Do Something!!!!!!!!

A pathetic loss to the Nets on homecourt. Outrebounded 54-38. By whom? Bosh and O'Neal were dominated by a frontcourt of Brook Lopez, Ryan Anderson and Josh Boone. Who? Exactly.

The Raptors exhibited no toughness, no athleticism and built a house with the bricks their jumpshots became. No more than a house. They built a castle in the fourth quarter.

This team is going nowhere. Quite frankly they stink. A game against Dallas on Wednesday to close out an 0-3 homestand. Bravo.

West coast roadtrip begins this Friday and includes a number of godawful teams like: Oklahoma, LA Clippers and Sacramento.

If those games are lost, we may as well give up on the season.

Hey BC! You think it's time to make a move yet?!?!?!?!?!?

Painted into a Corner?

The Raps took another on the chin last night, this time during a nationally televised game in the States on ESPN, by a score of 114-87 against the vastly superior Utah Jazz. A rousing debut for Triano! Sam lost by 39 but Triano only lost by 27! Maybe Van Gundy could only lose by 15? I jest. Could it be that Sam was not the problem? Well, the early results certainly look that way.

I’m not the only pessimist either. The usually upbeat Raptors HQ have already gone on record and stated “Frankly I don’t think BC is going to be any happier with the results brought about by this coaching change.”

Lets not worry too much about the game yesterday or the one coming up on Sunday against Portland and their jealous inducing roster of young, top-tier talent. Instead I will take a crack at trying to figure out exactly what the hell Colangelo is going to do with this mess. I figure there are 3 potential routes he could take for the rest of this bumpy looking season.

Option 1: Tinker. Based on the fact the Raptors bench is horrible he could try to tinker with the backups. After all, the Raps had been successful the past two seasons by utilizing a deep bench. His trade chips include Joey, Hump, Kapono, Anthony Parker and Jamario Moon. In other words, he’s in a weak position to bargain with these characters.

Colangelo was quoted this week as saying he has been scouring the trade market “for a big.” A BIG?!?!?! What about a small forward, shooting guard or backup point guard???

That comment ranks pretty high on the scale of “nonsensical GM smokescreen language” I hope. In fact, a big man is the only thing they don’t really need.

The question becomes, is this enough? Maybe taking a character risk on a guy with athleticism like JR Smith to replace Parker could pay off? Could bringing in some minor reinforcements help right the ship? Ummmm. Dubious.


Option 2: Trade One of the ‘Big Four’ now. When I say this I am fully aware that it will not be Bosh or Calderon - which leaves Bargnani and O’Neal.

O’Neal likely won’t be dealt now due to his health concerns and the fact that his contract is MASSIVE. His deal will be much more valuable next season when teams are acquiring expiring contracts in the hopes of making a run for Lebron James. Read: New York Knickerbockers. There is good reason to believe that O’Neal’s contract will become a Raptors treasure chest at that point.

Which only leaves Bargnani. Is it even conceivable that Colangelo and Gherardini could give up on their pet project to go in a different direction? He has been showing signs of life this season and there is reason to believe he could be worth a fair amount on the open market.

What if the Raptors could ship out 3 or 4 players (including Bargs and Kapono) to Golden State and receive in return a package that includes two or three players from this group: Stephen Jackson, Corey Maggette, Anthony Randolph, Kelenna Azubuike, Brandon Wright, Marco Belinelli, Marcus Williams. What about the Bulls, Timberwolves, Grizzlies, Clippers or Wizards?

Option 3: Wait it out. Colangelo could potentially make Triano grind this mediocre team into a low playoff seed and subsequently be demolished in the first round. Then in the offseason drop the nuclear bomb that will include:

A) Hiring a new coach. The smart money is on Etorre Messina leaving CSKA Moscow to come over. It has been speculated on by such diverse sources as Draft Express, Michael Grange and Italian newspapers as recently as yesterday.

B) Trading the aforementioned O’Neal contract for a goldmine of talent and promoting Bargnani to starting center.

C) Sign a couple of free agents who should be in the league – ie not guys like Hassan Adams and Will Soloman, while also trying to avoid overpaying for bums like Kapono.

D) Using their draft pick to actually select someone useful.

E) Finding themselves an identity. Are they a free-wheeling offensive club or are they going to be a more traditional half-court team? Bosh, O'Neal and Calderon seem to fit better into the latter category, yet Colangelo has been talking about how he wants Triano to get them some easy transition hoops. I'm a tad bit confused.

Option 3 is a risky strategy because of the fact Colangelo has already acknowledged how important it is for him to keep Bosh happy. I see this option as the least likely of the three. I'm hoping for 2, but expecting Option 1.

What do you predict?

Raptors Trade Rumours - Rubbish!

The Raps lost against the Lakers - big surprise. Is there any need to analyze why? Isn't it obvious? On to trade rumours.

As the Raps have hit the skids in recent weeks, the meda have been churning out some pretty godawful trade rumours. Here is a quick analysis of these shit sandwiches.

Straight up, that rumour of Barbosa is fucking ridiculous. Just because we wish it could happen doesn't mean it will. Keep dreaming Toronto!

Look at what Phoenix are doing right now. The 2008/9 season is Steve Kerr/Nash/Shaq/Grant Hill's collective last chance power drive.

Will they win it all? No.

Will they blow it up before the season ends? No. Because acquiring Shaq was done FOR the playoffs. They are going down in flames together - it is predestined.

So why would they trade one of their best players in Barbosa? Well the answer is: they wouldn't. Especially not to Toronto who have NOTHING that Phoenix would want. Even after racking my fertile imagination the only thing I could think of that might work is if the Suns wanted to trade Barbosa for Calderon and then use him as Nash's heir. Is that a likely scenario? Ummm. No. What else could they want? Bargs? It is the only other possibility of any likelihood. Is Colangelo looking to deal either of these guys? Doubt it.

Saying that he likes Barbosa as a player is the same as saying "I think Chris Paul has what it takes to be an NBA point guard." Or "Charles Barkley was super at rebounding the basketball." It in no way reflects any attempt to actually bring the player to Toronto.

Marion has been exposed for what he really is this year. An awesome open court player who sucks in a half-court offense. Well, guess what - a slow shitty half-court offense is precisely what Toronto is. Why would bringing a whiny baby like him be a good thing? His moping is almost of Vince Carteresque proportions. Practically speaking, the only contract the Raps have to match him is Jermaine O'Neal. Why would Miami take an injured O'Neal with a two-year contract over a healthy Marion with a one-year contract? They wouldn't.

Is there any point in even addressing the pathetic rumours of Nocioni, Belinelli or Luther Head? Is anyone dumb enough to believe they are the answer? Tinkering won't cut it.

The only rumour on the table that still sort of makes sense is the Gerald Wallace one. I wonder if Colangelo had a few beverages if would admit he should have sent TJ Ford to Charlotte instead of Indiana? My guess is yes.

Then again, it does not seem to me that any of these above possibilities are the aces up Colangelo's sleeve that he will need to keep Bosh in Toronto. We can keep guessing, but the vast majority of the time we will be completely blindsided by what the GM does. That is just a fact.

View from Above the Tunnel: It hurts so bad

So there will be no game review for either the Nets game (Friday) or the Celtics game (Sunday). Both were extremely painful, and should not be reviewed. Only bad things happened. After bad Raptors losses I tended to wander the internet looking for Raptors trade rumors, I consider it therapy, but its more like insanity, whatever. I keep surfing for some info about what Colangelo is doing to address the wing, or maybe the rumblings that Jeff Van Gundy or the Hobbit (Avery Johnson, who I hate though, and hope the Raps don't hire) might have been contacted by BC. But there is nothing, so I decided to look at the Raptor situation myself.

BC needs to convince the Thunder/Sonics to trade the Raps Desmond Mason and Earl Watson for anyone out of Kapono, Moon, Joey, Hump, 2nd round picks.

Best deal for the Raps would have to be Joey, Hump, Garbo's deal (or substitute Kapono, if OKC wants him), and a 2nd rounder.

That gives the Raps the projected lineup:

C - JO
PF - CB4
SF - Desmond Mason
SG - AP
PG - Jose
6th man - Andrea
PG2 - Watson
SG/SF2 - Moon

Conclusion: Very Sexy, and a Eastern Contender

Rationale for Okie: They are clearly already entering the Deron Deozen sweepstakes. Why not shed Earl Watson's $6.2 million and $8.6 million (expires 2010)? If Russell Westbrook is the future, he might as well play. Plus, having Joey Graham on the team, makes the locals like them, since they got booed the other night. Jeff Green is solid as well, so they can get rid of Mason and his $5.4 mil for a useable big like Hump. The 2nd rounder has decent upside, and you need as many warm bodies as possibles. Kapono gives them a shooter that they desperately need to open up the floor for Durant. And most importantly you send cash to OKC. You know that one of their owners lost a billion dollars (karma is a bitch), so they are probably looking to just sell everything off.

Rationale for the Raps: Mason solves 2 immediate needs: 1) Athletic perimeter defender and 2) Slasher. Desmond is a perfect fit. Plus defender, and he always takes it to the hoop, mainly because he has no jumper. Watson is a good back up for Jose, and makes that 2nd unit faster. You could even play Roko or Soloman or Moon at the back up 2, to give AP rest.

Financially, the Raps would have to trade the rights to Garbo (4.25 million, expire 2009), Joey ($2.45 million, expire 2010), and Hump ($3.2 million, expire 2011). Mason and Watson's total salary is $11.6 million for this season. The ESPN Trade Machine loves this trade ( http://games.espn.go.com/nba/features/traderesult?players=2759~2433~2010~518~1027&teams=25~25~25~28~28&te=&cash=25:28 ).

Potential Strategy or Pie in the Sky Fantasy?

View from Above the Tunnel: Embrace the Blow By

So I just got back from the game, and well, let's just say I am totally confused and frustrated. It was a poor effort from the start, and the Raps never got closer than 1 point at home, and they were down by as much as 16 pts.

I am not going to be doing 3 things because well, frankly, there was only 1 good thing. Once again the Raptors bigs came through with some great play. Double Doubles for both Bosh and JO again, Andrea had a very nice game off the bench.

Sadly, the motley crew of Raptors guards completely fell apart. Kapono, AP, Moon, Graham, all of them were terrible on offense (an astounding 6/28), and they looked completely lost on defense. Jose got hurt at the end of the 1st quarter, and watching Soloman/Roko "run" the offense was horrific (not as horrific as watching Philly's guards blow by them, but it was close).

Of course, Smitch looked like he was at a total loss at how to coach his team. Obviously, its not completely his fault, since he isn't the one playing some solid "torro" defense. At the same time, he had no answer to try and disrupt the Philly offense.

Bosh has taken it to the next level, and JO has proved to be a decent #2/3 option. Jose isn't as efficient as he was last year, but I think its because Raptor opponents are selling out to stop him from turning the corner, and keeping him from dumping it back to Bosh on the roll. Andrea seems to have taken to his role coming off the bench, and he is finally showing some consistency. For all of that, the Raptors still look like they are lacking something.

Honestly, I think this team is as good as its gonna get with the current personnel and the current schemes. Now that Jose is hurt, I fear that it will get significantly worse. I don't know what else there is to discuss. After tonight, I think BC has to pull the trigger on something. Is that a shake up going to be a big trade or a coaching change? Only time will tell, but something must be done.