State of the Raptors

[BudweiserCeltic]

The JO trade wasn't as horrible as you guys make it out to be. It sets them up better for the 2010 free-agency, and he'll be a good contract to trade either this year or the next. It was a worthwhile gamble which didn't pan out this year.

[cordobes]

Bosh will look very nice in a Cavs uniform this year

Wow, are the Cavs trading LeBron already? Don't want to take any risks, hein?

Anyway, I'm no big fan of Bosh. He's severely outplayed by better players, his defence is unreliable and frequently non-existent, he doesn't impact games like elite bigs usually do.

Colangelo made 2 huge mistakes: drafting Bargnani and the O'Neal trade (the 2nd one only in hindsight, I think) and a minor one, signing Kapono. However, his most impactful mistake was probably allowing Delfino and Garbajosa to walk away. But he did that because the luxury tax is their hard cap. It's curious: they improved quickly in the last 2 years due to the signing of some decent role players (Parker, Garbajosa, Delfino, Kapono, etc.) That put some pressure in taking the next step, ergo the O'Neal trade, and took away some lottery draft picks they should have been collecting. And now they don't have the role-players (the best one, Parker, is quickly declining), nor the assets. Kind of messy, but I don't know if many would have done things differently than him without the benefit of hindsight.

[cordobes]

Extinct?

They wish. Another loss tonight to... the Thunder. 

[Dybdal]

Their downfall was the trade with the Pacers' its time to break up that team and start over because from my perspective it allready looks like Bosh is pulling a Vince Carter on them, O'Neil wont carry them and Calderon is overrated.

Break it up and hope for a miracle in the 2010 offseason

[D Dub]

Losers of 6 straight and Last Place in the Atlantic.
 

The Bosh/Calderon tandem is looking less potent by the day... 

[indeedproceed]

Well Josey is injured

[KCattheStripe]

Bosh will look very nice in a Cavs uniform this year

I figured that sentence would stir up some folks.  I said it very tongue in cheek.  Bosh isn't going anywhere. 

I'd be more worried in 2010-2011 when he goes to South Beach.

[indeedproceed]

Bosh will look very nice in a Cavs uniform this year

I figured that sentence would stir up some folks.  I said it very tongue in cheek.  Bosh isn't going anywhere. 

I'd be more worried in 2010-2011 when he goes to South Beach.

I'd be more worried about how he plays during home games in madison square garden next to lebron

[cordobes]

What do you guys think of Bosh calling out Jamario Moon for his dumb defence?

http://www.torontosun.com/sports/basketball/2009/01/20/8080201-sun.html

 Bosh let his feelings be known loud and clear, publicly calling out Jamario Moon for allowing NBA all-star Joe Johnson a direct line to the basket in the final two minutes yesterday. Moon then topped things off when he threw up an ill-advised, not to mention unsuccessful, three-point shot at the beginning of the shot clock with his team down by one on its way to an 87-84 loss.

(...)

 "We're up by two points," Bosh said, controlling his impatience with the media far better than he did with Moon. "Watch the film. He gives him a straight line to the basket. Joe Johnson. All star. Whatever you want to call him, one of the best players or two-guards in the league and you give him a straight line. You can't. That's the mental thing we are talking about. We're up by two. If he scores over you what are we going to say? If he hits the jump shot and you contest as good as you can what are we going to say? But don't give him a straight-line drive. He's too talented for that. He's too good for that and that's what made me upset."

Bosh clearly has reached the point where he's well past the point of worrying about hurting feelings.

"Yeah it's time, because we are running out of time," he said. "We didn't play with much urgency in the first half. Hopefully that will pick up in the second half. I know we are only two games in but we have to do it now or we're going to be watching the first round of the playoffs eating popcorn.

Good? Bad? Leadership? Tasteless?

[Fafnir]

Calling him out? Good!

Calling him out via the media? Bad! Incredibly bad!

Desperately trying to put the losing on your teammates? Pathetic! Especially when you're the best player on the team. The team takes its attitude/tone from their leaders. Besides Bosh was -7 for the game and allowed Josh Smith cancel him out. Can't have that.

We've all seen star players get frustrated on bad teams, we've seen Pierce/KG/Allen be just as frustrated. But its a bad reaction and it will just cause more problems.

[jackson_34]

What do you guys think of Bosh calling out Jamario Moon for his dumb defence?

http://www.torontosun.com/sports/basketball/2009/01/20/8080201-sun.html

 Bosh let his feelings be known loud and clear, publicly calling out Jamario Moon for allowing NBA all-star Joe Johnson a direct line to the basket in the final two minutes yesterday. Moon then topped things off when he threw up an ill-advised, not to mention unsuccessful, three-point shot at the beginning of the shot clock with his team down by one on its way to an 87-84 loss.

(...)

 "We're up by two points," Bosh said, controlling his impatience with the media far better than he did with Moon. "Watch the film. He gives him a straight line to the basket. Joe Johnson. All star. Whatever you want to call him, one of the best players or two-guards in the league and you give him a straight line. You can't. That's the mental thing we are talking about. We're up by two. If he scores over you what are we going to say? If he hits the jump shot and you contest as good as you can what are we going to say? But don't give him a straight-line drive. He's too talented for that. He's too good for that and that's what made me upset."

Bosh clearly has reached the point where he's well past the point of worrying about hurting feelings.

"Yeah it's time, because we are running out of time," he said. "We didn't play with much urgency in the first half. Hopefully that will pick up in the second half. I know we are only two games in but we have to do it now or we're going to be watching the first round of the playoffs eating popcorn.

Good? Bad? Leadership? Tasteless?

That play definently needed addressing in the locker room, but there was no need to publicly single out the guy. 

[Who]

I watched the first half of that Raps-Hawks game, but not the second. I couldn't believe they found a way to lose that game. T

The Hawks were playing miserably, both Horford and Williams were out, and their replacements (Mo and Zaza) were struggling mightily, and their already shallow bench was torn apart by these injuries. It ended up that the Hawks only had three good players to go up against a whole team.At halftime the Raptors were in complete control of the game and the Hawks looked dead .... amazing that they found a way to lose that game.

As for Bosh's leadership? I've seen lot's of Raps fans tear him down for his actions. Appearantly he was getting beaten on the drive all night himself, ended up taking his frustrations out on someone else.

I'm not sure Bosh can be a true leader at this point in his career. His offense/defense/rebounding are all too inconsistent quarter to quarter, his teammates don't know what to expect from him. It's hard to lead when your own teammates are watching you with a wary eye, not trusting what you're going to bring to the table.

[KCattheStripe]

Bosh will look very nice in a Cavs uniform this year

I figured that sentence would stir up some folks.  I said it very tongue in cheek.  Bosh isn't going anywhere. 

I'd be more worried in 2010-2011 when he goes to South Beach.

I'd be more worried about how he plays during home games in madison square garden next to lebron

No, no. That's Amar'e. Thus setting up the epic power struggle between the Heat and Knicks after the Big Three ride into the sunset.

[D Dub]

What do you guys think of Bosh calling out Jamario Moon for his dumb defence?

http://www.torontosun.com/sports/basketball/2009/01/20/8080201-sun.html

 Bosh let his feelings be known loud and clear, publicly calling out Jamario Moon for allowing NBA all-star Joe Johnson a direct line to the basket in the final two minutes yesterday. Moon then topped things off when he threw up an ill-advised, not to mention unsuccessful, three-point shot at the beginning of the shot clock with his team down by one on its way to an 87-84 loss.

(...)

 "We're up by two points," Bosh said, controlling his impatience with the media far better than he did with Moon. "Watch the film. He gives him a straight line to the basket. Joe Johnson. All star. Whatever you want to call him, one of the best players or two-guards in the league and you give him a straight line. You can't. That's the mental thing we are talking about. We're up by two. If he scores over you what are we going to say? If he hits the jump shot and you contest as good as you can what are we going to say? But don't give him a straight-line drive. He's too talented for that. He's too good for that and that's what made me upset."

Bosh clearly has reached the point where he's well past the point of worrying about hurting feelings.

"Yeah it's time, because we are running out of time," he said. "We didn't play with much urgency in the first half. Hopefully that will pick up in the second half. I know we are only two games in but we have to do it now or we're going to be watching the first round of the playoffs eating popcorn.

Good? Bad? Leadership? Tasteless?

That play definently needed addressing in the locker room, but there was no need to publicly single out the guy. 

I agree.  I have been very critical of Bosh and while I want to give him credit for speaking up, talking through the media seems like more of a self-serving tact than an attempt to improve the team's defense.

This post from Who seems pretty right about Bosh's game as well.  TP's all around.

...As for Bosh's leadership? I've seen lot's of Raps fans tear him down for his actions. Appearantly he was getting beaten on the drive all night himself, ended up taking his frustrations out on someone else.

I'm not sure Bosh can be a true leader at this point in his career. His offense/defense/rebounding are all too inconsistent quarter to quarter, his teammates don't know what to expect from him. It's hard to lead when your own teammates are watching you with a wary eye, not trusting what you're going to bring to the table.