12/01/08
by: Scott
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The most depressing thing about this Raptors season is how drearily predictable it's become. When they play a bad team, they're going to win. When they play a good team, they're going to lose. And when they play a really good team, they get their asses handed to them.
The teams the Raptors have beaten this season have a 53-80 record in their other games, and the teams the Raptors have lost to have an 87-36 record in their other games. The Raptors' next four games (at Denver, at Utah, vs. Portland, at Cleveland) are against teams that all have records of 11-7 or better. At the moment, it seems quite likely that the Raptors could lose all four of those games.
Sunday's loss to the Lakers was another disheartening reminder of how soft this team is. They're 29th in Offensive Rebounding Percentage and 22nd in Defensive Rebounding Percentage (the percentage of available rebounds they've grabbed at each end). They consistently give the other team plentiful opportunities for second-chance points while exhibiting no ability to generate those opportunities for themselves. Their offensive sets lack creativity (throw it in to Bosh, stand around, rinse, repeat) and good defensive teams can pack the post to take away Bosh's drive and know that his teammates are unlikely to punish them.
These Raptors are neither good enough to inspire awe nor bad enough to deserve pity. They're just OK and if you ask a non-Raptors fan what he thinks of this team, his reponse is likely to be "Meh."
I'm positive Bryan Colangelo didn't come here to manage a "meh" team, so I think at he's certain to do at least one of two things in December. 1. Fire Sam Mitchell. 2. Make a trade — Anthony Parker, Jamario Moon, Jason Kapono, Joey Graham and Kris Humphries are all on the block.
I'm at the point where I would welcome Stephon Marbury to this team with open arms, if only to make things more interesting. This team obviously isn't going anywhere the way it's currently constructed, so something has to give. If the next four games follow this season's trend and the Raptors proceed to go on a skid, that "something" is going to give soon — so hey, maybe that's something to look forward to. 
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