headliner Posted January 12, 2012 Report Share Posted January 12, 2012 Toronto Star DeRozan struggled through another desultory offensive night as the Raptors were beaten 98-91 by the Sacramento Kings at the Air Canada Centre on Wednesday and with Andrea Bargnani headed to hospital for an MRI on a strained left calf, the attention DeRozan is going to attract as the best scorer on an offensively challenged team is only going to get worse. Bargnani, who had 10 points and 10 rebounds before leaving for the night, is expected to have an MRI on Thursday to assess the damage. With the Raptors off for the day following three games in three nights, it won’t be until Friday before they have to figure out what they’ll do. “He doesn’t even remember doing it,” said Casey of his star big man, who had been averaging more than 24 points per game. “It’s a lot of fatigue. You see a lot of it around the league right now as far as fatigue, pulls and that sort of thing.” The Kings, meanwhile, rode 21 points and 19 rebounds from Cousins and 29 points and seven assists from point guard Tyreke Evans to the victory. It’s bad enough that are team as a whole isn’t playing well and the one player that is playing well could potentially be out for a few games. This is a bad deal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Check my Stats Posted January 12, 2012 Report Share Posted January 12, 2012 Sit him down for a few weeks Casey Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Built Ford Tough Posted January 12, 2012 Report Share Posted January 12, 2012 It really isn't a surprise that he went down with an injury considering how much Casey has been riding him and the shortened season. It is one thing if it was a guard who was out there playing 37-44 minutes a night, but this is a 7'0, 250 pound player that is playing 45 minutes in the first game of a back-to-back-to-back. Guys his size just aren't meant to log these kind of heavy minutes, especially in such a strenuous schedule. I understand that with DeRozan playing like ass the Raptors have to play him more than they would ideally like because he is the only player on the team who can create his own offense, but you have to find a happy medium. Running the guy into the ground for a few early season wins is counter productive when you end up having to put him on the IR. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DunkinDerozan Posted January 13, 2012 Report Share Posted January 13, 2012 Now Derozan is going to be our top offensive threat for the next couple games. Hopefully this will be a spark he needs to get out of his slump. If it isn't then god help us we're in for some bad games. Unless Barbosa can play like he did against the Kings. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
headliner Posted January 13, 2012 Author Report Share Posted January 13, 2012 Well this is a great opportunity for Demar to get his game off. I just think the offense overall has been a sloppy mess. When they do get Demar the ball is not in the best position for him to utilize his skill set. My hope is that there will be better play calls for him. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Built Ford Tough Posted January 13, 2012 Report Share Posted January 13, 2012 Casey says that he is day-to-day and won't play tonight. Barbosa says that he will be out for a couple of weeks. If I had to guess, he will miss tonights game, will miss the back-to-back in Chicago and Atlanta and then will return towards the middle/end of next week. EDIT: My bad on one thing, I forgot that the back-to-back is tonight and tomorrow, not Sunday and Monday. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Akkerman Posted January 14, 2012 Report Share Posted January 14, 2012 Derozan's being playing solid so far tonight, went off in the first, but really hasn't taken too many shots other than in that quarter, Raps need him to keep being an offensive threat! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
headliner Posted January 14, 2012 Author Report Share Posted January 14, 2012 Derozan's being playing solid so far tonight, went off in the first, but really hasn't taken too many shots other than in that quarter, Raps need him to keep being an offensive threat! Derozan did play well but he disappears too often in the game. He really lacks the killer instinct to be an effective offensive player in this league. He doesn’t have a go to move to create space for his shot or the ability to break down the defence in a half court set. His strength is in the open court when this team is playing up tempo. Due to the fact that they’re slaying away on the defensive end which turn this team into a half court offensive team and it not a good look for this team. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Akkerman Posted January 14, 2012 Report Share Posted January 14, 2012 I agree. I found myself yelling at the tv because the ball was going to Barbosa almost every time the Raps a.had an offensive possesion, Derozan need to realize he's one of this teams best offensive option, if not the best and he needs to attack the basket much more often Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pound the Rock Posted January 16, 2012 Report Share Posted January 16, 2012 There's a couple of positives with Andrea being out: - We have an 'excuse' to lose some more games, which will mean higher lottery pick chance and fans not going as crazy with the loses stacking - Although I'm not impressed in the games played so far, this may be Demar's chance to get his damn head on straight and ball - I think everyone's pretty confident that Bargnani has taken a great stride forward in his play and is close to being a potential all-star. That being said, letting him take his time to heal, up especially during this rapid fire lockout season, will only be good for us (especially since we're tanking). So I don't mind Bargnani missing a week or two. (although it hurts the eyes to watch the Raps now) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
raptorgaetano Posted January 20, 2012 Report Share Posted January 20, 2012 (edited) There's a couple of positives with Andrea being out: - We have an 'excuse' to lose some more games, which will mean higher lottery pick chance and fans not going as crazy with the loses stacking - Although I'm not impressed in the games played so far, this may be Demar's chance to get his damn head on straight and ball - I think everyone's pretty confident that Bargnani has taken a great stride forward in his play and is close to being a potential all-star. That being said, letting him take his time to heal, up especially during this rapid fire lockout season, will only be good for us (especially since we're tanking). So I don't mind Bargnani missing a week or two. (although it hurts the eyes to watch the Raps now) The conspirist in me says that the Raptors were over achieving and headed for medicority this year and then Bargs got hurt ... Something tells me they want him back at 200 percent before he can play again ... 100 percent just won't due Edited January 20, 2012 by raptorgaetano Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pound the Rock Posted January 21, 2012 Report Share Posted January 21, 2012 The conspirist in me says that the Raptors were over achieving and headed for medicority this year and then Bargs got hurt ... Something tells me they want him back at 200 percent before he can play again ... 100 percent just won't due Yeah pretty much. BC knows that even with the addition of Jonas next year we won't be more than a 7-8 seed.By getting another top 3 stud in this deep draft and possibly luring a FA over with our young talent, then we have potential to do something.To achieve this we need to lose games. So sitting Bargnani out and making sure that calf is 200% (so it won't be a problem in the future) is a smart move. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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