Pound the Rock

I'm going to miss Barbosa.. He's one of those guys that every team needs off their bench, instant offensive punch. He could bring us back into games with his high energy and timely threes. Unfortunately we are at a time when we don't want to win per say and Barbosa is just taking opportunities away from other players who are here long term (Ed Davis). Best of luck to Barbosa with the Pacers.

Letting Detroit and Milwaukee (two of our lottery rivals) blow us out should give us an edge down the stretch. As well as Jose's injury.

Honestly this is sort of funny. I was wondering how the Raptors would remain in the top 5 for the lottery with Andrea coming back. People on other forums proposed that Jose take some time off. Edit: on this note, it'll be good for Jose to get some rest till near the end of the season since he's going to be playing for Spain in the Olympics. It'll ensure that he's fresh for next season.

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/NBA-scoop-du-jour/raptors-decline-offers-jose-calderon-leandro-barbosa-124909561.html

Demar has the most potential out of anyone on our roster and he could turn into an amazing player if he continues to improve his game. This season in particular I have not always seen that same fire or passion from Derozan to continue to get better, it looks like he's just going through the motions. back in Demar's rookie season I could see in interviews Demar always talking about ways he could improve his game and the such. If Casey told him to do something (ie be more assertive, curl harder etc.) and Demar completely does not make an attempt at doing it then he should be benched, no special treatments.

Bargnani with his 2 seconds of fame! I lol'd http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CAJtdEzSW_E

After seeing this post by Doug Smith of the Toronto Star it made me wonder if Nash would be a good fit. Nash would be more realistic than Deron Williams but Nash is always a gamble due to his age. http://thestar.blogs.com/raptors/2012/02/hey-bryan-steve-nash-is-your-guy-take-your-best-shot.html

We need to tank to get the 3rd or 4th pick, right?

Wall had alot of amazing athletic plays but honestly Kyrie looked like the much better and complete #1 pick PG out there. Rubio's passes were also amazing, and through the legs dribble under Cousins? Ohh boy

Good to see him get back on track. His confidence has returned and is beginging to look like the player we saw for the 2nd half of the season last year. This just makes next years roster look that much brighter. #TANKCITY

Didn't really expect to lose this one. I guess both teams came in with different mentalities. Raptors came off 5 hard fought games against marquee teams and were now facing the worse team in the NBA while the Bobcats came in on a 16 game losing streak looking to try and do whatever to end it.

I agree that one of them will have to go eventually since neither of them really have any go-to post up moves nor can either shoot the ball from range very well. At this point I'd take Amir because: he is stronger, hussles for every play (which = off reb), and knows how to cut hard off the pick. As for Davis, we now have a better look at him after so many people over hyped him a year ago. He is fairly similar to Johnson except Amir can do everything he does better. Davis still has some upside if he can develop his body and develop his post game, I basically see him as a very frail Center.

Good 4th quarter leading into overtime by the Raps. Shame that we couldn't close it out though. Liked the fight still.

Wow I'm actually real shocked to see this from T-Mac I thought he was more mature. Any Canadian or anyone who has respect for a country's national anthem should be a bit disgusted at this.

Another one of those 'sigh' games. Only watched the first half.

If we could get him I'd take him. He fits the mold of our team almost perfectly; great defender, can hit the three,rebound, athletic and he's still very young. Espcially playing with Demar, since I see DD as more as an offense first player, Wilson does complement him pretty nicely. As for our current SF's James Johnson can be his backup and Klieza can be our tweener at the 3 and 4, Klieza is just too inconsistent to be given consistent minutes. The issue may be regarding the upcoming draft which is very forward heavy but IMO I believe Chandler could be just as good as getting a 5th-8th pick SF in the draft, plus we shave off around 2 years of time in development. As for the money, I believe he's one of the only players I'd spend on this off season (other than an all-star, not likely though).

I've been a fan of Calderon's play-making ability since day one. There aren't too many point guards today who I can consider 'true point guards', Jose is one of them. I'm not just saying this because I'm a Raptor fan but I believe Jose has been one of the most underrated PG's in the league. Although not as creative and a couple notches less talented, I could easily compare him to a Steve Nash or a Jason Kidd. The knock on Jose throughout his career has been on his defense, not a surprise. A major reason for this reputation is that Calderon's been on bad teams, a team of Andrea, and Hedo along with a thin Bosh and a rookie Derozan isn't exactly going to give Jose a chance is it? Point is, his defense is not a problem if at least 3 of his teammates can actually play defense. Actually if you look at the Raptors team right now, their defense has dramatically improved under new head coach Dwayne Casey, even with Bargnani and Jose playing the bulk of the minutes, and no, Jose hasn't magically become uber athletic or become a defensive stopper, he's just in a good defensive system now. So to summarize on my Jose defense, defense, he isn't a horrible defender, he is just less athletic than a majority of the PG's in this league. Is he a horrible defender? No he is a below average, but is perceived as horrible because of a collective team of below average defenders. Is he a liability on defense? In the right system and/or with the right players, no. Anyways, if Jose was around 4 years younger I no way in hell would trade him with the current roster we have. Unfortunately it's inevitable that he won't be around to see our young core through, and it would be smart to trade Jose for something especially since he is playing some of his best ball. Calderon is as vocal as a point guard needs to be to run a team and shows his emotions when required. I'd love to see Jose on a contending team as he deserves it. As talked about a lot already, it would be ideal for him to go to the Lakers or Knicks and I think either or would be perfect for Jose and the respective team. I'd give the Knicks an edge over the Lakers simply because LA is lacking footspeed with an aging Kobe. The Knicks have been having issues on who gets the ball when basically because no one knows when to feed the big men. I've heard that Amare looks like a lost puppy at times, but as I recall he thrived when he was with Felton, I think he (and Chandler) would thrive again with Calderon. Now you can ask the question: what about NY's defense? Well I believe the simple solution is the defensive system. Case and point with Toronto, their defense (without any changes in core roster) have completely made a 360 turn and are now a defense first team after being noted as the worse defensive team in the NBA. So, in my opinion all I think NY needs to be a good team is a defense first coach who can set up a perfect defensive system (they have two of the most explosive big men in Amare and Tyson, so finding a fitting system shouldn't be too difficult.)

Dwayne Casey is a genius, we had the potential to win too many games with Bargnani in the lineup But really, I don't much blame Casey as I recall Bargnani saying in an interview that he waited an EXTENDED time before returning to the lineup to ensure that he was 110%. That being said, Casey was right to play him as he would any other player.

LMAO that first gif or Bargs kills me. I wouldn't mind winning one more before we return to tanking...just to keep morale up All I know is that Bargs will try for another monster game in order to secure his position as an all-star

Most players just perceive it as a small market since it is the only team outside of America. You could argue it is a small market, but that's only because the NBA is centered around the US along with all major media outlets. Toronto is one of the largest cities in North America and Raptors games I believe get broadcast throughout Canada if I'm not mistaken.The only reason a marquee free agent would sign here would be if we were good. That's why we're building through the draft to acquire young talent to lure a FA over. After seeing the Chris Paul trade there is a chance that D-Will would sign here. This is potentially what our lineup would look like next year: Jose Calderon Demar Derozan Harrison Barnes Andrea Bargnani Jonas Valanciunas Replace Calderon with D-Will and you have a team better than any Bosh era team.

I've been imaging for sometime, next season if say we draft a Harrison Barnes and Jonas comes over would it be that far fetched for Deron Williams to ink with the Raptors? I mean we've already seen Chris Paul take his talents to a very young team,and I could picture D-Will doing the same. If there is enough hype around our rookies coming into next year I don't think it's impossible, and obviously if we managed to get him here our franchise would just about be in position to be a contender in the next couple of seasons. Do you think it's possible for Deron to sign with the Raptors next season? And here's an article written during the lockout: http://balltrends.com/toronto-raptors-how-deron-williams-could-be-the-team-s-answer-at-point-116222.html Now that I think about it the two things that could derail this theory would be if Deron gets dealt this season to a contender, or if Dwight ends up in Jersey

Yeah pretty much. BC knows that even with the addition of Jonas next year we won't be more than a 7-8 seed. By getting another top 3 stud in this deep draft and possibly luring a FA over with our young talent, then we have potential to do something. To achieve this we need to lose games. So sitting Bargnani out and making sure that calf is 200% (so it won't be a problem in the future) is a smart move.

This is brainwashing, now I have this idea that eating loads of pasta will improve my basketball game One of the bright spots for the Raptors. Andrea is a legit all-star if he continues to play the way he has so far. I'd actually be sad if we drafted Anthony Davis and had to part ways with Bargnani.

I think Demar is really the biggest disappointment. Because unlike the other guys in the pic, he is supposed to be part of our core moving forward. The thing about Demar's game is: 1) his Basketball IQ (mainly playmaking ability) and 2) his Basketball handling ability. These two vices lead to a significant hole in Demar's game, ESPECAILLY since he plays the SG. Demar is unable to get off his shot easily in a 1 on1 situation which causes him to force contested shots. It also limits him to making predictable drives which usually result in a swarming of defenders. And his Basketball IQ, specifically in his play-making ability causes him to, when he gets trapped, to just jack up the ball. With all that being said this leads to most of his shots to be tough contested ones. In other words, practicing those open 3-pointers all off season is useless if you can't create an open shot for yourself. I am still a believer that Demar can make great improvements in those 2 things I just mentioned and fill up all these holes in his game. Luckily for us we have this whole season to blow. Hopefully he can bounce back either sometime this season or at latest next season.

Lmao funny pic, poor Jamaal. Although I gotta say, Jamaal is a good character guy and it's still good to have him on the team as a locker room guy/ mentor / sideline encouragement and when we draft our top 3 stud next draft we're going to be SCARY next year, wish I had a time machine.. this tank engines going to transfer into a silver bullet!