headliner

Calderon had a tough match up against Chris Paul and I felt that Calderon did a respectable job considering that hornets did a lot of pick and roll. In the first half they did a poor job of not allowing Chris Paul to split them down the middle which is why he ended up with 17 points and 10 assist. Second half was much better and they only held Paul to 10 points and 8 assist. I loved the overall intensity that the raptors played with and offensively this team is very scary and it’s a matter of put together 48 minutes of good defence.

Listen I was being optimistic so give me a break. I know he is not the best defender but we can hope for the sake of this team that Calderon can do a better job defensively.

Always getting at Calderon’s defence and you never knows this maybe be the game that Calderon breaks out of his funk.

INSIDEHOOPS

INSIDE HOOPS

Reggie would have been a great guy to have on this up and coming road trip because of his energy, hustle and toughness that he brings to the game and that’s what you need when you’re on the road. I hope he gets better real soon.

I’m not saying that his hamstring his hampering him now that’s not the reason for his poor play. Calderon hasn’t played basketball for five months which in that time he rested his body which he hasn’t done for the past couple of summers. This slow start should be expected. As for his defence I don’t disagree that it’s horrible he has never been a good defender but I believe he is a better team defender than he is an individual defender. Right now I just feel that he is not in game shape and having Hedo in there which takes the ball away from Calderon’s hands is a huge adjustment that may take quite a few games for him to adapt.

Calderon is not the greatest defender but to say his defence is even worst I believe you are overreacting because he has always been bad. He does a bad job of fighting over screens which allows the quicker players to split down the middle. He just doesn’t have the lateral quickness to keep most point guards in front of him. In this league the most point guards are arguably very quick. Not to say Calderon isn’t fast he just not as quick as other point guards. In my mind Calderon is a solid point guard in terms of running a team on the offensive end I honestly believe he will bounce back as he gets into better game shape then he is right now. The biggest thing with Calderon is that he has gotten away from what made him successful 2 seasons ago and his hamstring really held him. Fans have to understand that when a player comes off an injury it may take them a few games to get comfortable and not to second guess his game.

The Star

I just got back from my vacation yesterday and I haven’t seen a single raptor game yet so I’m eager to see this game.

Everybody say "THANK YOU JESUS" the Lord is good!

I think eventually Wright will beat out Derozan as a starter.

If a move is going to happen it will happen by the trade deadline. We can all expect rumors to come out of nowhere until next summer.

Pops is the better player. He just works so hard day in and day out. Thats the kind of player Pops is but don't count out Amir I can see that he works hard to it's just Pops bring more energy to the game than Amir.

Looks like Reggie is injured

Andrea is looking very good to me

Nate would be at Yi's [expletive]

I wouldn't read much into this

Both players can flat out play but Durant will have the better career when it`s all said and done.

Despite a terrible defensive season by the raptors Andrea showed last season that he was at least a decent defender. Better than what I thought he was. He is a decent shot blocker and he is capable of guarding the post. I just thought at times he shy away from being more physical in the post. He too has added about 7 pounds of weight for this season. I think the major think for Andrea is to become real physical down low.

With Wade they're a sure bet to make the playoffs

Speaking of quickness in an interview a saw a few days ago Bosh talked about not putting on weight but he wanted to get quicker so he worked on putting on weight as we’ve talked about and made sure he spent just the same amount of time working on his quickness.

The raptors weren’t that bad offensively. They ranked 16th overall scoring 99 points per game and their field goal was 45.77. The raptors issues were health and their lack of defence. Jay has already said he is giving his players the freedom to bring up the ball which means Calderon won’t always have to create for the team. It gives Hedo sufficient opportunity to facilitate the offense after grabbing the defensive rebound. Jay wants Hedo to facilitate the raptors offence which is the main reason Hedo was brought in. I don’t understand why people think the Sixers will truly be competitive this season. They lost a solid pg in Miller and they didn’t add any significant piece to improve form last season. They are counting on two young pgs to run the show and we all know that point guard play is crucial to every team. The Sixers are also hoping that Brand can finally fit in with this team. Celtic aren’t unbeatable I’m sure the Raptors are capable of pulling out a game or two against the Celtics. Every season the Raptors manage to split the season series with the Magic and in my mind the Sixers aren’t that big of a threat. Defence in the post means you have to be able to absorb contact and Bosh wasn’t able to absorb contact on a consistent base. In my mind I think he was afraid to get dirty and he played tired last season. I think the added muscles will make him more durable and allow him to play big especially on the defensive end.

ESPN