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.

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.

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.

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 - 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.