Raptors Random Banter Options

[NateHuffman]

sorry but somethings been bothering me....why do ppl keep on saying that kobe is the only trade exception in the nba? doesn't devean george have one?

[Raptor Forever]

George was eligible for a certain rule in the NBA. I believe it's something like if you resign with the team you played for last season, and you sign a 1 year contract, you are eligible to decline trades that involve you.

While Kobe just has that clause because they put it there, while George just used one of his rights. It is a pretty unknown rule to most people.

[adrock]

Apropos of nothing (which is why this qualifies as random banter), I think the Raps should make a strong effort to sign Josh Childress to be our starting SF this offseason.

He will probably sign for less than Maggette or some other high profile FAs, and with Atlanta's shaky management situation and profusion of other young guys they need to sign, they may be able to shake him loose for the MLE or slightly more.

The Raps may have to make this a sign and trade, or even give up a 1st round pick, but in the East, the Raps appear to be a playoff lock for the next 2-3 years (barring catastrophic injuries) and picks in the late teens/early twenties are highly unlikely to deliver a player who is ready to play at that level.

Childress isn't an all-star, but he's definitely an above average player who can defend some, shoot a high percentage, get to the line, and who won't require the ball all the time to be effective.

He isn't a very good 3 point shooter, but the Raps already have plenty of those, and he may get better over time (apparently he has some big mechanical flaws).

Anyway, I wanted to put that out there.

Go Raps!

[god]

yeah I've had my eye on him too, looks like a pretty decent player with some rebounding abilities and as you mentioned, high fg%. I haven't seen him play much and I rarely hear people talking about him, but seems like a good addition and might be obtained at a decent price.

[cb4kickindownyad...]

absolutely...i'm on board, i spent a good while playing with childress on the espn trade machine before remembering how terribly atlanta is run....is he an unrestricted FA?

[god]

Nah He is restricted and so are Josh Smith and Iguodala. I don't know if Atlanta would want to resign Smith and Chilldress, maybe they'll just let Childress walk. If the Raps were able to sign Iggy or Smith I think I would finally feel healed from that horrible Hoffa pick, Childress would be nice too but not quite as nice as the other two. Iggy would bring solid one on one defense to the team and a second scoring option, or if they got Smith that would bring some rebounding and a major shot blocking presence, which the Raps lack in a major way.

Maybe some draft picks, Kapono and expiring contracts would help in a sign and trade.

[Dr. B]

i have seen much of childress, but what exactly does josh childress do that jamario moon doesnt for 1/10th the price?

[Dr. B]

here's a quote from Jamario taken from this weeks nba.com rookie rankings:

"Hey man, with a coach like Sam Mitchell, man, you will stay in line. Sam lets me know every day that no one is supposed to be here, you got to earn the spot to be here, he always points that out to me. Then I got teammates who give me things to help me out throughout the season. With my teammates and my coaches all on my side, it's easy to stay grounded."

[Dr. B]

Hollinger:

"I've been getting a lot of puzzled e-mails lately about the Toronto Raptors, who are fourth in this morning's Hollinger Power Rankings despite having the league's 13th-best record.

Chris Bosh and the Raptors are a force to be reckoned with.

The Raptors didn't have a big reputation coming into the season, have only one household name in the lineup, and haven't been past the first round of the playoffs in half a decade. So what gives?

Here's the deal: They're a lot better than their record. As I keep saying, victory margin is a better indicator of future success than win-loss record, and the Raptors' average margin of plus-4.64 is better than that of the Mavs, Magic, Rockets, Warriors and Nuggets -- all of whom have better win-loss records.

Additionally, that number has ballooned of late. The Raptors haven't put together an impressive win streak, so they have slipped past everyone's attention -- the Raptors are a solid but hardly awe-inspiring 10-6 in their past 16 games.

But look closer and you'll see what an impressive stretch it's been. Five of the six losses were by five points or less, while eight of the 10 wins were by 17 or more; one of the two that wasn't was a 114-112 win in Boston that was the best shooting display a team has put on all season.

Let's put it more simply: The Raps aren't beating people, they're killing them. Toronto topped Milwaukee by 31, Washington by 39, Miami by 32, Minnesota by 23 and 22, New Jersey by 18, Orlando by 17, and New York by 23. In a 16-game stretch, half their games were blowout wins.

Sum it up and you'll see in that modest-looking 16-game stretch the Raptors are outscoring opponents by an impressive 10 points per game.

And although the Raps may seem short on star power, you might want to revisit that assumption. Check out what Chris Bosh has done lately -- he's risen to fifth in the league in player efficiency rating thanks to a huge two-month stretch. Since New Year's Day he's averaging 25.7 points per game and shooting 56.9 percent from the field.

Not much further down the list is Jose Calderon, who ranks 16th in PER thanks to his insanely high efficiency. I've already expounded on his unique combination of high assists, low turnovers and high-percentage shooting so I won't repeat myself here; suffice it to say that he's been far superior to several players with much greater reputations.

And although their supporting cast lacks stars, it also lacks duds. Everybody can shoot -- the Raps lead the league at 42.2 percent on 3-pointers -- and they have the second-lowest turnover rate in the league. So even though the Raptors attack doesn't seem that awe-inspiring, they're actually fourth in the league in offensive efficiency and first in the Eastern Conference.

And it gets better. With T.J. Ford back from injury, Toronto has a third dynamic offensive player to plug into the equation.

Yet despite their weapons, I don't see anybody taking this team seriously as a contender in the East. So I must report that they are, most definitely, a contender in the East. I still like Boston and Detroit's odds better, but if you're looking for a dark horse and thinking Cleveland, I'd suggest shifting your gaze further north."

[god]

That was touching and all, but even as a fan I can't call them a contender, not yet. I think Cleveland would beat the Raps with relative ease in the playoffs.

[ktown]

I don't understand why Hollinger doesn't backup his statistics regarding his assertion that margin of victory is a better indicator than Win-Loss record. This guy lives in the realm of numbers, but instead, he's using a subjective mathematical formula that places the Rapstors as 4th best in his rankings. Shouldn't he have some supporting stats that literally show that teams that have a superior margin of victory actually go further in the playoffs? The only explanation I can come up with is that if he had the supporting figures, he would have tabled them, but instead, the numbers actually contradict his power rankings....

[god]

Ratliffe was waived by the T Wolves, get him Colangelo.

[ktown]

Ratliffe was waived by the T Wolves, get him Colangelo.

Who do you clear from the current roster for Theo?

[efram the retard...]

Baston. Not that I condone signing Ratliff or anything.

[ktown]

Baston. Not that I condone signing Ratliff or anything.

Good call. Seeing that Ratliff is going to the Pistons, I guess the point is moot anyway.

[Raptor Forever]

http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=G_O8O3ZmYV0

[NorthernFalcon]

I have a new theory about the Raptors consistency (or lack thereof) this season.

And yes, it has to do with the lack of an enforcer, but not the type of enforcer that has been called for so far.

The Raptors lack locker room leadership. And that goes straight to Bosh.

In the famous example, Rodman played hard for Jordan because he respected Jordan as an "alpha dog." Marion played hard for Nash because he respected Nash's talent. You see any slackers in San Antonio? Any "inconsistencies?" What about Boston? KG comes in there and suddenly players that couldn't make any contender's rotation are playing solid again.

Bosh is the Raptors alpha dog. Last year's team was magical because Bosh was magical. Remember the chants of "M-V-P" raining down in the ACC?

This year, Bosh is down in nearly every meaningful stat, and he's way down in rebounds (he hasn't rebounded at such a low rate since his sophomore year). Likewise, his control over the locker room has decreased, and now we have players like Delfino, Bargs, and the rest of the team as a whole playing with less consistency, and therefore less effort.

I don't think this means that we need to dump Bosh. I just think that this season is part of the growing pains of becoming "the man," which I believe were the words Bosh used when asked why he wanted to play for Toronto. Jordan didn't win a championship till his seventh season. The only reason Duncan, Wade and Kobe won championships in their younger years was because Robinson and Shaq were "the man" for them. Hakeem didn't win till late in his career. The only championship team in the last 20 years that won a championship without an older veteran alpha dog was Detroit--because arguably they had four old alpha dogs.

Now I know Bosh isn't Duncan, Jordan, Robinson, or Hakeem. But my point isn't that Bosh needs to be them: my point is that young leaders don't win as often as older leaders do. Bosh turns 24 later this month. An inconsistent team that can't put anything together is to be expected of any team led by a young guy who's having a down year.

What needs to happen for this team to go places is Bosh needs to be a little more selfish with the ball. Take more shots, score more points, and jump for more rebounds that a teammate would probably get anyways. He needs to be player of the month, an all-star starter, and eventually an MVP.

I think Bosh can do it. Just not now. For him to have the energy/capability to do this, I highly suggest endurance training over the summer (as I mentioned in an earlier post). Seriously, one of the two best cross country skiing teams in the world is the Italian one--Bargs has connections, right?

[Efman]

Not only do I agree with your thoughts and examples, but I bet CB4 would agree.

The thing that scares me is this is what we did to VC. VC was NEVER a leader...and never wanted to be. But the Raps kept pushing him to become one. Just because you're the best player, doesnt make you a natural or willing leader.

CB4 is different, but still young and new at the job of being leader. I think a couple more years under his belt and he will be that leader.

Remember, this is only his second year leading a team worth leading.

[NorthernFalcon]

One last thing I meant to ask you, you used to coach T.J. Ford?
Correct.

Are you still in touch with him and what do you think about his progress?
I love T.J. Loved him from the first day we sat down and talked about playing that point guard position.

I just think he's a winner. A lot of people think that he's too small and he's not big enough and he doesn't have the shots or whatever. But I think when you look at someone, obviously you need to look at the whole picture and he's always been a winner at every level and for me in Milwaukee, he was great for us.

I know when we had success, a lot of it had to do with his ability to run the team for us and create opportunities for our team.

I'm a big fan of T.J. Ford, and was sad to see him get the setback this year against Atlanta, but since then, he has come back slowly and he's starting to play again. I just hope the young man is blessed to play a long career, because I think he's great for the league and he has the skill that's needed in this league.

LINK: Pistons' assistant Terry Porter, in an interview with TrueHoop, who also talks about Amir Johnson, the rest of the Pistons, LeBron, and whether or not T.J. should be playing despite the injury risk.

[god]

trade him