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I am so sick of Toronto reporters and fans being elated that Jose Calderon is the undisputed number one point guard. I think Matt Devlin hammered it into my head 7 or 8 times during the Raptors vs. Celtics game on Sunday. Jose Calderon is only here still because of his disgusting contract.
In all honesty, throughout the beginning of this season both PG's scared me; lots of turnovers, and neither really playing like a solid point guard (let alone a starting point guard for a mediocre team). With that being said, Jarrett Jack brought a leadership role to this team that is extremely out of reach for Good Ole Calderon to ever reach. Jarrett Jack had also fit well with our offensive scheme (being a run and gun team), and he would be a solid backup point guard for us as we continue to progress as a young solid team. Jose Calderon on the other hand is a great half court oriented player, who knows how to calm a team down, which is not really what we are going for in this youth movement.
There was no way that New Orleans was going to pick up a PG (who is not able to be a combo guard), that is getting paid 9 mill a season to barely play behind Chris Paul. Jarrett provides them with a combo guard and will help them out a great deal this season. All-in-all I'm happy for Jarrett to finally play for a contender, I will miss his determination and tenacity on the court, but it is all for the better.
Bayless will start as a back up, but being a young point guard that is fast, I think he will fit in quite well with this team and would not be surprised to see him replace the "oh so precious" Calderon as the starter at some point. Also, I would not rule out future moves that will involve Caldy getting shipped out. Stojakovic was picked up for obvious reasons. His massive expiring contract has given us a pretty big wadd of cash to spend in the offseason. Looks like there is much brighter days for us Raptors fans, maybe sooner than we think.
Many Raptors fans have given up on the former 1st overall pick, Andrea Bargnani, and many have gone even further by dubbing him a bust. It is hard for a player to blossom when he is not given the ball constantly. With Chris Bosh on the court and Hedo Turkoglu and many other solid shooters, Bargnani still was able to average 17 ppg last year which is pretty solid.
Coming out of the draft he was being compared to the likes of Dirk Nowitzki. The main difference between the two was that Dirk was given the ball all the time during his development, and he also took a good 5 years to really have a true impact for the Dallas Mavericks.
Bargnani has never been given the ball nearly as much to have the same developement at the same rate as Dirk. Now that Bosh is gone expect Bargs to average 20-25 ppg next year and rebounds to increase to 6-8 rpg. This kid has the goods, he will be a solid competitor for years to come. Toronto fans have grown tiresome with him over the past, but he will be a pleasant suprise next year in an otherwise rebuilding, i mean "retooling" year.
Derozan will make large strides this year in his developement, and please toronto, if the kid doesnt average 15-20 ppg dont give up on him.
We give up on our players far to fast, which isn't a bad thing, we just expect excellence. Which may be why according to Hedo there are problems with our organization. What a moron.
"The Raptors are gunna suck".-Charles Barkley.
Well with Mr.Barkley being known for his crazy assumptions and brutal honesty, this is a very typical statement. I do not think (with current roster, trust me, there will be changes), that we will be a very successful team next year, BUT at the same time, I think we are going to be extremely entertaining and WONT be as bad as people think.
This is largely in part of the newly dubbed trio, the "Young Gunz", featuring Amir Johnson, Sonny Clarence (...yes his name is Clarence) Weems, and Demar (Air Canada) Derozan. These three are going to be one of the most exciting group of people to watch next year with all three of them being cutters and having hard offense, something that "Soft Toronto" has never seen with Prettyboy Bosh taking his mid range most of the time. All of these players are younger than 24 (Weems being the oldest), their potential is very high, and this coming season will very much shape the rest of their careers in the NBA. They will all develope before our eyes.
In addition to these three Young Gunz, we have Ed Davis, the defensive-minded NC Star, whom I think will take huge strides in his developement this year with a fair amount of PT for a rookie.
With this core of young guys (of course Andrea included (Colangelo would never let his baby go)), we are seeing a very different Toronto team then we have in the past, with a group of players who just love the game of basketball. The addition of Barbosa will also help the Raptors in their run and gun offense, and Kleiza can help in the shooting department (without Bosh and most likely Calderon, our mid range and beyond the arch shooting will take a bit of a hit this year).
The point guard situation will be dealt with, and make no mistake, Colangelo will find a point guard that will fit in with our run and gun system. If he is able to find the right piece at the point position, there will be a pretty good group of players out there, very capable of making the playoffs.
The main thing I like about this team is that, right now, there is no superstars on this team, just alot of potential. This allows the players to go out everynight, and try 110% to earn that superstar status.
With all these factors accounted, all the naysayers who said that the Raptors will be in the bottom 3 in the league will bite there tongue. The Raptors will finish around 9-10 in their east with their current roster, and with an upgrade at PG or C, make no mistake, they will make the playoffs. So Charles Barkley, get ready for a long season of biting your tongue, not that your not used to it by this point.
-Zach Stewart
Everyone in Toronto is so quick to point the finger at Bryan Colangelo for the whole Hedo mess. ITS NOT HIS FAULT.
Last year during free agency everyone wanted Hedo Turkoglu. There was quite a large list of potential buyers, largely the Portland Trailblazers, Orlando Magic and Toronto Raptors. Everyone was throwing big bucks at this guy to get him on their roster. Colangelo threw the biggest chunk of change and got him. Thats that, everyone at that time wasnt complaining about anything. In fact, alot of raptors fans were excited to see Hedo play for the Raptors. THAT IS THE GM's JOB! He is supposed to get talent that will help a team contend, how that player plays is dependent on himself and how the coach incorporates him, which brings me to my next point
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Wow, what a day. It seems like yesterday Raptors fans wanted to fastforward to next years draft, when all of a sudden we have put together a decent (not amazing) group of players on the floor. It is VERY clear that Colangelo is going with a run and gun style offense with out Chris Bosh in the mix. Every position seems to suited for this style of offense with alot of depth on our team, except for the most important part of the team.
The point. Jarrett Jack is adamant that he can hold the point position and be a leader on this team. Jarrett, your a great guy, good role player, but lets not get ahead of ourselves. We are in need of a solid point guard which would really allow this team to excel. But who
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A few years ago the Toronto fans had the Spanish fever. Jose Calderon was the best thing that could have happened to this city. Everyone in Toronto was a Jose fan over a TJ Ford fan (point guard at the time). Well Toronto, sorry to break it to you, Jose Calderon is NOT GOOD. He has never been good, and already passing his prime, he will never improve and be better than he is already.
Jose Calderon is a complementary player (which is something a point guard should not be). The only reason he was good when Ford was around, was because the two point guards had completely different styles of play and when Jose would come off the bench the Defense would not be used to his style of play, and Jose would exploit that. Okay, fair enough that's just using a D's weaknesses to your advantages, but what happened when he became a starter? With him in the driving seat we saw our winning percentage dip from 57% with Ford starting the majority of the games, to 40% when Jose started all the games. Still, Senor Jose could do no wrong in this city
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To most fans we are looking down a long tunnel with faint light pushing through on the other side. This off-season has left us with yet another superstar hanging up the Toronto jersey for the last time. It is not known whether we will get anything with Bosh via S&T, but even if we do it is not going to do much to ease the pain of losing the All-time Toronto scoring leader. What should the Raptors organization do... Mope around? I think this is an opportunity to completely start fresh and press the reset button. Colangelo is known to be able to put an entire different roster on the court that could contend next year (however, for the Toronto Raptors, we do not have many players who are going to be worth much in the trading market).
The first step that Colangelo has done in the "re-tooling" process as he likes to call it, was resigning Amir Johnson for a 5 year, 34 million dollar deal. Most people are not very happy about this deal and think this is a big waste of money. I dont disagree, this is a waste of money, but from Colangelo's perspective, this is all based on potential. Amir Johnson may be a 5 year vet, but he is also only 23 years old. He has not had an abundance of playing time (with the exception of last year) to prove himself as a legitimate NBA player. This deal may turn out to be a bargain for the Toronto Raptors. Amir could take huge strides in his development, when playing more. Also with this resigning it gives us a much better defensive presence at the 4 spot, than what Chris Bosh had ever given the Raptors. His offense is in need of improvement, but hes a young guy and I think he will be able to continually improve his offensive game. All in all, I dont think the resigning of him was a bad move by Bryan Colangelo
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Hey Raptors fans, my name is Zach Stewart. I live in Toronto Ontario and I have been a diehard fan of the Toronto Raptors for over a decade. I decided I would take the opportunity of Chris Bosh leaving and a new era beginning to start blogging. I think this may lead to some of the most exciting basketball in the NBA this season(with the trio together in Miami), and still a very bright future for the Raptors. So please read my blog, I will be expressing my opinions of the Raptors moves, or lack of moves this offseason. I am very open to criticism and would like responses. Thank you, have a great Day!
Zach Stewart
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Comment by Zach 1
on NBA notes
And me being a raptors fan and blogging about them, you can only begin to understand how happy I am about Bosh's situation. Besides his big night, hes the third wheel and will be nothing but a shadow to the other two, and Carmelo's comment saying "I'm not Chris Bosh" and Bosh's "We just wanna Chill" speech, just solidifies how much of a loser this guy is. I mean if the heat win its because of Wade, Lebron and the 10 other viable starters on that team