View From Above the Tunnel: Rain Delayed

So I missed the first quarter of the game because the officials in Philly decided to move the game up because of the World Series. You figure after a 46 hour rain delay, they could wait another hour. Anyway onto the very first regular season edition of 6 things. Sorry for the late review, but my job got in the way. Without further ado, 3 things I liked, 3 things I don't:

3 things I liked:

1. 4th quarter Jason Kapono: What's this Kapono decided to just catch it and let'er rip? He also scored 10 pts in the 4th on 3/4 shooting from long distance? This is why the Raps are paying you $6 million dollars. Nice way to close out the game.

2. Defensive Energy: I loved that the Raps put the clamps on Philly whenever they decided to make any attempt at a run. Moon and Parker were extremely aggressive in their perimeter defense, and Bosh and O'Neal protected the rim with abandon. Now, the blocked shots total wasn't that high, but it was clear that Bosh and JO altered plenty of Sixer attempts (36%, damn Philly can't shoot!). Plus the Raptors forced the Sixers into a ton of turnovers, which I think is the key measure of a great defensive basketball team (rather than shooting %)

3. Chris Bosh: Wow, what a start to the year. He had the eye of the Tiger going on last night. Just attacking the rim on offense and he was a beast on the glass and in his own end. You couldn't have asked Bosh to do more, and yet it seemed like he had plenty more to give if the Raps weren't up by 10 with a couple mins left. People have been worried about the Raptors lack of a one on one, drive the lane type scorer. Well, I have a feeling Bosh is going to be that guy for us. His first step looks devastating, in fact, I don't think I can think of one big man in the entire NBA that will be able to take away Bosh's drive.


3 things that made my go hmmmmm:

1. Quarters 1 through 3 Jason Kapono: What the hell Kapono?? 2 travels and a blocked shot!!!! Way to take advantage of the new found space with JO and Bosh. Whenever I see Kapono dribble, I go into a blind rage. Why does JK insist on doing anything except shoot 3 pointers. Sam Mitchell needs to start using a cattle prod on him during practice. Everytime the ball is in his hands, and he takes a dribble and a step forward, he should get tasered. Period.

2. The rebounding disparity: First, I must say that watching quarters 2-4, it didn't seem like the Raptors were being out rebounded. However, after the game the Raps were a steller -14 (or something like that). What the hell? That big of a rebounding differential will get you killed most nights. Now, I have been told that the first quarter was an absolute shit show, but from what I saw, I think that number might be misleading.

3. Total offensive stagnation without Jose: I know, it was Roko's first NBA game, and I should expect too much out of him. I actually thought he did okay, he minimized his turnovers, and he wasn't playing total OLE defense. However, the Sixers felt confident enough to put a full court press on him, which just shows you that they don't think he can play. While he did break the press efficiently (thank God), in the Raps half court sets, there was a lot of aimless dribbling by Roko Ono. Keep your head, son! Hopefully, he keeps improving.

Thoughts On the Raptors Before Training Camp

The new NBA season is almost here, so I thought I'd share some initial thoughts I had about the Raptors with all of you. Keep in mind, all of these feelings will probably change by the time the first pre-season game rolls around, but that's just because loving the Raptors is a roller coaster of pain.

The Bosh and JO tandem is going to be money. Bosh is coming off a stellar Olympics where he emerged as one of the best defensive players for the US, and led them in rebounding. While this doesn't sound like much, I honestly believe that excelling in the Olympics does carryover to the NBA (Manu wasn't central to the Spurs until he made the leap with Argentina).

I think JO is about to pull a Randy Moss-esque resurgence. Personally, I think he may have shut it down the last couple of seasons when he realized that Jamal Tinsley and Marquis Daniels were better at handling firearms then they were at ball handling. Whlie that sounds like as shocking lack of heart on JO's part, its okay as the Raptors are Bosh's team, and JO just needs to come here and do his job (shotblocking, helpside D, rebounding).

JO needs to hold up, his presence let's the Raptors start the Pylon known as Kapono. Now, Kapono can at least play slow white guy body up defense because he knows that he has a ton of weakside and frontside help in either JO or Bosh. If Smitch can get his defensive rotations down, then the Raps will be one of the best defensive teams in the East.

I can't make a prediction on where they could finish because I honestly think they could end up anywhere between 2 and 6 for sure, and if Boston gets nicked up, I would say 1 through 6 is a possibilitiy. For now, I am looking forward to them being a one of the elite teams in the East, and that's my expectation.

Here is my BOLD prediction for the season. The Raptors are going to start incorporating a lot of fast break elements into their offense. I make this prediction based on 3 major factors. 1) By having Bosh and JO, the Raptors should dominate their own boards, freeing Jose, AP, Moon, Kapono, etc to take off once the the rebound has been corralled. 2) Great defensive teams ALWAYS fast break, look at Boston last year and some of the previous Spurs teams. Being great at defense means that you want to be on defense more often, which means that you want to push your own offensive pace (while slowing down the other team). 3) If the Raptors are serious about keeping JO healthy, they can't let him get pounded on in the half court on offense. JO has a certain number of miles left, they can't be wasted on offense.