Death of the 2008/09 Raptors

Despite the recent 4 game win streak, this team is dead dead dead. How is that possible with a supposed top ten player in Chris Bosh, former all-star Shawn Marion, a breakout season from Andreas Bargnani, and a supposed all-star-to-be Jose Calderon? There reasons a-plenty, and it will be interesting to see how B.C. sorts this all out... how a team with this much talent can possibly have less than 30 wins at this point (let alone be at least .500) is ridiculous... look at Miami... without D.Wade what do they have?

Here's 5 things that are clearly wrong with the Raps that needs to be fixed:

1. Jason Kapono - wow, has this guy been a bust... I thought it was from lack of playing time, but man has he stunk it up... so many missed wide open shots... and you can't even play defence... why are you any better than Jamario Moon? This guy and his expiring contract next year is the first guy BC needs to move.

2. Coaching - we need a stable coach from the beginning of training camp, one that has experience so that the players will listen. The Raps have been terrible since Jay Triano took over... I like Jay, but this team is not performing for him.

3. Jose's foot-speed - clearly this was the problem this year... way too slow to even drive the ball, let alone play defence... it limited him to being a really slow point guard that can't defend... liability on both ends of the court... when healthy and speedy, this guy is fantastic, but take away his speed, he's not even close to being average... at least the "great" players that are hurt can still do little things to make your team win... Jose hasn't developed that yet. He needs to be healthy in 2009-10 for the Raptors to compete.

4. Shawn Marion - I have not been impressed yet... he takes a lot of bad shots... yes, he makes things happen in the open court, but he's a bad half-court offence player... bad... very versatile defender, but he hasn't shown passion. I don't mind him on the team, but he's not worth $9M let alone $17M... He probably needs to go in a sign-and-trade, because he wants too much money.

5. Defence - we need some team defence to happen some day... most nights they can't even get a stop... This needs to be their number one priority... on good teams, even the worst defenders don't get exposed, because they have a good defensive system in... this team has porous defenders, and a terrible switching system that tends to always leave someone wide open, particularly on offensive rebounds, as no one seems to know how to block out offensive rebounders...

Ok, gotta go... more on this later...

Hullo

Well, it's been a while since I've posted with any regularity... since before the Wedding hooplah, and it's been a very adventurous couple of months... but I will try to post more from here on out... at least for the next while...

Raptors... what's going on?

Just some observations from the last few games:



- Jose is SLOW... sadly, HE is the reason they lost both against New Jersey and Boston... Devin Harris and Rajan Rondo were running circles around him, and he couldn't do a thing on defence... and he was really getting frustrated on offence he had quite a few uncharacteristic turnovers which cost them the lead against the Nets and set the tone for Boston... Jose is clearly not 100%... let's hope he heals up soon, but let's face it, he's never been a good defender against fast point guards...

- Bosh has been owned twice by Kevin Garnett in two straight games against Boston... completely outplayed on both sides of the court... Just really can't play against KG... he can step it up against almost everyone else in the league, but there's just something about KG that gets him every time...

- AP can play a lot of guys quite well headsup, but he has significant issues guarding pure shooters like Ray Allen, because he can't cheat as much on guarding the drive... Same issues when Kobe or Vince gets hot and start sinking 3s... AP just doesn't get up on them enough... having said that he's been making a lot of crazy 3s...

- Good to see the Raptor up and walking ok... he hurt his foot badly in the last 76er game during an attempted trampoline dunk that went really wrong... I haven't seen him do any flips or anything remotely accrobatic since... especially not the flip he usually does at the beginning of the game...

- The half time show has gotten super lame... the Boston halftime show was a dunk contest between two guys, neither of whom managed to remotely get close to get a dunk in... then somehow we were supposed to vote for the winner? How do you vote a winner of a dunk contest when neither of the participants even get a dunk in?

- Kris Humphries and Andreas Bargnani are playing good ball at least... Too bad neither of them can really play too many guys on defence... although both are better than in prior years... Bargnani has been generally impressive this season (compared to last), although he looked lost against Boston...

- Why are we losing? Obviously no defence, but it's really coming from the lack of guard play... AP and Jose are playing ok offence, but very porous defence, and frankly Bosh is not playing very well defensively at all these days, after he had a solid start. It's a tradeoff having O'Neal in... he makes the defence so much better, but at the same time, when he starts doing his horrible shooting display, it evens everything out... Bosh poor defence is coming mainly on bad decisions to provide help-defence which has left his man open for easy buckets/rebounds... Bosh needs to box out... not that that mattered much against Boston, but certainly that was a problem in these other games.

- Why isn't Jason Kapono playing more?

- People keep chiming about the bench, but Hump, Kapono and Moon are decent NBA bench players... Still need to go another 1 or 2 steady guys though... I'm not sure Hasan Adams, Will Solomon, Nathan Jawai or Roko Ukic make any other NBA roster... maybe Solomon... as a third stringer...

- Ukic looks deathly afraid to take shots...

- Let's see how the Raps recover after these last two bad games... Charlotte is up next....

- Interesting question - are any of these raptors friends off the court?

Raptors 4-3 Boston Celtics

So the Raps give up a nice lead and completely fall apart particularly offensively in the 2nd half... In my last post I said the Raps needs big games from Calderon and Bargnani to win, and neither of them showed up... particularly when it counted. And where the heck was Bosh?

The Good: Jermaine O'Neal had a good first half... he finally showed up for a half... but then where did he go? Jamario Moon played agressive ball in the first half but was on the bench in the 2nd half after a bonehead 3pt-er in the 3rd quarter... Jason Kapono played solidly

The Bad: Bosh? Hello? As noted in the last post, he clearly showed today that he's not one of the premier players... why wasn't he calling for the ball? Why did he have only 8 shots, and none down the stretch? Hello? Calderon also didn't show up. The Raps aren't going to win any games if both of our stars play like garbage... quite disappointed in these two... The fall off of O'Neal wasn't a surprise... I just don't understand what Sam was thinking... why would you not go to Bosh and play a Jose/Bosh two man game? AP had a weak game too.

The Ugly: Everyone just sucked in that fourth quarter. Just fell apart like the Raptors of old. Pretty sad... this is going to be a huge blow to the confidence level of the team... again, very questionable plays called by Sam.

Next up: Philly's in town on Wednesday... I'll finally be at a game this year... hopefully they can take care of business like they did on opening night. Jose and Bosh need to bounce back from horrible performances... let's hope they do it convincingly...

Raptors... 4-2... Charlotte

Well thank goodness they won one... they were looking like the Raptors of old, until a very nice streak at the end put away the Bobcats...

The Good: Despite being behind and getting a lot of bad calls against them, the Raptors looked completely in control in this one and Charlotte looked completely outclassed... Bosh was fantastic and has really stepped up his game this year... Bargnani's shot was falling and he had a few great defensive sets (what??!)... Jamario Moon also stood out at times, including his very acrobatic block/save from out of bounds... Great defence in general.

The Bad: Jermaine O'Neal's post game is horrid... AP and Soloman fouling guys on 3 pt shots have to stop... AP had an offgame offensively, but a good one defensively... Jose looked lost on one-on-one D at times... particularly vs. DJ Augustin.

The Ugly: Joey G, Kris & Roko are showing why they are glued to the bench these days... no idea why anyone thought Joey G could've been a starter this year...

Next game: here's the true challenge for Chris Bosh... if he wants to show he's a true MVP candidate and the best power forward out there, he needs to go out and outplay Kevin Garnett tomorrow when the Raps visit Boston. The Raptors need to come out and be strong, and not be timid like they did against Detroit. Raps matchup well against Boston upfront... we'll see how Moon & Parker can play D against Pierce/Allen. X-Factor here for me is our European connection - Jose/Andrea will need to play great games to turn this into a win... Jose needs to make sure Rajan Rondo doesn't have easy offensive plays, which he did against the Raps last year.

back to blogging...

well, it's been a long 4 months since I've posted... lots has happened... so hard to update everything that's been going on...



i'll just start afresh shortly and not worry about catching up on the old stuff...



wonder if anyone will come back to read this blabbering again?...

Achilles Heel

So while walking back from the Keg near the Fallsview Casino in Niagara to Casino Niagara, I did something to my left Achilles heel... when I stood up from the Blackjack table, I was suddenly in immense pain, and realized it hurt a lot to just stand... and it only got worse the next day while I had to facilitate a course... I literally could not stand let alone walk without incredible pain...

Thankfully the pain has gotten better in the last two days... I can stand in one spot now, but it still hurts to walk... dang it... no golfing this weekend...

DVD Review: Catch-up edition

Ok, Need to catch up, so these will be short blurbs...

Batman: The Animated Series Season 3, 4
Season 3 is quite good actually, with some classic episodes including some good Harley Quinn and Scarface ones… Season 4 is when the animation and re-design happened, so a lot of characters become lamer (new Robin, Poison Ivy, Catwoman) and the show in general just isn’t quite as good. Watch Season 3… You can probably skip Season 4 (Season 3 – 7/10, Season 4 – 3/10).

The Cosby Show Season 7, 8
In hindsight, these last two seasons of the Cosby Show weren’t as bad as I remembered, but the introduction of cousin Pam in Season 7 was the beginning of the end of the show… that, plus the disappearance of Lisa Bonet from the show completely while keeping Raven-Symone on the show… and the disappearance of the kids funny friends (Cockroach, the fast-talking girl, Peter, etc)… Other than a few pointless episodes and any episode with Pam as the focus, there are still a bunch of good ones, held together by Cliff, Theo and Elvin… The Season 8 storyline of Vanessa getting engaged as a surprise was retardo too and her fiance Dabnes was pretty lame-o... (Season 7 - 5/10, Season 8 - 5/10).

Heroes Season 2
I had heard a lot of bad things about Season 2, and yes the new characters were all dumb, but I saw this as more of a setup for Season 3, while trying to keep it somewhat interesting. And it was actually better than I thought it was going to be... No where close to the adventure and excitement of Season 1, but still interesting... too bad no one who supposedly died in Season 1 actually stayed dead... (5/10).

That 70s Show Season 8
I still don't know why they did another season after Eric Forman left the show... this season was just awkward... everyone still was hanging out at the Forman household, but the kid was gone... oh, and everyone was already in their twenties... hmmmmmmm... the new guy with the big hair was a terrible actor too, so that didn't help... at least Tommy Chong was back for the final season... (2/10).

Vantage Point
First of 5 I watched on the plane... It wasn't bad, but definitely not good... watching the same scenes three times in a row got tiring, but it got a bit interesting after that... although a bit too predictable for me... entertaining if you need a DVD to kill two hours (4/10).

10,000 BC
Reminded me of a bad version of Apocalypto, which wasn't the greatest to begin with... caveman's village gets raided and his people get kidnapped, including his beloved, so he goes after them... that's pretty much it... OK, but nothing spectular by any means (3/10).

Charlie Wilson’s War
I think I'm just tired of Tom Hanks... this was not a good movie... well, I guess it was interesting to see how Afghanistan got their weapons to fight the Soviets back in the day, but otherwise, this was just ho hum. (2.5/10).

27 Dresses
She's come a long way from My Father the Hero... anyways, she's a bridesmaid 27 times, and her sister gets engaged to the man she's in love with, who also happens to be her boss... stuff happens, and you can guess what the ending is... not a bad movie actually (5/10).

The Other Boelyn Girl
Natalie Portman sheds the horror that was the Star Wars I, II, III trilogy, and puts out a good performance in the adaptation of the best-selling book about Anne Boelyn and her sister who get trapped in the world of Henry the VIII... I first learned about Anne Boelyn from Scooby Doo I think, as she was one of the beheaded "ghosts" in one of their adventures I think... anyways, vibrantly shot, and a good feel to this one... good story too... (6/10).

Catch & Release
Jennifer Garner’s fiancé passes away, and she struggles with life afterwards… a bit like P.S. I Love you, except instead of missing him a lot, she finds out a lot of stuff she never knew before… it’s OK… but not that good. I’d pass. Oh, and Kevin Smith really can’t act. (2/10).

Horton Hears a Hoo
An elephant hears the mayor of Hoo-ville which is a miniature city on a weed, and tries to convince everyone else that he’s not crazy... Dr. Seuss would probably have been satisfied with this adaptation of his book, as it’s not that bad… definitely not great either though... (3/10).

Atonement
Ummmm… zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz… =P This was an Oscar nominee?? (1/10).

The Game Plan
The Rock is a football player who learns he has a daughter... let the hilarity begin... come 'on... hilarity? Where are you? Oh, it skipped this movie... (1/10).

The Last King of Scotland
I thought this was a great movie about Idi Amin, and his rule in Ughanda and how there are different perspectives on how a man is, and how that perspective can change in a second... Forrest Whitaker puts in a very strong performance, although I have to admit I kept waiting for the girl from Species to come and take him out... Great film, watch it! (7/10).

Jermaine O'Neal

So the Raps look to have taken a big plunge in the trade market by getting rid of the burdensome TJ Ford, and taking advantage of a couple expiring contracts (Rasho Nesterovic & Maceo Bastin) to grab former All-Star, Jermaine O'Neal from Indianna. The 17th pick in the draft is really a non-factor... Roy Hibbert's upside is to be a poor man's Brendan Haywood. 'Nuff Said.

So is it a good deal?

YES. definitely...

Worst case scenario: O'Neal plays 20 games, gets hurt and is out for the season
- so the Raps have to pay about $20M in salary to him in 2008/9... they would've paid the same to Ford/Nesterovic/Bastin, and we know that wouldn't get them anywhere
- so by the end of that year, they have a $20M expiring contract, that either gives them a huge trading tool, or gives them a lot of cap flexibility come 2010

Best case scenario: O'Neal stays healthy for 75 games or so, averages 20 points 9 boards 2 blocks, and anchors a much improved Raptor defence... O'Neal's post presence helps Kapono get better spacing, and helps keep the pressure off of Bosh. O'Neal also shifts Bargnani back to the bench, where he is more effective, and gives the Raptors a lot of good options assuming Bargnani can bounce back even a little bit.

Most likely scenario: O'Neal is only 30, but he's been in the league for like 12 years already since he didn't have the grades to get into college, and so he's definitely deteriorated in skill level... watching him last year was painful... he spent the first 4 years or so chained to the bench in Portland before getting a chance to shine in Indiana, and he did... O'Neal will probably play between 50-60 games and will help the Raptor interior defence, but will probably produce something closer to 16pts and 8 boards... he's lost some of his explosiveness, but is still young enough that he can get it back if he works at it... he'll be much better than Rasho, and probably about equivalent to what TJ is going to do in Indiana... except Toronto has Calderon to fill the gap Ford leaves, whereas Indiana has Jeff Foster...

Overall: Looks like a good deal. This will solidify Toronto as a playoff contender, but certainly doesn't move them a lot higher unless Calderon can play at a high level consistently throughout the year. Toronto now has a good talent base, but it takes a good system and healthy players for it to translate into anything... We'll see what they do next... the current holes are a true small forward who can defend on the perimeter, and a backup point guard. A veteran big man who can step in when O'Neal and Bosh inevitably get hurt would also be useful... actually Jeff Foster might be the ideal guy for that role... Here's hoping they get someone a lot better than Carlos Delfino to fill the 2/3...

Roster:
C - O'Neal, Bargnani
PF - Bosh, Humphries
SF - Moon, Kapono
SG - Parker, Graham
PG - Calderon

Invites...

So yes, invites are out... and no, I didn't invite everyone I was going to... so sorry if you didn't get one, and sorry if I overlooked anyone... I'll just say it was a numbers game...

Funniest reply thus far?

RSVP CARD says "NAMES" in one row, and "NUMBER" in another... someone replied "2" in the first line... and nothing else... no return address either... alright, so now... who the heck are you!!?!

Lesson: put numbers on the back of your RSVP cards so you know who the dummy is that doesn't tell you who's RSVPing...

DVD Reviews: Two and Half Men Seasons 2, 3 & 4, Roseanne Season 9, Prison Break Season 2

Still lots of catching up...

Two and a Half Men Season 2, 3, 4
Funny funny show… just a lot of plain simple fun… Season 2 continued on the fun from Season 1, introducing Alan’s new ditzy gf/wife although it did get quite crude in Season 3 and 4, bordering on quite inappropriate… but still a fun show… hope it doesn’t keep getting worse though… ratings? (Season 2 – 8/10, Season 3 – 7/10, Season 4 – 6.5/10).

Roseanne Season 9
Wow… could this be the worst season of TV ever? I’m guessing yes. Perfect example of a show that ended one year too late, after John Goodman went part-time, resulting in a ridiculous storyline where Dan actually cheated on Roseanne, and then the Conners win some insane lottery… so Jackie gets courted by a Prince, Darlene has a baby… and… oh yah, well really there’s no storyline whatsoever. (0/10).

Prison Break Season 2
After watching Roseanne Season 9, I wasn’t too optimistic about TV in general… and frankly I wasn’t sure how you have a show called Prison Break after they’ve already broken out… but actually this was surprisingly very very good… well at least much better than I ever expected it would be… a lot of ridiculous-ness (like how that FBI guy was everywhere, and the motive of certain actions)... but lots of twists and turns (like who lives, who dies… in what order)… anyways, entertaining show… watch it! (8/10).