Built Ford Tough

http://www.sbnation.com/2009/12/18/1207363/paul-pierce-thinks-raising-the-rim While I'm not against the intent that Pierce has with this (increasing fundamentals and not simply relying on athleticism) I really don't think that raising the rim is the solution to this problem. I'm not exactly sure how they can encourage young players to develop great fundamentals, but I don't think that this is the way to go about it. What do you guys think?

Raptors lose 120-107 and I officially give up this season and start the blow up the team movement. Other than DeRozan and Alvin Williams everybody can hit the road, player or staff. Seriously though, if the Raptors don't win today this team should be blown up, trade for as many draft picks and expiring contracts as possible, tank the season and pray that you are able to draft John Wall, somehow.

http://www.thestar.com/sports/basketball/nba/raptors/article/740499--feschuk-raptors-schedule-takes-pressure-off What do you think that MLSE should do with Colangelo?

The Mavs were my darkhorse pick to win it all during the offseason and it seems like so far this has been my only non-obvious prediction that has actually gone right, lol. I really loved what they did in the offseason by picking up Marion. He is an ideal compliment to a finese power forward like Nowtizki. His defense, toughness, tenacity, rebounding and basketball IQ has been a perfect fit with the Mavs. I have always liked him and really like what he brings to the table from the small forward spot. His versatility is a wonderful addition to any team. I really like the way that their roster is set up though. It has a great blend of defense, offense and high IQ players. Nowitzki has always been one of my favourite players in the NBA and everybody knows how good he is, but like you said, you has really improved on the defensive end of the floor. Anybody that still calls him a liability at that end of the floor is either a hater or simply doesn't watch the Mavs play. He is definitely the best power forward in the league right now as far as I am concerned. Jason Terry has continued his excellent play from last season and is looking like a front runner for Sixth Man of the Year again. The instant offense that he provides off of the bench is absolutely invaluable. He has really found a home in Dallas and he fits the role that is asked of him perfectly. Jason Kidd has done everything that you could ask of him. He is obviously not the same player that he once was but he is still a very good floor general and leader. His impact tends to be very underrated now that he isn't putting up near triple double averages like he was back in New Jersey. I admit, I thought that Kidd was done, especially on the defensive end of the floor, but he has been having a solid season so far. Anyways, enough rambling about how much I love the makeup of this team. Considering the Raptors have [expletive] the bed so far this season and don't look like they will be relevant in the East, I am definitely pulling for Dallas to win it all and get both Dirk and Kidd the rings that they deserve.

Marcus Banks with a game-changing steal. :glasses:

He has Andrea Bargnani on him. Something would be wrong if he didn't drop 25 plus on Bargs considering Beasley's offensive abilities. I'm not trying to take anything away from Beasley because I still think that he can become a damn good player in the NBA, especially on the offensive end of the floor, but I should hope a player like him lights up a defensive liability like Bargnani. Also, on the transition issue, the Raptors really don't look to push the tempo that often. Don't get me wrong, they will run when the opportunity presents itself, but they don't really look to run all that often, if you know what I mean. In regards to your comment about the Raptors struggling to get back on D, the sad thing is that the Raptors only ever have 1 player crashing the glass looking to get offensive rebounds. Bosh is the only one that is usually down there fighting for boards (other than Amir when he is in the game) and the rest of the 4 Raptors stay around the perimeter. The fact that Miami was getting so many easy looks in transition is absolutely inexcusable when you consider that. I can't really comment on the 2nd half of the game because I haven't bothered to watch it. I knew that the Raptors would get their asses handed to them tonight after watching the first 10 minutes of the game, so I figured that I would go and do some homework instead. By the looks of things, it is the same old [expletive] that has plauged the Raptors all season long, as well as them having a stagnant offensive game. Whats up with Bosh only having 2 boards though? The 28 points are nice and the FG% is even nicer, but those 2 boards are UGLY. At least Triano is resting the starters (minus DeRozan) for tomorrow night against Orlando. Usually he would keep the starters in the game way too long despite the fact that there is absolutely no chance to win the game.

So Sonny Weems is the Raptors best wing player off of the bench... I hate this team.

http://www.thestar.com/sports/basketball/nba/raptors/article/738709--feschuk-raptors-bad-guys-show-value-of-effort A somewhat misleading title, but honestly, would you have clicked on this thread if I had some other less-eye catching title? Probably not.

Westbrook didn't want the Thunder to draft a point guard because he wanted to be their point guard of the future.

I actually agree with you about Jack starting. I think that his game is better suited to start than Jose's. Calderon's body doesn't seem to be able to withstand playing heavy minutes as ever since the Raptors traded Ford he has bascially been hampered by some sort of nagging injury. Last season it was a groin, this season it is a hip and I am sure that if he continues to play starters minutes that we will see another annoying little injury linger around all season or something. Calderon is much better suited off of the bench and I have always had this opinion. By bringing him off of the bench it gives you a steady hand who will bring you efficiency and consistency off of the bench. Say what you want about Calderon but nobody can deny that he is a very efficient point guard in terms of maximizng possessions and almost always puts up around 10-14 points and 6-10 assists on good shooting numbers. Also, most importantly, his defensive shortcomings won't be as promminent if he were to come off of the bench and play against more second unit guys. He has never been a good defender, but he didn't look nearly as bad when he was backing up Ford and playing against second unit guys and I am sure that the same situation would apply here. I just don't like how some people (not necessarily you, just some people in general) think that the Raptors are a better team without Calderon. Don't get me wrong, if a trade scenario came up for say Kirk Hinrich I would be all for it, but simply losing Calderon and gaining nothin in return doesn't make the Raptors a better team. The same can be said for Bargnani as well. While I am adamant that these two players don't fit on this current Raptors team, at least in my opinion, it doesn't mean that the Raptors would be simply better off losing them for nothing, like I have seen other Raptor fans suggest.

People always make too big of a deal over players getting into it during practices or timeouts and what not. I actually love seeing this kind of behaviour from players, as long as it isn't a reoccuring thing. It shows that they are passionate and aren't happy with what is going on. In the Grizzlies case, they got off to a very slow start and with Mayo and Gay both being very competitive players, they let their competitiveness get the best of them and it caused a bit of an exchange. Highly competitive people don't deal well with losing and there is nothing wrong with that, especially in professional sports. A similar thing happened to the Toronto Maple Leafs earlier this season as they got off to a horrid start and two players got into it at a practice. Since that incident both players involved have played much better and the team has played better as well. I would much rather have a team full of players who get absolutely pissed off when they are losing, even if it means that they cross the line on occasion, than a team full of players that seem content with losing and don't get upset by it. I would absolutely love to get home from school and read about Chris Bosh and Andrea Bargnani getting into a bit of a fight/argument at practice because it shows that they are pissed off with how the season is going and, at the very least, shows that they have some pride.

Hey, give him a break. That was the closest thing he came to hitting all game.

What about the Milwaukee game when Jose didn't play and Jack started? Turkoglu put up 9/3/2 The Bucks point guards (Jennings, Ridnour and Ukic) put up a combined 54/16 on 19-32 Or the Timberwolves game where Turkoglu put up 16/8/4 but shot a horrifc 2-11 from the field? Flynn didn't have too bad of a game either as he put up 17/8 on 6-14 shooting. Those aren't looking so good. I am probably the biggest Calderon hater on here, but the Raptors aren't a better team without him in the lineup. Sure, they may be better with him off of the bench and Jack starting (this remains to be seen as Jack hasn't really played well defensively this season either) and I definitely think that they are better if Turkoglu is given a larger responsiblity, but anybody who thinks that the Raptors are a better team with Jack as the starting point guard and Belinelli or Banks backing him up at the point is kidding theirself. I would like to see how the Raptors play with Calderon off of the bench and Jack starting when Jose comes back though but they aren't a better team without him like some people are trying to say. I know. It was a joke. However, I do not think that the Rockets were better off with Ariza over Artest like I have heard people say.

And Toronto blows yet another double digit lead. This game should've been over in the 3rd quarter, but yet again, the Raptors fail to put the hammer down and now it is looking like the Rockets might be able to steal a game here. At the very least, it is looking like Triano is going to have to but Bosh back into the game when he really should've been able to take the rest of the game off. EDIT: Lead back up to 13, but I am still uneasy about this team.

It's a good thing that the Rockets got rid of crazy Ron Artest for the calm, stable Trevor Ariza, eh? Seriously though, that was complete bush league. No matter how poorly you are playing you don't do that [expletive] to another player.

What a chicken [expletive] play by Ariza right there. You don't take a swing at somebody with your elbow to the back of their head. There is absolutely no place in the game for dirty [expletive] like that. He is trying to take DeRozan out from behind with an elbow to the back of his head. Ariza should be suspended for this crap. There is absolutely no place in the game for garbage like that. Taking a swing at a player is bad enough on its own, but throwing an elbow to the back of a players head is just dispicable.

http://realgm.com/src_wiretap_archives/63360/20091212/bulls_may_have_eye_on_lawrence_frank/ I actually like Frank as a coach, even though not very man people share that opinion. I defniitely think that he would be a better coach than Del Negro. He is a very good X's and O's guy which would go a long way in helping out the Bulls' sputtering offense while tightening up their system. I admit to now knowing much about VDN's coaching style, but from what I have seen he doesn't look like that good of a coach, and I think that Frank is a good coach, so if I was a Bulls fan I would be up for the change.

http://www.torontosun.com/sports/basketball/2009/12/12/12130286-sun.html Oh joy, now the Raptors offense is going to be stagnant as [expletive], to go along with the matadoric defense that they play. I hate this team.

The blame should be placed on the players, the coaching staff and Bryan Colangelo himself. The players because they simply don't play with any pride defensively and it shows in the inconsistent play of this team. When they play with pride defensively, more often than not the Raptors come away with a victory because if they are able to hold a team to below 100 points they have a very good chance of winning and if they manage to hold them below 90 points it is basically a guarntee that they will win because of the offensive prowess of the team. However, the Raptors are way too inconsistent with their defensive intensity and it shows in their record. The coaching staff should take a stricter approach to the team. If somebody is constantly having defensive lapses because they are not focusing or giving effort, then sit them down until they are willing to put in the work required defensively. If players know that they can get away with making all sorts of mental mistakes and not give it their all on the floor, they are going to continue to do it. As much as I didn't like Sam Mitchell as a coach, I liked that if you weren't giving it your all out there he would let you know it and sit you until you were willing to give it your all on every possession. Lastly, some blame needs to be put on Bryan Colangelo because he is the one that brought all of these players to Toronto and being a GM isn't just about getting the most talented players that you can find and throwing them all together on a team. You have to get talent that fits with the rest of your roster and I don't think that Colangelo has done a very good job of this. You can blame it on the fact that players don't want to play in Canada or whatever you want, but as a GM it is your job to get the best possible mix of talent on the floor. Colangelo has brought in much more talent from last season, but the talent is a terrible fit with each other. PS: The Raptors have all of the offensive talent that they need to win games, but they don't have nearly enough defensive talent to win games. You can call it a lack of pride, heart or whatever, but a large part of it is that the Raptors simply don't have very many, if any, good defensive players.

I know that the writer won't actually put Tim Donaghy on the list, but he absolutely is one of the most influential people of the last decade. If you are going to include Isiah Thomas because of the negative imapct that he had on the New York Knicks franchise, you absolutely should include Tim Donaghy because of the negative impact that he brought to the entire NBA. The Donaghy scandal has been one of the biggest incidents in the NBA for a long time. Again, I know that they won't actually include Donaghy on the list, but he certainly has been one of the most influential people over the last decade. I think that Iverson and Nash should both be above Larry Brown. Brown has had a great decade coaching, but I definitely think that Iverson and Nash have done more as players than Brown has as a coach to impact the league.

I'm not sure about how SoS is determined and what not, so I would appreciate it if somebody cleared a few things up for me. 1) Are road games and home games weighed differently? It is obvious that most teams play better at home than they do on the road. 2) Are back to backs factored into this? For example, a road game on the tail end of a back to back against a team like Atlanta could be just as hard as a home game after 3 days rest against somebody like the Lakers. 3) Basically, how do they determine this metric? lol.

I saw this posted on RealGM. Apperantly Van Gundy made these comments during an ESPN broadcast. Not taken word for word, but you get the general idea. I really couldn't agree more with JVG on this one. I am sick and tired of watching this team get abused on defense and get blown out in games, yet during the final minutes of the game you see them all sitting and laughing on the bench (I'm looking at you Hedo Turkoglu). Show some god damn pride for crying out loud. It is disguisting watching this team play. I gave this team a chance, but it is about time that changes need to be made. This team simply is not going to cut it. PS: I wish that JVG was the coach. At least than out team might play with some balls.

Do you think that Rick Adelman is the most underrated coach in the NBA? Everywhere they he has coached, he has had a lot of success and he has been able to win with different styles of teams. He has a career winning pecentage of 61.5% as a coach and has won 2 Western Conference Championships as well. In the playoffs he has a 50.3 winning percentage as well. However, what makes me make this thread is the work that he has done this season with the Houston Rockets. When news broke that Yao Ming would miss the entire 2009/10 season and Tracy McGrady missing a large part of the season, as well as the uncertainty that surrounds him coming off of micrfracutre surgery, almost everybody wrote off the Houston Rockets, myself included. I didn't think that they would be one of the worst teams in the league or anything like that, but I certainly did not expect them to be a 12/9 team and sit in 2nd place in the Southwest Division. Players like Trevor Ariza, Carl Landry, Aaron Brooks etc... have all played very well this season for the Rockets, but a lot of the credit can certainly go to Adelman for putting these players into positions that they can thrive in. When people talk about the great coaches in the NBA you always hear Phil Jackson, Jerry Sloan and Gregg Popovich brought up, but very rarely do you hear people give props to Rick Adelman, at least not in the same sense as the other 3 coaches. So that begs the question, is Rick Adelman the most underrated coach in the NBA today?

Haha, I forgot Jameer Nelson so don't feel so bad. The others that I forgot were Theo Ratlif, Antonio McDyess and Anthony Mason. I was pretty embarassed about forgetting McDyess because just yesterday I made a post on a different forum talking about how good he was in his prime lol. Mason was the only player that I really didn't know was an All-Star though.

Lol, maybe not. They are currently on pace to put up more than 120 lol. I should really stop talking positively about the Raptors because it seems that every time I give anybody associated with teh Raptors any sort of credit (aside from Bosh and DeRozan) they always [expletive] the bed and make me look bad.