Toronto Raptors Ramblings

Save the cheerleader, Save our Team

When Juan Dixon and The Hump light things up for an entire half of near perfect shooting and 18 points you expect to be winning. When Bosh goes 14-14 from the line you expect we are firing on all cylinders. And when TJ is working a 10:1 ratio you expect the moon to crash into the earth and for everyone to die in a fiery explosion. But of course, we aren’t dominating, and these numbers are illusions. Bosh is not back to Bosh yet which is problem 1. All assumptions and proclamations about Raptor domination work on the assumption that Bosh is All-Star Bosh. The other assumption going into this year of course was that we wouldn’t have a long period of figuring each other out. That our pieces moved together in perfect harmony and that our depth was even deeper. Hopefully that will be the case….soon.

Suffering from Heroes Syndrome
Our current 13 man rotation is very last year. If you watched the Show “Heroes” last year you already know how it was basically the Raptors season. If you are watching it this year you are seeing some eerie similarities rising again.

The problem with Heroes at the outset last year was there were so many heroes, so many story lines that you could never really get into the full groove of any particular hero. There were lots of individual talents but they weren't a team in the least. As the show moved along they started to come together and form cohesive units and story lines. They started to know their roles and work together to harness the collective powers. And by the end it was one kick as unit that together knocked down (but not out) the uber creepy Sylar. In effect The Raptors were the Heroes of last year minus the end where we couldn’t defeat the uber-creepy Carter.

2007- 2008: Here we go again

This year Hero is stuck back in ancient times and nobody really understands what he’s doing. We only have a couple of new heroes who look promising (like the girl who kills you with her black death eyes) but for some reason the old Heroes forget they were a super team and are all over the map again figuring things out for the first time.

Sam Mitchell is our Hero wandering around the 1600s taking his own arrows and certainly confusing us. We can only hope that he soon pieces it together and we look at the genius of this plot he is unfolding. In summary, get Hero out of ancient times and back to the big city to pull this team together.

What is the PT Situation?

I’m glad I asked.

• 8 Raptors are averaging over 20 minutes a game

• 4 Raptors are averaging over 11 minutes a game

• 1 Raptor is averaging 8.2 minutes a game…and he’s Jorge Garbajosa

Yup, old trusty Uhu Glue stick Jorge Garbajosa is riding the pine. He says he’s fine, Mitchell clearly thinks otherwise. Delfino is virtually tied with Bosh for most minutes played. Rasho is stuck in 10 minute land and we are losing. Big time. Other than cohesion issues what’s up?

Passing, where has the passing gone?

It only takes one guy to stop the passing flow. It takes a few guys to shoot when they should pass and it becomes as contagious as passing once was. This team has to trust the pass, work it around and shoot open shots. Too much hesitation, too much forcing, too little passing. We need the passing disease to strike back in TO. Kapono is probably the most confused guy, he thought he was just taking over Mo Pete's office space in the corner.

And of course our shooting woes are well documented. Guys like Bargnani have shown they can play defence on tough opponents, Carlos can grab rebounds, T.J. can own people but if we can't hit open shots we can't win. We aren't built to win any other way. So get the cohesion, get the passing, get the open shots.

Save our cheerleaders...save our season.

posted by WG @ 3:54 PM