Official Toronto Raptors Thread.

[J@3]

EDIT: No wonder Colangelo is pissed, Bargnani finished with 4 points and 2 rebounds, and three personal fouls, in a less than 15mins.

[Abctest123]

I decided to sleep through today's game against the Celtics...and them I find out I miss out on Raptors preventing a sweep by the Celtics . I don't have a damn clue what happened other than the last plays; Calderon drove in for a layup and a foul for a three point play make the Raptors lead by 2; after Boston timeout, they give House an open look, he misses, mad scramble, Ray Allen somehow gets it close, he takes an off balance shot that misses and they somehow win.

Anyways, wasn't gonna comment on the game since I didnt watch, but at least from the box score, Bargnani had his best game in a LONG, LONG, LONG, LONG, LONG, LONG time: 20 points (on 50% shooting FG and 3pointers), 7 boards, 7 assists.

[The X]

good Raptors....I put money on them & they were paying $4.00 for a win....I had a gut feeling that they'd beat C's

[cyanide]

Anyways, wasn't gonna comment on the game since I didnt watch, but at least from the box score, Bargnani had his best game in a LONG, LONG, LONG, LONG, LONG, LONG time: 20 points (on 50% shooting FG and 3pointers), 7 boards, 7 assists.

That was one shining moment, but I don't know how many glimpses we're going to see of that. Hopefully he can work on a lot of things this off-season and hopefully pull a Bogutesque season after.

The Raptors pulled off a great win, but they shot uncharacteristically well to win only by 2. At least it gives them a much-needed confidence.

[Abctest123]

Raptors lose against the Lakers tonight. Bargnani (he's starting to get back in rhythm; other than the first of the Washington back to back, his recent games have been alright) and Calderon were the only ones that showed up tonight. Kobe Bryant is an absolute monster, 44 points tonight. Turiaf played good defense on Bosh tonight. Bosh's numbers LOOK nice (19 points, 14 boards), but his field goal percentage was horrible. Everyone who was put on Bryant looked like a pylon tonight. Couldn't help but laugh when Dixon got his chance to defend Kobe.

Lakers getting Pau Gasol is huge, and automatically puts them in championship contention. Big time acquisition by them. As I said in the thread regarding this, surprised at how little and how great of a trade it was for the Lakers, getting rid of what they didn't need for Gasol. Chance of a Lakers-Celtics finals.

[Veheme]

Wow, did you guys see Turiaf's defense against Bosh? Bosh was manhandled everytime Turiaf got up on him.

[buzzy]

Not a big trade so I post it here.

Raptors have traded Juan Dixon to the Pistons in exchange for Primosz Brezec

http://realgm.com/src_wiretap_archives/ ... for_dixon/

[cyanide]

Not a big trade so I post it here.

Raptors have traded Juan Dixon to the Pistons in exchange for Primosz Brezec

http://realgm.com/src_wiretap_archives/ ... for_dixon/

I'm down with that. I'm not so fond of trigger-happy Dixon, but if Brezec could put up numbers like he did in his early years in Charlotte, then that'd be nice. The center position is full as heck though.

[Elbeen]

Not a big trade so I post it here.

Raptors have traded Juan Dixon to the Pistons in exchange for Primosz Brezec

http://realgm.com/src_wiretap_archives/ ... for_dixon/

I'm down with that. I'm not so fond of trigger-happy Dixon, but if Brezec could put up numbers like he did in his early years in Charlotte, then that'd be nice. The center position is full as heck though.

This just might work.

Brezec is certainly a nice addition to our frontcourt.

But I dunno how he's gonna split time with Hump and Rasho.

[Abctest123]

Wow. Please, PLEASE, PLEASE, Colangelo, draft and sign some guy(s) that can play defense (both perimeter and post) and freaking rebound. Bosh has been out for these two losses and without him grabbing his usual, they're even worse than how horribly bad at rebounding they are already. I didn't watch Friday against Indiana but prior to the game, I had heard they were without Jermaine O'Neal, Danny Granger, Shawne Williams, and Jamaal Tinsley and they still freaking lose by more than 10. Yes there was no Bosh, but the Pacers had 3 OF THEIR TOP OFFENSIVE OPTIONS OUT. Tonight, I only saw like end of the third quarter to the end of the game, and they absolutely got killed on the boards and second chance points. Raptors had NO second chance points tonight, while Charlotte had 32 second chance points. Absolutely disgusting game to watch even when I watched less than half the game. Brezec, who's known as a softie, is actually boxing out compared to the rest of this team. Shows how horrible rebounding this team is.

This team isn't really going to go deep if they depend on shooting. They need someone who can slash, in general perimeter and post defense, and a FREAKING rebounder.

[Skills]

If Colangelo can get a good draft pick (say somewhere in the Top 10)
There's a variety of good big men in the 08 class.
DeAndre Jordan, Roy Hibbert, Hasheem Thabeet.. the list goes on.

[Abctest123]

I don't have a clue what TJ Ford is thinking. He's been taken EVERY shot for the Raptors thus far in the 4th quarter (he's been hot-cold during this time, hes 5-8, but also had a spell where he missed 3 straight shots, those same possessions were VERY stagnant, no creating by the PG), is being extremely careless for the ball. I honestly don't know what to think, though I'm leaning more towards "WHAT THE HECK ARE YOU DOING TJ".

[cyanide]

I don't have a clue what TJ Ford is thinking. He's been taken EVERY shot for the Raptors thus far in the 4th quarter (he's been hot-cold during this time, hes 5-8, but also had a spell where he missed 3 straight shots, those same possessions were VERY stagnant, no creating by the PG), is being extremely careless for the ball. I honestly don't know what to think, though I'm leaning more towards "WHAT THE HECK ARE YOU DOING TJ".

That's the same sentiment that's being shared on RealGM; and basically, that's the whole negative perception that TJ has. I honestly wouldn't mind having him shipped off for a SF that can defend and rebound. A mini-Marion or something, but too tired to think of a young guy with that much upside.

[Skills]

I'm looking at all the comments from before and it's making me laugh.
A lot of people said Jose Calderon wouldn't be a great PG.
Look what happened now?
Everyone was making all these predictions about trades.
I don't think anyone expected the CV-TJ trade.
It really amazes me to see what Colangelo can do.
Hopefully he'll be able to make more surprises in the offseason.
And TJ was a capital B ballhog in the fourth. It really pissed me off..

[Elbeen]

I didn't get to watch the game but from what I am hearing both PG's are having a slump, which they hopefully get out of.

[BOSS]

Calderon is having the slump, TJ is playing his best since his injuries.

Speaking of the draft, seems like Raptors will be landing between the 17-20th pick in the draft. I wouldn't be surprised by them picking the Aussie outta Vandy, Andrew Ogilvy. With all the Europeans we've been picking up, Ogilvy would sound like a pick they would make.

He is compared to a Brad Miller type player.

[Skills]

The last few seconds of overtime last night made me sick!
The Raps had about 20 seconds to come back from a two possesion game.
I was having a heart attack. Everytime they shot and missed, they would get the ball back!
It happened like 4 times. And they got fouled twice!
Blatche "blocked" one shot. Then Calderon got fouled on a three! But it wasn't called.
Crazy game I must say..

[kassian]

The Raps just won a game against the Sonics. They were losing badly in the 1st and 2nd quarter but they came back to take the win. They needed that win since they are going into a BIG Road Trip in the West Coast against the best teams in the league.

[[Q]]

Anthony Parker is a fucking baller. I'm so glad he's on my fantasy NBA team. it's a shame they don't go to him when Bosh is healthy.

[Abctest123]

Posted this post on another forum I frequent, so I'll just post the same thing here:

Very heated discussions on RealGM right now. Back and forth argument going on there. Anyways...

There's no doubting that Ford played poor tonight. I guess he just had enough of it and he let it all out. Instead of saying "everything's fine, I'm happy with everything.", he needs to, behind closed doors with the team and coaching staff or whatever (and away from media) express all his frustrations and anger with himself and whatever else is bothering him. Vent it all out instead of just keeping it in and waiting until you can't hold it in anymore. Keeping it in for him will be just like a ticking timebomb. Yeah, he did have his previous talk with coaching staff or whatever it was for "personal issues", but I think possibly he was holding back and just scratched the surface with that. He needs to have another talk and just express himself "no holds bar" kinda, and just let that anger/frustration/stress out and not keep it in until he blows up.

You can also factor in the fact he wasn't playing well tonight and that the team hasn't played well and also what I said above as to why he lost it after he got called for the charge, and went after the ref, resulting in an ejection.

[Lamrock]

The 76ers are about to send the Craptors to 6th place in a few days.

[Abctest123]

The 76ers are about to send the Craptors to 6th place in a few days.

Heck they might even fall to 7th with both Philly and Washington passing them.

[Lamrock]

Watch out guys, Atlanta's coming!

[Skills]

Damn. So much for my dreams of facing New Jersey again in the playoffs

[Skills]

Thankfully, Bosh returns tommorow.
But if they lose against a Wade-less, Beasley-wanted Heat,
They're playoff dreams are crushed.