Built Ford Tough

http://www.nba.com/raptors/news/broadcast_sked_090110.html Here is the full schedule: http://img176.imageshack.us/img176/2773/octobertodecember.png http://img64.imageshack.us/img64/6669/januaryo.png http://imgur.com/OKaYN.png http://img715.imageshack.us/img715/9385/aprilo.png So by my count, the distrubution will be: TSN: 23 games TSN2: 24 games Sportsnet: 12 games Sportsnet One: 23 games This whole Sportsnet One fiasco better be sorted out by the time the season starts. It will be a huge pain if it isn't sorted out by then, not only because of Raptor games, but the fact that everything on Sportsnet seems to be going to Sportsnet One.

From what I gather, the plan is for him to start alongside Duncan right off the bat, which is the right move. The Spurs don't have any big man, aside from Duncan, nearly as talented as Splitter. I completely forgot about him though, which is a shame because his NBA debut is one of the things that I am looking forward to the most this upcoming season. I've wanted to see him in the league ever since he was projected as a top 5 pick (and fell because of concerns about how soon he would come over) and was very excited to see him and the Spurs finally come to terms on a buyout to bring him to the NBA. I think he could be a very solid rookie next year and could develop into a very nice player with somebody like Duncan as a mentor.

Call me a homer, but if Amir Johnson is able to stay out of foul trouble (by far the biggest knock on him) and duplicate the production that he had as a starter filling for for Bosh at the end of the season last year, I think he is going to surprise a lot of people next year, especially considering the starting power forward spot is basically his to lose. Not many people realize this, but Amir Johnson was actually a pretty damn good player for the Raptors last year. When Bosh went down with his broken face and he was inserted into the starting lineup, he averaged 18 ppg on something like 70% shooting (69.something). He had an 18/13 game against Atlanta, a 26 point game against the Pistons and a 21 point game against the Knicks in 3 of his 5 starts. The guy was very effective last season, but the problem was that he played behind Chris Bosh and he is very foul prone. People hated on the contract given to him, and I'm not a huge fan of it myself either, but if he is able to do what he did last season and learn how to stay on the floor, he is going to be a pretty solid player for Toronto. Then again, I can just as easily see him fading away into obscurity and going back to his end of the bench Detroit days as well. In fact, that is probably more of a realistic possibility than him breaking out, but he definitely has the potential to be a very good player for the Raptors next year. Other names have already been mentioned in this thread like Oden and Greene. Another player I'll throw out there is Nicolas Batum. I think he could be a damn good small forward for the Blazers this year. I really like his game,

They finally implemented Restricted Free Agency this year, which is yet another awesome addition. You also are able to track 6 years worth of draft picks (42 picks in total). Some info on it here: http://www.easports.com/blogs/inthecrease/post/slug/restricted-and-unrestricted-free-agency-its-in-the-game They also apperantly made plenty of improvements to the EASHL, but I never really got into that last year, so I can't really comment on anything. I defintiely can't wait for this game to come out next week. By far the best sports game out there and EA does just a fantastic job of making this series. Every year you think they can't top the next and when you get the game you are amazed at not only the major additions (new game modes and additions etc...) but all of the little subtle tweaks that they incorperate that make the game really feel alive. Funny thing is that I still haven't downloaded the demo yet. Last year I downloaded it and played it for like a week straight before the game came out, haha.

I don't know what to think of them. On one hand, it confirms my belief that he is better suited offensively to play the 5 as he would be able to exploit his quickness advantage over most 5's and burn them on the perimeter with his jumper. It also supports what I was saying about his defense being a concern when playing the 4 because, like you said, he is actually decent at defending the post against most centers in the league (although any decently skilled center abuses him, but there aren't many skilled offensive centers anymore). On the other hand, it is hard to come up with any sort of accurate idea of just how effective he was at the power forward spot because of the reason you listed and for the simple fact that stats don't always tell the whole story. To be perfectly honest, I never really paid all that much attention to how effective Bargnani was when playing power forward last season because it never really crossed my mind to actually focus in on how he was playing while at the 4. It also doesn't really surprise me that the numbers of Bargnani and Bosh together were fairly underwhelming because usually when Bosh wasn't on the floor, it was Amir Johnson playing the 4 beside Bargnani at the 5. Johnson was far and away the best interior defender for the Raptors last season and the team in general played much better defense when he was on the floor in comparision to when he was off the floor. It isn't a coincidence that basically all of the top lineups defensively for the Raptors composed of Amir Johnson paired with Bosh or Bargs. I wasn't missing it at all, I was just under the impression that his help defense was so god awful that it went without saying. It is pretty much a well known fact that Bargnani is absolutely useless when it comes to help defense so I figured that I would save myself the time of even mentioning it. I have also mentioned before that I don't think Bargnani will ever be a starter on a contending team unless he is paired beside an elite defensive power forward (like Duncan when he was playing beside Robinson) or a Dwight Howard type of center. Other than that, he should really be coming off of the bench and being an offensive spark plug. I don't think I can agree with you on this, at least not 100%. The way I see it, Bargnani is going to be a complete non-factor defensively no matter where he is being played (unless he is able to guard opposing centers and have an elite defensive power forward covering his [expletive]), so you might as well try and maximize his effectiveness on the offensive end of the floor. With how little he gives you on the defensive side of the ball, if you aren't getting everything possible out of him offensively, there is little point to even have him on the floor as far as I am concerned. To maximize his effectiveness offensively, I think you have to trot him out at the center spot where he can exploit the mismatches he creates. Unless he is playing alongside a prime Tim Duncan, Dwight Howard or a Greg Oden, I don't think Bargnani as a starter will result in wins at all. He just doesn't have a well enough rounded skill set that he can ever really be a starter playing 30+ minutes on a contending team. Even if you get a good, shotblocking defensive center, he has to be better than just good, he has to be elite because Bargnani is ill equipped to guard power forwards. He can't just be "good", he has to be among the best in the league, at least if the Raptors ever want to actually make noise in the playoffs with Bargnani in the starting lineup playing major minutes. The ideal situation is to get a legit starting center and move Bargnani to a 6th man role, at least as far as I am concerned. That or trade for Dwight Howard or Greg Oden (or sign him this summer if you can offer enough money to get him away from Portland) and hope to god he stays healthy. These words scare me. There is no reason at all for Toronto to build a team around Bargnani. The Raptors should not be building their post-Bosh team with the intention of getting players that compliment Bargnani. They should look to get their legit franchise player through the draft over the next few seasons and then hope that Bargnani compliments him. If not, hope that you can flip him into somebody that does. Sadly, I don't see that happening and it will not surprise me at all to see Colangelo making moves to try and build a team around Bargnani. He is better than the broken down current version of Okur that we saw last year, that is for sure, but the 26-27 year old Okur is basically best case scenario for Bargnani probably. Okur was an effective offensive player and a solid post defender although like Bargnani, a weak help defender, just not to the same degree. The Okur who was putting up 18/8 a few years ago is about as much as you can realistically hope for from Bargnani. Maybe a few extra points as he is a bit more talented offensively with a bit weaker post defense. There isn't really anything wrong with that as Okur was a nice player, but again, it goes back to what we were talking about before in regards to whether or not he is just a role player or actually a core player. That is the million dollar question. Well, actually, it is more like the $50M question.

He wore number 37 last year in honour of Michael Jackson's "Thriller" album as it spent 37 weeks on top of the pop charts. EDIT: Didn't see DaSin's post.

Funnily enough, Bargnani has arguably been more effective as a center than as a power forward for his career. Take his numbers from last season for example. (Per 82games.com) At Power Forward Bargnani's numbers: 22 ppg/8.5 rpg/1.7 bpg/52.3 eFG%/16 PER Bargnani's counterparts numbers: 24.3 ppg/9.9 rpg/1.1 bpg/54.7 eFG%/19.8 PER At Center Bargnani's number: 26.9 ppg/8.4 rpg/2.3 bpg/52.1 eFG%/20 PER Bargnani's counterparts numbers: 19.1 ppg/13.8 rpg/1.5 bpg/52.9 eFG%/18.2 PER Net Production At Power Forward: -2.3 ppg/-1.4 rpg/+0.6 bpg/-0.023 eFG%/-3.4 PER At Center: +7.8 ppg/-5.4 rpg/+0.8 bpg/-0.008 eFG%/+1.8 PER 82games has Bargnani playing more minutes as a power forward than as a center last season, just in case you were wondering. I've said for a while that Bargnani is better suited to playing the 4, but lately I have been wondering if that actually was the case. He has legit center size at 7 feet and 250 pounds (NBA.com, ESPN and Wiki all have him listed at that) and part of what makes him effective on offense is his clear quickness advantage over most centers in the league. If you move him to the power forward spot, that quickness advantage he would normally have at the 5 would most likely be turned around on him and he would be the one who is at the disadvantage instead of his counterpart. He looks pretty fluid and athletic when driving the ball against opposing centers like a Brendan Haywood, Shaquille O'Neal or a Kendrick Perkins, but if you suddenly have the Kevin Garnett's, Chris Bosh's or some of the other quicker 4's in the league guarding him, he is going to have troubles putting the ball on the floor. His size advantage over most 4's would be negated due to the fact that he doesn't really do a good job of exploiting a size advantage in the first place. Defensively it would basically be a pick your poison type of thing and wouldn't really matter. He will either struggle with opposing centers strength advantage, or will struggle with opposing power forwards quickness advantage over him. I'd almost say that he is better off at center simply because he seems to be more effective at guarding the post than guarding players who try to face him up, but I think it is basically a moot point as he would be at a clear disadvantage either way. I do still think that your best bet is to put him beside a defensive 5, but I have definitely wondered whether or not he really is better suited to playing the 4 than the 5.

Whether you think he deserves it or not, it looks like Bosh will be greeted with a nice chorus of boos from the Raptors faithful when he returns to the ACC. Turkoglu was getting booed by the Raptors crowd when he was a member of the Raptors, so I think it is pretty much inevitable that he is going to be booed when the Suns come to Toronto. Question is, who will the Raptors boo more? Turkoglu because of the way that he absolutely dogged it for the entire season and then cried his way out of Toronto? Or Bosh because of Raptor fans having to endure another face of the team leaving?

Found this on RealGM. Year DRTG ON DRTG OFF 2006-2007 107.8 105.9 2007-2008 108.7 107.0 2008-2009 113.1 106.2 2009-2010 116.9 108.3 Over the 4 years since he entered the league, Bargnani's impact on Raptors DRTG: DRTG on: 110.54 DRTG off: 104.28 Raptors are 6 points better with him off the floor. His impact on the Raptors ORTG: ORTG on: 108.56 ORTG off: 106.23 Raptors are 2 points worse with him off the floor. That evens out to Bargnani costing the Raptors 4 points over 100 possessions. Over 82 games, with Bargnani, the team is a 35.8-win team. Without Bargnani, the team is a 46.3 win team. That was all posted on the Raptors RealGM board and I figured it would be worth bringing over here for discussion. Thoughts on this?

The Raptors weren't on ESPN or National TV because for the large majority of Bosh's 7 years in Toronto, the team wasn't worth a damn. The Raptors had no problem getting on ESPN when Carter was at his best and the Raptors weren't consistently completely irrelavent in the East, like they have been for basically all of Bosh's 7 years, aside from the one season that they won the Atlantic Division. Sure, the Raptors aren't exactly marketable in the US, partially because the American media looks down upon Canada, but how many terrible teams that don't have an exciting, budding superstar on them actually make regular apperances on National TV? Correct me if I am wrong, but did Bosh not make the guest apperance on Entourage while still a member of the Raptors? I don't watch the show but they filmed the episode well before Bosh signed with the Heat considering he was talking about it on his Twitter account at the beginning of June? You can credit free agent hype if you want, but he didn't have that much hype surrounding his impending free agency at that point. And somebody should tell Vince Carter that you can't become insanely popular in Toronto. It's not like he was the most popular player in the NBA during his peak and he was playing in Toronto. Leading the league in All-Star votes for something like 4 years straight, being pushed as arguably the face of the NBA for a few year stretch, being one of the most marketable athletes in all of sports. I don't care that Bosh left. I am actually looking forward to seeing him play in Miami this upcoming season as I've always wanted to see him play alongside a legitimate franchise player. You can search my posts and you will see that I have said he was leaving for a while now and I even said it was in the best interest of both parties for the split, but acting like you are in a lose-lose situation or playing on "another planet" because you are in Toronto is what annoys me. Bosh wasn't as popular as the other stars in the league during his time in Toronto because of three things: 1) He simply isn't a superstar. He is an All-Star player, but clearly below the level of guys like LeBron, Kobe, Paul, Durant, Wade, Melo, Williams and Howard. 2) The Raptors sucked for the large majority of his time there. 3) His game simply isn't that marketable. His game is about mid range jumpers and isolations. He doesn't really do anything that appeals to the casual fan. Combine those three things and it isn't exactly rocket science why Bosh wasn't hyped up around the NBA.

There is a lot more to the article at this link: http://www.raptorshq.com/2010/8/13/1621210/is-julian-wright-the-next-sonny#storyjump I thought very little of this trade (inconsistent scrub with talent for athletic scrub with potential basically) when it happened and I still think that, but then again, I thought the trade for Amir Johnson and Sonny Weems last season was basically the exact same thing and both of those two proved me wrong with very good seasons last year. Do you think Wright could possible follow in the foot steps of Sonny Weems and Amir Johnson? He is going to get minutes in Toronto that he probably wouldn't have gotten in many other cities, and a change of scenery could be what he needs.

Right, I need to open my mind because in your opinion everybody other than Miami Heat fans are hypocrites.

Wait, let me get this straight, fans of other teams are hypocrites because they don't like how a situation was handled and it changed their opinion of a player? So Cavs fans are hypocrites because they felt it was a complete douchebag move for LeBron to go put on an hour long TV special to announce that he was leaving Cleveland and only decided to inform the Cavs about 20 minutes before the entire thing? Raptor fans are hypocrites because we disliked the fact that Hedo Turkoglu dogged it all season long and then cried to the Turkish media about how he wanted out? Then blasts the organization once he leaves? Or Raptor fans are hypocrites because we think it is pretty completely unecessary for Bosh to constantly make backhanded remarks about Toronto? And just like any chance us "hypocritical fans" () take to put these players in a bad light, you "super-awesome fans" take any chance to prop these players up on a pedastool. Get off your damn high horse.

Don't be stupid. He was a wolf stuck in a cage.

I'd rather have just kept Belinelli and hoped that he was able to develop some consistency. I think that Belinelli is clearly more talented than Wright is and, to be perfectly honest, Wright seems like a scrub to me. I get that he is 23 and was held back in New Orleans as he didn't play much, but even when he did get a chance to prove what he can do at the NBA level, I never really came away all that impressed when watching him. Belli was also an expiring, granted a small one but an expiring regardless, while Wright has a $4M Qualifying Offer for next season and he clearly isn't worth anything near that. I don't think I like this move all that much. One reason why I can understand this trade is that Belinelli would get little to no playing time this year with Barbosa, DeRozan and Weems all getting somes minutes at the 2 and Jack, Calderon and Barbosa getting some minutes at the 1 as well. Wright will probably split minutes with Kleiza as the primary 3, with DeRozan and Weems getting some spot minutes there as well.

Details of his contract have finally been released. Year 1: $4,995,000 Year 2: $4,605,000 Year 3: $4,600,000 Year 4: $4,600,000 (Player Option) = $18.8mil http://www.shamsports.com/content/pages/data/salaries/raptors.jsp

I remember reading something a while ago and it said that Pop plans on retiring at the same time as Duncan does. I don't know how much truth there is to that, but I can definitely see it happening. The two of them are very, very close and Pop isn't exactly getting any younger. Add in the fact that when Duncan hangs 'em up the Spurs are going to most likely be a lottery team again, and it makes sense that Pop would decide to call it quits then.

http://www.nba.com/2010/news/08/10/pistons.mcgrady/index.html?rss=true Sounds like it is official.

What are your guys expectations for David Lee this upcoming season? He had a coming out party last season with the Knicks and became an All-Star for the first time in his career. He become a bit of an after thought in free agency this year with all of the hype around LeBron, Wade, Bosh, Amare, Dirk and Johnson, but the guy is a damn good player. Do you expect him to continue his production from last season, perhaps even improving on it (the Warriors do play at a faster pace)? Or do you think that last season was a bit of an anomaly and his production will drop a bit?

It may just be me, but I don't really classify the Nuggets as a legitimate contender out West. Don't get me wrong, they are a very good basketball team, but there is just something about them that makes me think that they aren't really a threat to win the West. I know they made it to the WCF two seasons ago, but I still think that was about as good as it gets for them and would be surprised to see this current team get that far again, assuming everybody in the West is healthy. So what do you think they need to become a serious threat out West? Do you think that they are already a legitimate threat to win the West?

It seems like the Mavs have decided to start Roddy Beaubois at the 2 (once he returns from injury) so one of these two will be coming off of the bench for the Mavs. Who do you think that should be? They both seem to make sense in either scenario. You may want to start Marion due to him being the stronger defender and bring Butler off of the bench due to him needing the ball in his hands more offensively (which may not happen with Kidd, Beaubois and Dirk all on the court). On the other hand, you may want to bring Marion off of the bench because of his energetic playing style and start Butler because of him being the Mavs second most talented offensive player. What do you think should happen? Is rotating them based on matchups a possibility? Also, who do you think should be the small forward that finishes up the game?

Tim Duncan is still a good player, but it is pretty clear that he is on the tail end of his career and is not the player that he once was. He has two years left on his current contract (I think) and that would put him at 36 years old. He doesn't exactly strike me as the kind of guy who is going to hold on and try to stay in the league despite not really being a productive player. I always figured that when he thought he could no longer play at a high level that he would call it quits. So how much longer do you think Duncan plays?

http://thestar.blogs.com/raptors/2010/08/old-mail-found-to-get-you-through-a-slow-day.html Not really groundbreaking news considering it is no secret that Toronto has been shopping Calderon and that Indiana is in the market for a point guard. If the Raptors get get somebody like TJ Ford, Mike Dunleavy or Jeff Foster's expiring contract for Calderon, I will be happy. If they somehow got Roy Hibbert (not happening, I know), I would be estatic. Getting an expiring for Calderon would enable the Raptors have basically enough money to offer a max contract in the summer (Melo to Toronto ) and will have effectively gotten rid of all of their terrible contracts (Bargnani isn't great, but it isn't terrible).

I didn't watch it as I had to work last night, but by the sounds of it, I was wrong about Sonnen yet again. I didn't think that he would be able to get Silva down and certainly didn't think that he would be able to get him down round after round. Not only is getting him down an accomplishment, but being able to keep Silva down is even more impressive. I will have to watch the fight before making any other comments, but it sounds like Sonnen proved me wrong yet again. One thing that he needs to drastically improve upon is his submission defense though. If you are going to be a wrestler who relies on top control in the octagon, you have to be able to neutralize your opponents submission attempts and this is the second time in Sonnen's last 4 or 5 fights that he has been sub'd while having top position. Granted, both times were by great BJJ practitioners (one of which is one of the best in all of MMA in Maia) but he is definitely going to have to improve that. Fitch did what I thought he would and smother Alves to a win while JDS dominated Nelson like I thought he would, although I expected him to KO him within the first two rounds. On a different, but somewhat related note, the invinsible aura of the P4P kings of MMA sure is taking a hit lately. Machida is dominated by Shogun, Penn loses to Edgar, Fedor gets beaten by Werdum, Lesnar is dominated by Carwin (for the first round) and now Silva gets dominated by Sonnen. The only two who still have that aura of invisibility about them now is GSP and Jose Aldo. EDIT: Sounds like the UFC is making Alves move up a weight class and fight at 185 due to him missing weight again.

I can understand why he is doing this. By signing a one year contract with a lottery team, he will be able to showcase his talents more than he would if he took a backup role on a contender. I imagine that he still believes that he can be a star in this league (I don't by the way) and wants to be paid accordingly. He will probably try to put up solid numbers this season with the Pistons and then try to cash in on it next year. The guy is still only 30 years old, so I can understand why he wouldn't be content with simply latching onto a contender with a bench role for the next few years or retiring all together.