Raptor Talk 2012-13 The New Broom

And another:

https://youtu.be/iFfGgcx6CkU

I love his manner with his teammates from an early age! He just seems very genuine!

I agree with Steve Buffery this guy can be a huge fan favourite.

http://goo.gl/7ynUl

For 4 minutes and change at game's end the Raptors could not find a way to score the basketball. That futility undid a pretty awesome debut for PG Kyle Lowry and rookie Jonas Valanciunas.

Unfortunately the Pacers were led by David West - who was doing pretty much whatever suited his fancy down the stretch - and charged back for a 90-88 comeback win. DeMar DeRozan did little to justify his newly signed contract. Last night there were just too many "oh no" takes for my liking and he was not getting to the line at all. He'll have to improve on that by a considerable margin in the upcoming season.

The Raptors have their usual early season allotment of early season road games and elite opponents to start this campaign so they will simply have to do better down the stretch to avoid getting snowed under early!

I think I have a man-crush on Valanciunus

The kid has POTENTIAL!

He is gonna be unreal...

I predict in a couple of years he will be an All Star... I'm talking top 3 centres in the league unreal.

He went toe to toe with the best centre in the East... Hibbert had all kinds of compliments on JV in his post game interview.

As for the game itself... not sure why Kleiza didn't get a run when Landry and Derozan were sh1ttin the bed.

Two of the new guys - JV and Lowry - looked very good. Fields shooting touch is still AWOL.

This team has much more of a defensive presence than we've seen in recent years. Lowry makes life miserable for the opposing point guard and will even stick his nose in to strip the ball away from bigs or for rebounds.

Lucas, not Calderon, should be handling the ball on the second unit. That second unit was impressive in the pre-season but you neuter the unit without Lucas handling it. Calderon can function as the 2 man and second ball handler.

Playing Lucas off the ball is pointless. The whole personality of that second unit depends on Lucas pushing it and changing the pace of the game. Amir should be the centre on that second unit, as a runner and Anderson as the defensive stopper. I would be playing Kleiza ahead of Ross, on the second unit, right now. Casey needs to reduce Bargs' minutes. No need to have a tired guy out there when you have Amir, Gray and Davis sitting on the bench.

I love Coach Casey he is my avatar for God's sake but---

I don't understand his calls these first two games. Why play Aaron Gray in crunch time yesterday? Why so little time for Lucas III? What about changing something when David West is eating your food? Where's his vaunted zone?

What is going on with our Coach? I hope he finds his game today vs. theTimberwolves minus Rubio and Love. Wins are tough to come by this early season when you have 17-of-22 on the road and a bunch of games vs. Western Conference.

I know petro doesn't agree but I still say the NBA tries to bury us early for the sake of the teams in the US of A.

The starters, with the exception of Fields, look pretty good.

Its that second unit which has fallen off. He needs to give Lucas the keys to that second unit and let him drive, for better or for worse. He gave a quick hook to Lucas last night. It was that second unit which bailed out the starters in the preseason. Some of their success in the preseason was against marginal guys, but they also looked pretty good against the better players.

Jose jogging the ball up and down on the second unit isn't what you need. He's fine as a second guard, with his shooting touch and secondary passing.

I don't think the coach really has his substitution patterns down yet. He doesn't look fully confident in that second group -- who should be on the floor or for how long.

Not sure how long you can leave Fields in the starting five, with this shooting drought. Hopefully he will find his stroke.

This early season schedule is pretty brutal.

I said mid 30's for wins -- so many new guys, a tough schedule and division. They have a small break in the sense that the Knicks and 76ers have injury issues and they appear healthy themselves.

So far I'm glad Demar is proving me wrong about his game.

I like the combo attack of DD and Lowry.

Andrea finding it hard to get his groove because of this tandem.

Here's an article touting Raps as a possible big time sleeper!

http://www.hoopsworld.com/sunday-topic-biggest-sleeper-team/

Now that was a sh1t show of a game vs. OKC

Watching the US election. Glad I missed the Raptors get blown out.

Hey Observer... hope you were watching reruns of the election last night instead of game against Philly.

The Raptor team that won 47 games had a pre-season of 7-1 and then started the regular season with a 1-7 start.

I know it's early ... but God this season could be lost if they don't win 2 of the next four games = which would make them a measly 3-7 for the first 10 games.

If they can hit that benchmark then I won't prematurely write the season off as a train wreck - yet!

Actually Petro, I went to the Sixers game in person. And based on what I saw, I won't be buying tickets again for a while, until they snap out of this funk.

They are a team of jump shooters with no reliable low post scorer, with the possible exception of DeRozan. JV may get there but its not fair to him to expect him to be a one or two option two weeks into his NBA career.

Minus Alan Anderson, that second unit was awful. Now Anderson himself is injured.

That Sixers team is one of the smallest in the NBA, with Bynum injured. Other than Spencer Hawes, there is no legitimate NBA sized four or five man in the rotation. The Raptors completely failed to take advantage of their size advantage and were outquicked and outhustled on the boards and stagnant on offense. Not sure what they are even doing on offense, right now. Also not sure what Casey's rotation is, after the starting five. I wonder if the guys on the team can figure it out either.

I predicted 30 wins before the pre-season. I upped that to mid 30's after the pre-season. I never thought they would make the playoffs in either case -- there were mostly creampuffs on the exhibition schedule.

They may need a trade to revamp the front court. They need a guy who can draw a foul and score in the post.

Jose Calderon was huge last night as the Raptors hung on to beat the Pacers 74-72. He registered a triple-double with 13 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists. His contribution was sorely needed in the absence of Kyle Lowry at PG.

Hard to figure why Casey is sitting JV down in crunchtime he will need that experience moving forward also he is outstanding from the line a prime factor in the stretch of games. The kid is a gamer!

I agree coach... but Amir is playing superbly and he has more experience... and the coach has to get the w's before anything.

JV will get his time.

I agree about Amir but he's not a five to begin with.

Maybe its Andrea who comes out until he finds his game.

WoW... Demar is really impressing me. His game has really stepped up... now the refs have to give him the respect he deserves.

Bargs needs to understand that he is a 3rd option on this team... behind DD and Kyle (when he returns)

The losing continues for the Raptors. At Charlotte the no-calls did us in - one of which (in the closing seconds of the loss) was publicly acknowledged - all for naught!

Yesterday in Detroit Bargnani comes up with a huge first half and 34 pts. overall but his effort was wasted. Sub-par games by a number of Raptors notably Lowry, DeRozan, Kleiza and McGuire sealed our fate.

I love Valanciunas hobbling down the floor on a wonky ankle to give it his best. This kid is a beacon of hope in what has been a season of despair. Terrence Ross too is showing some signs of promise. We have to grasp on to what little we can find with an absolutely brutal stretch of games ahead!

They are having a lot of difficulty finishing games and holding leads.

Not sure why McGuire is starting. He's a defesive specialist who would seem best suited to coming off the bench.

The loss of Anderson was significant as he could drill a three pointer and bail the team out when the other team was making a run. He was also a fine defender.

Since this season appears to be non playoffs again, playing the young guys (Ross, JV, even Acy) appears to be beneficial.

They should give thought to trading Bargs and Calderon and re-tooling some more. Those guys would have value in the marketplace right now, for a veteran team who needs one or two guys to put them on top.

This team is going nowhere fast.

Bargs should be traded but who wants him - and better yet - what would Raps get in return. It's not like the incoming player would even marginally improve the club because Raps would get someone else's baggage in return... but maybe it would be good if that player had an expiring contract... but then again -what big name player wants to come here via free agency.

Back to = this team is going nowhere fast.

I like Calderon as a back up - very useful and productive.

We have lost five very close games this year including a triple overtime loss and back-to-back one point losses this week.

Give us those three games and we're 6-7 and in the hunt for a playoff spot!

With Nowitzki's knee problems appearing more serious than originally thought perhaps the Marvericks would be a taker for Bargs, in a shooter, scorer role. Be happy to send them Calderon also.

All for a package of picks, Darren Collison, Jae Crowder, Brendan Wright and other cap filler to make the deal work financially.

Had a nice chat with a couple of the Raptor play by play guys at half time of the grey cup... one in particular had nothing good to say about Bargs... in fact - he was adamant that Raps should trade him.

The normally supportive CBC has an article demanding Colangelo's ouster.

http://www.cbc.ca/sports/basketball/opinion/2012/11/5-reasons-why-raptors-gm-bryan-colangelo-should-be-fired.html

It is time for someone to be held accountable for this mess.