| On Or Off The Toronto Bandwagon? Authored by Jonathan Rosenbluth - November 24, 2006 - 12:01 pm
| Current Featured Columns | | Merry Christmas, Raptors Fans The Raptors might not be playing good basketball right now, but there are plenty of things for Toronto fans to be thankful for this holiday season.
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1) The Raptors RIGHT NOW are not nearly playing good enough basketball to go .500.
2) The Raptors RIGHT NOW can not contend with the better teams in the NBA.
3) The Raptors RIGHT NOW are currently tied for the second worst record in the NBA......COME ON GREG ODEN!!!
My preseason prediction: 33-49
The Raptors are currently on pace for: 17-65
My current prediction (through ten games): 26-56
Is it too early to jump off the Raptors bandwagon?
For this season? Yes. For future seasons? No. There should never have been people predicting 40+ win seasons in the first place, so there never should have been this “bandwagon” to jump on. The Raptors will not contend for a playoff spot this season. The have the nucleus that, when they improve, they can contend for, not only playoffs but, championships.
But before they can contend for championships the Raptors need a real center. Not a thin 6-11 guy, a real big man. The Raptors don’t need a guy at center who will put up 15 + points per game (although that would be nice) they need someone that is big enough (height and weight) that he can play good defense and can be a real force off the glass (Nothing against Chris Bosh but he is too thin to compete with the elite big men of the NBA).
Since the 1999 championship every championship team has had one of the games premier big men/rebounders. Of the trio of Shaquille O’neal, Tim Duncan, and Ben “fear the fro” Wallace, one of them has been on every championship team since 1999. The statement, "Defense wins chamionships" is, in my belief flawed. It should be, "Defense and big men win championships".
My Preseason awards
Raptors MVP: Chris Bosh
This seemed to be a no brainer at the beginning of the year, and it still is. He is easily the most talented player on the team and everything runs through him.
Surprise of the year: In the preseason I wrote, “Tough choice between Anthony Parker and Fred Jones.
Edge: Anthony Parker due to his defensive ability.
That being said I think highly of Jones and he will be a spark plug for these Raptors”
I think I got that one right!
RFPOTY (Raptor’s foreign player of the year): In the preseason I wrote that it would be Garbajosa, and Bargnani would be runner up. It looks like I got that one wrong. I think Garbajosa will step up, but once again this season we are seeing what a fine tuned machine Calderon is at backup point guard.
EDGE: Jose Emanuel Calderon
Memo to Raptor's fans: Don't get discouraged about Bargnani yet. He is only 21, and the Raptors drafted him knowing that he would have some growing pains. Don't forget T-Mac wasn't dominent as a rookie either. |
