Built Ford Tough

Turkoglu is most likely missing the game tonight so the Raptors chances went from unlikely to virtually impossible. http://www.rotoworld.com/content/HeadLines.aspx?sport=NBA&hl=121559

http://realgm.com/src_wiretap_archives/62793/20091115/jamison_to_make_debut_on_wednesday/ He won't do much to help Washington on the defensive end, he may even make them worse but it will be good for Wizard fans to get him back. This team needs a spark and maybe getting Jamison back will give them that spark.

http://realgm.com/src_wiretap_archives/62795/20091115/joe_johnson_fine_with_status_as_2010_fallback/ He is actually in a really good position if you ask me. Yeah, he isn't really anybodys main target with players like Wade, James, Bosh and Stoudemire hitting free agency (maybe even Dirk too, but I doubt Dirk leaves Dallas) but somebody is going to miss out on landing the marquee free agents and will turn their attention to Johnson and offer him the money that they were planning on luring a LeBron James or a Dwyane Wade with.

I missed the first quarter and the first couple of minutes of the 2nd quarter as I was watching the end of the Maple Leaf games so keep that in mind when reading my post game thoughts. Anyways, here we go. - Marco Belinelli was great tonight. From what I gather, he was pretty much the difference maker for Toronto tonight. He really sparked them in the 2nd quarter and he played an integral role in cutting that 20-something point lead to 9 at the half. I absolutely love his fearlessness on the court. He is aggressive on offense and is always looking to create something. He is a lot better at creating off of the bounce than I thought he was. I knew that he was adequate at creating off of the bounce but he is a lot craftier than I anticipated him to be. I knew about his great jumper and he showed that tonight going 5/8 from deep. Just a great performance from Belinelli tonight and he was definitely the X-Factor. Hopefully this performance earns him some more minutes heading forward. - Chris Bosh was a monster on the glass tonight again. Offensively he wasn't in the same rythym that he has been all season long, although he did have a stretch in the 2nd and 3rd quarters where he put the Raptors on his back, but that didn't take away from his efforts defensively and especially on the glass. He was getting all of the tough rebounds and really came away with some key defensive rebounds down the stretch. In the Spurs game the Raptors would get stops but didn't finish the possession by getting the rebound and it killed them, tonight, Bosh made sure that wouldn't happen. I also liked his willingness to be a sponge on offense. He did a pretty good job of getting the defensive attention focused on him and getting his teammates good looks as a result. He had a good all around game of 21/14/6. - Jose Calderon might have just played his best game of the season. He was mixing up his offense very well and keeping the Clippers defense on their heels. I liked that he was playing aggressively, but still managed to stay in control. Sometimes when Jose is trying to be more aggressive he tends to get out of control. His jumper is the key to his offense though. When it is falling it opens everything up for him. The Clippers had to respect his jumper tonight so it opened up the drive and he made good use of it. Good game from Jose tonight. - Hedo had a very gutsy effort. You could just tell that he was not even close to 100% as it looked like just getting up and down the court was a struggle for him so major props go out to him tonight. I really love his playmaking from the wing position. Him and Bosh are beginning to develop some really great chemistry and that is going to be very dangerous heading forward. - I already mentioned Belinelli but I also really liked what Amir Johnson did off of the bench. He seems to have a great understanding of his role now and aside from forcing a couple things offensively he played within himself. He isn't the biggest guy but he always battles down low. Good game from him tonight finishing with 7/7. - Andrea Bargnani's rebounding is just attrocious though. I know that he is a bad rebounder, but it is just pathetic when your starting center gets his first rebound of the game with a minute left in the 3rd quarter and even worse when he only finishes with 2 all game. He woke up in the 2nd half though and his offense gave the Raptors a much needed boost. I would like to see him start putting together some consistency though. He always seems to have a mediocore 1st half and a strong 2nd half, or vice-versa. When the Raptors get a strong 48 minutes from Bargs they are a dangerous team. - Chris Kaman played really well. I knew that Kaman was a good player as I used to actually follow the Clippers before they turned into this dysfunctial mess of a team, but I didn't realize how good he actually is. His offensive game is a lot more refined then I remembered. He did a very good job of establishing position and use his bigger frame to get what he wanted offensively. He seems to have really improved his jumper and those turnarounds from the post were really nice. I think think that he could be a darkhorse for the All-Star game this season with Yao injured, Shaq in the East and Al Jefferson playing like he isn't fully recovered from the ACL (?) injury. I really liked his game today. He would be a very good complimentary player on a contending team. - Baron Davis must be infuriating to watch as a Clipper fan. From the way that the commentators were talking it seemed like he was just having his way with Calderon in the first quarter, but he just seemed to lose interest at the snap of a finger. One minute he looks like the Baron Davis, top point guard in the league, and the next he looks like Baron Davis, the most overpaid player in the league. If he gets motivated this team would be so much better. - Raptors defense came through late in the game again. They went on something like a 23-2 run over the last 6 or 7 minutes and that really sealed the game. The Clippers only managed to score 15 points in the 4th quarter and 35 in the 2nd half compared to 54 in the 1st half. Its pretty simple really, when the Raptors play with intensity defensively and on the glass they are a dangerous team. When they play uninspired defense they are an average team. I have been impressed with their defense late in the last 2 games. The next step is to be able to play inspired defense for a full 48 minutes so that they aren't forced to erase these large deficits every night. Well, that is enough rambling on my part. It was an ugly win, but I will take it. This was a must-win game for the Raptors and now I would be fine with them dropping the next 3 games and finishing this trip and 5-7.

Haven't noticed this posted anywhere so I thought I might as well post it. http://www.nba.com/raptors/news/douby_release_111209.html With this move the Raps freed up a roster spot. Do you think that they will just leave that open roster spot and maybe use it in a future trade or something, or will they sign a free agent to add to the mix? If you do think that they will/should sign a free agent, who would that player be?

Lol, my bad, I forgot to post it haha. One second, I'll try to find it and I'll edit it into my post.

I'm not trying to start anything, so if this post is considered to be baiting or offensive or anything like that, by all means delete it. I just wanted to point something out. You can say all of this stuff about LeBron and it all could very well end up being true, however, somebody can make an equally basless claim about Kobe Bryant and Michael Jordan. Somebody can just as easily say that Kobe Bryant switched his jersey to 24 and wore number 10 in the Olympics because he wants to "one-up" Jordan (24 being one higher than Jordan's 23 and 10 being one higher than Jordan's 9). I'm not going to make this basless claim, just like I am not making a basless claim about your theory either, just thought I would point that out. Once again, feel free to delete this post if you feel it shouldn't be here. As for LeBron changing his number some people are definitely going to read into this and as a result start talking as if it is a guarntee that James will end up in Miami or Chicago. I can see why people will think this but I'm not buying it (not saying that I don't think he might end up in Miami or Chicago, just don't think that this is really an indicator at all).

Whoever is playing the Toronto Raptors. Seriously though, did you make this thread just so that people will give props to the Suns? I mean they are such an obvious answer to this question based on how they are playing right now. They are shooting 47% from deep, like mentioned above, and are the fastest team in NBA history to make 100 3 pointers (9 games). How can anybody even argue that it isn't the Suns, based on how they are shooting to start off the season? Who knows if they will keep it up all season long but nobody can touch them as of right now.

I just finished watching Rapators Post Up on Raptors TV and Triano mentioned something about Turkoglu possibly injuring himself at some point. He was very vauge about it but he just said that he noticed that Turkoglu seemed to be struggling out there and what not. I didn't notice anything while watching the game so I can't really comment or speculate about it. I agree with you about putting Wright on Rose, particularly because the Bulls ran a lot of screen and rolls during this game (or at least I noticed them running a lot) and in the 2nd half the Raptors started to switch a lot of them. Having Wright on Rose made it so that when the Raps did switch the screens they still had a player with some decent size on one of the Bulls big men rather than somebody like Jose Calderon or Jarrett Jack. Wright's length allowed him to sag off of Rose and still be able to contest his shots as well, which was a good move too.

That pathetic attempt at a last second possession for the Hornets as basically summed up their season so far. Awful.

Absolutely there should. Could you imagine how terrible the games would be if players weren't able to foul out? When teams played players like Shaquille O'Neal, Dwight Howard or other players like this who aren't good at shooting free throws, they could literally just sit there and foul them every single time they touch the ball because odds are that they are just as likely to go 0-2 from the line than 2-2. The games would be played at an absolute snails pace and would be unwatchable. The NBA would turn into a free throw shooting contest more so than a contest of all around basketball skill. There honestly isn't any good that would come from taking away the foul out rule. Van Gundy is just pissed off that Dwight Howard can't seem to stay on the floor right now because of fouls. It would be absolutely retarded if players couldn't foul out.

- Chris Bosh showed tonight just why it is very realistic to consider him as the best power forward in the NBA as of RIGHT NOW. I may sound like a homer but if you have watched him all season long like I have you would think the same thing. He got off to a slow start in the first half shooting just 4/11 (finished the game 9/21 and 10/10 from the stripe) but unlike in years past that did not take away from the rest of his game. He was all over the glass tonight. His 11 rebounds tonight did not do him justice. He was battling all night on the offensive glass, especially in the 2nd half. Almost all of his rebounds were great traffic boards as well. He was the difference tonight in the 4th quarter. - DeMar DeRozan had his best game in his young NBA career tonight. He was active on offense and defense and especially on the glass. He finished the game with a career high 10 rebounds and kept the ball alive probably another 4 or 5 times as well. He was just all over the court tonight and doing exactly what the Raptors want from him. The turning point of the game was his fast break dunk midway through the 3rd quarter. Up until that point the team was completely flat but after that dunk they seemed to be rejuvinated. He finished the game with 9 points, 10 boards and 2 blocks in 18 minutes. Loved his game tonight. - Jose Calderon had his best game of the season tonight. It was very refreshing to see him be aggressive on offense and not settling for jumpers all game. He did a great job of turning the corner and getting right to the rim where he is actually a pretty good finisher. His defense wasn't terrible tonight either, which is about the best compliment I have given him all season long. Finished the game with 18/6 on 8/10 shooting. - Jack and Wright were both awful tonight. Jarrett Jack has been just awful this entire season. He has been doing nothing on offense and defensively he hasn't been making any sort of difference either. He needs to lay off of the jumpers and focus more on getting into the lane and finding teammates. Wright really needs to stop with the thinking that he is going to contribute anything offensively. He can't dribble, yet you always see him try and make these crossover or behind the back moves in traffic which almost always lead to a turnover. The only thing that he can do offensively is occasionaly knock down shots. His defense is solid, but if he continues to play like this I don't want to see him on the floor because his defense does not make up for the boneheaded decisions on offense. - One reserve that I really liked tonight was Amir Johnson. Unlike normal he played very under control on offense and defense. He did a good job in the 4th quarter just being physical down low. I liked Triano's decision to keep him in the game down the stretch as his defense and rebounding helped a lot. Good game from Johnson, the best of the season from him thus far. - Defensively the Raptors did a very good job on Derrick Rose tonight. Even though he finished with better numbers than his season averages, I like what they did on him defensively. They were really sagging off of him and forcing him to shoot jumpers while limiting his penetration as much as possible. Derrick Rose isn't nearly the same player when he is forced to shoot jumpers. When you lack defensive talent like the Raptors do you have to make up for it by playing smart defense. Tonight was the first time all year that I can say that they played smart defense (at least in the 2nd half). - I really liked the way that Joakim Noah played tonight for Chicago. He played very good defense on Bosh using his length to really bother him and challenge him. He played physically down low and did a good job on the glass as well. Him and Hinrich are two players that I would absolutely love on Toronto. Noah's tougness, defense and rebounding would be the perfect compliment to Chris Bosh and Hinrich's defense and basketball smarts would be great at the point guard spot as well. - The Raptors need to continue to play with this type of effort during this upcoming west coast trip. They have a very tough schedule coming up with games against the Clippers, Suns, Jazz and Nuggets so they can't afford to let these teams get off to the type of start that Chicago did tonight, especially on the road. Solid win for the Raptors. The Bulls just didn't have enough in the tank and slowed down considerably in the 2nd half. The Raptors, specifically Chris Bosh and DeMar DeRozan, really stepped it up in the 3rd quarter and that was the difference in the game.

Fatiuge is defintiely setting in for the Bulls right now. Their shots are all flat and short, they are having passes bounce off of their hands and are just making plenty of mental mistakes. Another flat shot from Rose right there. Earlier in the game the Bulls were getting more arc on these shots and there were falling as a result. Chris Bosh has been an absolute monster tonight. He has been battling down low on offense all game long. I can't even count how many times he has battled on the offensive glass and kept the ball alive. The greatest thing about this is that Bosh isn't just fighting with one Bull, but he is outrebounding multiple Bulls to come away with it. He has been an absolute monster tonight. I love the way that he is playing so far this year. Raptors defense has really stepped up in the second half, 4th quarter in particular though. The Bulls are shooting 19% in the quarter and although some of that can be attributed to fatigue, the Raptors have stepped up their defensive intesnity and it is showing. The Bulls only have 28 points in the second half. The Spurs didn't have a single quarter on Monday night where they didn't score at least 30.

Not that I have noticed. He had some miscommunication with teammates a couple of times and he has left his feet to make the pass a couple of times as well, but other than that he hasn't been forcing it too often. He has had some passes bounce right off of teammates finger tips as well. Just some bad breaks both ways really. That was a huge swing on the clear path foul. Bargnani makes the 2 freebies and Calderon sticks a jumper afterwards. Big 4 point swing right there.

This has been the best game of the season so far for DeRozan (9/8 so far). Not that I am complaining about his play so far this year because I have actually been very impressed by him so far, but he has really stood out tonight. He is being aggressive on offense, doing a good job of keeping the ball alive on the offensive glass and just being active on the floor in general. He could've had a couple of more easy baskets as well if his teammates looked for him more. I have counted a couple of times so far that he was wide open in the corner with a clear lane to the hoop but Calderon or Bargnani took a semi-contested jumper instead of swinging it to him. Hopefully his solid play gives him some etra minutes so I don't have to put up with Wright lol. Hopefully that last dunk of his can ignite the Raptors because they have looked like the team on the tail end of a back-to-back, not the Bulls. They have played very flat all game, especially in the 3rd quarter thus far.

I agree with you about Gibson. I actually really liked him coming out of USC and thought that he was a great late 1st round pickup for the Bulls. On NBAD I said that he could end up being the steal of the draft (before Blair dropped to the 2nd round). I don't actually consider him to be a scrub, but it just sounded so much better saying "which scrub" rather than "which role player" lol. Bosh has always seemed to have troubles with Noah. His length really seems to bother Bosh on the offensive end. He is starting to pick it up though and is attacking the rim. And Wright is starting to think he is Kobe Bryant again with all of these pull up jumpers with hands in his face. God does this guy annoy me.

So it looks like Taj Gibson will star in today's edition of "Which Scrub Will Torch the Toronto Raptors". 10 points already for Gibson.

Who would you rather have on this current Raptors team, Hedo Turkoglu or Shawn Marion? I realize that if the Raptors would've resigned Marion that the team would not be the same as it is now, but for the sake of this thread, lets just disregard that. Poll added.

James is out fo 4-5 weeks anyways. He is one of the injury riddled backcourt members.

Source Thoughts on this potential move?

I found this on Real GM and it is both amazing and disturbing at the same time. Here are the best offences and worst defences since the advent of the 3-pt shot in the 1979-1980 season: Best Offences 2009-2010 Toronto Raptors: 118.1 1986-1987 Los Angeles Lakers: 115.6 1991-1992 Chicago Bulls: 115.5 1987-1988 Boston Celtics: 115.4 1995-1996 Chicago Bulls: 115.2 1994-1995 Orlando Magic: 115.1 1990-1991 Chicago Bulls: 114.6 2004-2005 Phoenix Suns: 114.5 1996-1997 Chicago Bulls: 114.4 1981-1982 Denver Nuggets: 114.3 1984-1985 Los Angeles Lakers: 114.1 1989-1990 Los Angeles Lakers: 114.0 2008-2009 Portland Trail Blazers: 113.9 2006-2007 Phoenix Suns: 113.9 1988-1989 Los Angeles Lakers: 113.8 2007-2008 Utah Jazz: 113.8 1985-1986 Los Angeles Lakers: 113.3 1992-1991 Phoenix Suns: 113.3 1997-1998 Utah Jazz: 112.7 2001-2002 Dallas Mavericks: 112.2 2003-2004 Dallas Mavericks: 112.1 2005-2006 Dallas Mavericks: 111.8 1993-1994 Phoenix Suns: 111.7 1983-1984 Detroit Pistons: 111.5 2002-2003 Dallas Mavericks: 110.7 1982-1983 Los Angeles Lakers: 110.5 1979-1980 Los Angeles Lakers: 109.5 1980-1981 Denver Nuggets: 109.4 2000-2001 Milwaukee Bucks: 108.8 1998-1999 Indiana Pacers: 108.7 1999-2000 Indiana Pacers: 108.5 Raptors just obliterating every possible dynasty team on the offensive, from the Showtime Lakers to Michael's Bulls. Worst Defences 2009-2010 Toronto Raptors: 120.3 1990-1991 Denver Nuggets: 114.7 1992-1991 Dallas Mavericks: 114.7 2008-2009 Sacramento Kings: 114.7 2005-2006 Seattle Supersonics: 114.4 1989-1990 Orlando Magic: 114.3 1981-1982 Denver Nuggets: 113.9 1995-1996 Philadelphia 76ers: 113.0 1984-1985 Golden State Warriors: 113.0 1994-1995 Detroit Pistons: 112.9 1987-1988 Golden State Warriors: 112.9 2007-2008 Milwaukee Bucks: 112.8 1991-1992 Minnesota Timberwolves: 112.4 1985-1986 Chicago Bulls: 112.4 1983-1984 San Diego Clippers: 112.4 1996-1997 San Antonio Spurs: 112.3 2006-2007 Memphis Grizzlies: 112.3 1986-1987 Los Angeles Clippers: 112.3 1993-1994 Washington Bullets: 112.2 1997-1998 Denver Nuggets: 112.1 1988-1989 Charlotte Hornets: 112.1 2004-2005 Los Angeles Lakers: 111.4 1980-1981 Dallas Mavericks: 110.8 2003-2004 Orlando Magic: 110.4 1979-1980 Utah Jazz: 110.4 1998-1999 Denver Nuggets: 110.4 1999-2000 Los Angeles Clippers: 110.1 1982-1983 Dallas Mavericks: 109.8 2002-2003 Golden State Warriors: 109.5 2001-2002 Houston Rockets: 108.6 2000-2001 Washington Wizards: 107.8 Now, this is not funny, almost 6 points worse than the worst ever defence. Do you think that the Raptors will be able to keep up this kind of pace and be the best offensive team and worst defensive team simultaneously since the inception of the 3 point shot?

So far this season the Raptors have gotten off to an expected start at 3-4. When the schedule was released and we saw who the Raptors would play in the first 7 games of the season I don't think that anybody could be upset with a 3-4 record considering they have played Cleveland, Orlando, New Orleans, Dallas and San Antonio (the latter 3 on the road). However, you can't help but think that the Raptors have blown some golden opportunities to start the season. They opened up the season with an upset with over the Cavs, but then they had a terrible showing against the lowly Memphis Grizzlies. They returned home to face the Orlando Magic, but it was an injury riddled Magic who were missing Vince Carter, Rashard Lewis and Mickael Pietrus. They got off to a terrible start and couldn't bounce back from that on route to a loss. After that they took care of business with a win over the Pistons on homecourt and an impressive road victory over the Hornets. They were embarassed by the Mavs, but I don't think that anybody actually had them winning that game regardless. Lastly, they travelled to San Antonio to play the Spurs without Tim Duncan and Tony Parker, but another lackluster effort on the defensive end of the floor turned a very winnable game into an embarassing loss as they gave up 131 points to the Duncan and Parker-less Spurs. My question to you all is, do you think that these missed opportunities (losses against the Grizzlies and the undermaned Spurs and Magic) could come back to bite the Raptors down the road? Like I said in the opening of this post, I don't think that too many people could've expected much more than the 3-4 record that the Raptors have, but you can't help to think that if the Raptors had taken advantage of the positive circumstances given to them that they could just as easily be sitting at 5-2 or even 6-1. Will not taking advantage of these early season circumstances come back to bite them in the [expletive] come March/April?

I got 128. I was at about 118 or so and then I started typing random names hoping that they worked lol.

Its called managing your star players minutes so that they don't wear out as the season goes along. The San Antonio Spurs are approaching this season as a marathon, not a sprint, just like they always do. What good is it to play Duncan and Ginobili 37 mpg each if by the time the postseason rolls around their gas tank is on empty? Duncan and Ginobili haven't exactly been the models for staying healthy over the past few seasons as well, which makes even more sense for Pop to monitor their minutes during the course of the season. The Spurs goal is an NBA Championship. I would be willing to bet that they couldn't care less if they win another division title or finish first in the West if it means that their key players are too worn out come playoff time to accomplish the ultimate goal of an NBA Championship.

I think that Bosh not rotating over was mainly due to him being in foul trouble. He knew that the Raptors needed him on the court in order to walk away with a victory tonight so he wasn't playing as aggressively as he normally does on defense. He is the one Raptor who is normally good with rotations. He is late fairly often but at least he makes the effort to help out his teammates. I've been pleasently surprised with his rotations this season. Don't worry, I am laughing as well. I'm not going to lie, it got to a certain point in tonights game where I just couldn't help but laugh about how terrible the Raptors are defensively.