Bargs back at SF?

The Raps grinded out a victory yesterday without the help of Jose Calderon on Sunday afternoon. In his place Will Soloman chipped in a respectable 15 points and 11 dimes.

Most notably in this game was the insertion of Andrea Bargnani into the starting lineup in place of Jamario Moon. This is not the first time we have seen Bargs play the three spot over the years. Who could forget the disasterous results it had last year against the Magic in game one of the playoffs?

However, it somehow seemed to work yesterday vs the Heat. The Raps frontline absolutely dominated the Heat and with the increased roles of Bargnani and Humphries ended up outrebounding them by a final of 52-35.

Can we conclude this experiment a success? Should Moon be perma-benched?

Positives include:
a) The aforementioned rebounding advantage
b) A competent offensive player like Bargnani on the court masks a number of Moon's deficiencies in terms of shooting/driving/decisionmaking
c) Without Calderon to create opportunities for teammates, the Raps offense clicked anyhow - I'm hesitant to give too much of that praise to Soloman in spite of his 11 assists

Negatives include:
a) The perimeter defence was horrific - giving up 8 triples (but isn't it always?)
b) The defense seemed incredibly porous at times and the Heat had little difficulty getting high quality shots at will
c) Bargs will never be able to cover small forwards - ever

Conclusion

I am still a huge skeptic. Bargnani may only appear to be the solution due to the generally horrific play of other Raps like Moon, Kapono, Graham, Adams, etc. In principle, he is simply not suited to play the 3. While it worked yesterday I do not foresee a lineup of O'Neal, Bosh and Bargs being effective over the long haul.

That being said, the improvement of Bargnani is very encouraging. His trade value has gone from nonexistant at the end of last season to incredibly valuable over the span of a few months. While I do not think Colangelo will trade him, it is nice to contemplate the type of players he could potentially bring back in a swap.

While he may never be Brandon Roy, things are definitely looking up.

How Do You Say Bust in Italian?

Andrea might not be good at basketball, but he has a girly name and astute foresight for his career averages (6pts, 1reb).

Richie Makes Me Want To Say Yes So Bad

Chueey,

Read this and tell me you arent on the pasta bandwagon....

Jermaine O'Neal Said:

"Man, it was good," O'Neal said. "I had heard a lot about Bargnani. But he came in and he worked hard. He beat me to the gym every single day and he left when I left and that's a lot. We put in some five-hour days in the gym.

"When you watch a person work out you learn a lot about him," O'Neal said. "Some guys are naturally gifted and don't like to work real hard. They just breeze through.

"This guy was working hard and he really wanted it. I don't know what has gone on with him before here, but he really accepted the challenge. We played together for the first week and the next week we played against each other. He didn't shy away and I was trying to beat him to death."

But what amazed O'Neal the most was the quickness Bargnani possesses and while it might not go over well with his new bosses, O'Neal came right out and said playing Bargnani at small forward would be a mistake.

"Now, I have heard about them playing him at the three, and this is just me, the team is going to do what they're going to do, but I believe there is no (power forward or centre) in the league who can guard him. You put a three on him and he'll keep up with him, but fours and fives will be dead in the water."

Thas super propaganda! I personally agree with the idea about NOT playin the Italian stallion at the 3 too.

C'mon Chu, why say no when it feels so good to say yes? - Tommy Boy

Toronto Raptors your 2008/9 NBA Champs

Richie