New Assistant Coach

The Raps announced that they have brought in a new assistant coach, Scott Roth, to help under Jay Triano. He has an interesting connection to Jay, dating as far back as playing in the Turkish Basketball league at the same time in the 80's.

Last year, Roth was an assistant coach for the Golden State Warriors. He has spent seven other seasons as an assistant in the NBA, with Dallas and Vancouver/Memphis, and also has served as a scout and advisor for Milwaukee.

Roth played in 160 games in his three-year NBA career.

Dinos Waive Dwayne Jones

The Raps yesterday waived forward/centre Dwayne Jones, brought over along with Leandro Barbosa in the Hedo Turkoglu deal. Jones did not figure to dress for many contests - he'd be competing with Patrick O'Bryant for garbage time minutes at the centre spot.

By waiving Jones, the Raps have cut their roster down to 15 players, the most an NBA team can have during the season.

Raps Swap Belinelli for Wright

Yesterday the Raptors announced that they have acquired forward Julian Wright from the Hornets in exchange for Marco Belinelli. Nelly averaged just over 7 points per game last year, but his inconsistency and lack of ability to contribute beyond scoring severely limited his minutes off the bench.

In Wright, the Raps get a still-young player with great "tools." He's athletic, big for his position (6-8) and is a serviceable defender. He's a pretty efficient wing scorer, shooting 50% from the floor, but because of his non-existent playing time (only 12 MPG) his per-game numbers tell us practically nothing (4 points, 2 rebounds per game). One thing we do know is that he has no range on his jumper: he only attempted 6 threes all season (making two). That said, in a fast-paced offense, Wright could be a solid contributor on both ends of the court. From a contract standpoint, Wright is entering the last year of his rookie contract, so the Raptors don't lose any financial flexibility from this deal.

Italian Raps Light Up Eurobasket Qualifying

Marco Belinelli and Dr. Drea both had big games yesterday in the Eurobasket qualifiers, as Italy beat Finland (stop laughing) 82-73. Bargs and Nelly both started, and each contributed in a big way to their team's success.
Bargnani is clearly comfortable as the focal point of Italy's offense, playing 30 minutes and contributing a team-high 24 points in very efficient manner (9/17 FG, 2/4 3PT, 4/5 FT). He contributed a team-high 5 rebounds as well (not even 60 total rebounds in the game) and a game-high 3 blocks. Hopefully Eurobasket will give Andrea some solid experience as an offense's number-1 scoring option.
Belinelli is also a key component of Italy's offense, and he did not disappoint, playing 35 minutes and showing a very nice all-around game: 15 points (5/9 FG, 3/6 3PT, 2/2 FT), game-high 5 assists, 2 rebounds and 2 steals. Hopefully he can continue to be a factor beyond just scoring, and if he can he'll be a great weapon off the Raptor bench.

Turkoglu Scolds Toronto After BC's Bosh Criticism

Just days after Bryan Colangelo criticized Chris Bosh by saying that he didn't give 100 percent towards the end of the season, everyone's new favourite ex-Raptor, Hedo Turkoglu, decided to get involved. Turk pointed fingers at the entire franchise, saying "People have to realize something is wrong with that organization and nobody wants to go there anymore, it's not just the players who see this”. Has Toronto gained a negative perception in the basketball world from poor management and inability to progress as a team?

Raptor management is great at running the team as a business. Each year they bring in more revenue than the last despite years and years of unsuccessful on-court play. Last season the Raptors finished 11-worst in the association, but despite their poor record they were valued as the 11th most valuable franchise in the NBA at $386 million USD. However, and unfortunately, where Raptor management fails is in the team's performance. Like it or not, Toronto has always had a negative aura cast upon us in the basketball world. Every superstar we've had, from Damon to T-Mac to Vince to Chris, has asked out of Toronto. Its not because its too cold north of the border or that the fans are non-existent. Its the management. Hedo said what none of us wanted to.

BC left the Suns in 2006 to join the Raptors. He brought the confidence and winning background that Toronto needed ever so badly. But since then we've seen a GM that throws around money as if his supply were endless and reward players with large contracts who seemed undeserving of them. Colangelo didn't change his theory from Phoenix to Toronto, it just didn't work well here. Today BC's practice has caught up to him, trying to deal Jose Calderon with a bloated 3 year, 30 million dollar price tag and Marcus Banks, who has not seen significant floor time since landing in Toronto in February 2009.

Looking at the history of the Raptors, we see a team that has barely accomplished mediocrity. Every GM to walk through Toronto's doors has failed to put the pieces together around the superstar. Even the two time Executive of the Year hasn't led us any closer to a championship than the criticized Glen Grunwald and Rob Babcock.

So, Raptor fans, is there anything positive to take away from this? Well firstly, Canada's team is getting younger and younger each day, and that generally breeds more exciting basketball. DeMar DeRozan raised some eyebrows in Vegas by showing off his aggressiveness and his new three point shot. Toronto has also now become Andrea nation, will he become Dirk 2.0? And hey, even if there isn't much to look forward to, a lockout in 2011 is looking inevitable. That could be valuable time for the Raptors to sort out and give the Raptors a new image.

Raps Trade for Andersen

On Wednesday night BC traded a protected second round pick in the 2015 draft to the Houston Rockets for Aussie centre David Andersen. "The Other Australian Centre" averaged close to 6 points and 3 boards in 63 games for the Rockets. Andersen is known for his offensive talent, as the 30 year old can stretch the floor and create his own shot in the post. He also follows the Raptor tradition of Centres who cannot rebound or play defense. Dave is currently in the second year of his 3 year, 7.5 million dollar contract, with the third year being a team option, so the Raptors are tied to him only for this year.

Andersen can be an effective signing for the Dinos. He brings a winning mentality to a team with a longstanding history of mediocrity. The 6'11 Aussie also brings a little competition to the table for Raptor rookie Solomon Alabi. It will be interesting to see if Andersen can impress Jay Triano enough to crack the rotation, but for now expect him to see injury minutes.

Year One A.B.: Kleiza Signing Officially Announced

It's been public knowledge for a while now, but all necessary paperwork has been cleared by the NBA and the Raps have announced their signing of 26-year-old Linas Kleiza to a multi-year deal. Raptor team policy dictates that financial details were not disclosed, but it's believed to be a 4-year deal worth about $20 million, or a large chunk of the Raps' mid-level exception.

Kleiza is an interesting signing. He spent 4 seasons with the Nuggets and was a pretty effective role player, backing up Carmelo Anthony. He's a totally different look from Melo - much more of a below-the-basket player and not necessarily in a bad way. Ignoring his rookie season, he put up very solid numbers: from 2006-09, in about 20 minutes per game he averaged around 9.5 points and 4 rebounds, shooting 45% from the field, 34% from three and 77% from the line, meaning his per-40 numbers are impressive: 19 points and 8 rebounds (though extrapolating stats is dangerous in his case, as he mostly played against backups and was never the offense's focal point).

After dominating the Euroleague to the tune of 19.7 points (2nd in the league) and 7 rebounds per game, he returns to the NBA. He figures to start at the 3-spot and will provide a very different look to Sonny Weems just like in Denver. He's not going to score 25 points every night or tear down the rim with rim-rattling dunks, but he's a very solid player to have around. It's very possible that we'll see Kleiza outperform his contract, especially heading into his prime 27-30 years.

Year One A.B.: The Point Guard Crop

The Raps come into this season with a plethora of viable options at the point guard position. They're still looking for a point guard to build a team around, but Jarrett Jack proved himself to be well worth his maligned contract - and Jose Calderon is still paid like a franchise PG.

Jarrett Jack - one half of the "Jackeron" point guard duo. He was signed by Bryan Colangelo in another attempt to keep Bosh around (the two are good friends and played together at Georgia Tech), and many critics felt he overpaid greatly, signing him to a 4-year, $20 million deal. However, Jack played his way into the starter's role. He averaged about 11 points, 5 assists and 3 rebounds while keeping his turnovers to 2 per game - all in 27 minutes a game, with great percentages too - 48% FG, 41% 3PT, 84% FT. His per-40 minute numbers translate very impressively - about 17 points, 7 assists, 4 rebounds and 3 turnovers, which are pretty much excellent. His defense is also generally well-regarded. If Jose wasn't being paid so much (and wasn't being as efficient as he is) he'd make a solid full-time starter.

Jose Calderon - the other half. He signed an extension in 2008 worth about $8 million a year, and had a very good 08-09, even setting the single-season record for free-throw percentage. With Jack's effectiveness, though, his minutes took a big hit and he returned to roughly his career averages: 10 points, 6 assists, 2 rebounds and 1.5 turnovers per game, in about 27 minutes. He shot 48%/38%/78%, and the free throw percentage is sure to rise (his career average is 88%). It seemed that Colangelo was sending him out of town in a three-way deal that would have brought Boris Diaw and Tyson Chandler to Toronto, but the deal fell through. Contrary to Jack, Calderon is a poor defender and is somewhat of a liability on that end of the court.

Marcus Banks - the third-string. Banks was brought over in the Jermaine O'Neal trade as a salary dump for the Heat. He's been generally nailed to the bench during his stay in Toronto but has actually been reasonably effective in very limited minutes. He averaged 5 points and just over an assist per game in about 11 minutes per appearance, but he shot a very good 53% from the field, 83% from the line and in 10 December appearances (all over 10 minutes) he turned the ball over just 6 times total. He showed that he can be a reasonably capable backup guard in case of an injury, but that doesn't mean the Raps aren't waiting patiently for his contract to expire.

Leandro Barbosa - the newcomer. Barbosa, "The Brazilian Blur," arrived in Toronto from Phoenix in the Hedo Turkoglu trade. Besides Steve Nash, he was actually the only Sun left over from the "7 seconds or less" super-fast-paced offense of years past. He did not have a good season in 2009-10, battling injuries (he appeared in just 44 games and averaged only 18 minutes) and ineffectiveness. He saw his PPG drop by 5 points (14.2 to 9.5), APG drop by almost one (2.3 to 1.5), and his field goal and 3-pointer percentages drop by about 50 points each. Hopefully Barbosa has taken this summer to get healthy and if we're lucky, the combo guard can return to form in 2010-11. If he is back to full speed, Barbosa running the break with DeRozan or Weems, Johnson or Davis would all be very entertaining to watch.

What to expect this year - Jack will likely start at the beginning of the year. He earned the role last season, and Calderon was fairly effective playing against backups. As well, the two will likely play together for a few minutes during some games, especially if the Raptors need extra shooters on the floor. If Jack is ineffective or injured, expect to see Calderon step in as the starter and Banks to play backup minutes, and Barbosa to take over if the Raptors elect to put on a more fast break-oriented lineup. Leandro's likely to get the majority of his playing time at shooting guard, however.

Year One A.B.: The 2010 Draft

The 2010 Draft was a tough one for the Raptors. They finished one game out of the playoffs behind the Bulls, and had the 13th best shot at the first overall pick. It was also pretty clear by that point in the offseason that the Raps were going to have to rebuild after the departure of Chris Bosh - and 13th overall picks don't tend to become franchise players (besides Kobe Bryant).

The Raps' greatest needs going into the draft:
- A defense-first, rebounding big man to back up Amir Johnson and Andrea Bargnani.
- A scoring wingman with the ability to spot-up from deep.

The draft's first several picks unfolded as expected, with John Wall and Evan Turner going 1-2, and Derrick Favors, Wesley Johnson and DeMarcus Cousins right behind them. However, Ed Davis' wrist injury in February of 2010 caused him to fall out of the top-10, and the Dinos gladly grabbed him with their only pick, fulfilling their first need. In his sophomore year at North Carolina Davis averaged 9.6 rebounds and almost 3 blocks to go along with 13 points per game. Davis' game is eerily similar to that of a young Chris Bosh - both long, athletic lefties with tremendous potential. Davis' athleticism and skills are not on par with Bosh's, but his defensive abilities (especially shot-blocking) are superior at this point in his career, and even a poor man's CB4 is a valuable piece to any team. An excellent value pick for the Raptors, who are gambling that Davis' wrist will not impede him from succeeding in the NBA. There is a mantra regarding the NBA Summer League that says, "you don't find out who can play. You only find out who can't." That said, Ed gave us no reason to doubt him by averaging 13 points, 6 rebounds and 2 blocks while shooting an excellent 63% from the field in 25 minutes per game.

With the 50th pick, the Dallas Mavericks selected Florida State sophomore Solomon Alabi, a 7-1 centre with impressive touch for his size. He was traded on draft night to the Raptors for cash. Alabi averaged 12 points, 6 rebounds and 2.3 blocks in 25 minutes per game with the Seminoles. However, what may be most intriguing about him is his solid shooting ability - he shot 54% from the field and almost 80% from the free throw line in his final year of college. Alabi's athleticism and agility are not at an elite level, but if he can continue to hone his defensive skills and perfect a few post moves, he could be a very solid backup big man. Alabi posted a line of 8 points, 5 rebounds and 1 block in about 18 minutes per game in Vegas.

Wiretap: Toronto Out of the Mix for Barnes

Well Raptor fans, it seemed a little too good to be true, and in fact it was. Yahoo Sports is reporting that the Lakers are now the front runner for a one year deal with Barnes. The Cavaliers, however, are still heavily pursuing Barnes.