Official Toronto Raptors Thread.

[[C][B]#4]

Raptors win 109-92 against the Bucks. Chris Bosh was back to his all-star self, 26 pts, 15 reb 2 blocks 2 steals. Wow. Bosh is really going up strong to the rim now. He had like 6 offensive boards and 3 putbacks off misses. The USA team experience has really helped him out. TJ Ford, I'm impressed with his play. He's so fast with the ball and always finds his teammates. What really impressed me was the team defense that was played in the fourth quarter. We held the Bucks to 17 fourth quarter points. Jose Calderon was also stroking it in the fourth quarter, which was encouraging to see. If he can hit the jumper, that'll open up alot of options for him on the offensive end. Anyone see the Bargnani alley-opp? That was an awesome pass by Jose from almost half court.

On another note, Charlie Villanueva had a double double: 17 pts and 11 reb, but a shame that he pulled his hamstring. I'm glad that he's becoming more consistent with his rebounding. Too bad we had to trade him. I really believe that this trade was a win win situation.

Up next, Spurs. It'll be a big, big boost for our confidence if we won that game.

[hipn]

WTF was with Patterson shoving Ford? Should have gotten a T or ejected.

[Abctest123]

Raptors win 109-92 against the Bucks. Chris Bosh was back to his all-star self, 26 pts, 15 reb 2 blocks 2 steals. Wow. Bosh is really going up strong to the rim now. He had like 6 offensive boards and 3 putbacks off misses. The USA team experience has really helped him out. TJ Ford, I'm impressed with his play. He's so fast with the ball and always finds his teammates. What really impressed me was the team defense that was played in the fourth quarter. We held the Bucks to 17 fourth quarter points. Jose Calderon was also stroking it in the fourth quarter, which was encouraging to see. If he can hit the jumper, that'll open up alot of options for him on the offensive end. Anyone see the Bargnani alley-opp? That was an awesome pass by Jose from almost half court.

On another note, Charlie Villanueva had a double double: 17 pts and 11 reb, but a shame that he pulled his hamstring. I'm glad that he's becoming more consistent with his rebounding. Too bad we had to trade him. I really believe that this trade was a win win situation.

Up next, Spurs. It'll be a big, big boost for our confidence if we won that game.

Didn't get a chance to watch or hear the game (haven't seen the highlights either yet), but I'll take your word for what happened. I agree, it seems like this trade was for the better for both teams, both players would excel more in their current situation than when on their previous teams. Villanueva becomes one of the primary scoring options there (where as in Toronto he would have to fight with also Bargnani now for minutes, while being at most of the time the fourth option or at max, sometimes being the third scoring option), while TJ gets to run a high octane offense so that he can work at the fast pace he is comfortable with, and not have to slow down for others.

I still haven't seen Matt Bonner and Eric Williams in a Spurs jersey, and I can't imagine either of them wearing one either .

[[L3]1101]

Oh this was a great game. It was one of the best openers in many years. Bosh was just on fire, and Ford kept making great passes. Even Rasho was scoring.

[BOSS]

Seems like there's a lot of unhappy people not only at RealGM but in Raptors management regarding Sam Mitchell's coaching. He might be the first coach to go.

That's what I think too.
Maybe because he doesn't play Graham or Bargnani alot. Haha.

[Zoom]

I envy the team that Toronto has out there! For a lot of the players, they finally get to play in the NBA or they are on a team they can play with. I was really impressed with Chris Bosh, huge night. And TJ Ford looks like he's running the team really well too.

And CB#4, I think the Raptors can beat the Spurs. It will indeed be a confidence booster for them if they do win. I wonder how Bosh will handle Tim Duncan.

[cyanide]

WTF was with Patterson shoving Ford? Should have gotten a T or ejected.

I was watching the game (and the replay), and it was a very light push. Patterson did it on purpose, but I think it was more of a tactic to make substitutions. If it was a hard push, TJ would be on the floor, so no, I don't think a technical or an ejection would make sense.

I watched the game, and man, the Raptors are DEEP. Everybody played well except for Garbajosa. Bosh was freaking amazing. He reminded me of Kevin Garnett. TJ Ford was just finding his man all night and played very well. Fred Jones was an awesome spark off the bench. Parker did so many things well, all the intangibles that doesn't show up on the stats. Mo Pete hit the threes when he had to. Rasho played very good defense and held Bogut fairly well, though Bogut probably was the best player on the Bucks tonight. Calderon was the spark off the bench to score hit those jumpers and put the ball game out of reach.

Freaking Bargnani only played for 10 minutes. He was effective in those 10 minutes though, getting 4 points (one alley oop dunk), a block, and 5 rebounds. I'm just hoping Bargs is gonna get more playing time. C'mon Sam.

If the Raptors can play like this every night, as a team, they're gonna be very good.

[hipn]

What were your opinions on the intro video?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=06nQjnm8NcM

[cyanide]

It wasn't anything special. I don't know, I don't get impressed easily when it comes to intros.

[Abctest123]

Almost anything is better than the intro the Raptors had last year. The intro is alright I suppose, nothing stands out in particular, but I guess I'm alright with it. What's not in the video is a drum sequence by this group of about 5 drummers before the intro. That was well done, but I don't know if their gonna do that drumming thing every home game from now on, or was it just for opening night. There was speculation on the Raptors RealGM boards that the intro song was gonna be "Remember The Name." Personally, despite the fact the song has gotten a little (or maybe a lot for some people) overplayed or overused, I think a VERY nice intro could have been made for the Raptors using that song.

Cyanide, I didn't get to see the game, maybe only a few highlights, was Garbajosa struggling again and just throwing up bad shots?

[cyanide]

Cyanide, I didn't get to see the game, maybe only a few highlights, was Garbajosa struggling again and just throwing up bad shots?

He took a lot of three pointers and missed all but one. He did a poor job of covering Bogut, but he did some little things that was important (help defense, deflections). He had a bad night, but if he made half his threes, then he would've had a pretty good night.

[volsey]

The Bucks game was a great game to watch. Bosh was spectacular and seemed like a new player, re-energized. Parker seems really confident in his midrange shots, has good step up and fadeaway shots, was really impressed by him. Ford is fun to watch, quick, gets down the floor, finds open the open man, he should've had alot more assists in the Nets game, but he just doesn't know who he passes to. He was making solid, crisp passes, leading the man, but alot of the time the players just couldn't hold on to it. Nesterovic was pretty solid too, had a decent post and midrange game. Peterson I realy don't like though. I know they're a run and gun type team, but he's just jacking up threes everytime down the court. I don't remember how well he shot in the Bucks game, but I know he missed a ton in the Nets game. But their biggest weakness is obviously defense, absolutely horrible, and I think they should tone down the run and gun type game, like shooting 39% for 94 shots is pretty bad. But all round, Im impressed with the team i guess, mostly because I didn't expect much.

[nets4life]

http://www.realgm.com/src_wiretap_archi ... nto_rumor/

and thats an end to that ... hopefully

[[C][B]#4]

http://www.realgm.com/src_wiretap_archives/43090/20061104/carter_laughs_off_return_to_toronto_rumor/

and thats an end to that ... hopefully

Even if Vince did want to come back, it's not likely to happen because of two reasons. For one, he would have to take a major paycut to be back in a Raptor uniform because we won't have much more than the mid-level exception next year with the extensions of Chris Bosh and TJ Ford kicking in. We also need that money to probably resign Mo-Pete, who I'm pretty sure we can resign. The second reason because of Bryan Colangelo. He brought a whole new vibe to the city of Toronto. He changed the jerseys, the court, pretty much everything about the old Toronto Raptors. This is the year where we finally truly get over the Vince Carter era. I don't know if Colangelo would be willing to bring back the old face of the franchaise after he handed the keys to Chris Bosh and TJ Ford.

[cyanide]

I wouldn't want Vince to come back anyway for the sames reasons you mentioned, particularily with "I don't know if Colangelo would be willing to bring back the old face of the franchaise after he handed the keys to Chris Bosh and TJ Ford."

[mAgoTT50]

i like pj. tucker , he got no outside shot. but when it comes too defense he is down and dirty.

[volsey]

Vince won't be coming back. I totally forgot about the Raptors game today vs SA, haven't watched it at all but Bosh has 15 boards in 17 minutes of play.

[hipn]

Another loss. Horrible team game. Not enough cuting and not enough inside game, it's killing us. We got no inside defence excet Rasho and Mitchell refuses to play him, and actually, our overall defence is horrible so far.

[cyanide]

Bargnani needs to play more. I want to see more of a Rasho/Bargs center combination rather than play small ball with Garbajosa at C.

[Zoom]

Chris Bosh had a huge double double. Just wondering, do you guys think Bargnani, Calderon, Bargnani will get more playing time any time soon?

[Cable]

I hope they do ... wait a minute

Bargnani, Calderon, Bargnani

Not too sure what you mean there. I think that Bargnani will definately get more time as the season progresses. As for Calderon, he may or may not, it depends on whether or not he can keep going at the pace he's at. If he does, it'll be hard to find excuses not to play him.

[Zoom]

Oh shit... my bad

Just scrap that and tell me if an all-Euro team of Bargnani, Garbajosa, Calderon, Rasho and Slokar have graced the floor yet?

Ummm.. is Slokar even on the team anymore?

[BOSS]

Oh shit... my bad

Just scrap that and tell me if an all-Euro team of Bargnani, Garbajosa, Calderon, Rasho and Slokar have graced the floor yet?

Ummm.. is Slokar even on the team anymore?

He is in the IR along with Martin and Sow.

[Zoom]

Oh true... this lineup would rip it up:

C: Rasho
PF: Garbajosa
SF: Bargnani
SG: Slokar
PG: Calderon

Man, just start:

C: Sow
PF: Bosh
SF: Parker
SG: Mo Pete
PG: Ford

And then switch my All-Euro team on. Yeahhhh!

[cyanide]

Pape Sow is injured and he might be out for the whole season.

I'd rather start Bargnani over Sow anyway