I'm back! The Raptors make a BIG splash!!

Well I'm finally back!! And I promise I will post almost everyday! Wow! There is a lot to get to talk about because the Raptors have finally made a huge move. The first great move the Raptors made was trading for Jermaine O'neal! Wow! I didn't see that one coming. The Toronto Raptors traded TJ Ford, Rasho Nesterovic, Maceo Baston and Roy Hibbert for Jermaine O'Neal and Nathan Jawai.

With this move the Raptors addressed toughness, rebounding, defense, and leadership. Jermaine O'Neal brings much needed toughness to the Raptors. Last year, we were probably the softest team in the NBA. But with this move we have become tougher and stronger down low. The best thing that this deal addresses is rebounding! Finally! Thank you God! With deal we become better rebounders. You do not understand the frustration when your team cannot rebound! Rebounding was a huge issue for this team. I truly believe that rebounding was the achillies heal of this team! We lost many games because we could not rebound the ball! Argh! It was the most frustrating thing ever! If you read my other posts, I constantly complained about rebounding! And by the grace of God, we finally get it in Jermaine O'Neal! This move also brings defense! No longer can teams drive to the hoop at will. They will now have to deal with two giants-Chris Bosh and Jermaine O'neal! The wing defenders can now guard tight without having too worry too much about getting beat. And if they do get beat they can trust that O'Neal or Bosh will be waiting for them.

Jermaine O'Neal is a 6 time all-star! With him and Bosh together, they make it arguably the best front court in the league! O'Neal can score and play defense. If one of them gets double teamed they can pass it to the open man in Kapono, Calderon or Parker. They will be draining 3's at will! It will cause such match up problems that teams will have to choose their poison. Bosh or O'Neal or a 3 in your face. Pick one!!

Now I'm not getting too excited. O'Neal does have a history of injury problems. But all signs point that he is healthy. If he stays healthy I will predict that the Raptors will make it to the Eastern Conference Finals and meet Boston! The Raptors have a solid lineup! There is concern with the wing players. Is Parker, Kapono and Moon good enough? They are not the worst but they aren't the best either. Parker is pretty good. Moon can block shots! Kapono can hit 3's. But I feel that we need one more star player in either the SG or the SF position to become real championship contenders.

This trade brings us a step closer but I don't believe to a Championship..not just yet anyways. I think we are missing one more piece to the puzzle- a star wingman. Our bench is pretty solid. Coming off the bench we will have: Bargnani, Kapono, Adams, Ukic, Jawai, and Humpries. A pretty good bench.

I think the starting lineups will be like this:

Calderon
Parker
Moon
Bosh
O'Neal

6. Bargnani
7. Kapono
8. Ukic
9. Adams
10. Jawai
11. Humphries
12. Graham
13. ?

I think the 13th spot will go to Damon Stoudamaire. That would be cool to see!

It will also be cool to hear a new announcer in Matt Devlin! Good luck Chuck in Chicago!

This is looking to be a great year for Raptor basketball! One can only hope that we stay healthy. If we do, we will be a force to be reckoned with!

Dave

Inconsistency reigns supreme!

Man is this team ever so inconsistent. It is getting unbelievable! We can't defend and we can't rebound. Our best player can't hit in the clutch when we need him too. Argh! Our start was horrendous and the end of the game was just as bad!

Our perimeter defense sucks! Is it just me or does every star player go crazy on us!! We can't defend the opposing teams guards! Most of them have career nights on us. This is getting frustrating beyond comprehension. We need a trade. Parker, Delfino, Moon, and Kapono are just not getting it done offensively and defensively. So inconsistent its killing me! Delfino's antics at the end game was just horrible! Box out Delfino!!! Box out!!! My goodness! Are we still in kindergarten?!! Box out!! If he had boxed out we would have had a chance. My goodness! Our perimeter defense sucks! Make a trade Colangelo make a trade!!

Our rebounding sucks! We can't rebound! We give up so many second chance points! We need a rebounder. Get us a rebounder please!! I swear i'm going to have a hernia every Raptor game I watch. Bosh didn't play well at all- couldn't hit in the clutch! So frustrating! If you are going to scream at your team in the timeouts, you better back it up with great play!! He failed to do that!

The only thing going for this team is Calderon. He is always consistent and he makes great plays. Calderon needs to take over the game. He is very capable. So maybe he should be more selfish and just score all the points for the Raptors. Cause right now there is nobody else who can score. So Calderon shoot more!

I hope we win tomorrow against the Nets. This is a game that we should win, but knowing the Raptors anything can happen unfortunately....

Raptors Win in Minnesota!

Good game for the Raps! We won a game that we should have won anyways. I'm just glad we did because lately we've been losing games that we should be winning. So we stand 5 games above 500. TJ and Jose were awesome this game! When we re-sign Jose we are going to have one of the best back courts in all the NBA. I'm so glad we have two great point guards- I can't wait for the next years to come with these guys at the helm.

We played good and Andrea is definitely back! He shot the ball well and rebounded well. All around good game for the Raptors! Hopefully we can go 6 games above 500 with a win against San Antonio.

We destroy Miami then we get lose to LA! Argh!!

Great game in Miami! We were shooting from all cylinders! It was great to have TJ back- he makes such a difference! A huge difference! Thank God he is back!

So we destroy Miami then we lose to LA Clippers! My goodness!! Argh this is why I hate watching this team. We are so inconsistent!! I'm too frustrated to write! We need better perimeter defense and rebounding. This team is destined to lose in the first round if we can't play defense or if we play inconsistent. I think Colangelo needs to make a move. We are simply not good enough! Maggette anyone? He destroyed us just like all the other guards! Man this inconsitency is killing me! Please God let us at least be more consistent. Minnesota is next! I wonder why I'm so scared because we have a chance of losing this..argh!!

Not good enough!

Well that was another frustrating game! It just showed that the Raptors are still not an elite team. LA was just a better team and they also had Kobe Bryant..lol..Kobe just torched us! No one can guard him. I wish we had a Kobe like player. I really think that what the Raptors need to become a legitimate contender- we need another all-star type player like the Kobe's, Tracy's and Lebron's. I just don't know when or if that will happen. We can only wish! Hopefully that wish comes true soon. Delfino, Parker and Kapono, though good, are just good role players who don't have the power that Kobe has. We need another superstar! Please Colangelo get us one!!

Bargnani played another great game! I hope hes out of his funk. He just needs to rebound better and play defense better. His foot work needs a lot of work! His post moves are abismal and a complete joke. He needs to get better if hes going to be a good center. Bosh had a tough night, but he played alright. We just couldn't get any stops and also could not contain Kobe! That was the difference!

This team will hover just above the 500 mark, we need a better shooting guard/small forward, an all-star calibre guard and of course a rebounder! Till we get those we will continue to be inconsistent and be a 500 team. Next up the Miami Heat-hopefully we beat them, it just seems that every good player has a career night against us. *sigh*

Sweet Revenge!!!

Now that's how you play basketball!! A 39 pt defeat over the Washington Wizards! We hit our shots and we rebounded better, though, we still need a rebounder via trade or free agency! But we did great. Bargnani played well! If we are too be a dangerous team, Bargnani needs to be good offensively and at least decent defensively.

Chris Bosh got a good rest and Jose played well once again! It was good seeing Maceo Baston get some minutes. I just hope we can get consistency on a regular basis. Hopefully it will come! Other than that I am happy! We did a great job after that horrible game on tuesday, I just wish we can play like that all the time!

TJ Ford is set to return soon, so that will really help our bench. We need the bench to contribute again on a consistent basis and Ford only helps that. That's about it- Lakers tonight! I hope we win! The Lakers are going to be good with the trade for Gasol! Wow they should be amazing soon. I just wished the Raptors can pull a trade like that- hopefully it will come soon.

Dave

Rebound!!! Rebound!! For goodness sakes rebound!!

Why can't we rebound?!!!?? My goodness this team sucks at rebounding! They are so inconsistent! Its so hard to have confidence in this team! I don't know what team would show up. We play good one game and then we play bad the next. Argh! So frustrating!

We need consistent guard play. AP and Delfino are just way too inconsistent! Man if we had a Paul Pierce or Dwayne Wade we would be instant contenders. Man i wished we drafted Roy than Bargnani, I think we would have been legitimate contenders in the East already. Man the inconsistency is just killing me!

Please Colangelo please get us a rebounder please!! I hope we win tomorrows game so that I can forget this one. Please God please!