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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.