Saturday, December 1, 2007

Puffer's Posts - Two Things About Last Nights Game...

...and they are not named Bargnani or Delfino. Despite the career highs those two recorded, something else caught my eye.

One of them was TJ Ford and the other was Sam's pattern of calling time-outs.

This is not the first and it will not be the last time this season when someone wonders when (or if) TJ is going to become the player he could be. I love his quickness and his creativity, but sometimes I wonder where his head is. The boxscore from last night flattered his performance. He is only down for 2 turnovers, as against 6 assists, but this doesn't include the 2 or 3 passes he made to teammates who had no place to go with the ball.

Tj's style of play includes far too many "dribble into that mess of opposing players and see what comes up" type decisions. One of his favorite moves is to drive to the basket, through everyone, until he splits the Bigs down in the paint, then turn left or right at the base line and look to see if any of his own teams players are open. Of course, normally they are standing there with their mouths open, wondering what the hell he is doing.

TJ doesn't value possessions the way those point guards he aspires to become like do. If he truly wants to be nominated as an all-star, and play in an all-star game, he needs to protect the ball, no throw it into opponents hands.

The other thing. The Raps are up by 20, with 9 minutes to go, and the Cav's get 3 virtually uncontested shots, closing to within 10 with 7 minutes to go. What looked like out of reach has now become a very winnable game.

No disrespect to Chris Bosh, but I would vote to have him sit out every match-up with the Cavs this year, if Mr. James would do the same. I would have been very, very, very disappointed if the Raps had lost this game. They should have been up by 20 at midway through the third quarter against their opponents last night. Having said that, when they were up by 20, Sam was content to watch the Kingless Cavaliers reel off 10 unanswered points in 2 minutes, without a timeout.

In the post game interviews Sam said something like, "Our guys have got to realize you need to protect a lead in the 4th when you are up by 20." HELLO. How about, if they don't remember, the coach should call a timeout and remind them. What are you saving your timeouts for Sam?

Okay, two little rants off my chest.

I can't say enough about the games Bargs and Carlos had last night. Mr. Delfino stepped up right on cue after I promised my next post would feature him, but I didn't get the time. Next one, I promise.

Wednesday, November 28, 2007

Puffers Posts - A Small Step for a Bball Player, a Giant Leap for Moonkind

Jamario Moon has burst onto the NBA scene as a non-drafted player who wound up with the Toronto Raptors after first being the best of 40 players invited to a free agent camp, then being asked to attend the Toronto Raptors training camp on a non-guaranteed contract. His play and effort during the training camp was good enough that Bryan Colangelo offered him a two year contract when the season opened.

Jamario elected to declare for the draft in 2001 after only one year at Meridian Community College.


Moon at the NBA 2001 Pre-draft Camp

Highly regarded, coming out of Coosa Central High School in Rockford, Ala. Jamario earned high praise from MCC head basketball coach George Brooks. Unfortunately he was suspended from the team after 12 games. This undoubtedly hurt his chances.

Early 2001 draft websites were effusive in their projections of his abilities and talents, expecting him to be a shoo-in for an NBA pick. It didn’t happen and Jamario spent 5 years in the professional basketball hinterlands. He played for 10 different professional teams:

(Gary Steelheads, Albany Patroons, Fuerza Regia, Mobile Revelers, Arkansas RimRockers, Rome Gladiators, Kentucky Colonels, Fort Worth Flyers, Dodge City Legend, Marietta Storm), in four different leagues, not counting the Harlem Globetrotters, who play in their own league. The different leagues have different start and finish dates, so a player could play on more than one team in a year.



Moon playing for the Patroons


There was never any doubt about his raft of abilities. Check out this 2003 summary from the InfoSport Pro Basketball Combine, a camp for professionals to highlight their skills as they try to land with NBA teams:

Physical & Mental: Long arms and very athletic. In very good physical condition.

Ball Skills: Very good perimeter ball skills for his size. Good handle on the fast break.

Good passer. Does well under pressure.

Offense: Very good! Solid jumper. Makes a lot of athletic plays going to the basket. Excellent in transition. Can easily jump over others to get to the basket. Quick leaper who knows how to score.

Rebounding: Athletic with long arms.

Defense: Good. Has quickness to guard smaller players and with long arms and height and athleticism, can easily guard in the post. Loves to block shots. Very long and mobile.

Game Knowledge: Good know-how. Understands the game.

Strengths: Athleticism. Drive. Slashing to the basket. Good offensive player. Plays above the rim. Can get to the basket any time he wants to.

Opportunities for Improvement: Extend jump shot range? Stronger body.

Overall Comments: One of the top ten players in the combine. The sky is the limit for him professionally.

Everywhere Jamario went he was noticed and was frequently a standout player. He was with the Marietta Storm when they set a league team high scoring record, recording another double double for himself with 11 rebounds and 25 points. In 2007, with the Albany Patroons, he was the CBA defensive player of the year with 2.0 steals and 2.4 blocks a game. Moon also averaged 18.8 ppg. and 7.5 rpg. He was selected to the All-CBA First Team and CBA All-Defensive Team that year as well.

When Jamario was offered a contract by the Toronto Raptors, CBA Acting Commissioner Jim Coyne had this to say. “Jamario is a unique talent that I was glad to have in Albany when I was with the Patroons. He was able to lead us to the CBA Finals this past year and was a fan favorite for both seasons he was with us. His jumping and scoring ability will be of great benefit to the Raptors. While I am sad to see him leave Albany, I am at the same time happy that he is able to make his dreams come true in the NBA.”

Coyne could hardly have predicted the season the Jamario has had so far. Fifteen games into the season and Jamario is part of the starting line up and number two in the NBA rookie ranking for week four. Here’s the good news for Raptor fans. He plays with such confidence, shoots such a high percentage, and makes such good shot selections that there is no reason to expect his performance to taper off. Moon is the real deal.

It’s hard to say why it took this long for Jamario to hook up with an NBA team. But like Anthony Parker, last years find by the Toronto Raptors, mark another one down for Bryan Colangelo. In a year when the Raps were without a draft pick, they got Jamario Moon, for nothing. Advantage Bryan.

(We will look at BryCo’s other 2007/2008 scoop, Carlos Delfino in my next post).

Wednesday, November 21, 2007

Working Title.

This post has officially been censored by the admins of AltRaps.com.

Thursday, November 8, 2007

Puffers Posts - Pass the #$&^@*&^% Ball

Meriam Webster Online dictionary:
pass - a: to transfer or transmit from one to another
- b: to put in circulation

With apologies to MW, I thought I would just put my version of their definition up here in case any members of the Raps organization takes the time to read what their troubled fans write about them.

I usually like to have the boxscore open in front of me on the screen when I write these little missives, to keep myself grounded in reality (I know you won't agree I keep myself grounded in reality Scott) and to avoid making any wildly exaggerated claims. I couldn't bear to call up the boxscore for either the Bucks or Magic game. Nor do I think it necessary. I know, without looking, that the assist numbers are way down.

I know this because I watched the games. And, while they don't keep track of how many times a ball touches four pairs of hands before a shot is attempted, I have a great sense of how many times that has happened amongst the Raps players in the last two games. 0. Well, maybe I remember wrong. Maybe it ws 1/2 of 0. I know it wasn't 3, or 4, or 5 times.

What happened to the passing game? Why haven't I heard Chuck say "Now that's Raptor basketball" since last Sunday? It is because the whole squad seems to have devolved into some kind of ugly mob of one-on-one, 'I've got to save the team' mindless automatons.

Apologies to TJ, whose shot has been falling. And who starts the game out passing. But after 15 minutes of nobody managing to shoot above 15%, he believes it is up to him to score. Hey TJ, no one player not named Bryant or James, is going to win a basketball game by himself. You've got to keep passing the ball.

It's not all Fords fault, by any means. The whole team has lost confidence in their own AND their teammates abilities to score. That is the only explanation I can think of for the lack of 'swinging the ball around to the open man' effort. The open man has been clancking shots. It looks like the only passes occurring are from guys who are afraid to shoot.

The last quarter of the Orlando game showed some slight evidence of the shooting slump maybe going away. And watching Bargs take it to the hole did my heart good. Watching some semblance of the real Bosh appear once again also did my heart good. But maybe the best part of the night was the way the crowd gave extended appreciation to Garbo when he came on the floor and when he hit his shot. They were obviously sending a message. And by that time in the game, there was precious little to feel good about.

I don't even want to talk about Sam's rotations, or player combinations. He's sending messages too, and they don't have anything to do with how hard players are working in practice, or the kind of effort they are making on trhe floor. He's saying he has lost confidence in his own guys. And a coach can't send that kind of message.

For whatever reason, four of the starting five are clanking shots. Bosh may have injury, conditioning issues. With Bargs, Parker, and Kapono, either the Raps offense has changed and that is throwing them off, or their own heads (self-confidence) are screwing with them. Bring back Hopla, or get a team shrink.

Wednesday, November 7, 2007

The Lansdell Lecture

Will the real Toronto Raptors please stand up?

We've played four games now, and seen four completely different versions of the team. Which one is the team we can expect to see more of? Which one should we HOPE to see?

Against Philadelphia, we saw a team that could get a big lead, lose it, and not get discouraged and lose the will to come back. They weathered a strong comeback and some shoddy defence on their part, and jumped on Bargnani's back to ride him to the finish.

Against New Jersey, we saw the team that everyone pictured in the off-season: a team that, on their night, when the shots are falling, can blow out the best teams in the league. But also, a team that had significant holes in their defence. Richard Jefferson abused the team, a pattern that would re-emerge on Tuesday against Milwaukee. More on that later. Carter was invisible, Kidd was subpar, but some of that was down to them having to work so hard on the other end.

The Boston game reminded me of the Kevin O'Neill Toronto teams. The defence was smothering, but they couldn't buy a jumpshot. TJ Ford was incredible, but he can't do it on his own. The fact that they shot 27% in the first half and were only down a handful, and shot 37% for the game and STILL ended up an All-Star shot short of winning the game, says that this team is very, very good. Was the shooting an abomination? Possibly. Certainly we've seen all the players, bar TJ, play much better than that. Garnett on Bosh in overtime was not bad play from Bosh, rather the ridiculous skills that the Big Ticket possesses.

Finally, the Milwaukee game. This was the antithesis of the New Jersey game: nothing worked. I don't agree with the doomsayers who blame the entire game on poor defence. For example, Desmond Mason's one-handed turnaround baseliners will miss 6 nights out of 7. Michael Redd is that good every night. Yes, the defence was bad, but it wasn't 65% opponent FG% bad. The offence, of course, was as bad as against Boston, if not worse. Jump shot after ill-advised jump shot. It's like everyone saw the way Jamario Moon played when he came in and decided to follow his example instead of vice versa.

What we, the fans, want to see, is the heart from the Philly game, the offence from the Jersey game, and the defence from the Boston game.

And the Kris Humphries and Juan Dixon from the Milwaukee game. These two players performed well, before garbage time, and likely moved themselves up in the rotation somewhat. Moon looked...well, starstruck (sorry). He's a great natural athlete (where have I heard THAT tune before...), but that won't make you an NBA player on its own. He needs to stay close to the hoop, jump over some people for some offensive boards, and dunk a few back again. If he has the talent, it will come through.

While we're looking for people, can someone see if they can find Chris Bosh? I suggest starting on Mars and working outwards, because the guy wearing #4 for us right now is clearly a poor alien simulacrum to take his place while they do tests on the real CB4. Orlando is not likely to herald the return either....Howard is a man-beast.

I'll be back next week with more on the boys. Lansdellicious – out.

Sunday, November 4, 2007

Puffers Posts _ Raps Fall In Overtime

On a night when only TJ Ford and Rasho Nesterovic could come close to hitting their career numbers for field goal %, the Raps lost to the Big Three and company by 3 points in overtime.

After watching the game, all I can say is, if Boston is the favoured team to come out of the East, then the West should have no trouble. Unless, that is, the Raps are much better than they have been given credit for.

With Bosh shooting 5 - 15, Bargnani shooting 2 - 13, Parker 2 - 6, Dixon 1 - 4 and Calderon 2 - 11, the Raps still managed to never let the game slip out of reach. Bosh, Parker, Bargs, Kapono and Delfino managed to corral 32 rebounds and the Raps matched Bostons total of 42, with 12 of them at the offensive end. They actually outscored Boston at the free throw line by one, after getting almost no trips in the first half.

Ford had a bad night at the office, as far as turnovers to assist ratios go. The Raps only managed 17 assists in total, and only 5 for Ford to go with his 5 TO's. Too much of the first half of the game was firing the ball in to Bosh for an unsuccessful attempt to go 1 on 1 for a basket in the paint. Eventually it led to 5 fouls on Garnett, but the Raps were trying to dig themselves out of a hole by then.

Where was the crisp passing around the perimeter? Where were the open shots? After so many of the starters going 0 for their first 5 attmepts, Sam must have wanted them to work it inside. I think he should have just let them shoot themselves out of their slump.

Having said that, while the Big Three never looked scared, they did look awful vulnerable. If the Raps had even managed to hit 35% of their shots in the first quarter, this game would have been over halfway through the fourth. Of course, could'a, would'a, should'a. As our friend Scott will no doubt point out, live by the jump shot, die by the jump shot.

Saturday, November 3, 2007

Puffers Posts - Raps over New Jersey

Well, where did that come from? No disrespect to the Raptors or any fans, but no one was looking for a 37 point drubbing of the team that put the Raps out of the playoffs last year. It kind of makes you wonder what happened. I watched the game last night, and it all kind of just unfolded in front of me, so this morning I decided to have a closer look at the boxscore. Here's what I found.

1. TJ and Calderon combined for 18 points, 15 assists and only 3 turnovers(all Fords)
2. Raps hit 15 of 16 Free throws (a 93.8% average)
3. Raps grabbed 37 rebounds
4. Raps shot 59.1% from 3 point land, making 13 0f 22
5. Raps shot 50.6% from the field.

Of course, the big question is why they achieved these marks? Are they likely to approach these kind of numbers again? Let's break it down.

1. Over his career TJ has averaged 7 assists to 3 turnovers. Calderon 5 to 1.5. So far this year they are 31 to 5. This is mostly due to a phenomenal improvement in the way Jose is taking care of the ball. This was evident in the preseason and it is holding true in the season so far. TJ is also playing much more controlled ball. I think it would have shown up even more in the preseason had the Raps not played against three Euro teams. Team defense is tighter and individual defensive skills are slightly higher in the top Erupean teams, I believe, than in the NBA.

2. The Raps starting 5, career wise, average 81% from the stripe. The next three, Delfino, Calderon and Dixon, average 78%. It isn't till you hit Nesterovic that there is any drop off. They have simply put together a good FT shooting team. The Nets starting five average 74%. They hit 72% during last nights game.

3. Kapono. Delfino, Dixon and Calderon combined for 18 rebounds against the Nets. Bosh only picked up 5 in 27 minutes, which is below his normal mark, but he is still rounding into shape. The large number of rb's from the guards and wing players speaks to the large number of outside shots and also the way the wing players are going for the glass, as per Mitchells instructions. Credit Bargnani as well, with having picked up his rebbounding. So far he has gathered in 11 in 55 minutes of play.

4. Three point shooting as a strength should not be a surprise on this team. Kapono was last years leader and, for his career, has always had a higher 3 pt average than field goal average. Parker was tied for 5th in the NBA last year and Bargnani, at the end of last season, was hitting a large % of his 3 pt shots.

5. The high % for this game is not going to be an aberation. (Not that I expect THAT high a % every game). The way the team can open up their offense should lead to high % shots inside, for Bosh and Bargs, driving opportunities for Calderon and Ford, and also leave Parker, Kapono, Delfino and Dixon relatively open from outside. The abilities of the second unit, when matched against other teams rotation players should also lead to higher % shots.

Obviously, New Jersey had a bad night. However, Kidd was harrassed by tight defense, as soon as he reached half court, and frequently before, leading to fewer fast break points.

Carter seemed entirely dis-interested once he reached his 15,000 point mark and particularly once he saw trhe game climbing out of reach. Credit Parker and Delfino for playing good defense on his as well, and for Dixon. The three of them did a good job of switching between Carter and Richardson. Of course, Richardson got his, but you have to let somebody score if you play help defense. You just don't want both to score.

This game was an encouraging sign of what could be. The team seems to have bought into the "Team Defense" concept, which includes guards and wing players rebounding, and also into the "Look for the best shot" philosophy, which should add up to numerous high assist to field goal ratio nights.

Now let's see how they do against Boston.

Tuesday, October 30, 2007

This is True


1. The Lakers and Bulls have been talking. This is news because despite what you've read, they haven't spoken about #24 since before the draft, and it was a cursory discussion then.

2. The teams are not ideal trading partners, mostly because the contracts the Bulls have are not ideal for a team that would be starting over. Moreover, many of the contracts the Bulls have will be hard to move right away.

3. The terms discussed thus far are surprisingly vague. I'm told that this is how it usually goes, that rather than jump into the sack, two potential trading partners generally speak abstractly about what they'd like to have financially, talent-wise, etc. Or maybe part of this is because of #2, and that the things the Bulls have and would be willing to part with for The Player That Formerly Wore #8 might have to be moved to a 3rd team.

4. A certain guy that used to wear #23 phoned to try to get in on what's happening, probably in relation to what's described in the latter half of #3 above.

Saturday, October 27, 2007

Puffer's Posts - Raps Steamroll Wiz

This game was over with 4 miutes to go in the second half, when the Raps had a 26 point lead. Outside of the first 2 minutes of the game, when the starting five looked a little unorganized, they were able to score at will and quickly ran up a 10 point lead. Andrea in particular stood out with a plethora of sweet post moves. He scored on reverses, baseline cuts and spins. If he had the ball in his hands within eight feet of the basket, nobody wearing a Wizards unifom was going to stop him. I was expecting Sam to bring out Moon, Maceo and Luke before the second half was over.

We have seen flashes of this in almost every preseason game so far, but last night Bargs brought the whole package. The only thing that wasn't working was his mid-range jumper. He managed to grab 8 boards to go along with his 17 points, all in 22 minutes. He was extremely efficient as well, shooting 66% from the field and he was 4 for 4 from the line.

Chris Bosh looked like the old Chris Bosh. Sam only played him for 16.5 minutes, and he scored a tidy 8 points with 3 rebounds.

Delfino continued his outstanding play of late. He managed 10 points, 6 rebounds, 3 assists, and 3 steals in 19 minutes. Carlos is turnig into a fantasy players dream. I hope I pick him up in the 6th or 7th round on Sundays altraps.com fantasy league draft.

Kapono missed his first 3 or 4 shots, then hit about 3 in a row. He still doesn't look comfortable to start the game. He might be more effective coming off the bench. I don't know if he feels additional pressure because he got the big bucks to generate three's this year, but he is missing wide open shots. it's got nothing to do with other teams being able to focus on him defensively. I'm talking wide open as in a "Sunday walk in the park" wide open.

Looking back over the preseason, the only game against NBA opponents that the Raps haven't dominated is their game against Boston. In that game, most of the Raps starters only played a little over 20 minutes, as opposed to the Celtics starters averaging around 32. And the Raps lost by a point. Of course, the preseason means nothing, and every team, outside of Boston, has been missing key players. But Sam has been careful with his starters minutes. We have seen how the Raps expect their offence to work. Sharp, crisp passes, with the ball generally touching 3 or 4 sets of hands before being hoisted. Very little one-on-one play. And incredibly unselfish finishes, with teamates passing off to get a shot that is just a couple of percentage points better than the one they have.

I can't help but think that, once again, the Raps are being underestimated by the pundits. No one expected to see Bargs improve his post play like this. And few would have expected Delfino to be this silky smooth, fitting into the Raps offense. And TJ Ford has lifted his game another notch, eschewing his own shots and strong desire to go mano a mano against the other teams guard, in the interests of giving his teamates better scoring opportunities.

Go Raps Go.

Friday, October 26, 2007

Puffer's Posts - What We Want to Remember in '08




Here's one for Scott, and all the others who have been around for awhile. This is the kind of series I want to see the Raptors in this year. They don't have to get to the second round, though I will be sorely dissappointed if they don't. But my minimum requirement for 07/08 is that they be in a first round series this tight. It's got to go down to the wire in the seventh at least. let's face it, as magical as last season was, the playoffs were a huge let down.

Puffer's Posts - D-Fense, D-Fense

Last nights game against the Cavaliers was interesting for me from a couple of perspectives. First, it gave me another opportunity to carry on my Kapono watching. And second, I was able to add to my "Bargs in the paint" memory bank of significant moments. What I saw in both cases helped make me the happy camper I am today. Delfino having a "break out game" was defintely icing on the cake. And Ford, with 13 assists to 2 turnovers and only 8 shot attempts on a poor (25%) shooting night was like having that nice, light, whipped icing.

Kapono did not guard his position, which made everyone happy, since that would have had him trying to stop King James. That job fell to Anthony Parker, who managed to do a good job while only picking up 3 Personal Fouls. Kapono spent most of his time on either Devin Brown, or Larry Hughes. Both started the majority of their games last year, and both played on a team that went to the finals last year. Brown had slightly lower numbers than last year, on slightly more minutes, and Hughes had just 1 point under his season average, on 4 less minutes. So using the boxscore, you could say that Kapono was no worse on defense than the average NBA defender while watching either of his two assignments last night. At the same time, offensively, he got 12 points on 63% shooting, and also picked up 3 rebounds and an assist, all in 21 minutes, versus his opponents 32 minutes each.

Hey, I know this is reaching, but that's what the boxscore says. What it can't say, but I can, is that Jason fights around picks to stay with his man, plays smart help defense, alwasy keeping one eye on his assignment if he leaves to help, and he does a good job of switching.

What about Bargs defensive assignment? Gooden played a few more minutes, got a couple less points than last years average and only 6 rebounds, as against his last year average of 8. At the same time Bargs got 8 points and 5 rebounds in 22 minutes. He was 0 for 3 from the arc and missed 2 free throws. His problem is still stayijg in the game long enough to get in the flow. In the early going he had 5 personal fouls. Sam left him in for quite a while with 5, and eventually pulled him so he could play the rest of the bench.

Now Gooden is no Yao Ming, but he started in all 80 games he played in for the Cavs, and his team went to the finals last year, so this is a reasonable enough test of Bargs. Definitely a passing grade. He boxed out, was always pushing Gooden away from the basket and also played reasonably good help D. So he kept Gooden below his season averages, which makes Bargs better than Goodens average NBA defender. (Okay, I'm reaching a little, but youo get my point).

Now I don't know what you saw last night, but it was reassuring to me, amidst all this talk about Bargs not being able to play center, and ther being no "D" in Kapono.

Saturday, October 20, 2007

Puffers Posts - Is This the Raptors?

Last night the Raps looked like world beaters as they took apart the Chicago Bulls. Mind you, this was a Bulls team without Ben Wallace, Ben Gordon and a game in which Luol deng only played 5 minutes or so.

On the other side, the Raps were without Chris Bosh, still resting his sore knee, and only got six minutes each from Anthony Parker and Jason Kapono. So it was largely a game of bench against bench,and that is a game the Raps would love to play, most nights.

Andrea got 19 points, with at least 6 of them coming from inside the paint on slashing drives and a few more from short inside passes. He also picked up more than his normal share of rebounds. In fact, the Raps out rebounded the Bulls for most of the game until the last half of the fourth quarter, during scrub time, when they were also out scored.

I made a point of watching Jason Kapono's defensive efforts, and he played an excellent positional game in his time on the floor. Good box outs, good face up play, effectively cutting off the lanes and, when his man was loose, disrupting passing attempts to him. Jason gets beat on D, but the times I've watched him exclusively, I've been pleasantly surprised. There are Raptors teams in the past where he would have been the number 3 man, defensively.

Of the three wing players fighting for the starting spot, I would say Kapono does a better, more consistent defensive job than Graham. You aren't going to see any athletic blocks, but he is also not going to be on the opposite side of the floor from where he is supposed to be because he forgot his assignment. I wish I could say the same about Joey.

I think Luke Jackson punched his going away ticket on Friday. The way things stand right now, there doesn't seem to be any upside for Luke, but there's really no telling where Jamario Moon could get to, except you know it's above some rung on the ladder that Jackson is climbing. Luke played well for the first few games he was in last year, but he has done nothing this preseason. I suspect he is playing tight when he does get some burn, and so makes silly anxiety motivated boneheaded plays. That is too bad, but it is not going to win him any points with Sam. Unless he is the perfect practice guy, it's hard to see him making it out of training camp.

If the Raps are to get off to a good start this season, and I think they have an excellent chance to light things up in their first dozen games, it is imperative that Chris play the next two preseason games. He needs to be in rythmn when the season starts. You know Chris will be good for 22/11 or so this year, probably better. Both Doug Smith, of the Toronto Star and I think Bargs can average right around 19/7 for the year. But it is critical that these two spend time playing together. They can create a living hell for other teams, especially in the East.

TJ has been playing largely under control so far, but we haven't seen enough NBA opponenets to make a good assessment about his play. Parker seemed to wake up a little in the Bulls game. He has been quiet so far this year. He needs to start faster than he did last year for the Raps to make a run at the Atlantic Division banner.

I believe the Raps are being under-rated again this season. I don't think enough credit is being given to Bargs improvements, because his appendicitis and flu at the end of last season caused a signifivcant drop off in his numbers and effectiveness. I think sports writers are giving too much credit to the impact of Shaq and Wade on Kapono's game last year. The Raps run a much better style of attack for Jasons skill set. He should thrive once he gets a solid rotation and a little more comfortable. I think his game was hurt in playing Euro teams, this preseason. They have a much more defensively skilled collection of players, who are better at help defense and team defense than is the case in the NBA. I think Jason will have no trouble averaging 13 - 15 points a game in 25 minutes. I think Sam will use Delfino for anywhere from 15 - 20 minutes at the 3. Too bad Joey.

I think this year, the Raps will have fewer than 10 games decided by 1-2 points. Their offense is significantly improved, and their defense is a bit better. Enough to move them three spots up the NBA ranks. Mark them down for 48 wins.

Boston??? Give me a break. They will improve to the point where they are no longer a laughing stock, maybe fighting it out for one of the last two spots in the East.

At least, that's my takee.

Thursday, October 18, 2007

The Truth According to Kobe

Kobe Bryant's vanity website, kb24.com, seems to be going through some server troubles, with unintentionally hilarious results. There's a section called "The Truth" where Kobe writes ordinarily banal things and signs his posts Strength and Honor, Mambo.

Yes, he calls himself Mambo. It's like Babe Ruth writing his grocery list and signing it The Sultan of Swat.

But given the latest twists in the Laker soap opera this week, the truth is apparently in short supply:




Incidentally, I immediately took to Kobe's closing and have begun to sign my office memos the same way:

Dear Delores,

We are out of pens. We are also running low on office whiskey and the canary-colored legal pads which are easy on my eyes. Could you visit the supply closet and stop at the liquor store on the corner on your way back? There's a 10 spot in it for you.

Strength and Honor,
Granbo


Edit: Ha, and now it's back. Thank God I saved a screenshot.

Saturday, October 13, 2007

Blood Flows Red on the Salary Cap


A few days ago on the altraps forum, Scott pointed out this article regarding the rather unprecedented (at least under the current CBA, as well as its immediate predecessors) hold-outs of two Cavs restricted free agents: noted Slobodan Milosevic fan Sasha Pavlovic and noted gay community icon Anderson Varejao:

The summers of 2004, 2005 and 2006 featured record spending in the NBA. Part of it was due to a new collective bargaining agreement in 2005 that bolstered the salary cap.Lots of max contracts were given out, numerous teams had, and used, giant amounts of cap space; lots of teams used their entire mid-level exceptions to sign mid-level players to contracts worth more than $35 million; and lots of restricted free agents got huge deals without having to get legitimate offers elsewhere.

That was the flow, now is the ebb.


(The article also points out that the Raptors were the only team in the NBA this summer to use their full mid-level exemption to lure a player away from another team -- the frankly somewhat bizarre signing of Jason Kapono. This is actually not entirely accurate, as the capped-out Bulls used nearly all of theirs in the understandable but certainly no less painful signing of Joe Smith.)

I've long argued that it's these mid-level deals and not the obviously bloated max-contracts to unworthy players that destroy a team's cap flexibility. Never in their Clipper careers will Cuttino Mobley or the Talented Tim Thomas be their team's highest paid player, but the Clips will be on the hook for a combined $14 million dollars for their dubious services for each of the next three seasons. Look around the league and you see a lot of toxic tandems like this, from Vlad Radmanovic and Kwame Brown for Lakers (nearly $15 million this season) to Kenny Thomas and Shareef Abdur-Rahim for the Kings ($13 million escalating up to $15 million over the next three years).

Of course, the master of the pointless mid-level exemption is still Kevin McHale of the Minnesota Timberwolves. Prior to this summer's firesale, the Wolves were on the hook for past MLE-like duds like rap superstar Troy Hudson ($6.5 million on average over the next three years), Marko Jaric ($6 escalating to $7.5 million over the next four years) and Mike James (an average of $6.5 million over the next three years). Note that all three of them were point guards, and none have ever been good enough to start for anything resembling a playoff team. Dumping Kevin Garnett this summer was a useful distraction from the fact that the team is still on the hook for $18 million dollars for useless scrubs.

Thursday, October 11, 2007

Yi Jianlian: This Year's Araujo?

In 2004 -- one of the deepest drafts in the years prior to this season -- a recently hired GM broke his NBA cherry by drafting a foreign player far higher than anyone expected. Rob Babcock really didn't have a prayer of winning any Executive of the Year awards after he plucked Rafael Araujo out of obscurity and made him the Raptors' #8 pick, passing on Andre Iguodala (#9), Andris Biedrins (#11), Al Jefferson (#15) and even Josh Smith (#17) along the way. Three years later, the scorned players (all but Iguodala were teenagers on draft day; Iggy was all of 20) are coming into their own, while Araujo is out of the NBA.

Babcock later claimed that he had inadequate time to prepare for the draft after his recent hire by the Raptors. Bucks GM Larry Harris, on the other hand, has been on the job for several years now, and doesn't have the luxury of making the same excuse after he shocked observers and drafted Yi Jianlian with the #6 overall pick in the 2007 draft.

Much of the derision aimed at the Bucks after picking Yi had to do with drafting a player that, from all indications, greeted the chance to play in Cheeseville with the enthusiasm Shawn Kemp used to have for court-ordered paternity tests. But the real risk isn't that the Bucks drafted a player that didn't want to be there, but drafted a player that no one really knew anything about.

At this point, I can say that I've seen every minute of Yi's NBA career -- a pair of exhibition games against the Bulls and Utah, respectively. Let me make a proclamation so assured that it hardly qualifies as such: if Yi Jianlian has a future in this league, it's as a rather mediocre role player.

Prior to the draft, the only footage circulating of Yi rivaled the Zapruder Film in quality. An NBA exec with a decent budget (this is Milwaukee, after all) could probably obtain more, but I wonder if the Bucks were aware that the camera only added ten pounds. Yi is pencil thin -- it's impossible to overstate just how skinny he is. I've seen Luol Deng as a 19 year old, and Tayshaun Prince in high school when he was teammates with Tyson Chandler (speaking of basing a draft pick on workouts and grainy footage...) Yi is easily the thinnest player I've seen since Manute Bol or Chuck Nevitt, and like those players, I have difficulty imaginging him putting significant weight on.

Yet with the arms of a teenage girl, one would expect Yi to possess some dimension of agility or quickness. He doesn't. And Yi is incredibly awkward both with the ball and running the court -- almost like a child that's gone through a dramatic growth spurt and hasn't yet adjusted to his size.

This then is the real importance of Yi's disputed age. He's "officially" 19 years old, though there's some evidence he may be as old as 25. Though he does look younger than the latter, this isn't exactly compelling evidence: I saw former Bulls guard BJ Armstrong a few months ago, and I'd still card him if I saw him trying to buy beer. There should be as much optimism that an older Yi will bulk up or suddenly gallop like a deer as there is that noted eunuch Doug Christie will be on an NBA roster come November 1st.

In any case, the Bucks shifted Yi around the frontcourt in both games as they're as clueless as I am about what kind of match-up would give him a marked advantage over an opponent. He was routinely beaten off the dribble by smaller players, where his lack of agility and quickness against even second-tier NBA small forwards was obvious. At the power positions, unathletic big men like the Bulls' Aaron Gray (a second round pick expected to spend most of this season commuting between the bench and the D-League) were able to knock him around and even -- surprisingly for a 7'0" defender with long arms -- shoot over him. You can't teach height, but outside of Rocky chasing chickens around, you can't teach agility either.

I'm at a loss to think of anything, in fact, that it looks like Yi can do better than the average. Outside of "hit open shots" (a skill that even Ben Wallace can manage -- I'm serious, he can drain 3 pointers in practice), I can't think of one. What you have is a fairly average seven footer with a better touch than most guys his size but deficient in nearly every other aspect of the game. Due to his physique, I have difficulty imagining this changing. It's an absolute certainty that it won't if he's as old as I think he is.

Yet the Bucks don't have the convenience of stashing Yi in the weight room for the next 12 months to try to get him to add some much needed bulk. Like the Raptors with Araujo, the pressure of being an unexpected lottery pick places considerable pressure on a team to force minutes on a player that's clearly overmatched. There's even more pressure on the Bucks to overplay Yi: after all, having him buried on the bench behind Charlie Villanueva, Desmond Mason and Bobby Simmons would be exactly what the team promised the various Commie athletic organizations would not happen.

Monday, October 8, 2007

Puffers Posts - Raps at Lottomatica Roma

An intersting game to watch from a couple of perspectives. First, Hubie Brown was one of the commentators, and I love Hubie Brown. Next, it was interesting to see the Raps playing against a well prepared unit that has already been in training camp for 2 1/2 months and played several exhbition games together. Third, Roko and several of the Roma players were obviously trying to showcase their talents with a larger (make that North American) audience, and they showed well for themselves. The ESPN commentators mentioned several as looking NBA ready.

The Raps played with a shorter rotation, only using 11 players. Interesting to see Dixon get 16 minutes, Humphries 13 and Joey only with 7. Of course, Rasho didn't play at all, and I think the Raps could have used him, so you can't read too much into the playing time thing.

Bosh and Kapono got the most minutes at around 30 each. I'm not surprised by this since I would expect Mitchell to want to see how these two perform together.

The first half was entertaining, it kind of fell apart in the thrid but the Raps tightened it up part way through the fourth to make it a respectable win.

Aside from showing the Raps a lot of love and respect, Hubie pointed out that Kapono would be a very good fit with the Raps because they have scorers who can also drive. Their starting 5 have excellent FT %'s and with Kapono stretching the defense even more than last year, guys like Parker and Bargnani are going to to benefit, since they can put the ball on the floor and either score or draw the fouls.

Also interesting were some stats that the commentators threw out. They mentioned that in the last 61 games of the season, the Raps won 40, which was better than all but 4 other teams in the league, all in the west. They had the best record in the east for that stretch, edging out Detroit. As well, that 61 game stretch represented a turn around defensively from a -4 points per game differential to a +3 points per game differential, a 7 point jump. The implication is that for the last 3/4 of the season, Totonto played much better defensively.

Watching Kapono and Delphino and seeing some improvement in Bargnani, and hoping that Garbs can play the full year, I would have to believe that losing Morris Peterson isn't going to hurt the Raps. I think they will be a defensively improved team this season.

It's early, but I'm pumped. Let's start the season NOW.

Saturday, October 6, 2007

Puffers Posts - Raps Vs Celtics. Isn't This Preseason?

This did not look like a pre-season game until part way through the fourth quarter. When you have Garnett arguing with officials, Bosh diving to the floor for a loose ball, starters getting major minutes in a non-NBA market, you have to think you are not in Kansas anymore.

Right from the opening buzzer the intensity in this game was much more akin to a regular season game. The third quarter was closer to a regular season game late in the season, when the final seeding was on the line. Of course, Doc Rivers can be excused for playing his regular starting five a lot. He needs to see them, and they need to see each other in game time situations and do as much gelling as possible before Oct. 31.

Sam sat his starting five for about half the floor time so that he could get a better look at numbers 6 through 16. But when the first unit was on the floor, they played with intensity. I don't know if this is as a result of all the hype surrounding Bostons "Big Three" or simply a carryover from Sam's pre-season mantra of defense, defense, defense, but they looked pretty effective. As expected, the scoring wasn't much of a problem barring Anthony Parkers cold hand. Bosh did not get as many touches as one would like, but Kapono, Bagnani and Ford showed that any team can't afford to double Bosh without getting hurt bad.

What was a bit of a surprise was the overall defensive effectiveness of the Raptors 9 man rotation. Kapono was no liability on the floor. He got beat by Pierce a few times, but so does everyone in the league. TJ was effective, Parker and Bosh also, as expected. Bargnani was a pleasant surprise. Aside from one embarrassing baseline move by Garnett that left Andrea standing looking over his shoulder, he played pretty effectively facing his man, whether Garnett or Perkins.

The rest of the Raps came through defensively as well. Rasho looked very good, man-to-man or playing help defense. Garbo was as per usual. Delphino established that he is an effective defender, rarely losing his man and staying in front, forcing the pass and getting a few steals. Jose was again effective and even Juan Dixon did not look out of place. Graham had what I thought was his usual good/bad game. Baston, Moon, Humphries did not impress and I'm afraid Luke Jackson had better step up or start waving.

Hey, it's just one game, it's just exhibition, but I think the Raps were playing for something, and I think they showed a better defensive effort in this one than they did in half their games last year.

Friday, October 5, 2007

Puffers Posts - Three Pointers in Raptors Future?

Let’s talk about three point shooting on the Raptors in the coming season, an obvious area of strength for the team. If everything stays the same as last year, the Raps will have two players among the top 5 three point experts in the league, in Jason Kapono, ranked #1 last year, and Anthony Parker who tied for #5. The question on everybody’s mind should be, will this continue?

I have high expectations that it will. Jason had the good fortune to be on a team with two of the foremost offensive threats in the league, in Shaquille O’Neal and Dwayne Wade (thanks Granville for pointing out I had Dwight Howards name here. What was I thinking?) playing with him. You would expect this to open the floor and give him more open looks.

Actually, Shaq only played 6 games in the first 4 months of the season. These were the months when Jason played his best, when he played the most minutes. He shot 61% in November in 15 m/pg, 50% in Dec. in 26 m/pg, 58% in Jan. in 32 m/pg and 46% in Feb. in 33 m/pg. Jason has a rep as getting his shot off relativley quickly, so he maybe doesn't need as much space on the floor as you would think.

March was a bit of an anomaly. He only played 2 games, averaged 26 minutes a game and only hit for 17%. It looks to me like teams started to pay attention to Jason and were able to affect his shot a little. I didn’t check the game by game stats, but I wonder if he didn’t spend a chunk of time on the bench once Shaq got back. Shooters need to shoot to keep their hands hot.

Looking at Anthony Parker, he shot a terrible 28% in November, his first month back in the NBA. December's mark improved to 48%, as he found his rhythm and Sam Mitchell found out how better to use him. January he hit his peak for the year, ringing up 53% from downtown on 60 attempts. February he slumped a little, only achieving 43% andMarch was a bad month, with his percentage sinking to 33% on 27 shots attempted.

I wonder if he was hitting his own "rookie wall?" Note also that that is his lowest recorded shot attempts of the season. April AP bounced back with a 49% average on 61 shots.

Both of these players did better when they had the playing time. This year they are both slated to begin the season as starters. What is this going to mean for the Raps offensive strategies?

There can be no question on anybodies mind that opposing teams are not going to be able to double down on Bosh this year, the way they could last year. With two 3 point artists on the floor with the big power forward, unless they can smother Chris before he gets a chance to pass, they are going to be leaving themselves open for a world of hurt. Chris has been slow to get rid of the ball at times, but in pre-season interviews he identified passing out of double teams as one of the things he has worked on over the summer. Of course, Kapono and Parker are not his only two options.

TJ Ford showed last year that he has the kind of first step that can get him to the basket virtually anytime he wants to. The complaint from the fans was that sometimes he wanted to too much. But his field goal percentage and free throw percentages were at career highs last year. Shooting 82% from the stripe should mean you want him to drive as often as possible. If TJ stopped shooting threes, his FG% would be significantly higher. His only month above 33% for 3 pointers last year was Dec. yet he still managed to drop almost 44% of his shots from the field. Chris and TJ had an excellent pick and roll game going last year. There is no reason to think it won’t continue to be as effective. Stockton and Malone lived off this bread and butter play for most of their careers.

I should mention Toronto’s other three point threat, Andrea Bargnani. His season’s results stand out because of the contrasts. November and December he shot 33% and 28% respectively. These were his first two months in the league, of course, when Sam was still trying to work him into the rotation. For January, February and March he shot 39%, 48% and 37%. In March he only played in 8 games. If you remember, through March and April he was struggling with the flu and appendicitis. April’s abysmal 20% mark is attributable to his struggles coming back. In the playoffs he was back to form, hitting 41%.

So, putting the most optimistic light on things possible (and that’s what fans do in the pre-season) Anthony Parker should not have the slow beginning he did last year. Coming back as one of the starters, playing with players he is already familiar with should add up to better results from the corner, if anything. Jason Kapono will be starting, something that helps his % significantly. He will once again be in the enviable position of playing with serious scoring threats that need to be defended against, giving him open looks. And Adrea Bargnani has the good fortune to be established on the team, in familiar surroundings, and presumably not likely to suffer appendicitis again. I expect a good start from him, after his experience this summer playing ball in Europe.

Quite frankly, adding Chris Bosh and TJ Ford into this mix, there is not a starting 5 in the East that has a chance of playing effective defense against the Raps. The next big question…can the Raps play effective enough defense against anyone else to allow their significant scoring punch to win them games? Check back in December and we will all know better

Friday, June 15, 2007

Puffers Posts - Coach to Scout to Coach - Mike Evans

Mike Evans, previously a scout for the Toronto Raptors, now their latest assistant coach, comes with a significant NBA pedigree.

In college Mike was twice selected Big Eight Player of the Year, while playing as a guard with Kansas State. Drafted 21st in 1978 by the Denver Nuggets, he was traded on draft day to Kansas City but started his playing career with San Antonio in 1979.

Mike played with three different NBA teams, the Spurs, Milwaukee and Cleveland before latching on with the Nuggets in a mid-season trade in 1983. He finished his playing career in Denver and remains in the top five Denver players in three pointers attempted and made. Mike was among the league leaders in 3 pt. percentages for several years. During his playing days he was known for his quickness and accuracy from long range.

Mike joined the Denver coaching staff in 1991. In 1995 he was promoted to Director of Player Personnel. In addition to coaching, he served as a TV analyst for the teams broadcasts throught the 1996-97 season.

In 2001, after firing Dan Issel, the team promoted Mike to Head Coach for the rest of the season. He was not able to turn the team around.

Now the question asked is, what does he bring to the table in the Raptors camp? And the answer is, time will tell

Saturday, April 7, 2007

Puffers Posts - Second Season, Second Unit

So with the Toronto Raptors a guaranteed playoff team, what can we expect? As a team, when they move the ball well, they are stacked with shooters at virtually every position, and have numerous players that can slash to the basket, create their own shot or stretch the defence with jumpers from 15 + feet out. As a team they are shooting field goals at a .464 clip, tied for 7th in the league. The Raps are 9th in 3 pointers, at .363. They have a good assist to turnover ratio and rank 11th in the NBA in APG. These are pretty good numbers and suggest they deserve to be having the season they are.

On the down side their transition defence is suspect or poor. Their rebounding is abysmal, often giving up second chance opportunities to the opposing team. They are ranked 27th in the league. Funny thing is though, they are only 2 rebounds a game behind Washington, which is ranked 10th. Their stat for steals is similar in that they are ranked 19th, but they are only 1 steal a game behind Washington, who is ranked 4th.

So statistically, they are in the upper third of the league offensively, and the bottom third defensively. What does this all mean?

Well, the Raps are going to be in trouble in a grind it out style of game. Missing rebounds, defensive ones in particular, mean second chances for the other side. Teams that walk it up the floor, run set plays and have players that can operate in the paint are going to score against the Raptors. On their side, the Raps have been playing better defensively. Adrea will be back for the playoffs, and his defensive positioning has improved tremendously since day one. Another big boost to the Raps has been the arrival of Kris Humphries as a confident second line player. With Garbs out, Kris has been the player to make the most of his minutes, showing a previously untapped scoring touch and showing the kind of aggression needed to actually grab some boards. His play has toughened up the second unit significantly. In fact, the second unit is the Raps secret weapon leading into the palyoffs.

It has been one of the lead stories all year, and it just keeps getting better. With the stellar play of Calderon, the emergence of Humphries, the move of Peterson to the bench, the trade for Dixon, Joey Grahams recent surge, Bargnani's continually improved play, and even the pick up of Luke Jackson, the Raps have, no argument, the deepest roster in the conference.

The starting five for the playoff run is going to be Bosh, Ford, Graham, Nesterovic and Parker, unless we see the reappearance of "Bad" Joey. Mitchells biggest problem may well be, how do you shorten the rotation. when you have so many players playing so well?

Calderon, Bargnani and Dixon are guaranteed to be in the mix, assuming they are healthy. Peterson has shown he is still a defensive stopper, the last couple of games, and has been able to take it to the cup when Sam wanted the Raps to go inside. Humphries has been a beast, playing well against both Shaq and Dwight Howard. Mitchell has plenty of options, and I suspect what he will do is play the matchups, and forget about doling out minutes. The players on this team have shown their willingness to do whatever it takes and not complain. So Sam has the luxury to play both strategic and tactical basketball, going into games with a plan, but having the players to move around on the board when and as he has to.

If the Raps have any particular advantages it is these two. They can afford to go like hell, not worrying about saving any energy for the last 5 minutes, because they can spell each other off, with not much loss in scoring or even in defense. And Sam can play his players strategically, to counter the other teams roster moves. Most of the time, in the playoffs, teams shorten the rotation. it will be interesting to see what Sam does. He may wind up lengthening his, compared to the start of the year.

For interest' sake, I made a note of the bench's scoring for the year. These numbers tell a story.

Juan Dixon..........................11.8
Andrea Bargnani..................11.5
Morris Peterson.....................9.2
Jose Calderon.......................8.7
Kris Humphries....................3.4
Luke Jackson........................2.5
Total....................................47.1

Sunday, March 25, 2007

The Other Side - Crunch Time for BryCo

Around this time last year, Bryan Colangelo made a lot of people scratch their heads by leaving one of the best teams in the league, the Phoenix Suns, to come to one of the worst: the Toronto Raptors. It was an inconceivable move to some: why walk away from a cushy job, in a city where it's always summer, to come to the "frozen wastes of Canada" and a team that lost to Maccabi Tel Aviv? Madness.

Or was it? Those who follow basketball closely could come up with several reasons for Colangelo to jump, not least of which was the chance to get out from under his father's shadow. Jerru Colangelo is a legend in the NBA, and is responsible for some of the best trades in league history. As long as Bryan was in Phoenix, there was always going to be an element that believed good old dad was pulling the strings, not him. This same element probably believed he didn't deserve the job he had. A change of scenery gave him the chance to prove that he could build his own team, without help from dad, while simultaneously showing his father that he was just as good.

Coming a close second was the situation he was coming to. Phoenix had been built from the ground up, with shrewd cap management, intelligent trades and scouting, and a touch of luck. Colangelo appears to be a GM who believes in building around what you have, and not in changing what you have to build according to your ideal mould. Phoenix is an athletic, small running team that puts up ridiculous offensive numbers. They can do this because of 3 players: Nash, Marion and Stoudamire. Everyone else fits around them. Toronto had nothing worth keeping outside of Bosh, Mo Pete and Villanueva, so there was a lot more room for Colangelo to manouvre. The Raptors also had ridiculous cap room and a city hungry for a team to cheer. This was jsut the clean slate that Colangelo needed to prove his point.

So, the jump having been made, Colangelo set about building his team. Out went the dregs of other team's benches. Out went draft mistakes. In came multi-faceted players from overseas, an underutilised but athletic 2-guard, a couple of role players and, in the most controversial move, out went Villanueva, one of last season's top 3 rookies, for a point guard with a questionable spine but undoubted quicks and mercurial talent. Before a shot had been taken, this team was either doomed to the lottery, or headed for the playoffs, depending on who you listened to. Colangelo, having heard it all before in Phoenix, smiled and waited.

Preseason came, and the Raptors played out of this world. Everything they tried worked. The team gelled well. Fred Jones, who most people thought was a good pickup despite also being a second choice behind John Salmons, caught fire. Still, the negativity was rife. Preseason means nothing, came the cry. They're playing against scrubs. Colangelo, who'd heard all of it before, smiled, waited, and cheered on his team.

Start of the season, and the Raptors struggled out of the gate. The negative crowd started rolling the pastry for the crust of a most excellent crow pie to feed the positive crowd. They, in turn, were pointing to a lack of familiarity with each other and a nasty road schedule to start the season, as excuses. Bargnani, the team's first ever number 1 overall pick, looked lost. So did the European imports. Bosh was playing well, and TJ Ford was doing OK, but we were losing. Sam Mitchell's job was called into question. Colangelo, who was used to hearing all this, smiled, waited, cheered on his team, and watched them improve.

And now here we are, scant weeks from the team's first playoff appearance in several seasons. Colangelo has made mistakes, namely Fred Jones and PJ Tucker, and has corrected them both: Jones was traded for Juan Dixon, and Tucker has now been released and replaced with former lottery pick Luke Jackson. Dixon has been playing very well on both ends, and costs less than Jones did, which is a plus. Jackson is a good shooter who can penetrate but has suspect defense...which should ring familiar to Raptor fanse.

What comes next, though, will determine if Colangelo has "Onions baby, onions!" or if it's time to "Get out the salami and cheese, momma, this general manager job is OVER!". And, unlike most GM's in the league, very little will rely on his team's performance in the playoffs. The negative crowd will tell you that, despite the team's offensive prowess and their undoubted defensive improvement over last year, the team is still a poor rebounding unit, and well sub-par defensively. They will also point to the number of wins this team has had this year against other teams missing their top stars. None of our success of this season is likely to be repeated next year unless the rebounding and defense are rectified. They are pointing to siging Luke Jackson as evidence of this. Those who are more optimistic will point to the fact that adding one defensive stopper to 14 sieves on defence is like using a cocktail umbrella in a hurricane: largely pointless and unlikely to last. Instead of trying to address a glaring hole with a very small plug, instead improve and already good area of the team and add a slightly different dimension to it. There is precedent, albeit from other sports: the great Brazillian soccer teams win games by the mantra: "It doesn't matter if you score 3 goals, we'll score 5 anyway". This seams to be the way Toronto are going. In the East, there are not many teams who can trade shots with Toronto, Washington being the best equipped. Of the playoff-bound teams, only Detroit is good enough to shut down the Raptors on a night when the shots are falling.

Next season, though, Colangelo has some serious work ahead of him. Bosh and Ford have their extensions activated, together earning over $20 million. The salary cap has been estimated around $57 million. Peterson is likely to leave, possibly via sign and trade, but we'll presume not for the purpose of this article. Sow is not likely to be extended, and Darrick Martin may be asked to move behind the bench. That's about $12 million off. Given we're currently under by about $2 million, and the cap is going up about $3 million, we're still over the cap. Meaning less flexibility. Colangelo will have a mid-level exception to work with, around $5.7 million, plus the possibility of trading Joey Graham, a possible sign and trade for Mo Pete, and a draft pick. Somehow, he has to turn those assets into 2 or 3 players who can rebound and defend at something approaching the league average for their positions. And it's not the best year for it.

There's no glaring impending free agent that rebounds or makes stops, so we're relying on Colangelo's ability to find hidden gems, either overseas, on the ends of benches, or on the trading blocks. He also has to remember that Calderon is going to need extending, and will want big money after the way he's played this year. Ultimately, the way Mr Colangelo handles the next 4-6 months will determine his legacy in this league, more than anything he has done until now. Only time will tell if he is as good as he says he is, or if daddy dearest was the one with the brains.

Saturday, March 17, 2007

Puffers Posts -Dave Hopla, Shooting Coach

Dave Hopla, acknowledged as the best shooting coach in the US, was brought in to help the Raps improve their percentages in what was to be a season of 100 shots a game average. The reasoning was obvious. If you could get that many shots, and your % was in the high 40's, you were going to score 106 - 110 per game. And your lack of defence would not be such an issue. And your lack of offensive rebounds wouldn't hurt as much, because there would be fewer rebounds under the opponents basket to get.

I did a little looking around the internet and found out a little more about Mr. Hopla. He is a regular on the motivational speakers circuit. His talks are entertaining because he shoots hoops all through his talks, making close to 99% of his shots. His theme is Success requires Practice. Here's a summary I found from a website featuring Massie Lectures about learning:

"Dave's message is pure - learning is about memory, and skills need to be practiced to be learned. Most of what we learn fades quickly from short-term memory. To push learning from short to long-term memory, you need to practice, regularly and often. The lesson we have to learn is that the 'sheep-dip' experience is wildly unproductive, unless there is follow-through and practice. If those in the learning game have one lesson to learn - this is it. The classroom and many business courses completely ignore this principle, yet it is the formula for success in most types of learning."

Hopla has played ball professionally, just never in the NBA. He spent his time toiling away in the CBA, Europe and South America. I couldn't find references to how he graduated from playing to coaching, but when Ray Allen was at Uconn, he was working with Hopla to perfect his stroke. Dave has worked with NBA, WNBA, college and high school teams. He has worked with individual players from the NBA and the WNBA:

"Dave has not only helped my shooting but he improved my overall game. He has given me the confidence in all phases of my game."Ray Allen, Seattle Supersonics

"I never miss an opportunity to work with Dave. He's the best in the business."Kobe Bryant, Los Angeles Lakers

"Dave has helped me achieve many of my goals and improved my overall game."Gilbert Arenas, Washington Wizards

(promo material from Hopla's website)

So what has his impact been on the Raptors players he is supposed to be helping. Well, there are a lot of complimentary quotes floating around:

"Morris Peterson, who has tweaked his mechanics under the guru's watch, calls Hopla's contribution "tremendous." Jorge Garbajosa, who has struggled to break out of a season-long slump, lauds Hopla for inspiring him to persevere."

"'He's helped a lot,' says Chris Bosh, who has markedly increased his shooting range this year. 'I had a lot of things I was doing wrong in my mechanics, my preparation to shoot. And he got with me. I took his criticism and it's been paying off.'"

But the payoff is in the numbers. What do the numbers say? Here's the breakdown on some of the Raps shooters, from the start of the season to now:

Player (Start of the season %) [Current %] Improvement?
Jose Calderon (53.4 per cent), [ 53.5%] - Same
T.J. Ford (47.3) [44.1] - Worse
Chris Bosh (47.2) [50.5%] - Better
Jorge Garbajosa (42.1) [42%] - Marginal Improvement
Anthony Parker (43.7) [46.9%] - Better
Morris Peterson (40.0) [44.5%] - Better

The Raptors have increased their field-goal shooting percentage every month this season, from 44.2 per cent in November to 47.5 per cent in January.They've increased their three-point percentage every month, from 30 per cent in November to 40 per cent in January

In doing the research for this post I ran across this anecdote by Paul Jones talking about coaching shooting:

"One well-respected veteran assistant coach and former head coach told me last year that 'I don't know how to teach shooting. I go to Europe and they got these kids sitting in classrooms, practicing without basketballs and doing all kinds of stuff and hey, they are pretty good shooters.'"

Makes you wonder. I've heard numerous times that pro teams don't spend any time on fundamentals. You are supposed to have all that after your high school and college careers. Of course, with so many athletes only spending one year or less at college, one wonders where they will get the instruction. During the summer, on their own time? I know the Players Association has restricitions on what clubs can and can't do with regards to off-season work with their players. I also know that the pre-season in Europe isn't just 6 weeks long. The teams are together for months before the season starts. And many players come up through the club system, where they get the fundamental coaching they need.

At any rate, I would say that Hopla has clearly helped the Raps. Positive endoresements from the players; nly one retrogression and some significant improvements in others. We all know that the Raps shooting has won them a pile of games. Their defense sure hasn't. Now where can they get a coach for that?

Monday, March 12, 2007

Away at the Bucks

8:10 - game hasn't even started and Chuck is all about Bargs and how he looked in warmups. I mean, jesus...get over the manlove.

8:15 - Charlie Bell is allowed through the Raptors turnstile defence, following the red carpet to a lay-up.

8:17 - the arena is so empty, the players voices are echoing.

8:20 - first airing of the Hair On The Court commercial which is the most annoying commercial of the season. The second most annoying will be up soon, trust me.

8:25 - TJ Ford officially on fire...welcome home.

8:27 - Bargs first shot is on a drive to the bucket. Nice to see.

8:31 - the Raptors are the professors in school tonight. 22-6 run.

8:34 - end of 1...37-24 Raps, ending with an mp3 download.

8:39 - after the first impressive drive by Bargs, every one of his shots after that has come from the outside and all have missed badly.

8:42 - Mo is playing hard tonight. Shows that if a starting unit hustles, it becomes infectious.

8:48 - so for you avid Chuck watchers: does he always sound like he's gonna kill himself when Bargs misses a shot?

8:48 - the boo birds come out. Quite fitting, though, since the Bucks are playing like you'd expect the altraps.com team would play: hope Puffer can pull us out.

8:55 - yikes...Bosh yells at AP to "shoot it" after getting called for 3 in the key. By my count that is 4 violations in the past 2 games. Not sure AP deserved that outburst. Somewhat classless by Bosh.

9:04 - every time Charlie Bell hits a shot, they play "ring my bell". Lord.

9:05 - first Bosh pose of the night. Just for you Jawz.

9:06 - end of the half...62-46.

9:27 - my word....Garbo follows a shot for an easy putback!?!?

9:31 - Raps are 2-10 in the 3rd. What, me worry?

9:32 - Ford is having fun out there. Good to see.

9:43 - Humphries draws an "and-1" to stop the Bucks surge....THE BEAST!

9:49 - MoPete gets called on a grab with 2.6 left....horrible.

9:50 - end of third..86-76 Raps.

9:56 - Redd finally hits a 3.

9:57 - Raps getting a lot of favourable calls..only to be turned around by a stupid MoPete tech.

9:59 - 3 leak outs by Milwaukee in the past 5 minutes = 6 easy points..lead now 8.

9:59 - ANOTHER 3 in the key call against the Raps.

9:59 - Chuck eating crow and sounding like his mother just died.

10:02 - raps outrebounded 22-14 since 2nd quarter.

10:04 - seriously, somebody tell me why Bosh continues taking outside shots especially in second halves of games??

10:08 - monster block by Bosh on Patterson and a good job of keeping it in play.

10:17 - Bogut misses 2 huge free throws...could be the beginning of the end.

10:20 - Salami & Cheese call after a Bosh putback.

10:22 - Bogut with a push on Bosh..intentional...gone for the game. Bosh throws the ball at him for his own T and Ford steps in for another T. Welcome to hockey in Milwaukee!

10:24 - Slokar in...the true sign of Salami and Cheese.

10:25 - Raps win 108-93.


Gotta be happy with the decisive win. Don't know why they got away from what they did in the first, but good to see they fought off 3 comebacks. Great energy on the backend of a back to back.


RSFL

Scott.

Friday, March 2, 2007

Bucks @ Home

This will be a boxed set version of Scott's Shots, as I was busy juggling hosting a box, going to my seats, and looking after a 9 month old....

- Raps are back to comping and discounting tickets to schools again to pump up attendance. Cool by me, though, since it helps create a homecourt environment.
- MLSE sent out a survey recently asking opinions of in-house entertainment. Guess I wasn't alone in complaining about it. The new video and the U2 crap does nothing to get people pumped.
- Garbo comes out playing hard. Great swat early on.
- this game could get to 140-120 if they don't slow down hitting the threes. It's like 2 boxers coming out and going stroke for stroke.
- Juan Dixon is SMALL. I mean S M A L L. He's also still learning, but at least he is listening to his teammates as opposed to jumping in feet first and assuming he can get it done on his own.
- CV is in rare company: actually got nice applause when he entered the game.
- speaking of CV, he is showing no ill affects of his injury.
- Raps cannot break the zone. If this is still a prize fight, the Bucks just hit an uppercut.
- Guess Bargs decided to one-up Vince of old and stay and play a game.
- the double teams on Bosh are incredibly fast and effective. He looks helpless.
- well, one good thing for the Raps now that the shots are back to normal: more opportunity to learn how to rebound.
- my castle to the person that can teach Bosh how to hit free throws.
- men drinking wine is like a male dog squating to pee.
- if you had to pick 20 guys to play in a pickup game, you could do much worse than Michael Redd.
- Bogut was angry about playing time and touches earlier in the year. The anger looks to have been recognized. He got some nice touches. I wonder why he doesn't hustle more though.
- is it just me or does the home team tonight remind you of last year's home team? One improvement is ball movement, bless their hearts, but nothing is falling now and only token defense is being shown.
- this Bucks team is a great example of why I say that this season has been an incredibly odd one. They still aren't at complete full strength but they are running and hitting like the Bucks of old. I don't care, though...we have been decimated in the past, so lump it.
- so, 2nd best team in 2007, playing well above their anticipated abilities, #1 in their division....and you boo them. Classy. Admit defeat by a better team tonight and re-load.
- I don't think the Raps are this bad, even considering how much I have been critical. They had a bad luck night. What the did do, though, was cancel out the Houston win. They need to play well in Cleveland and take advantage of a reeling team.


www.altraps.com

Wednesday, February 28, 2007

Ladies and gents, welcome to The Other Side, a less-than-conventional look at the Raptors, the NBA, and occasionally life in general. Let's dive in.

In like a lion, out like a lamb. The Raptors went into this season on a flurry of trades, and they weren't the only ones. Seems only fitting, then, that deadline day should come and go with Fred Jones for Juan Dixon being the biggest deal. I can't remember a quieter deadline day since I've been watching the league. This trade can only be good for the Raptors: Fred Jones was doing nothing, and Juan Dixon costs less. Even if he does nothing too, we've saved money and cut a year off the books.

Speaking of Dixon, he's been making all the right noises about defense. Of course, we've heard that noise before. As I mentioned on www.altraps.com, I give it 3 games before that platitude evaporates, and defense becomes that minor inconvenience between shot opportunities. There is a contagion on this team, that seems to affect even the good defenders like Parker and Mo Pete. It saps their will to defend and replaces it with a shot-happy persona. Hopefully, with those two, Garbajosa and now Dixon, all having made noises about defense, we can reverse the trend. Me? Not holding my breath.

That sound you heard last night was the Raptors crashing to earth. We got spanked, soundly, by the best defensive team in the league. Bosh got owned, like he did against Rasheed. Strong, physical big men have always given him trouble: witness our game against Phoenix last year, when Brian Grant forced him into several turnovers in the last few minutes. I don't foresee the same problems against Houston, without Yao. We've done fairly well against them in recent years.

Has everyone forgotten that we still have the draft rights to Roko Ukic? There have been rumblings that his play has declined and his PT lessened, but I remember he was injured last summer, so that could be normal. Plus, PT in Europe is less anyway, and he's behind Juan Carlos Navarro, also known as the second-best player on the Spanish team that won the Worlds. All reports suggest that he's not in the right team to showcase his talents, and both Colangelo and Gherardini are saying he needs to play somewhere else. Maybe bring him over in the summer and put him in the D-League? He's a better shooter than either of our current PGs, but a touch undersized to play the 2. He's a hell of a passer though.

Random thought: if Ukic does come over, we'll have players from 7 different countries. Why not use the White Stripes' Seven Nation Army as a theme?

At the start of this season, I started driving a very unpopular bandwagon: the Trade Bosh bandwagon. I was singularly unimpressed by his performances down the stretch last season, and by his lackluster team leadership. I figured that trading him then, when his value was likely to be at its highest, would yield us some very nice pieces, letting us build around Charlie V and whoever we ended up drafting. Given that this team would be VERY young, we'd be high in the Greg Oden/Joakim Noah sweepstakes too. Boy am I ever giving up on THAT bandwagon.

One thing I will not give up on is my boy Carl English. Dude can flat out shoot, he's not bad on the ball, and he gives everything on every play. He might be a one-trick pony, but he's very very good at his one trick, and people like Steve Kerr made a very healthy living off that one trick. English has been playing VERY well for Team Canada, to the tune of 34 points against Germany, for example. Surely this warrants a spot at the end of someone's bench?

Are you smarter than a 5th grader? Gimme a break. Couple years back, everyone and his dog was doing a marriage show. Now, it's intelligence shows. At least they require a discernible skill, but who in their right mind would risk being found dumber than a 5th grader?

That's pretty much it for round 1, folks. I'll be back next week, same Raptor time, same Raptor channel. If you've got anything you want covered/explained/debated, email me at chrislansdell@altraps.com .

Tuesday, February 27, 2007

Bargs and Boards


Bargs and Boards
Well, well, well...what's happened to Bargs? Suddenly the rookie has discovered there are more interesting things to do with a basketball coming off a backboard then watch it.The last three games the seven footer has been (for him) on fire in the ribbie department, with a total of 24. That's better than one every four minutes, and wouldn't Sam Mitchell love to see that keep up, considering the minutes Bargs has been logging the last couple of months.

As an example of how stunning a transformation this has been, consider that on February 21st, against the Cavaliers, Bargnani had 7 rebounds. That was more than he totalled in his previous four games. In the two games since then the pace hasn't let up, with 6 rebounds in 25 minutes against the Pacers and 11 in 32 minutes in the Raps most recent outing against Charlotte.So what is the big rookie doing differently?

Consider that all but two of the last three games' rebounds have been defensive. He hasn't changed his offensive game. He still spots up from outside the arc, at the top of the key. His percentage is high enough that he doesn't get many misses coming back to him and he is rarely in position to pickup a rebound under the basket or one coming from a Parker or Peterson shot. So why the increase in defensive rebounds?

Watching him the last few games, he has been making a definite effort to muscle his opponents to positions outside the paint. He has also been leaving them a lot later, when providing help defense. These actions have had three major impacts:

One, he is in physical contact with them more often when a shot goes up. It is far easier to box out an opponent when you are making physical contact, and can maintain that contact as you spin toward the basket. Your opponent has to go around you to get the rebound, and you can beat him most of the time.

Two, if he is not in contact with them, at least they are starting from further out than he is. Bargs is fronting a lot less. Fronting might have been an effective strategy in Europe, where he may have been faster than many of the players he was playing against, but it doesn't work well in the NBA unless there is a significant mismatch in terms of height.

Three, by not being so quick with the help defense, he doesn't give his man a chance to pickup a rebound by sneaking inside while he concentrrates on the other player.

As an aside, looking at the rebounding stats of Charlotte, Indiana and Cleveland, we find that all three teams are in the top ten in rebounds in the league compared to Toronto's 28th spot, with the Bobcats the only one of the three whose opponents average more rebounds. So it's not that these teams aren't capable of rebounding.

Maybe Bargnani has turned a corner. Maybe it's a statistical fluke, but I wouldn't bet on it. The big rookie has shown a steady improvement in his play. His shooting percentage has gone up almost month by month (as has the whole teams, topic for another Blog), his defensive play has improved and he seems altogether more comfortable. I suspect we will see his improved rebounding continue, and maybe he will move up from 9th among rookies to challenge Garbo's 2nd ranking.

We Raptor fans can only hope.

Posted by Puffer at 7:31 PM 0 comments
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Friday, February 23, 2007

Pacers 4th quarter

- THE WHEELS HAVE FALLEN OFF!!!
- crowd is trying to boo, but for once the supporters are louder. Small victory.
- bosh sucks on defence.....there,I said it.
- thank God for the 3 point line.
- so, if the Raps lose, who is to blame? Just curious.
- pizza at 5:12 left
- Carlisle's mom and dad and his daughters are here...dead ringers.
- bosh should have finishedon the foul by Granger.....got to do it.
- slokar sighting!
- good game by the Raps....still need huge help on D. Even the help defence is lacking. Great win against the conference foes.

Pacers 3rd quarter

- gotta admit the starting 5 are on fire.
- TJ has to learn he is a better distrbutor than driver....and the sooner the better
- Garbo has an incredible line growing
- if Bosh learns to go left and take the baseline, he will earn the allstar tag.
- dance pak in jeans and jackets....hawt

Pacers second quarter

- Humphries is released and cuts his hair.
- I am beginning to wonder if Bargs' 3pt shots are cancelling off his lack of D.
- Mo was looking better than ever.
- the Centresports King ad drives me nuts...it's just plain annoying.
- Jose makes you look like a pylon....take note.
- is it just me or is Garbo picking up more ticky tack fouls lately?
- has Joey slid down the bench?
- what is up with Mo's lack of courtvision? Bargs wide open and you drive and commit the charge.
- told ya we should get Armstrong.

Pacers quarter one

- nice moment of silence for DJ
- good fast start
- Granger is bulking up with age.
- Bosh on Tinsley and he doesnt crowd him ?? Easy 3.
- why oh why does Tinsley always kick our ass?
- drunk loud people piss me off
- Rasho is playing great D on Jermaine, pushing him out. Full quarter for Rasho too...

Sunday, February 4, 2007

Clippers fourth quarter


Doug hand signal count is at 4. All from the bench of course. Havent seen jackie.
How invisible was joey graham tonight?
We want christie chant starts at 4:25 of the fourth
Raps have impressively kept Brand off the boards in the last 2 quarters
2nd chance points 14-7 for clips
Solid win by raps....clips played better than i expected, given the time of the game



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Clippers third quarter


Jesus...the raps DID use that magette play and with parker.  Right out of the gate in the fourth. I should be a coach.
Welcome back, garbo.
This 6 year old beside me just said "feed him, he is wide open". Now THAT is good parenting.
Rasho 2pts 2brds 2fouls. I heart you.
This is wild..i type something in and the crappy players heat up. Kudos to Rasho for a good board, grabbing the ball off the floor and a great assist to garbo for 3
Both in the first and third quarter, kaman is in a huddle, breaks out of it, throws a towel and sits by himself...interesting.
Livingston and cassell are yiping at each other on the court
Bosh looks for a foul rather than go for the board = cassell for 3.
Cassell and livinston make up.
Brand owns bosh defensively.


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Clippers second quarter


Missed free throw, popped out by the clips, back behind the arc, 3pt play, 5pt swing.
What has been wrong with Garbo lately? Touch of Fred Jonesitis?
Is there a better nonhyped player in the league than cuttino mobley
Livingston in the paint against 4 raps...who gets the board?
Funny how guys dressed in sumo suits always brings out the laughs.
The clips play with the quick pass to the high arc as magette cuts from the baseline to the paint is great. Love to see the raps run that with parker.
Garbo on brand....garbos chance to shine defensively.
Dunleavy works the refs everytime down the floor and i'd say it has given him at least 2 calls so far.

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Quarter 1 vs Clips.

Dougie bald, kaman with a haircut....must be warm in LA
Always amazes me how "small" Elton appears. Quite the rebound talent for his size
Must be nice to feel like you are playing ball at 9am
Must be a big game if Bob Saget is here. Guess he couldnt swing super bowl tickets
You know, it always amazes me that people cant find their seats. I mean, seriously...section row seat. Pretty easy. Got a letter as a row? Still not difficult really
Jose still starting....must be guaranteed win night
Love the clips unis...classic
These clips are running. Garbo is having a tough time keeping up with ross.
Jose to chris 3/4 court through 3 clips...no way TJ does that
Elton vs bosh garbo and bargs. Who gets the board twice in the same play?
Brand 9/6/2 in the first quarter, mostly against bosh. Crazy. Who would trade this guy, even in a fantasy league?

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