Built Ford Tough

I've never believed for a second that Bosh has already packed his bags and signed with another team. Even with the Raptors not making the playoffs I didn't think that it was the final nail in the coffin of Bosh's career here in Toronto. Do I think that the Raptors missing the playoffs would make him think more about his decision? Absolutely. However, I don't think that if Bosh leaves it will be because of the Raptors missing out on the playoffs. A few moves can absolutely make Bosh want to re-sign with the Raptors. Like he said in his press conference, if the Raptors are able to land an All-Star caliber wing player like an Andre Iguodala or a Danny Granger (just two names that popped into my head, not saying that they will get one of them) at the draft by trading some sort of package involving the Raptors 12/13th pick, the $10M expirings of Banks and Evans and maybe another asset it would absolutely factor into his decision about whether or not he wants to stay with Toronto. If the Raptors can take it one step further and land a center like Brendan Haywood or any other tough, physical, defensive minded center with their MLE in the summer, I can definitely see Bosh coming back to the Raptors next year. If they have a lineup of something like: PG: Jack/Calderon SG: Iguodala/DeRozan SF: Turkoglu/Weems PF: Bosh/Johnson C: Bargnani/Haywood it wouldn't surprise me one bit to see him re-sign. Now obviously this lineup has its flaws and wouldn't be contenders, but it would show Bosh that the franchise is finally commited to building a team around him and bringing in pieces that are necessary for a team to win. Who knows, if Iguodala becomes an 18/5/5 player, Turkoglu manages to get his game back (yeah right) and put up something like 14/5/5 next season and Bargnani imrpoves as a defender and rebounder, this team could be a pretty good team next summer with Bosh in the lineup. You have to factor in tha tthese players all of huge egos. There is absolutely no way that Chris Bosh wants to admit to himself that he is unable to be the main man on a team that makes a deep postseason run. He has a huge belief in himself and thinks that he can be a bonafide number one option in the league. The jury is out on whether or not this is the case, but in Bosh's I would imagine that there is nothing more important to him than winning playoff series while being the main man. From watching Bosh over the past 7 years, I don't think that he is the kind of player who would want to go to a team like Miami or Oklahoma City and become known as Dwyane Wade or Kevin Durant's "Robin". He is the kind of guy who wants to have somebody be his "Robin". That is why I don't think that we will see Bosh sign with the Heat this offseason or go to New York if somebody like James goes there. If Bosh is going to leave the Raptors in the summer, I think that he will be going to Chicago where he will still be considered the best player on the team and will have the best supporting cast he has ever had in his career in Rose, Hinrich, Noah and Deng. I could be completely off base here and for all we know, Bosh has already come to the decision that he is going to leave Toronto this offseason, I don't know. However, I think it is funny that basically everybody, fans of the NBA (including many Raptor fans), journalists and analysts have already come to the conclusion that Bosh is gone come July 8th (or whenever it is that free agents can sign with new teams). There is a lot that can still happen between now and then. With all of this said, I am fully prepared for the Raptors to start next season with a core of Calderon/Turkoglu/Bargnani. I just want to hold onto any sort of hope, whether it is false hope or not, I don't care, that I won't have to watch that next season.

Actually, both the Grizzlies and the Raptors have a 0.65% chance of winning the lottery since they both finished the season 40-42. When neither of them win the lottery, a coin toss will determine who gets the 12th and 13th picks between the two. At least, that is how it usually works in a tie, does it not?

I don't get it though. Why would Miami want to lose this game and play the Hawks in the first round instead of the Celtics? I'm not sure of how the Heat played these two teams this seson (I remember one OT game against Boston, but thats about it), but based on the way that the Celtics have played basically .500 basketball since their 24-5 (or whatever) start and have looked like absolute crap over the last 10 games of the season, why would the Heat rather play the Hawks in the first round? If I had the choice, there is absolutely no way that I would want to play the Hawks over the Celtics based on the way that the season has gone. Are the Heat that confident that they will be able to beat both the Hawks and the Celtics that they would've thrown away the easier first round matchup in order to avoid the Cavs in the 2nd round? I just don't understand why the Heat basically looked like they were tanking this game.

Coin flip. Normally the 12th place team has a 0.7% chance of winning the lottery and the 13th place team has a 0.6% chance of winning the lottery. However, when the 12th and 13th place teams have the same record, the chances of them winning the lottery is 0.65% for the both of them. If neither of these teams win the lottery, then a coin clip is used to determine who picks at 12 and who picks at 13. This is what happened last season between the Nets and the Bucks. They both had a 34-48 record and since neither of them won the lottery, a coin flip was won by the Bucks, which resulted in them getting the 10th pick and the Nets settling for the 11th pick. So the Raptors could very wll end up with the 13th pick instead of the 12th pick like we all had anticipated. I completely forgot about the tie breaker being a coin flip, and not it being based on the season series between the two teams.

Why yes, it would. Seriously though, take the best player available if you are keeping the pick, which I doubt Colangelo does as he will probably trade the pick in his attempt, and inevitable failure, at another quick fix. If Hassan Whiteside is the best prospect available, pick him. If Patrick Patterson is the best prospect available, pick him. If Cole Aldrich is the best propsect available, pick him. If Al-Farouq Aminu is the best prospect available, pick him. If Greg Monroe is the best prospect available, pick him. If Xavier Henry is the best prospect available, pick him. I think you get my point, lol. This team simply doesn't have enough overall talent to pick need over talent. The only position that they shouldn't pick is a power forward, and that is only if Bosh assures them that he will be re-signing.

So the Raptors are going to be drafting Evan Turner. http://i228.photobucket.com/albums/ee13/BFT11/untitled-3.jpg?t=1271301856 :) :) Funnily enough, this was the first time I ran the mock simulator. On a serious note though, does anybody else find it funny that no matter what happens, the Raptors always draft Patrick Patterson (unless they move into the top 3) when you run this? It doesn't matter what happens in front of them, the Raptors always end up with Patterson. Guys like Monroe, Whitesode, Aldrich and Udoh always shift between 8-11 but Patterson is always picked by the Raptors at 12. If a team behind Toronto moves up (Houston or Memphis) Patterson falls to 13 so that Toronto can pick him. Is this a sign? :o

DeMar DeRozan with a career high 24 points. Raptors with a franchise high 131 points in regulation. Raptors shoot a franchise high 65%. And none of this means anything to me at all, considering the way that the Raptors choked after the All-Star break. What a terrible season.

21 points on 9/12 shooting. The only thing with him is that he simply doesn't know how to stay on the floor. He just can't not foul when he is on the court. If he could somehow learn how to not foul every second that he is on the floor, he could become a good player in the league, and a possible starting caliber power forward (obviously not on a contending team, but a middle of the pack team). Sadly, he has been in the league for around 5 years now and he still hasn't sorted out his fouling issue. Then again, this really is the first time in his career that he has been given a legitimate shot at proving himself. the Raptors really need to defend the 3 point line. It is not like the Knicks are going to hurt you anywhere else on the floor. It is inexcusable to give players like Gallinari wide open 3's, especially considering the fact that Gallinari can't really do anything other than shoot 3's.

Has Sonny Weems turned into the kind of player that most Raptor fans hoped DeMar DeRozan would be by the time the season was over? Weems has steadily improved since the beginning of the season, and during the last quarter of the season he has really turned it on (averaging 13.6/5/2.6 on 49% shooting in April). He has done a good job of getting to the rim on offense, converting on his looks from mid range and played, for the most part, played solid defense night in and night out. Meanwhile, DeRozan has been sent to the bench, has struggled over the past 2 months (April has statistically been his worst month of the season) and has arguably gotten worse as the season has went on. Now I'm not saying that DeRozan doesn't still have the potential to become a good player and I'm not trying to hate on him because he is still young and has plenty of time to improve. However, I just found it funny that the young, athletic shooting guard that Raptor fans are raving about is Sonny Weems and DeMar DeRozan. If somebody would've told me that at the beginning of the season, I would've told them that they are crazy.

Well, Charlotte has emptied their bench in the game against Chicago and the Bulls currently have a 15 point lead. With Tyson Chandler leaving the game with an arm injury, it doesn't look like Larry Brown will be bringing in players like Wallace, who is nursing a shoulder injury, and Jackson to try and make any sort of run. Even if he did insert his starters back into the game, I find it hard to believe that the Bulls would blow a 15 point lead anyways. So, the Raptors will be picking 12th overall in this years draft. I figured we could use this thread to discuss prospects who you think would be a good selection, fit, etc... with the Raptors.

The Bulls announcers? I love those guys after watching the Nets game, particularly the color guy. I don't think I have heard the Bobcats announcers before though. I think it is pretty obvious what is going to happen though. The Raptors will win this game but it won't mean anything as the Bulls will beat the Bobcats. The Bulls lead has been basically 10 points or more all game long and with Gerald Wallace having a sore shoulder, I doubt that the Cats will be too worried about making a late game push to try and steal the game.

I don't. It is basically just a constant reminder of how bad of a failure the Raptors season has been. Looking down and seeing the Bulls lead always being around 10 points just angers me and takes away the joy of watching basketball.

Do you really still have faith in Bryan Colangelo to make a move that will actually have a significant impact on this team? Sure, Colangelo has done a good job of bringing in role players like Jarrett Jack, Anthony Parker, Jorge Garbajosa, Sonny Weems, Amir Johnson and Rasho Nesterovic but literally all of th emajor moves hat he has made since coming Toronto have been terrible. Turkoglu signing? Awful. Bargnani and Calderon extensions? Will cripple the team finacially for the next 4/5 years. O'Neal trade? Didn't work out. Marion trade? Had to give up a 1st round pick along with (semi-) valuable assets like Jermaine O'Neal and Jamario Moon for 20 or so games of Marion. I have no doubt that Colangelo will do something in the offseason regardless of whether or not the Raptors make the playoffs. However, I have no faith at all that the move he will make will make any sort of difference on the team. Knicks up 5-4 currently. Does anybody else get the feeling that the Bulls will lose in Charlotte tonight, but the Raptors will blow it by losing to New York?

Sonny Weems is playing tonight despite what happened in Detroit. Antoine Wright isn't able to go tonight though. There was some speculation that he may be able to play, but it sounds like he won't be in the lineup. Jay Triano better have a quick trigger finger when it comes to Calderon tonight. The minute that Calderon starts to play like his usual useless self, send him to the bench and put Jack in the game. Now is not the time to try and boost Calderon's trade value. Hell, bench Calderon for Marcus Banks if need be. At least he won't make Chris Duhon look like Steve Nash out there.

Cleveland plays the winner of the Boston vs. Miam/Milwaukee series regardless of the outcome of this game tonight. Boston needed to win both of their remaining games to have a chance at moving up to the 3rd seed, and they lost to Chicago last night.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/sports/basketball/are-the-raptors-too-eurocentric/article1533610/ When will these "experiments" come to an end? Colangelo has been doing the same [expletive] for the past 4 years and it has resulted in 2 playoff appearances (a combined 3 wins in those two series), 1 season over .500 and a combined record of 150-167 record for the Raptors (take out the insanely weak Eastern Conference from the 06/07 season and their record is 103-132). Yet the guy still believes that the game is "changing" and turning into a more European style of game (not that there is anything wrong with that style, it just doesn't work in the NBA) and won't rest until he is proven right. It begs the question of how many more years are Raptor fans going to be forced to watch Colangelo's experiments fail year after year? I can see it now, the Raptors draft Donatas Motiejunas with the 12 pick (or trade the rights to Amir Johnson and their 12 pick in order to move up to draft him) and Colangelo will rave about how Motiejunas, Turkoglu and Bargnani are going to be an unstoppable duo up front because of their size, shooting ability and matchup problems. The Raptors will continue to do well financially, Colangelo gets a contract extension and the process starts all over. Again, I have nothing against European or International players. Dirk Nowitzki is probably my favourite basketball player outside of Steve Nash and I am fans of both of the Gasol brothers. But how many times does Colangelo have to fail with this European basketball mindset before he admits that this style of play doesn't work in the NBA?

# Neglected to mention the latest atrocious coaching job by Doc Rivers tonight. When Vinny Del Negro outwits you its time to take a TV job. 24 minutes ago via UberTwitter # Dwyane Wade can beat this Celtics team by himself. He could play with his 2003 Marquette teammates and beat them. I hate this season. 31 minutes ago via web # The Celtics are going to lose in Round One. Lock it down. This team has no heart. They want the season to end. You can see it in their eyes. 33 minutes ago via web # Now I've seen it all. Rasheed just scored on his own basket. I swear to God. It was his best shot of the season. Just kill me. about 1 hour ago via UberTwitter I love Bill Simmons. The guy is always pure gold.

Sonny Weems:

It looked pretty good to me too, but Rose wasn't straight up and down and there was contact with the body. I thought it was a prety clean block and wouldn't have made the call, but I can see why there was a foul called on Rose there. Absolutely terrible job on that 2-1 though by Allen. There is no excuse for not passing the ball back to Robinson there.

It really is a shame at just how far KG has fallen within the last year. He literally went from the best Defensive Player of the Year to being blown by by Brad Miller within 2 seasons. As much as Garnett annoys some people with his antics, myself included, I always enjoyed watching him play and he just isn't remotely close to the same player that he was before going down with that knee injury last season. Paul Pierce has been lights out this quarter. 12 points (or is it 14?) in the quarter and he has hit his last 7 or 8 shots. Luol Deng has been playing some solid defense on him too, but Pierce has just been a little bit better. I can't believe that I just said 2 positive things about Celtic players and am cheering for them to win this game. I'm going to hell.

Well, he only plays good against poor teams when the pressure is off. This game pretty much had both of those aspects. There was a bit of pressure considering ithe fact that if the Raptors lost this game they would pretty much be eliminated, but there wasn't nearly as much pressure riding on this game as the Bulls game. Not to mention he had guys like Charlie Villanueva and Jason Maxiell guarding him, neither of which should be able to guard him at all. Of course, I could be wrong and he just played a great game without any of this being factors. I didn't really watch much of it as I went to a hockey game after the first half (which I didn't really pay much attention to while it was on).

Does anybody else want to see the Raptors make the playoffs just so that we can see LeBron go ape [expletive] on them in the first round? I think it would be rather entertaining to watch LeBron go and drop 50+ points in game one, then decide he is going to dish 17 assists in game 2, drop 40/10/10 in game 3 and then dance on the sideline through all of game 4 while the Raptors lose by 20. Anybody else agree?

If I was Triano I would get Patrick O'Bryant to take out Rose's knees or something. If the Bulls want to keep their starters on the floor in a 20 point game with 3 minutes left, make them pay for it. Then I would send Evans to rip off Noah's balls. We all know he is down for that.

So because the Bulls are blowing out a gutless Toronto team without their best player, beat the Cavs by 1 point without them playing their full roster and pushed the KG-less Celtics to 7 games last season with a different roster it means that they are going to push the Cavs to 7 games? The Bulls also had Gordon and Salmons on their roster when they pushed the Celtics to 7, so that more than makes up for them haivng Deng this season. The bottom line is that if you are using this game or that game against the Cavs 2nd stringers to somehow justify the fact that the Bulls are going to push the Cavs to 7 games is pretty humerous. That is all I'm saying. If this is the team that the Raptors are going to be trotting out next season, it is going to be a LONGGGGGGGG season next year.

Yeah because I'm sure the Cavs are going to be trotting out lineups like: C: Turkoglu PF: DeRozan SF: Belinelli SG: Jack PG: Calderon Do you really think that the Bulls are going to be able to score like this on a team who knows how to actually play defense? Toronto is probably the worse defensive team in the league while Cleveland is the best. There is a bit of a difference between the two. Funny fact: Hedo Turkoglu has 17 rebounds. The Raptors have 34. You know you are terrible on the glass when you are having Hedo Turkoglu pulling down literally 50% of your rebounds. I have to give credit to Turkoglu though. He is playing like he really wants it. Unfortunately for him, he just doesn't have the ability to take over a game. I just wish he played with this kind of heart all season long. Where was this effort at the beginning of the season? If he played like this all season long the Raptors wouldn't be in this position as they would've already clinched a playoff spot. So while it is awesome to see Turkoglu playing like this, it is simply too little too late.