellent back to the basket player and a very good rebounder. Camby, over the course of his career, has been a great paint presence with shot-blocking ability and a terrific nose for the ball. It's going to be a test for the Raptors bigs no doubt about it. Let's see how Raps defend these two bigs and see who, if anyone can step up their defensive game. Bosh? Bargnani? Or will Triano be forced to look at Amir Johnson to help provide the required resistance.

The match-up between the big men is really what I will be watching but here are three other keys to tonight's game:

1. Perimeter Defense: For those who have not seen a Clippers game this season, if it wasn't for the nasty beard, you probably wouldn't recognize Baron Davis. He has really taken care of his body and is much more fit and slim this season. He is looking more agile on the court and although his shooting percentages still leave much to be desired, he has a little pep in his step. He will undoubtedly be looking forward to his match-up against Jose Calderon in hopes of using his quickness to attack the paint. Al Thorton is another Clipper who loves to attack the rim.

If the Raptors defenders can't stay in front of the Clippers guards and small forwards it could make for a long night. It will also make it more difficult on Bosh and Bargnani to defend their respective match-ups. For all the talk about the lack of defense being shown by the Raptors bigs, it is all a rather moot point if they are not getting help from their teammates.

2. Shooting Contest: These Clippers have no hesitation when it comes to shooting the rock. Given the lack of game plan on the offensive end I am sure you will all make note of each of their player's willingness to jack it up at every opportunity. They also like to shoot the three ball, much like the Raps.

If we learned anything from the Bulls game it is that the Raptors have a better chance at succeeding when they focus on getting the ball inside and then looking for the three. As Franchise pointed out the Raps took 16 three's in the first half of the Bulls game and were down. When they finally started to get aggressive on offense in the second half it helped turn things around. In my opinion the Raps simply take too many three's. Against a team like the Clipper's it would be natural to get into a three ball contest but the recipe for success is a heavy dosage of Bosh and Bargs in the paint either drawing the foul, making a hoop from close range or drawing the double team and then, and only then kicking it out for the three ball.

3. Play Above Your Opponent: As mentioned from the top this Clippers team is good on paper but the results simply are not there. The Raps cannot play down to their opponent tonight. A loss here could set a bad tone for the next week. As someone mentioned on the site yesterday the Raps are treading water around the .500 level right now which is respectable given the early schedule of games. It would be nice to see that trend continue.

One player we won't see dressed for the Raptors in tonight's game, or any other game going forward for that matter is Quincy Douby. Douby, despite his respectable summer league performance in Vegas was really the forgotten man on this Raptors roster and yesterday was released. Douby is yet to live up to his billing when he was selected in the first round by the Sacramento Kings and I question whether he gets another chance at making an NBA roster. Unfortunately he becomes another member of a long list of forgettable Raptors.

We, of course, are going no-where and will be here live-blogging the game into the wee hours of the morning so join in the conversation!

Toronto Raptors Season Preview Part 2 - Eight Fearless Predictions

RaptorsHQ - Franchise — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 13:08:26 -0000

More photos » by David Dow - NBAE/Getty Images

Franchise expects a career season from Chris Bosh...

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Continuing on yesterday's theme of "non-traditional" season previews, Franchise takes one final look at the 2009-10 Toronto Raptors, but this time by way of 8 predications about how things will unfold when all is said and done...

I'm more excited this year than last.

By a long shot.

How's that for an opening statement?

Especially coming from someone who over the past few months has tempered his enthusiasm for this latest incarnation of the Toronto Raptors basketball club, and probably seemed like a bit of a Debbie Downer to many a reader.

But it's the truth.

I just never was a huge believer in the Jermaine O'Neal/Roko Ukic era Dinos, and and while I don't think this new version is an NBA Finals contender, I think that it finally has some pieces to work with that haven't been present in years.

And even outside the Raptors, there are a number of NBA stories that have me pumped to tune in starting this evening; from the reloaded Spurs and Mavs, and up-and-coming Blazers looking to challenge the Lakers out West, to hopefully a healthy Celtics club and a Shaqified Cavaliers team in the East.

Combine that with the strange re-ignition of the Vince Carter rivalry by way of Carter replacing the Raps' key free-agent acquisition on his former team, and various other subplots (the return of Agent Zero, the continuing ascension of Kevin Durant, the possible unintentional comedy goldmine of Zach Randolph and AI playing in Memphis...) and you've got one amped RaptorsHQ member.

To that end, instead of naming keys to the season (defence, rebounding, Andrea's play, blah blah blah), I thought I'd go with 8 fearless predictions in honour of the team finishing with a top 8 spot and a return to the Eastern Conference playoffs.

Let's do it...

1. Chris Bosh has a career season and is the Raptors' lone representative at the annual All-Star Game.

Bosh is saying all the right things so far this off-season, and in spite of a small injury set-back to begin training camp, looks poised to have his most dominant season ever. He's added size and strength, is in a contract year, and was reportedly thinking about things like "spacing" in the off-season instead of the latest PSIII games. All that to say that while I don't think we'll see 30 points and 15 rebounds a game, but it wouldn't be a stretch for me to say that CB4 will finish the season around the 24 points and 11 and half rebound mark, his best marks statistically so far.

However even with hopefully a healthy Calderon, an improved Andrea Bargnani, and the addition of Hedo Turkoglu, I still think Bosh will be the only Raptor representing up North come All-Star time.

2. DeMar DeRozan has a roller-coaster rookie season but makes Rookie Team for All-Star Festivities.

That being said, while I expect Bosh to be the only Raptor rep at the main event in Dallas, I do think that Mr. DeRozan will be the latest in the long line of Toronto players to participate in the annual Rookie-Sophomore match. I'm not expecting a Vince Carter-type rookie season from the former USC swingman as I expect an up-and-down campaign more akin to the recent one from Rodney Stuckey, but I think he'll show enough to get the All-Star nod.

3. Hedo Turkoglu has a solid season but fails to replicate his success in Orlando.

This one to me is pretty obvious. I just can't see how Turk, on a team with two excellent point guards guiding the team's offence, can be as impactful as he was in Orlando, especially with dominant offensive players like Bosh and Bargnani needing touches to be effective. With the Magic, especially after Jameer Nelson went down, Hedo needed to look for his own shot quite often. He had another talented offensive partner with him in Rashard Lewis, but that was about it. Players like Rafer Alston and Dwight Howard often found their scoring as a result of something Hedo created, not because plays were specifically run for them. In fact, most of Howard's scoring came from put-backs and by overwhelming an opponent physically, so Turk hardly needed to ensure that he was the first option offensively.

With the Raptors that's going to be quite different and as opposed to last season's 16.8 points, 5.3 rebounds and 4.9 assists, I'm expecting numbers along the lines of 14 points, 4 rebounds and 3.5 assists. He's still a major upgrade at the 3 spot, but I'm expecting more frustrating shot decisions then buzzer-beaters by season's end.

4. Andrea Bargnani shows minimal improvement statistically, but begins to round out his game.

After a great second half of the season offensively, many are expecting this season to be Andrea's breakout year.

I'm not one of them.

This isn't because I don't think it's in him, I do, but I think that simply based on the addition of Hedo, an improved roster of talent, and what I expect to be a career-year from Bosh, Bargs is just not going to get the touches offensively that he needs to maximize his effectiveness. (I'll even go so far as to say that as long as he's paired with CB4, this won't happen but that's a blog topic for another time.) Add on the fact that I don't think he's ever going to be a great rebounder from the center position, and I think a slight jump in metrics, say 18 points and six rebounds a game, to be the end result by the time the season wraps up.

That being said, I am expecting him to continue to round out his game, especially on the defensive end, and continue to show that he has the tools to be a very good player in this league for years to come.

5. Sonny Weems plays more minutes than Marco Belinelli.

Of all the off-season acquisitions made by Bryan Colangelo, I think the Weems "throw-in for salary matching purposes" will end up having the biggest impact compared to expectations. Weems is starting the season on the inactive list due to injury (along with Reggie Evans and Quincy Douby) but I expect him to play a fairly large role on the team this season simply based on his athletic ability and grit. A starter? Hardly. But I do expect him to be a regular in the rotation perhaps as an 8th or 9th man, and I expect him to play more minutes than the much more heralded Marco Belinelli.

6. Toronto starts December with a 5 and 13 record...

Yikes.

No, not exactly an upbeat take on things, but the reality I think is that taking the schedule in November, injuries, and 12 new faces and a new system into account, it's going to be a struggle early on.

7. ...however makes the playoffs.

That being said, I think the team will really start to gel in December, and simply get stronger by the month, eventually grabbing one of the final playoff spots in the East.

I don't see a first round victory in the cards, but it will be an important step back in the right direction.

8. Bosh re-signs for max dollars.

And finally, the big question that will be lurking all season; will Bosh re-sign with the Raps?

I think he will for a number of reasons, ranging from the amount of money he'd be leaving on the table to go elsewhere, his happiness with the club's direction, his affection for the city of Toronto, and his relationship with Bryan Colangelo.

I'm not sure this is what's best for the franchise in the long run, but in the short-run it will continue to provide the club with stability and act as a testament to Bryan Colangelo's ability to attract and retain key free-agents.

Of course the real outcome of that final prediction is a long ways away. Until then, we've got 82 games to discuss, starting tomorrow night against Lebron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers in what promises to be a very tough opener to the season.

We've analyzed and broken down the off-season moves this team has made to death.

Now it's time to see how they really perform.

Game Day Preview vs. Celtics

RaptorsHQ - Howland — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 10:00:40 -0000

Another preseason game and another opportunity for the Raps to continue to work and improve on their team game. Taking a peak at what to look for tonight in match number 5.

The Raps continue to work things out as the preseason rolls along and as mentioned over the course of the past few days there is much to work on.

The next opponent for the Raps? How about America's Most Hated Team, your 2009-2010 Boston Celtics. I am sure Jose Calderon would agree.

There will be a few of things to keep your eye on Weds evening as the Raps face a team that has really had their number in the recent past.

1. When will the starters catch the feeling? Right now it seems readily apparent that the Raps bench have their act together while the starters are working things out. Maybe this is a direct reflection of the fact that the bench guys are all playing for PT while the starters know their minutes are coming and are easing into the season. Frankly whether or not the starters manage to play better this game or the next is pretty irrelevant. It's more important right now that the bench is playing well.

I won't be making any judgments about Jose/Bosh/Bargs until the home opener against the Cavs and beyond. Obviously things are not going that well and we are yet to see any true chemistry between the guys who actually wore a Raps jersey last season but there shouldn't be any alarms going off. That being said it would be nice to see the starters put things together sooner rather than later...might this be the night?

2. Who is getting less burn? It is at about this point where Triano will start trimming some minutes and will start shortening the bench even just a little. Who will see less time? I think it's fair to say that Quincy Douby, Patrick O'Bryant and Marcus Banks, despite having shown some improvement are all destined for the end of the bench and we will see whether Triano agrees. Perhaps the more interesting question is who out of Belinelli, DeRozan and Weems starts seeing less time and how does everything change with Antoine Wright is ready to see the floor. Are any of these guys sure bets for PT when the season starts? Outside of DeRozan it seems like a toss-up to me.

3. How rusty with Hedo be? Looks like the off-seasons big acquisition will be in the line-up tonight. This is the beginning of a beautiful thing or the start of a nightmare? It will simply be nice to see Turk on the floor. His minutes will likely be very limited and spent solely with the other starters. How he performs tonight is secondary to the fact that he is actually suited-up. Finally we will see Triano playing with close to a full deck.

Last, I wanted to get on my soap box for the first time this year and it's in response to the whole "it's going to take time argument". I think this is a totally acceptable argument when defending the Raps preseason play. These guys are all learning each others strengths and weaknesses and learning a new system. It is taking time and they are in the process.

What is not acceptable is when it's used in discussing the regular season. On more than one occasion I have overheard people discussing the season ahead and already they are defending a slow start by the Raps with this idea. Sorry folks but in my opinion once the preseason ends this argument is just a huge excuse with little substance. When people say it is going to take time for this team to gel it implicitly means that it's o.k. if this team struggles and loses games early in the season. That's BS. It's not ok and there shouldn't be any excuses. Every team in the NBA at this point of the year is working things out and could use the "time" argument to defend their play.

New coach? Need time.

New Players? Need time.

New System? Need time.

There are very few teams out there, in particular after a particularly busy offseason, who are not working out the kinks and trying to get everyone on the same page before the regular season kicks off. It's the teams that gel first that will be successful when the games count. By saying this team needs time to gel we are setting the bar awfully low and I, for one, am not onside. Forecasting losses early and already excusing them is just not acceptable in my books. Why not raise the standard? Isn't the month long preseason the time to gel? There are only a handful of teams out there who look very similar to last season. Ironically the Raps opponent tonight is one of them.

I hope, when the regular season kicks-off, that the Raps play doesn't need to be defended.

Media Day Part III - Johnson, Wright and Banks.

RaptorsHQ - Franchise — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 13:04:58 -0000

Amir Johnson gets ready for his close-up

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In our final series of Media Day discussions, Franchise talks with Amir Johnson, Antoine Wright and Marcus Banks...

Training camp in Ottawa of course is in full swing and fans are gearing up for the start of the pre-season which suddenly, is but days away.

Bosh and Hedo might be resting but not us at the HQ; besides prepping for what promises to be a very interesting season, we bring you our final installment of transcribed interviews from Media Day earlier this week. Up first, Amir Johnson before we proceed with Antoine Wright and finally, Marcus Banks.

Franchise: How are things going man?

Amir Johnson: Pretty good man, everything's going well, looking great.

F: Heard you've been rejecting some Sonny Weems shots in runs over the past few days.

AJ: I was doing what?

F: He's been trying to cram everything and I heard you weren't having any of that...

AJ: ...oh no (laughs) he lied to you! He was killing me!

F: So how do you feel about the new teammates, I mean, this is another new team for you...

AJ: ...yeah...

F: ...and what were your expectations coming into Toronto?

AJ: It's looking pretty good you know, we've got a whole brand new team, it's going to be an interesting season, I can't wait till training camp starts because it's going to be like, how everybody collabs together and I can't wait to see how that works out. I think everybody has big expectations and we're all on the same page you know with winning, and we're going to take it one game at a time.

(Editor's note - how many sports clichés were contained in that last answer??)

F: What ARE your expectations then, for yourself, the team...

AJ: Myself you know, just to go all out, every game, just to play hard. I'm on my contract year so I'm ready just to go hard, and help the team win of course, but just to prove myself in this NBA as one of those elite players. I'm just ready to go out there and do my best.

F: Have you talked to Bryan or the coaching staff a bit about your role etc?

AJ: I talked to coach, he just said he wants me to go out there and do my thing; "you know you've got the hustle plays, you might be able to guard a little bit of the 3's, we'll probably move you to the 3 a little bit, play a little 4..."

They've got big expectations of me too so...the standards are set high and I'm just ready to go out there and play.

F: Talk about your time in Detroit a bit, do you think that helped your development or honestly, would you say that it ended up slowing you down a bit because you didn't get a lot of playing time...

AJ: Absolutely, no, it really helped me. Not to many people can say they've played with like four All-Stars on a team you know what I mean? A lot of people don't have that experience and it helped me a lot playing with those type of guys...you know Chauncey, RIP, you've got Sheed...you're playing with All-Stars so yeah, I'm more than grateful to have gotten that opportunity to go out there and and play for those guys and I learned a lot from those guys. And now, I feel like I've gotten enough experience from them to bring that to this Toronto team.

F: What position are you most comfortable playing? What would you prefer to play if given the choice?

AJ: I played the 4 all my life but I'm actually quick enough to play and guard the 3 position so you know, they can move me either back and fourth, maybe even some 5 because I've been lifting a lot of weights this (off) season working on my strength...

F: ...I was going to say, you look bigger than last year...

AJ: ...yeah I've been getting stronger in the gym and working on my size so you know, any of those three positions I think I'll do pretty well.

F: Was that then something that was a major focus for you this off-season, you felt you needed to bulk up a bit based on what others had been saying?

AJ: Definitely, that was my main focus because you know, I read the media, they say I need to get stronger and work on my jump shot so those are the things, pretty much the main two things I've been working on; getting my strength up and my jumper right. I can always run the floor, rebound, and block shots, so I just moved on to the next things that I need to do and that's get stronger and improve the jump shot.

F: What about this off-season, did you play in any leagues?

AJ: Ah, I played, wasn't really a league, you know, you get a bunch of players coming together and having a bunch of runs...if I'm at UCLA, or anywhere like in Vegas, I played in the Summer League of course. But really I've been working out myself, I focus better when I'm facing like one-on-one with my trainer, go by myself and just focus on what I need to do.

F: Ok, and what about, just take me back a bit, before you made the jump from high school to the NBA, I know there were some colleges on your radar, what colleges were you considering?

AJ: I actually was signed and set to go to Louisville. Pitino, I was going to play for him. Reggie Theus was on the coaching staff so he recruited me pretty tough so I was ready and set to go there. I had a couple of friends that were going there, we took the visit together, it was me and Andre McGee, I was ready to go. But then I just put my name in the draft anyways to see if I would get drafted...

F: ...sure enough...

AJ: ...yep...I got drafted! It's all good.

F: So I guess that's what I was going to ask you, going back, would you have done the same thing?

AJ: I would have you know, no regrets. I made it this far and I think I'm pretty successful right now...you know, of course I would have loved to go to college - all the players tell me how fun college was and that's the one thing I missed but I'm here now, I'm doing fine, I'm still going back and taking classes online, so hopefully it all works out.

F: Good stuff man. Best of luck this season, thanks for chatting!

AJ: No problem, right on brotha.

Franchise: Welcome to Toronto, how are things going?

Antoine Wright: Things are going pretty good.

F: When did you arrive in town?

AW: I've been here about for about two weeks.

F: Ok, heard you've gotten in some runs with the rest of the guys.

AW: Yeah, it's been good.

F: And what do you think of the city so far, have you spent much time here before?

AW: I was here a couple of years ago when we played the Raptors in the playoffs and I was in New Jersey so that was the longest time I was here.

(Laughs) Those were different times, I was on a team with with Vince...

F: ...I was gonna say...things got pretty heated right?

AW: (Still laughing.) Yeah! It was crazy man! Fans are definitely enthusiastic about basketball here!

F: Yes indeed! So talk about your role this seaon with the Raptors, what you expect, what the coaches have said...

AW: The coaches have talked to me about the opportunity I have in the positions I play. You know, there's a lot of minutes there to be given and earned, so they just told me I'm in a great situation.

F: It's interesting because when you came out of college, I thought you were going to be more of the "high-flyer" and scorer type but you've sort of turned into having a rep as a real defensive stopper. Now is that something you've tried to mould yourself into or was that always there as far back as Texas A&M, just that you were the main scoring and offensive option on that team?

AW: I think how the NBA works is that you have a game when you come in, and it depends on what your team needs you to do. And I wasn't going to be the primary scorer on a team with Vince Carter and Richard Jefferson. So, the way for me to get on the court and play was to defend and change my game and I think it helped me adapt.

F: The Dallas coaching staff held you in pretty high regard defensively last year - do those sort of comments help to reinforce that transition when you hear people talking about you like that?

AW: I think it seperates you when you're able to play defence.

(Editor's note, at this point DeMar DeRozan saw us talking and started making jokes about Wright behind his back)

You know, everybody wants to score, everybody wants to be the next DeMar DeRozan...so what you have to do, is you have to seperate yourself from those guys and the way to do it is to really get into guys and really defend them and I think all coaches want a guy like that on their team.

F: Personally, would you rather play the 2, the 3...

AW: ...I'd rather be on the floor! (Laughs.) I don't care where I play as long as I'm out there.

F: Sounds good! What about this off-season, anything in particular you were working on or any Pro-Am leagues you got runs in with?

AW: I've just been working out at Impact Sports, down in Vegas, every summer for the past three summers with Joe Abunassar. There's about 30 to 40 NBA guys there that come in and train and work hard and play.

F: I think Patrick (O'Bryant) was there right?

AW: Yep. Quincy Douby was there, Patrick...so, I got to see those guys for a little bit.

F: Ok, and are you familiar with a lot of guys on this team?

AW: I actually played in high school against Jarrett Jack and I played with Chris Bosh, I was fortunate enough to play with Chris on a USA team that went to Venezuela. We didn't win the Gold, we lost, but we played together.

F: You guys are going to be out for revenge this year then...

AW: ...(laughs) yeah, we'll try to get back at some teams in revenge!

Franchise: How're ya doing man?

Marcus Banks: Pretty good!

F: So take us back to last year, you get traded, and then don't play much. What did you do this off-season to get ready for this year?

MB: Basically I spent a lot of the off-season rehabbing, getting back healthy. I had toe surgery at the end of last season, last month of the season so I'm getting back healthy. I did a lot of pool workouts, played a little ball, but basically worked out individually every morning.

F: And were you in Vegas doing all of this?

MB: Yeah, working out there.

F: So the question on everyone's mind, and one I'm sure you'll be asked a ton today, why didn't you play with the Raptors' Summer League entry?

MB: (Laughs). Really, I just wasn't healthy at that point. I really just rested for the first third of the summer so that I could come back healthy for training camp.

F: Have you talked to the coaches about they envision your role to be with the team with so many new players coming in?

MB: Um, we really haven't sat down yet; I just want to come and show them that I'm finally 100 per cent healthy.

F: What about last year, was it the lingering injuries you think that mainly affected your playing time?

MB: Absolutely. Basically when I came I was already hurt, and it was just a matter of time when I was going to get to surgery or whatever. So towards the end of last year I spent most of my time getting treatment and trying to rehab and things like that so I really wasn't able to go.

F: Ok. Now let's talk about you in terms of fit with this new team, take us back to UNLV. I watched you play a lot in college and the style of game you played there would probably be a good fit with this team wouldn't it? Sort of a multi-disciplinary role, some point guard, some two-guard, have you thought any about that in terms of your fit?

MB: Absolutely, that's a good point. I think my main thing though is getting back to having fun playing basketball; I sat and watched a lot of basketball the last two years and like I said, I'm hungry, I want to get out there and I'll do whatever it takes.

F: That's what I was going to say, as a pro, that competitive hunger must be eating at you inside. How frustrating have the last two years been for you personally?

MB: Very (laughs.) Just tough when you're not always healthy or you're suddenly brought into new situations but that's the way things go sometimes. I can't wait till this season starts now.

F: Well best of luck this season and I'm sure we'll be checking in with you again at some point.

For more Media Day interview exclusives with some of these players and many others check out Ryan McNeill's coverage at www.hoopsaddict.com.

FRANCHISE

My Team Is Better Than Yours: Toronto Raptors Edition

BlaseE — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 05:22:22 -0000

No funny caption. I just really love the look on Manu's face in this pic. It makes me happy.

via assets.espn.go.com

Finally, we are out of the bottom of the West and on to the mediocrity of last year's Eastern conference. Ten teams in the league finished with winning percentages between 39.0 and 52.4. All ten were Eastern conference teams. That is pretty crazy to me. The West had 6 teams lower than 36% and 5 lower than 30%. The Eastern conference only had 1, the Wizards, and I think they will be much improved next year. The East is a place where every team thinks they can make the playoffs. The West is a just a shakedown of how good the good teams are and how bad the "developing" teams are. The Knicks were the team at 39%, but I'm skipping them for now. That means we've broken into teams with greater than 40% win records. That is the Raptors.

I didn't have any music about raptors, dinosaurs, Canada, or Toronto. I could have gone with some classic Our Lady Peace, but JRW emailed me some music picks for this one. Enjoy.

US3 - Cantaloop (via DreamVidz)

Paul Gilbert - Technical Difficulties (Racer X) (via Imitationnigger)

FSN Season Stats Head to Head

They were almost as bad at offensive rebounding as us (28th to our 30th). That felt great to write that. As bad as we are at offensive rebounding, we are tops in limiting opposing teams from getting offensive rebounds. I bring this up because we finished the season giving up only 34 more shots than we took. Toronto gave up a little over 150. That is just under a 2 shots a game.

I just scrolled through all the stats looking for some gem of a comparison. There is a general trend that the Raptors follow a lot of the patterns the Spurs follow. The major exception is defense though. The Raptors give up a better shooting percentage than they make themselves. They have more assists than us but are still in a negative margin to their opponents. One thing I really like about the stats is that the Raptors got to the line fairly well and were the top free throw shooting team in the league. That is very un-Spurs-like.

Last Season's Games

Sat, December 20 Toronto We win 107-97. "Parker posts 24 as Spurs spank Raptors to snap 2-game skid"

100 of our 107 points are still on the roster. KT had 4 points on 2 of 6 shooting (he was a monster on the boards though and got 12 compared to Timmy's 7, Manu's 7, and Parker's 8), and Bruce had 3 points on 1-2 shooting in 4 minutes. George Hill played 9 minutes and finished with 1 turnover and 2 fouls. That's it. Anthony Tolliver and Ime Udoka combined for 0-8 shooting in 12 minutes of play. This game is all you have to see to completely understand just how awesome our roster will be next year. Let me put it another way. Every player on our roster that wasn't a rookie and is still on our roster next season scored double digits in this game on a minimum of 50% shooting. Sorry for the rant of a bullet.
Stat Comparison: Spurs were +10 boards (4 offensive), +13 assists, +7 blocks, -4 steals, and +6 turnovers.
We took 35 threes in this game and made 16 (tied franchise record). Six misses were by Udoka and Tolliver. Our starters and Manu made 15 of 27. The Raptors shot 4 of 12 for 3. We finished +36 points on 3 pointers for us.
They killed us on turnovers though finishing with +9 points off.
Parker finished with 24 points, 10 assists, 8 rebounds, and only 1 turnover.
Jermaine O'Neal, Chris Bosh, Jose Calderon, and Jason Kapono all played well enough. Chris Bosh went 1 of 7 and then made 5 of his last 7.

Terrible Defense....
via www.nba.com

Wed, February 11 @ Toronto We lose 89-91. "Ginobili scores 32 but Spurs enter break on down note"

87 of the 89 points are still on the team. Kurt Thomas had 2 points.
Our bench shot 14 of 30, and Manu shot 12 of 23 from the bench.
Finley and Bonner were a combined 1 of 7. Mason was marginally better at 4 of 11.
Our big 3 scored 74 of the 89 points.
Bargnani (23), Kapono (21), and Ukic (22) scored 66 of Toronto's 91. Roko Ukic just destroyed us off the bench going 9 of 13 and 2 of 3 from 3. He also had 3 assists. Chris Bosh and Jose Calderon didn't play either. I feel sick....
Stat Comparison: +7 rebounds (5 offensive), +8 assists, +4 steals, -4 blocks, and -1 turnover.
Our bench (-Manu) and Finley and Bonner let us down this game. Someone needed to step up and no one did while Roko Ukic just killed us.

Informal Study in Facial Expressions

Parker: Where did this guy come from? I thought I'd have a night off after having to play Devin Harris last night.

Ukic: It's great not to be on the scouting report.

Pop: ERROR....(Well the I can't crack that code but maybe something like "I remember that time I killed like 50 communist Nazis in Croatia. Shit, I hope I'm not this kid's dad."

via images.dailyradar.com

"We shouldn't have lost this one," Ginobili said. "It's important to go into the break feeling good about yourself and on a good stretch. We were playing a team that isn't doing so well and has two injured players, so we should have done much better."
This was the 5th game of the rodeo road trip and last game before the All-Star break. It was also a SEGABABA. We beat the Nets by 15 the night before.

Raptors Roster Changes

They drafted Demar DeRozan. I have no clue who that is but he has twice the "De" DeJuan Blair has. He went to USC so he is probably a really great athlete and a good player. He is 20 years old, 6'7" and 207 lbs. That sounds pretty solid for a number 9 pick. He is a 2-3. Draft Express confirms all of my USC stereotypes listing things like "lateral quickness, athleticism, size for position, and solid frame" as strengths and "lacks offensive polish, defensive fundamentals, not ready to contribute immediately, and average basketball IQ" as weaknesses. ATS microscoped him. I recommend it if you are interested in him.

So conveniently, a trade went down last week to get rid of the thorn in our side, Roko Ukic. The Bucks traded for him so I think this was a secret part of the RJ trade. We'll know for sure if he gets sent to Europe. They also traded Carlos Delfino and got Amir Johnson and Sonny Weems in return. Both are pretty much unproven players. Amir Johnson has been somewhat functional in a backup role in Detroit.

ARGENTINE SHOWDOWN!
via farm3.static.flickr.com

They've lost Jason Kapono, Shawn Marion, Kris Humphries, Nathan Jawai, Roko Ukic, Anthony Parker, Pops Mensah Bonsu, and Carlos Delfino. They are better off without Marion. Kapono was a great shooter, but his stock is pretty high right now so it was probably a smart move to let him go.

They've added Hedo Turkoglu. This is the huge move. Not just because they got him, but because they snaked him (or he snaked himself) out of Portland which is great for the Spurs. The Raptors also added Marco Belinelli, Antoine Wright, Reggie Evans, and Jarret Jack in addition to Weems and Johnson.

It is worth mentioning that we played them twice last year when they had Jermaine O'Neal and Jamario Moon and never played them after he was traded for Marion.

Jake Voskuhl and Joey Graham are unsigned free agents from last year's roster.

I couldn't find it listed anywhere, but they got Rasho, too.

The Match-Up

Starters

PG: Tony Parker versus Jose Calderon: Advantage Spurs: One of them is a a better distributor and the other is a better player. Both players are great point guards.

SG: Roger Mason versus Marco Belinelli: Advantage None: Mason is marginally better in just about every stat, but if Belinelli really starts I think he will see a jump in minutes. Mason played almost 10 more per game last year.

SF: Richard Jefferson versus Hedo Turkoglu: Advantage Raptors: Hedo is better and is coming off a career year. I think he will continue playing good basketball and really improve this team.

PF: Antonio McDyess versus Chris Bosh: Advantage Raptors: Chris Bosh is better.

C: Tim Duncan versus Andrea Bargnani: Advantage Spurs: Bargnani is a terrible rebounder for his size. He can shoot the 3 though. I think he is compared to Dirk and that seems fair looking at the stats. Poor man's Dirk. It seems like he would be awesome as a backup to Bosh at PF and then get a true center. Maybe they should start Rasho even though he is a downgrade overall.

Bench:

Point Guard: Hill vs Jarrett Jack and Marcus Banks: Raptors win this one. Jack is proven while Hill isn't.

Wings: Manu, Finley, Hairston, and Williams vs DeMar DeRozan, Sonny Weems, Quincy Douby, and Antoine Wright: Antoine Wright started for Dallas last year and is decent. Weems and Douby have not done much in the limited minutes they have been allotted so far in their careers. DeRozan is an unproven rookie. Manu and Finley are much better.

Front Court: Blair, Mahinmi, Bonner, Haislip, and Ratliff vs Amir Johnson, Rasho Nesterovic, Reggie Evans, and Patrick O'Bryant: We dominate them here. They are pretty shallow in the front court. Hedo is going to need to get like 6 rebounds a game at least. Rasho is the only one I see getting any sort of major rotation. Reggie Evans can get maybe 10-15 a game.

Coaching: Advantage Spurs.

Result: I really like the moves they've made. Their starting unit will really compete and probably dominate some teams. If some young guys step up then they can have a pretty solid team, but I just don't see it. I like the Raptors and a lot of their players so I'll be rooting for them to make the playoffs, but I'm not sure they have really separated themselves from the pack despite improving. Rebounding could be the death of their team.

The Schedule

Mon, Nov 9 vs Toronto: We have a back to back then 2 days rest before this game. It is the the third home game of the season and the first home game of a 12 home - 3 road game stretch. We really need to prove our mettle in this stretch of the schedule in order to earn Manu and Duncan rest in the later months

Sun, Jan 3 @ Toronto: SEGABABA with an at Wizards the night before. After this game we get 2 days of rest and then a 4 game home stretch. I think this will allow us to go all out in these games if needed.

So that is my Spurs-Raptors preview for next season. Next up are the Milwaukee Bucks, a team that always defies their roster and plays us incredibly well. Plus, they now have Roko Ukic.....

For more information on the Toronto Raptors, check out Raptors HQ.

Past entries in this series: Golden State Warriors, Timberwolves, Grizzlies, Thunder, Clippers, Wizards and Kings.

Poll

What is the top Spurs-Raptors match-up story line for '09-'10?

PG Match-up: Parker vs Calderon

64 votes

SG Match-up: Manu vs Bellinelli

14 votes

SF Match-up: RJ vs Hedo

119 votes

Frontcourt Matchups: Duncan, Bosh, Rasho, Dice, Bargnani, Blair......

115 votes

Rookie Impact Match-up: DeJuan vs DeMar

40 votes

Cheering for Ex Spurs in defeat: Rasho and Hedo

12 votes

I'd vote redemption for the loss, but they don't have Roko Ukic anymore.

11 votes

All the international players!!!

93 votes

2 more wins for SA.

73 votes

Raptors trying to make the playoffs and prove they can beat the "haves".

109 votes

650 votes | Poll has closed

Raptors Acquire Amir Johnson - The Legomaster Does It Again

RaptorsHQ - Howland — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 10:36:15 -0000

More photos » by Bill Kostroun - AP

Amir Johnson contesting a shot. Something Raps fans should get used to....and enjoy. (AP Photo/Bill Kostroun)

Browse more photos »

As the summer comes to a close (ugh), Raptors fans might see another small tweak to the current roster here and there but as of today, with the trade for Amir Johnson and Sonny Weems, it’s a sure thing that the 2009-2010 Raptors team is going to look nothing like last seasons.

Dealing Roko Ukic and the rights to Carlos Delfino for Amir Johnson and Sonny Weems has left me in awe of the Legomaster’s skills when it comes to assembling a roster.

I know Franchise and I have sometimes been left scratching our heads at some of the moves BC made this summer, but this is definitely not one of them. I applaud this move. Actually for this piece, I am going to do nothing but sing Bryan Colangelo’s praises.

Outside of the cornerstones of this franchise in Bosh, Bargnani and Calderon, BC has completely retooled the Raptors roster. If you are a fair-weather Raptors fan and you attend a game early this coming season you are going to need a program because there are a lot of new faces.

Before the off-season began I had a check list of things I felt that the Raptors needed before they could really be considered an upper echelon team in the East. It was a long list….extensively long and with some pretty big items. I expected it would take a couple of seasons before BC could right the ship. Now, after all the wheeling and dealing that has gone on this summer I can honestly say there is nothing left. All the little boxes have check marks in them. With the acquisition of Amir Johnson and Sonny Weems it has been a complete, almost flawless summer.

As I mentioned here, up until yesterday the flurry of moves left we wondering just how much better this team was going to be given it still had some glaring flaws both in the defensive and rebounding departments. Well BC obviously felt the same way and addressed both needs by grabbing a young big man who, in limited minutes, has shown both a propensity to blocks shots but also get on the boards with vigor.

Amir Johnson is a young player with a lot of raw talent. For his first two seasons he found himself stashed away on the Pistons bench due to the long jam of talented big men in front of him. Despite limited playing time available his performance on the practice court was so strong that Joe Dumars rewarded him with a 3 year $11 million dollar contract. Although I have watched Amir on a number of occassions in order to get a full picture of what he will bring I reached out to the SB Nation Detroit Pistons blog Motown String Music. We will be posting his breakdown later today.

From where I am sitting it is clear that Amir has a lot of untapped potential and although he is going to be battling for minutes with the likes of Reggie Evans and Rasho, I believe he can carve out a niche for himself on this roster. I would actually like to see him step-up in camp and take Rasho's minutes. Why? Despite not being anywhere near 7 feet, Amir might be the only true shot blocking presence on this team and if he manages to stay out of foul trouble his rebounding skills will be in high demand. Much like Reggie Evans however, his free throw shooting leaves much to be desired. Is Amir going to turn the Raps defense into a juggernaut? No. Will it be a solid addition? Absolutely.

The addition of Sonny Weems is also noteworthy. Since leaving Arkansas he has spent most of his time in the D League he did put up enviable numbers while there. Weems has always been a scorer but doesn’t have a lot of range. Most of his scoring is mid-range jumpers and getting to the rim. Although he has a very big wingspan he is not known for his defense. It will be interesting to see if Weems ends up as the 13^th guy on this Raps squad, is sent back to the D-League or if BC has some other plans.

So that is a breakdown on what is coming the Raps way. Now on the way out is Roko Ukic and Carlos Delfino.

It’s somewhat unfortunate that the Raps have dealt Roko Ukic. Ever since he was drafted I believe Raps fans all around had high expectations of this young man. I remember being extremely satisfied with Rob Babcock on draft night when he snagged the young point guard in the second round. It wouldn’t be surprising to see Roko blossom into a solid PG in the NBA or back in Europe. Unfortunately Roko was the victim of a numbers game….as in the numbers associated with the Marcus Bank’s deal. The Raps were not going to be able to keep four PG’s on the roster and Roko was simply the odd man out.

I can’t say I am disappointed that the Carlos Delfino era is now over in Toronto. Ever since the season ending press conference where BC strongly suggested that he would be returning to the club, Delfino’s name had been bandied about more than it deserved. To me it felt like a mini Brett Favre saga – Will he sign? When? To me it got old and quickly at that.

I won’t try to understand some people’s desire to see him back in a Raps uni. His inconsistent play and sometimes lax attitude always left me wanting more. He will probably have a solid game against the Raps this season but I feel confident in saying the others will be totally forgettable. Given his contract demands I can’t say I am sad to see him go. Even if Amir is a complete bust his contract expires at seasons end.

This deal does bring some questions to the fore. For example, does this deal essentially put the nail in the coffin in regards to Pops Mensah-Bonsu’s career as a Raptor? I would believe that it does. What does this mean for Quincy Douby? Has his solid showing in Summer League gone to waste now that the Raps have Sonny Weems? I would say Douby’s agent should be asking around to see who else noted his solid performances.

In the grand scheme of things these questions are of lesser importance. What is important however is the renewed sense of optimism I have about this team and the man in charge….at least until he gives Bosh the max or when Hedo’s play takes a nose dive in two seasons…..

All the Small Things

RaptorsHQ - Franchise — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 13:10:55 -0000

Franchise takes a look at the overhaul done by Bryan Colangelo so far and looks at a few more minor tweaks he'd like to see the Raptors make to the roster...

"The one thing I like about what Colangelo is doing is that he's said to heck with it, I'm going to build the kind of team I've always wanted to have with nothing but shooters and ballhandlers, and we'll see if it works or not. The money is high for a lot of these guys and it could be a train wreck, but it's gonna be interesting, that's for sure."

That quote was taken from a chat session Jon Hollinger did yesterday on ESPN.com, in response to a reader enquiring if Bryan Colangelo should now start "walking on water" based on his string of off-season moves.

I found Hollinger's answer to be quite interesting because while it's hard not to be enamored with many of the new faces and names associated with the Toronto Raptors going into next season, there's no way to know just how this is going to turn out.

Will the team lead the league in scoring but also give up 112 points a game?

Can Jay Triano play a style that best fits the personnel BC has brought on-board?

Is anyone going to rebound the basketball outside of Chris Bosh and Reggie Evans?

Really, there are just as many question marks now as there were last season, albeit questions of a different type.

Hollinger has a point though, this team on paper looks to boast one of the league's most dynamic offensive groups; a collection of players who are extremely versatile, who can shoot the ball, and look to hurt opponents from inside and out. Toronto last year finished 22nd in terms of their offensive rating and we should see a big jump in that respect this coming season. The diverse skill sets of players like Hedo Turkoglu, Chris Bosh and Andrea Bargnani will be perfectly suited for Jose Calderon's pick-and-roll abilities and others from Jarrett Jack to the newly acquired Belinelli should help as well.

However what happens if the offense goes cold?

There are certainly some streaky shooters in this bunch and if the offense sputters at times during games, there isn't a lot defensively to fall back on.

And even with Reggie Evans and his orcs in tow, this team still seems about as soft as David Ortiz minus the roids.

That's why I'd love to see BC make a few more minor tweaks to this club.

As currently composed, I think we can group the roster into three main tiers; the starters, the bench and the DNP options.

In the starters we've got:

Jose Calderon, Hedo Turkoglu, Chris Bosh and Andrea Bargnani. I have a feeling that Antoine Wright will be the starting 2 guard when all his said and done due to his defensive abilities so I'm going to lump him in there too.

The second group will probably consist of Jarrett Jack (whom I believe barring injuries and foul trouble will be the club's first option off the bench), DeMar DeRozan, Reggie Evans, Marco Belinelli and Rasho Nesterovic.

That gives a back-up at each spot, some different looks, and some options offensively if the starters can't knock down a shot.

Finally, the DNP's, that is Quincy Douby, Roko Ukic, Patrick O'Bryant and Marcus Banks.

I suspect that Ukic won't see many DNP's and will play the role of the third stringer while Banks and O'Bryant will get the bulk of the DNP's...

...if they're still on the team.

Along with Douby, who unfortunately with Belinelli now on board doesn't seem to have much purpose, I'm not sure why BC doesn't divest himself of a few of these players. Banks might make some sense to keep around for trade purposes at the deadline, but O'Bryant, whose contract for the upcoming season is pittance in the grand scheme of things, needs to go. The reality is that he couldn't dominate or even exert his occasional will over much less-talented players in Summer League and we're not talking about a first or second-year player here. This will be O'Bryant's fourth-year in the league!

As for Douby, I think he's got a spot in the NBA still but his skill-set duplicates those of too many other current Raptors.

Really, the top 10 guys are pretty much locked-in and outside of this group, there won't be much playing time for others anyways. So preferably, I'd like to see Colangelo fill out the final two or three roster spots with some young upside prospects or players with differing skill sets that may come in handy during the grind of the regular season.

Players like Pops Mensah-Bonsu and James Singleton could be slotted into the latter category due to their rebounding and defensive skills while in the former, how about looking at a few undrafted free-agents? I mentioned a few yesterday in the comments section but I'll reiterate my top 3:

1) Paul Harris - At 6-6 you might want to lump him into the SG category but I think he can play the 3 in the NBA. He's extremely long, is a great defender and rebounder, is quite athletic, and he played at a great program in college (Syracuse.)

2) Wes Matthews - Matthews is quite similar to Harris in terms of size and length but he's a better shooter and shot blocker.

3) Jeff Adrien - The UConn star might be one of those Leon Powe types; an undersized power forward who despite his physical limitations just knows how to play. He's a bulldog in the paint as well as an excellent offensive threat and I'd certainly take a flyer on him if I was an NBA GM looking to fill out my bench.

In terms of other options remaining in the NBA Free Agent group, there obviously aren't many game-changers considering how little money Toronto has left to spend. Maybe BC is intrigued by the shot-blocking skills of Ryan Hollins, the defense of Ime Udoka, the intensity of Mario West, the athleticism and upside of Rodney Carney...who knows?

And as stated, anyone else that's brought in from here on out might not see much daylight in terms of time on the court.

However I think as fans we learned last year that too much depth is never a bad thing.

And considering the offensive expertise that BC has acquired over the past few months, a few defenders and guys willing to do the dirty work would be nice...

...even if they're at the end of the bench and only see time in practice.

FRANCHISE

Vegas Summer League Recap: Day 7

Jon L — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 14:00:19 -0000

We had two Summer League records fall yesterday. Anthony Morrow is now the SL single-game scoring record holder with, and Joey Dorsey the SL single-game rebounding record holder with 20. On the whole, though, a lot of guys played pretty terribly. I don't know if players are spending time seeing Vegas, if they're tired by day seven or whether it was just an off day. The first game was at 1 PM local time, which seems early for Las Vegas, but the rest of them were at the normal times so who knows. In honor of yesterday's "action" I'm going to leave this terrible intro and just go to the recaps.

Golden State Warriors 104, New Orleans Hornets 84

The story here for everyone is that Anthony Morrow set a new Summer League scoring record with 47 points. It actually came out of efficient shooting as well, as Morrowneeded only 26 shots to get that point total and shot 7-9 on threes. Morrow may have felt he needed to take a larger scoring role with Anthony Randolph and Cartier Marting getting DNPs (also Jared Jordan, who I had forgotten was on Golden State's roster). He also had seven rebounds, which I was somewhat surprised to see as I figured he wouldn't have done much other than shoot. Acie Law had a decent game running the point for the Warriors with nine points on 4-7 shooting and five assists in a little under 21 minutes. Neither Joe Ingles nor Connor Atchley shot the ball well (Ingles didn't make a single field goal), but they each had seven rebounds in 18 minutes for Ingles and 21 for Atchley. Almost no one played well for New Orleans. Well, that's not strictly true. Earl Calloway had 17 points on 7-10 shooting, seven rebounds and a pair of steals. Other than Anthony Tolliver's six rebounds and 3-5 shooting from Larry Owens, though, the rest of the Hornets weren't very impressive. Guess what? That's a recurring theme, as you'll see after the jump.

San Antonio Spurs 85, Oklahoma City Thunder 76

DeJuan Blair focused on his scoring more than rebounding this game, and he did fairly well with 20 points on 11 shots (with five rebounds), though I would imagine that in the future he'll ask to stay in his rebounding lane a little more. Ian Mahinmi did a great job of getting to the free throw line and shot 7-8 there, allowing him to score 13 points on four shots. Malik Hairston finally showed his rebounding ability with six, and he shot 7-13 as well, but he also had four turnovers. George Hill is still a little rough around the edges, getting 20 points on 11 shots, nine assists, five rebounds and three steals but also six turnovers. DJ White had a decent game doing what DJ White does, with 17 points on 7-12 shooting and five rebounds in 18 and a half minutes, though he also had six fouls and three turnovers.

Houston Rockets 92, Los Angeles Lakers

In a world where we're pretending that these games matter, I really have no idea how the Rockets won. Sure, Joey Dorsey got the Summer League rebounding record, and he also shot 5-7 and had (a game-high) five assists, three steals and two blocks, but other than Aisander's favorite Rocket Chase Budinger the team shot really, really poorly. And while Budinger was solid scoring-wise, with 25 points on 7-9 shooting, including 3-3 shooting from behind the arc and 8-8 from the line, other than a pair of steals he really did nothing else. Will Conroy shot the ball well too, 3-4, but he missed four of his six free throws and had only one assist. Adam Morrison was the story of the first few games, but he's been tailing off the last few and he didn't even play yesterday (injury?). 14 points on 14 shots is generally considered inefficient, but I'll defend David Monds a little here in that he shot 50 percent and had six rebounds and no turnovers in 18 minutes. The problem was that he didn't get to the free throw line at all. Ben McCauley had 10 rebounds but was terrible from the field. Chinemelu Elonu had a decent game, 16 points on 10 shots and eight rebounds, but he also had eight fouls in 25 and a half minutes.

Cleveland Cavaliers 75, Dallas Mavericks 62

Another game where a lot of guys were terrible. Jawad Williams had one of the best performances, both of all the players in the game yesterday and for him personally throughout Summer League - he scored 18 points on 10 shots and had nine assists with only one turnover, though he shot only 6-11 from the free-throw line. Tarence Kinsey also played well, getting to the line a fair amount and shooting 16-18 there, ending up with 20 points on five shots, and he had four rebounds and three steals, but also six fouls and four turnovers. Darnell Jackson played okay, nine points on six shots and six rebounds, and Andre Brown shot 5-7 with four rebounds and three steals, though he also had seven fouls.

Toronto Raptors 84, Milwaukee Bucks 83

Jodie Meeks had a very strong game for Milwaukee, with 29 points on 23 shots (including 4-8 on three-pointers), as well as four rebounds. Joe Alexander also played fairly well, with 19 points on 14 shots and eight rebounds. Brandon Jennings' performance has steadily declined since the beginning of Summer League, and while he had seven assists yesterday it came with eight turnovers. It was the usual suspects doing it for the Raptors. DeMar DeRozan has gotten a lot of people talking this past week, and yesterday he had 20 points on 13 shots, six rebounds, three assists and only one turnover. Quincy Douby had 17 points on 13 shots, seven assists and four rebounds. That assist number is a little unusual for Douby, but perhaps it's a sign of his further development. Patrick O'Bryant has actually had a quietly decent Summer League, and yesterday he made all five of his field goals and finished with 11 points, seven rebounds, three steals, two assists and a block, though he shot only 1-4 from the free-throw line.

Memphis Grizzlies 86, Los Angeles Clippers 68

Someone on Twitter said that Blake Griffin has been dominating Summer League, and while I wouldn't go that far he's been fairly solid. 15 rebounds and five assists yesterday, though it came with five fouls, five turnovers, and needing 20 shots to get 18 points. Marcus Williams got to the free-throw line a lot, shooting 16-20 there, though he shot only 3-9 from the field. He also had five assists and four rebounds, which is fine, but didn't he have a lot more assists earlier on? Nik Caner-Medley had another decent shooting day, going 6-9 for 15 points, and he also had four rebounds. DeMarre Carroll shot 7-9, though the rest of his game wasn't overly impressive. Hamed Haddadi had three rebounds in a little over 10 minutes, which is solid, but he didn't do much else. Greg Stiemsma shot 3-4 for eight points and added three blocks in 11 minutes.