Tim Chisholm: "Antoine Wright Should Start"

[Built Ford Tough]

Nonetheless, Triano held firm that he was going to start the rookie each night to get him time with a quality starting crew; but to do what, exactly? The only thing that this starting five lacks is a defender, and DeRozan was never advertised as being suitable for that role. He's a scorer first, and he looks positively unsure of how to use his primary skill set to help this team early in the season. He's not terrible at sticking to his man on defence, but as soon as he's screened off of him, or asked to pick up someone else's man in a rotation, he's lost.

 

To compound matters, because of the depth at his position, DeRozan will typically play only six-to-eight minutes to start each quarter before being quarantined on the bench, which means that not only is he being asked to guard starting shooting guards exclusively, but he himself is being guarded by them at the other end. That means that he's never put in a position where he might be at an offensive advantage against an opposing reserve, where he might be able to get some offensive traction as a rookie who has gotten to this point in the NBA on the back of scoring and athletic prowess. So in a sense one could argue that not only is he letting his team down by struggling defensively against some of the league's most potent scorers, but also he's letting them down again by not being in a position to utilize his offensive assets to compensate. In a starting five with Turkoglu, Andrea Bargnani, Jose Calderon and Chris Bosh, DeRozan is the team's last option on offense, making him a wholly unnatural fit in the Raptors' current configuration. As a result he's also being portrayed in the media (especially in the U.S.) as a rookie unable to find his feet at the NBA level and his stock is plummeting as a result. Well, of course he can't find his feet since it's starting to look like they've been lopped off to accommodate a bizarre requirement that he start games as the team's fifth scoring option come hell or high water.

 

http://www.tsn.ca/blogs/tim_chisholm/?id=299997

 

I honestly don't even think that starting Wright is going to make any difference at all. Wright, while a solid defender, is nothing special on that end of the floor and is by no means going to have a major impact on the Raptors defense, it will be marginal at best. Wright is not a good basketball player as far as I am concerned and from watching him this season I am almost at the point where I would consider him to be a scrub.

 

However, he does make sme good points about DeRozan. I don't agree with him when he has said that DeRozan has struggled defensively because he has done as good of a job on that end of the floor as you could expect him to in my opinion, but if he isn't out there with the starting lineup all of the time he will get a more promminent role offensively which could help his confidence.

 

Wright isn't going to make much of a difference defensively because as long as you have Calderon at point guard and Bargnani at center you are not going to be a good defensive, but if moving DeRozan to the bench helps speed up his development or something like that, it is worth a shot.

 

If Wright does start though, he better not chuck up shots like it is his day job.

[BasX]

I think starting Wright could be a good thing. A lot of the time Wright is on the floor it seems he's not the 5th option, usually something Amir or Rasho would be With the starting unit, he is no doubt the 5th option, and I don't think the defensive liability that is the other four players, they'll want let Wright chuck to keep the Raptors in the game. I like DeRozan and hes improving on D, but Wright has some defensive savvy that the starting lineup needs.

 

This team also needs a shake-up, somehow. As long as DeRozan could understand moving to the bench, which I think he could, then the situation will be okay. Also, I would have to think that if Beli and Amir are on the court and teams start realizing those two have great chemistry, then that could help DeRozan because he can attack the basket more, as opposed to Wright who would camp, attempt a drive, turn into a black hole and shoot.

[Check my Stats]

I posted in another thread I would like to see Demar on the bench just because his teammates there would actually look at him. The PG (Jack) doesn't have eyes for one guy like Jose does for Bosh. Plus our bench would run the floor a lot with Demar on there, along with guys like Marco, Jack, Amir etc.

 

I completely disagree with the claim that Wright would be a superior starter, because Demar is a good starter. He is solid defensive, better than I actually expected, but he plays within himself and doesn't try to create anything out side what he is comfortable. Wright is so overrated defensively, he is nothing special defensively he is not a stopper but he is solid. He is terrible on offense making more boneheaded plays than he does good on defense.

 

Demar is definitely the guy I would rather see starting, but Demar on the bench would be ideal because I would like to see what he can do with touches, and being able to create on his own without being the 5th option.

 

I wouldn't even mind seeing Marco get a start or two to see what he does in a starting role. Maybe he could only be effective off the bench, but besides Hedo he has definitely been our best wing as of late.

Edited November 27, 2009 by travesy3