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Not to beat dead horse here, but for Christ's sake, those of you profiling every single Philadelphia fan because of the actions of a select few are just as retarded as the guy who brought a laser into the Phillies game on Saturday. Personally, I have never shined a laser pointer into Julio Lugo's eye, cheered as Michael Irvin layed on the Veterans Stadium turf with a career ending injury, thrown a battery at JD Drew, beaten a guy to death in the Citizens Bank Park parking lot, booed Santa Claus, or even booed one of my own players. But wait, I support Philadelphia sports team so this can't be true. I must be an intolerant, nasty, bitter curmudgeon, right? Get real. And you will not get any argument from me....the Philly fans who fit that profile annoy me just as much as they annoy you, but what you don't know is that those people make up the small minority, and also that they can be found in every city, even amongst the holier-than-thou Boston fans.

Everything mentioned in this thread is. I'm a man who perspires so I walk around naked.

Leave bigdog alone or your gunna have to deal with me without question..

This is a minor trade that has massive potential reward, and realistically, even if Belinelli never really pans out, he'll give us more then George would have ever given us this year. At 23 years old, hopefully Toronto will be the place for Belinelli to put it all together. This was a really nice pickup by Colangelo, we essentially add a young, former first rounder who was basically cast off because of Don Nelson not liking him, a massive steal in my opinion and something that will help our roster alot this season. This is a classic example of a trade that is low-risk, high-reward. Hell, this trade is a no risk situation. I mean, Belinelli can completely [expletive] the bed in Toronto and it wouldn't even matter because he is a low paid player and its not like George would be getting any minutes this upcoming season anyways. They can give Marco some minutes and if he doesn't do anything with them they can simply just wait out the season and not excercise the team option that they have on him for next season but I do think that Belinelli will be able to give the Raptors some good minutes this upcoming season. Belinelli is a very accurate shooter, and will make up for the loss in shooting prowess that they lost in Jason Kapono. However, the great thing is that unlike Kapono, Belinelli can actually do things other than shoot the three pointer and contribute to the team in other ways. He can create his own shot of fof the dribble, or he is very adapt at running his defender off of screens and getting open in that way. He is a creative ball handler and you can give him the rock and let him create with it if you have to, which is a luxury that the Raptors have not had in their shooting guard since Vince Carter was with the team. Belinelli isn't extremely quick off of the bounce, but much like a lot of his European counterparts, he is very crafty with the rock in his hands. He can get into the paint and finish or look to dish it to a teammate out on the perimeter as he is a capable passer as well. Having Marco out on the floor is going to give the Raptors another player on the perimeter that, if they need him to, can create plays during various stretches of the game. Defensively, he isn't anything special. He is a pesky defender that likes to get up on people, but he really isn't quick enough laterally to be able to afford to play this aggressive style of defense because whoever he is guarding is capable of blowing right by him. He isn't a liability and can get under his check's skin though, which can result in a couple of unforced errors or mental lapses during the course of the game. I don't think that the Raptors plan on starting Belinelli and will most likely utilize him off of the bench, but if he does see some significant time with the starting lineup, I think that Bosh is going to love this move. Having Belinelli on the floor gives the Raptors another knock down shooter and opens the floor up more for Bosh inside. If the Raptors have a lineup of Calderon/Belinelli/Turkoglu/Bosh/Bargnani on the floor, they could put Jose, Marco, Hedo and Andrea all outside around the perimeter and have Bosh down low. Then they could dump the ball down low to Bosh and let him go to work. If teams don't double him he can simply take his man one on one and more often than not he will put the ball in the basket with his excellent offensive repertoire. If teams do send a second defender at Bosh, they will pay by giving up an excellent three point look to any one of the Raptors other 4 players on the floor, all of whom would be legitimate, knock down shooters from deep. Obviously they shouldn't do this all the time, but I definitely think that it is something that they should look into as it could prove to be an incrediably effective and potent offense. It also gives Andrea Bargnani a fellow Italian and one of his good friends which is definitely another plus. Another benefit of this trade is that the Raptors have some serious leverage when it comes to Carlos Delfino. If Delfino doesn't want to lower his ridiculous demands of a $5M contract, the Raptors can now afford not to sign him as they added some depth at the 2 guard position in Marco. Delfino is the better player than Belinelli is and I would rather have his superior defense and rebounding over Marco's more offensive oriented game just because the Raptors aren't going to have any troubles scoring the ball next season, but there is not a chance in hell that the Raptors should cave into Delfino's ridiculous demands and having Belinelli on the roster allows them to afford to not sign Delfino. I love this trade on the Raptors behalf. Even if Belinelli completely sucks and doesn't do anything, its not like he is an expensive contract nor did they have to give anything up in order to acquire his services. It is a no-risk, high-reward trade for the Raptors.