This is the first in a quick series of posts outlining what our summer acquisitions have turned out to be. We start off with Jarrett Jack, who was hired as a back-up point guard but has suddenly found himself in the thick of the starting unit.

Vitals:

Height: 6′ 3″.

Weight: 197 lbs.

Age: 26, born October 28, 1983.

Position: Combo Guard, primarily PG

College: Georgia Tech, 5th year.

ESPN :: BR :: HoopData

Strengths:

• Bullish player who prefers to drive the ball and can finish in the face of contact. Looks to exploit smaller, weaker PGs using strength.
• Deceptive passer who can recognize developing action and make pin-point passes; works with PnR with Bosh very well.
• Good shot selection, can hit corner three when given space. 46% shooter from the floor, is getting better at making the J when defender goes under screen.
• Physical defender, matches up well with bulkier PGs who rely on strength. Likes to make PGs he can’t defend work on the other end.
• Drive-and-kick mentality serves team well. Exploits gaps in transition defense by forcing the issue.
• Defers to Turkoglu and slots into off-guard position well; spaces the floor.
• Strong wrists, ability to make “quick fire” snap passes in a fraction of a second.
• Vocal floor general.

Weaknesses:

• Career 34% three-point shooter, defense will always take chances with him making the jumper and use his defender as doubler.
• Undersized as a 2 which results in conceding unblockable looks to SGs. Disappointment as a defender at the 2.
• Cannot create his own shot consistently. Perennial backup, unproven as a starter in the league.
• Lacks the court vision to create for players who need to be spoon-fed.
• Passing can be very lazy at times, especially skip ones. Doesn’t anticipate defenses very well which results in turnovers; a poor AST/TO ratio of 1.76.
• Lacks “shake and bake” and effective one-on-one game so it’s not feasible to put the ball in his hands in end of clock situations.
• Trouble handling quicker, smaller PGs.

Inconsistencies and improvements:

• Mid-range game needs to be better and make up for his lack of great lateral quickness for him to seriously be considered a starter on a good team.
• Sticks to his man well on the perimeter, but is notoriously late in recognizing situations where he must rotate and help.
• Needs to control the urge to do too much on offense and rely more on his ability to read defenses.
• Getting better at executing floaters, runners and glass on his forays to the rim, potentially his biggest means of scoring.

Value to the team:

Very high. With Calderon injured, he is the only thing saving us from starting Marcus Banks. Chris Bosh and him have lately renewed the chemistry they had at Georgia Tech and the two seem to be on the same page. As our best PG defender, he fits in well with an offensively minded starting unit.

Contract:

20M/4yr is a good contract considering his age (26) and durability (has missed only 6 games in 4 years). Given his good work ethic and gritty mentality, his skills/attitude will always be required around the league making his tradeability high. Using the mid-level exception to sigh Jack was Bryan Colangelo’s most efficient move in Toronto.

The time is now for Wright | Toronto Sun

Fans could be forgiven if they interpreted all those DNP's coaches decisions as a signal of some discontent between Wright and his coach.

Wright always has been a vocal player and did not shy away from the microphones or cameras when the Raps were at their lowest earlier this season. When he sees a problem, as he did in the wake of a humbling 40-point loss in Charlotte he speaks out. When he sees players not being held accountable as he after a blowout loss in Atlanta, he speaks his mind.

"I stand by everything I said," Wright said yesterday, which wasn't surprising. What was surprising was that Triano agreed with him both then and now.

"What he said was the truth," Triano said. "Just look at the quote itself and perhaps not how it was interpreted by members of the media and what he was saying was correct."

Bosh close to eclipsing Carter’s scoring record | Toronto Sun

Bosh acknowledged that when he first arrived, he had high aspirations, but did he think of himself as a potential franchise lynchpin?

“No,” Bosh said matter-of-factly. “I mean, when I came here, I didn’t know my role, I didn’t think I was going to turn into the player I am today. I’m pretty lucky.”

Two of his colleagues believe luck had little to do with his achievements.

“Obviously he’s unbelievably talented, but the one thing that separates him from a lot of other guys is he has the work ethic to go with it,” said Raptors point guard Jarrett Jack, who roomed with Bosh when both were freshmen at Georgia Tech.

“He didn’t just settle with being naturally talented, naturally gifted. He tried to combine the two and that’s the MVP candidate you see today.”

Jack said Bosh was that way from the day he arrived in college and that the effect was contagious.

“He had a drive and a hunger about him at that particular age, it’s really where I got my work ethic from, to be honest,” Jack said.

Chris Bosh to Miami makes too much sense – Scores Report

Doesn’t a deal that would send Bosh and the bad contracts of Marcus Banks and Reggie Evans to Miami for Michael Beasley and Jermaine O’Neal’s expiring contract make a lot of sense for both teams? Yes, it’s not equal value for Bosh, but the Raptors would get a good young player (Beasley) and would save almost $10 million next season. In fact, they’d have $8 million of cap space to spend if they so choose. All of this for a guy they have almost no chance of re-signing anyway.

I know Heat fans would want to do this. What about Raptor fans?

Raptorland a happy place these days – thestar.com

Asked to recall those bad old days, when they were routinely getting drilled and questions abounded about chemistry and character and whether this was a volatile mix culled from two continents that would never quite work, Bosh paused to think. "First, it wasn't as bad as the perception was," he said. "What were the things they were saying, anyway?"

Told it ran the gamut from opinions that North Americans weren't accepting Europeans to thoughts that veterans weren't really appreciating kids and suggestions players were tuning out a coach less than a quarter of the way through a season, Bosh responded with a laugh.

"That was entirely not the case at all," he said. "I mean, it's easy to say things like that if the team's having issues or we're not winning games. I mean, we were just not communicating, is all.

"The Atlantic didn't have anything to do with it."

Bosh, Raptors look to make it five straight – National Post

"There's no such thing as [feeling] too good. I feel good," Raptors forward Chris Bosh said. "Even if you're struggling, you still have to feel good. You play this game too much and the season is too long to be just walking around, not enjoying anything. It's OK to enjoy yourself.

"To win four games in a row in the NBA is not easy. To win a game is not easy."

The real question, of course, is if the Raptors should be enjoying life quite so much. Their wins have come over New Jersey, New Orleans and Detroit twice, none of who are easily confused with the 1996 Bulls.

Jones on NBA: Calderon on familiar ground – sportsnet.ca

That being said, Calderon should not come back until he is 100 per cent healthy as the team seems to have found a nice rhythm of late.

It says here that if the team is still going well, Calderon should come off the bench and work his way slowly back into the lineup facing some second unit players the same way Ford did a couple of seasons ago.

He might not like it, but in the end, it’s who finishes the game, not who starts and with Triano currently playing four starters (Bosh, Bargnani, Turkoglu and Jack) during crunch time in the fourth quarter with a rotating wild card player, that might just turn out to be Calderon’s spot when he is fully recovered.

Hardwood Paroxysm » Have Respect: He Was Legend

After being selected ninth by the Toronto Raptors in the 1997 draft, he was now a complete anomaly. Raptors fans saw flashes of what he could do. He was a dunking machine and looked like he had glimpses of Scottie Pippen-type defense in him when he was given the chance. He was fortunate enough to have his cousin Vince drafted to the team a year later and with his cousin’s national exposure he finally got a little national spotlight. It culminated for his Raptors career when he participated in the 2000 Dunk Contest. In any other year, he would have run away with it. He just happened to be in his cousin’s spotlight again at the wrong time.

T.Jose Caldesports: Perspective

I'm speaking of Jose Calderon. Toronto's improved play has led to many people saying Jarrett Jack should continue to start at point guard even when Calderon returns. Here is my response to this suggestion:

No.

Consider: During this 8-4 stretch, the Raptors have played four teams with a winning record. They are 1-3 against those teams. The three losses were by a combined 61 points. In those 4 games against quality competition, Jack averaged 12 points and 4 assists per game, and was a combined -14.

Triano top newsmaker – Niagara Falls Review – Ontario, CA

The recipient of The Niagara Falls Review 2009 sports newsmaker of the year nod – Jay Triano – is by no means a stranger to accolades. His accomplishments and awards are the stuff of which both young and veteran hoopsters dream.

But as any basketball fan knows, the dream isn't complete without an NBA presence, and it's here that Triano has really set himself apart. His successful playing career, beginning with a Lakers draft, and distinction as a coach – seven seasons as a Toronto Raptors assistant, which eventually evolved into Triano's ascension to the head coach position are his NBA legacy to date.

2010 NBA All-Star Game: Who Deserves A Spot? | Digital Sports Daily

Chris Bosh (Toronto Raptors, F): If there is one player from the heralded 2010 free agent class that will end up leaving his current team, it is Bosh. Bosh has to be frustrated with the Raptor’s play this season and would be hard pressed to think Toronto is going any where any time soon. This will not stop him from partaking in the all star festivities as he should be a lock again this year.

Bosh, Hedo shine as Toronto Raptors hold off Detroit Pistons

In addition to the Raptors improvement on the defensive end of late, is their ability to keep their composure and close out games.

“You have to keep your composure in instances like that,” Bosh said. “We knew that we were not really playing our best on defense and that is what we were talking about. We were not talking about our shots or anything. We had open looks and we missed them. But when it comes down to it, we have to play better defense. We can’t let out offence dictate our defense.”

Toronto Raptors on Track for a 47 Win Season! « Brothersteve’s Green & Red Raptor Blog

But Jay Triano has the respect of some of the NBA’s top executives and Bryan Colangelo’s patience with his coach is likely to be rewarded. (It would be nice if Triano could figure things out a little faster though.)

However, finishing any season winning 65 percent of your games over even a modest stretch is no easy task and likely to be greeted with a measure of disbelief. And some people will look at the Raptors 15-17 record and not be convinced this team can do it.

But this season, the Raptors have gone 8-4 since that 7-13 start and are precisely on track to repeat that remarkable performance.

And with 10 teams in the East at under .500, the non-elite teams in the East are weak this year. The Raptors are currently in 6th place in the East with that 15-17 record.

Toronto Is Starting To Find Its Groove | Hoops Addict

Jarrett Jack, one of the players who has stepped up his game during the absence of starting point guard Jose Calderon, likes the direction the team is headed but admits there is still plenty of room for growth.

“I feel like we’ve got a rhythm right now,” Jack explained. “Everybody is playing as if they’re in sync with one another. Wins in the NBA aren’t easy to come by, regardless if you’ve got one, two, three. We just happen to have four in a row, you just try to keep it going. Now we’re looking forward to playing a Charlotte team that pretty much embarrassed us the last time we played then.”

Chris Bosh nears a cool Raptors record – Posted Sports

With his 25 points against Detroit on Sunday, Chris Bosh now has 9,348 career points. That puts him 72 points away from Vince Carter's club record.

If he follows his per-game average of 23.5, that would put Bosh in position to break the record a week from Wednesday in Orlando.

"I think it's pretty cool just to be a franchise leader in anything," Bosh said after Monday's practice. "There have been so many good players to come through here. To be so close to something like that is pretty cool. Yeah, it's pretty cool."

Amir Johnson is finding himself in Toronto | Full-Court Press – A Detroit Pistons Blog – MLive.com

The Pistons never seemed to have a plan with Johnson. There were rumors that while the front office loved Johnson's potential, the Flip Saunders regime was never sold on it. Certainly this could've hurt his development. Then, when Saunders was gone, Michael Curry proved to be completely over-matched as a head coach, further hurting Johnson's chances.

In Toronto, Amir brings rebounding and gritty play that Toronto sorely lacks in it's other frontcourt players. He'll get minutes all year as a result — the Raptors need his rebounding, in particular. Despite being in his fifth NBA season, he's still just 22-years-old. The team is obviously letting him play through mistakes, his confidence has improved and it's intriguing to think about where he'll be at in his development by the end of this season.

NBA: Who’s Hot? Who’s Not? – HoopsWorld

Eastern Conference Team: Toronto Raptors – Toronto went 2-0 this week with both wins coming in a home-and-home against the Detroit Pistons. The Raptors, who allow more points than any team in basketball outside of Golden State, held Detroit to just 64 points on 28 percent shooting in the team's 94-64 victory at The Palace on Wednesday and rode Chris Bosh's 25 point, 16 rebound performance to a 102-95 win in Toronto on Sunday. The Raptors have now won five four straight games and would be seeded sixth in the Eastern Conference if the playoffs started today.

Raptors Game Recap – The FAN 590 Toronto – Audio on Demand

THE FAN presents highlights (1) and the game recap (2) of the Raptors' 102-95 win over the Detroit Pistons, courtesy Paul Jones & Eric Smith.

Zelkovich: Devlin gives Raptors broadcasts a lift – thestar.com

The new guy, Matt Devlin, was basically the anti-Chuck and at times seemed reluctant to inject anything resembling excitement into a game. Even Swirsky-haters secretly longed for a “kaboom" or two to warm up those many cold nights in Raptorland.

Devlin will never be mistaken for Swirsky, but there's no denying that the level of his game and the level of the broadcasts have both improved this year. Devlin seems a little more animated and appears to be having more fun.

Last week, when New Orleans' Peja Stojakovic hit a three-pointer, Devlin shouted, “Punjabi" as a tribute to CBC's Punjabi-language Raptor broadcasts.

Raptors hang on to sink Pistons – thestar.com

"We still in progress of learning … of playing 48 minutes," he said. "We started the game good but we've been having the problem … especially in the third quarter.

"When we figure that out, I think we're going to be really good and you're going to see more 4-0 (streaks) or five or six or even more."

For now, though, the Raptors just want to continue the success they've had. They are not among the Eastern Conference elite by any stretch of the imagination but they have moved to fifth in the conference, are 6-3 in their last nine games and there is a large dose of confidence in the locker room.

Recap: Raptors 102, Pistons 95 | freep.com | Detroit Free Press

Tempers flare: The Pistons had a running dialogue with the officiating crew of Bob Delaney, Bennie Adams and Derek Richardson. Hamilton and Gordon got technicals for their talk and Pistons coach John Kuester almost earned one when Jonas Jerebko fouled out with 4:44 remaining.

Quotable: "Sometimes when you haven't been out there so long everybody seems so fast," Hamilton said on the difficulty of being able to defend at an NBA level after missing time.

Everything falls into place for red-hot Raptors – The Globe and Mail

"We're starting to realize how good we can be," said Turkoglu, who had six assists including a key helper when he found a cutting Weems for a dunk to put Toronto up seven with 49 seconds to play. "We're still progressing and need to learn about playing 48 minutes … when we figure that out too I think we're going to be really good and you'll see more [streaks] like this, 4-0 and 5-0 and even more."

The Pistons in Toronto yesterday weren't the same sorry crew the Raptors blew out in Michigan before Christmas. With the return of Tayshaun Prince (back), Richard Hamilton (hamstring) and Ben Gordon (ankle) they were at full strength for the first time since early in the season, a reminder that the Raptors haven't been the only team not to have everything break their way this season.

Raptors Hold on for Clutch victory over Pistons « The Zan Tabak Herald

Help from Unlikely Sources

The Young Guns didn’t get ‘er done today. Yes, they are very exciting to watch most nights but tonight they looked young and inexpereinced especially on the defensive end. Sonny Weems did have some moments near the end of the game but the Raps had to look elsewhere for energy and support off the bench. Enter Antoine Wright and Marco Belinelli. Marco had a great first half, shot the ball well and was very active on the defensive end. He even got into a bit of a bettle with Rip Hamilton. Wright came in during the second half and helped bail the club out. He played stellar defense and made some great passes to help the team take the W.

CANOE — SLAM! Sports – Raps Calderon remains on the shelf

It was first thought that Calderon would miss only a couple of games when he hurt his hip on Dec.5 in Chicago and, in fact, returned to the lineup on Dec.11 after missing two games. But he was forced to leave that game as well against Atlanta and his return date still is a mystery, though he is expected to consult with team doctors tomorrow. All of which means Jarrett Jack will continue to start at point guard, which certainly hasn't been a problem as the 14-17 Raptors are 5-4 with Jack starting.

Raps-Pistons go the distance – Toronto Sun

As a result of 65 personal fouls — 33 for Detroit and 32 for Toronto — yesterday's game lasted two hours and 49 minutes, the longest non-overtime game in franchise history. The previous long was the club's first-ever home opener, which was on Nov.3, 1995 against the New Jersey Nets. That contest lasted two hours and 45 minutes.

The Raptors went to the free throw line 44 times, converting 32, while the Pistons went to the line 33 times, and missed 10, with centre Ben Wallace going 2-for-8.

Chris Bosh led the free throw parade for Toronto, going 9-for-14.

Marco Belinelli came off the bench and scored nine points in less than 20 minutes, six of those points as a result of free throws, though he was forced from the game in the fourth quarter after picking up his sixth personal foul. It was his second straight strong game, and he has shot 5-for-11 in those two outings.

Raps on rescue mission – Toronto Sun

"We knew they were going to come back," Raptors coach Jay Triano said. "We settled for jump shots, which we have a habit of doing. We know they have some talent and they started making shots."

Detroit actually climbed to within two late in the third. But thanks to some big efforts late in the fourth quarter by big men Andrea Bargnani and Chris Bosh, the Raptors managed to hold on for the win and keep the win streak alive. Bosh picked up his NBA-leading 23rd double-double of the season, with 25 points and 16 rebounds, going to the free throw line 14 times, converting nine. He also picked up four points and three rebounds in the final two minutes to seal the deal.

2-0 for the short week and four straight overall. The opponents weren’t exactly Goliaths but job well done by the Raptors, they got the two things that they could possibly get out of this stretch – momentum and confidence. In a game as psychological as basketball, those are prerequisites and will come in handy when we face stiffer, truer tests against Charlotte, Orlando, San Antonio and Philadelphia. As great as the last week was, things will quickly turn to the regular gloom and doom variety if we have a poor showing against competition which serves as a better barometer. In a conference where a four game win streak takes you from being out of the playoff picture to the fifth seed, anything can happen.

Our defense in the second game was very disciplined, sometimes the Raptors hold the other team to a low shooting percentage only because the they missed wide open looks, not so this time. Belinelli’s defense on Hamilton/Gordon got some flak elsewhere but in my eyes he defended him as well as he can, dodging screens by staying on his toes and contesting as well as one can. If Wright’s assist-filled cameo was showcasing for a trade, it worked out well, and his appearance doesn’t necessarily mean DeRozan’s being penalized for his play.

The Nets win was routine but the Hornets win was nothing short of impressive. The talk coming into the game from the Hornets camp was all about revenge for what happened in New Orleans but the Raptors beat them pound-for-pound, bum ankles or not. The game started the trend of Hedo Turkoglu handling the ball more and sharing it equitably with Jarrett Jack, whose great determined play has been the staple of this run. Turkoglu is averaging 7.75 assists in these four games, that’s 3.35 higher than his season average. Is it as simple as Triano figuring out that the obvious thing to do is or is it Jack/Turkoglu being a more suitable combination? Probably a bit of both, but we shouldn’t discount the simple cause-and-effect of Jack giving up the ball early in the shot-clock or initiating whatever action he has to run early.

The Raptors have been tremendous in late shot-clock situations, whether it be Bosh, Turkoglu or Jack taking the initiative to make something out of nothing. The offensive execution was tested against the Hornets and Pistons in fourth quarter situations and we were up to the task. However, the Bobcats’ 3rd ranked and the Magic’s 6th ranked defense awaits and both teams have humiliated us this season, it’ll be very interesting to see how the Raptors respond in both games. The Bobcats hammered us by 35 and we’re 0-3 against the Magic, wins here would signal a true turnaround of the team, not just a warm feeling which is what we have now.

The San Antonio game will be Matt Bonner appreciation night so look forward to him grabbing 7 offensive rebounds and hitting four threes as the fans become utterly confused whether to boo or cheer. The Spurs have won 8 of 10 and there’s not much evidence of Tim Duncan’s apparent decline, he’s netting 20.2pts and 10.4rebs while the healthy-again Tony Parker is spurring the offense with with 16.4pts and 5.7apg. We’ve seen Jarrett Jack handle Chris Paul, Devin Harris and Jonny Flynn to a good degree, but Parker will be a real test of his lateral quickness, not that a pass/fail in the matchup will mean anything in the long run. The Raptors (no matter who is playing) will have trouble defending a quick PG, it’s the level to which you make that PG work on the other end that determines how well you’ve done, and in that regard Jack has been phenomenal with his aggressiveness. Turkoglu’s also getting more comfortable:

“We’re starting to realize how good we can be, we’re still progressing and need to learn about playing 48 minutes … when we figure that out too I think we’re going to be really good and you’ll see more [streaks] like this, 4-0 and 5-0 and even more.”

Just like it has been for the past three games, Andrea Bargnani’s performance will be key in beating any team which has big bigs. We’ve seen him torment Chris Wilcox, Ben Wallace and Emeka Okafor recently and that’ll need to continue against Howard and Duncan. After dropping 26 against the Magic in the first game, he was held to 11 and 12 the last two, fouling out in one and collecting only 2 rebounds in the other. It’s no surprise that the only Magic game that was close was the first one. Although fans will always want him to shoot less threes than he’s shooting, it should be noted that Bargnani has moved his game inside. Somewhat. Have a look at his shot distance range per 40 minutes and you’ll notice that he is, proportionally speaking, shooting less threes this year than he did last and is opting for a more mid-range jumpers than ever before.

Taking the shot location concept a step further and viewing it in the context of the whole team, you’ll see that the Raptors are 24th in the league in allowing “at the rim” shot attempts. This could speak of our weak perimeter defense and tendency to allow dribble penetration. This is obviously not good and I was surprised to see the Lakers dead last in this “statistical” category. After watching their game against the Kings, I noticed that the Laker’s almost encourage dribble penetration! With the shot-blocking threats of Gasol and Bynum in there, they’re very comfortable letting guards challenge them at the rim as Beno Udrih and Tyreke Evans recently found out. They’re 14th in the league in shot-blocking but that stat is very misleading as it doesn’t take into account shots altered.

I’d also like to commend Leo Rautins for stating how Bargnani gets the short end of the stick on fouls. The two fourth quarter fouls he picked up against Detroit were total BS, the Raptors should make a tape of these things and send it to the NBA. After Tim Donaghy mentioned that the league instructed the officials to give Kobe Bryant the benefit of the doubt after the Lakers had sent in a tape of 25 plays where a foul should’ve been called, there’s no reason not to. I’m not suggesting that Bargnani will suddenly be given preferential treatment, but at least the officials won’t be jumping to conclusions based on what they expect to see rather than what actually happened.

Trivia time. Per 48, Chris Bosh is the leader in points scored for the Raptors at 23.5. Who is second? Take a guess, don’t look it up, just think for a second…answer’s coming up….Patrick O’Bryant. Yup, it’s POB, I couldn’t believe it myself, but he is netting 29.3 per 48. What does this mean? Do we start POB? I don’t know, but it’s hard to argue with the stats.

I’d like to take a moment to thank the well wishers including those who emailed in, I really appreciate it. No podcast this Monday because of the holidays, baby and what else but like we did with Tim Chisholm, we’ll make it up.

The first 4 game winning streak of this season was a hard fought one against the Pistons. All things considered it was a quality win. You can pick at nuances of the game, which I will, but you have to be happy with the result, which I am. It used to be the Heat we could always count on for a win against, but this Pistons team has been a God-send this season. I thought yesterday was the last time we played them this season, but it turns out we get another shot at sweeping the season series against them on the second last game of the year (which will probably have playoff implications).

Two different distinct Raptor teams played yesterday. In the first half, we saw a team that shared the ball, got good shots and knocked them down. They rotated on defense, kept there man in front of them, and played a full 24 minutes of quality ball. The second half saw a team that had no energy. No one played defense, rotations weren’t there, they couldn’t score and looked like the Nets (for the 3rd). They got back their scoring touch in the 4th, but the movement wasn’t the same as the first half.

Rebounding was miserable for the whole game, lets get that out of the way now. The Pistons grabbed 10 offensive boards in the 1st quarter. TEN! Perspective: the Raptors grabbed 7 total boards (6 defensive). The Pistons have not been able to get good shots off against the Raptors for some reason. We have enough athleticism and quickness to keep their guards/wings out of their comfort zones for long enough stretches to build big leads, but their bigs rebound the crap out of the ball and kept them within reach throughout the whole game.

You know who is a good positional forward who does nothing but stand between his man and backboard? Rasho. The guy who got a DNP-COACHES DECISION. Blows me away. I’m not saying to play him the whole game, but how about long enough to keep the Detroit bigs out of the key to give a breather from the relentless attack on the boards? I can’t put all the rebounding burden on the Bosh/Bargnani, they pulled down 22 of the teams 36. No other Raptors grabbed more then 3 rebounds last night. It can’t all be on these two, everyone needs to chip in.

Rebounding aside, the offense sputtered magnificently in the 3rd to the tune of 14 points after the Raptors scored 60 in the 1st half. The whole team came out of the half flat. Aside from Bargnani who was trying to score inside of 8 feet, it was all jumpers. There was no attempt to get in the paint for a layup/dunk, or to draw a foul and get to the line. The Raptors actually only got to the line at the end of the 3rd when Bargnani/Banks hit 4 of 6.

So this is what I don’t get. the Pistons open the 3rd on a 9-2 run, and instead of putting in Belinelli or Weems who can score some, Wright gets the call. Defense wasn’t what was needed. I threw Belinelli under the bus, but he did score a few yesterday. Weems slashes and gets to the rack. These are qualities you need when you are in a shooting funk, Wright doesn’t have any of this. All this bumbling resulted in about 8 scoreless minutes in the 3rd.

I actually liked what I saw in the 4th. The Pistons closed the gap to 2, but the Raptors didn’t fold. They responded shot for shot, and made key defenisve rotations down the stretch. The Pistons attack was still relentless, but Jack/Weems/Turkoglu were all active on the wing, Bargnani was contesting shots and Bosh was rotating down low. Nothing came super easy which is what you want to see. On the other end, the last 10 Raptor points were at the line, or a Weems dunk aka everything was inside. It broke the Pistons back because they couldn’t make a stop when they needed too.

The refs did have a hand in this game, but the Raptors went to the line 44 times last night. You can’t tell me that we didn’t benefit from the poor officiating. Sure it helped the Pistons get back into the game, but hitting 32 of 44 was the difference in this game.

Quick thoughts:

• I thought DeRozan/Weems/Belinelli/Wright did a great job by committee on Hamilton and Gordon.
• The Raptors do seem to be gelling. They aren’t there yet, but you heard them talking to each other during the game yesterday.
• I think Antoine Wright has a contribution to make to this team, but only on defense. If he only worries about stopping his man, and hitting OPEN shot attempts, I can live with that.
• I also wont complain about Bargnani if he ups his rebounding to 8 or so a game. He’s at 6.1 right now, so it’s not out of the realm of impossibility, is it?
• Even though Turkoglu disappeared in the 2nd half, him and Jack have great chemistry when running the offense. I love the constant charge towards the rim.
• We need to handle Charlotte because once January hits, we have @Boston, San Antonio, @Orlando, @Philly and Boston in a row, not a great way to ring in the new year.
• The next game against the Pistons is going to be a tough one, and may have huge seeding implications for both Toronto and Detroit.

Sorry this got up so late, Rogers was not doing me any favours this morning, happy Monday.

Raptors hang on to sink Pistons – thestar.com

"We still in progress of learning … of playing 48 minutes," he said. "We started the game good but we've been having the problem … especially in the third quarter.

"When we figure that out, I think we're going to be really good and you're going to see more 4-0 (streaks) or five or six or even more."

For now, though, the Raptors just want to continue the success they've had. They are not among the Eastern Conference elite by any stretch of the imagination but they have moved to fifth in the conference, are 6-3 in their last nine games and there is a large dose of confidence in the locker room.

Zelkovich: Devlin gives Raptors broadcasts a lift – thestar.com

The new guy, Matt Devlin, was basically the anti-Chuck and at times seemed reluctant to inject anything resembling excitement into a game. Even Swirsky-haters secretly longed for a “kaboom" or two to warm up those many cold nights in Raptorland.

Devlin will never be mistaken for Swirsky, but there's no denying that the level of his game and the level of the broadcasts have both improved this year. Devlin seems a little more animated and appears to be having more fun.

Last week, when New Orleans' Peja Stojakovic hit a three-pointer, Devlin shouted, “Punjabi" as a tribute to CBC's Punjabi-language Raptor broadcasts.

Everything falls into place for red-hot Raptors – The Globe and Mail

"We're starting to realize how good we can be," said Turkoglu, who had six assists including a key helper when he found a cutting Weems for a dunk to put Toronto up seven with 49 seconds to play. "We're still progressing and need to learn about playing 48 minutes … when we figure that out too I think we're going to be really good and you'll see more [streaks] like this, 4-0 and 5-0 and even more."

The Pistons in Toronto yesterday weren't the same sorry crew the Raptors blew out in Michigan before Christmas. With the return of Tayshaun Prince (back), Richard Hamilton (hamstring) and Ben Gordon (ankle) they were at full strength for the first time since early in the season, a reminder that the Raptors haven't been the only team not to have everything break their way this season.

Recap: Raptors 102, Pistons 95 | freep.com | Detroit Free Press

Tempers flare: The Pistons had a running dialogue with the officiating crew of Bob Delaney, Bennie Adams and Derek Richardson. Hamilton and Gordon got technicals for their talk and Pistons coach John Kuester almost earned one when Jonas Jerebko fouled out with 4:44 remaining.

Quotable: "Sometimes when you haven't been out there so long everybody seems so fast," Hamilton said on the difficulty of being able to defend at an NBA level after missing time.

Raps-Pistons go the distance – Toronto Sun

As a result of 65 personal fouls — 33 for Detroit and 32 for Toronto — yesterday's game lasted two hours and 49 minutes, the longest non-overtime game in franchise history. The previous long was the club's first-ever home opener, which was on Nov.3, 1995 against the New Jersey Nets. That contest lasted two hours and 45 minutes.

The Raptors went to the free throw line 44 times, converting 32, while the Pistons went to the line 33 times, and missed 10, with centre Ben Wallace going 2-for-8.

Chris Bosh led the free throw parade for Toronto, going 9-for-14.

Marco Belinelli came off the bench and scored nine points in less than 20 minutes, six of those points as a result of free throws, though he was forced from the game in the fourth quarter after picking up his sixth personal foul. It was his second straight strong game, and he has shot 5-for-11 in those two outings.

Raps on rescue mission – Toronto Sun

"We knew they were going to come back," Raptors coach Jay Triano said. "We settled for jump shots, which we have a habit of doing. We know they have some talent and they started making shots."

Detroit actually climbed to within two late in the third. But thanks to some big efforts late in the fourth quarter by big men Andrea Bargnani and Chris Bosh, the Raptors managed to hold on for the win and keep the win streak alive. Bosh picked up his NBA-leading 23rd double-double of the season, with 25 points and 16 rebounds, going to the free throw line 14 times, converting nine. He also picked up four points and three rebounds in the final two minutes to seal the deal.

Raptors Hold on for Clutch victory over Pistons « The Zan Tabak Herald

Help from Unlikely Sources

The Young Guns didn’t get ‘er done today. Yes, they are very exciting to watch most nights but tonight they looked young and inexpereinced especially on the defensive end. Sonny Weems did have some moments near the end of the game but the Raps had to look elsewhere for energy and support off the bench. Enter Antoine Wright and Marco Belinelli. Marco had a great first half, shot the ball well and was very active on the defensive end. He even got into a bit of a bettle with Rip Hamilton. Wright came in during the second half and helped bail the club out. He played stellar defense and made some great passes to help the team take the W.

Pistons surge back, but it’s not enough | detnews.com | The Detroit News

"It was just matter of us being a lot more aggressive," Prince said. "The first half, it was tough for the coaches when you have three guys back and you don't want to play them normal minutes and you have to figure out what's best for the rotation. It was tough on (Kuester) early on."

The Pistons erased much of the 19-point halftime deficit, outscoring the Raptors, 28-14, in the third quarter.

The Pistons came within one point in the fourth quarter, 85-84, on a Prince 3-pointer. But Bargnani responded with a 3 for the Raptors.

"We have to just get back in the flow," Gordon said. "We had our chances tonight. With all the injuries, and guys coming back, we still had a chance to win the game in the second half."

Courtside – Around the NBA: Point guard play, defence keying Raptors success; McGrady leaves Rockets; Griffin to debut next month

As for the Raptors … another strong effort Sunday against the Pistons. They could have kept the pressure on a bit more and not allowed the Pistons to make a game out of it, but overall, a good performance.

I and many others wrote before this streak started that this was the time for the Raptors to get rolling and they have certainly done that.
They were humiliated against Charlotte last month, so running their win streak to five by defeating the Hornets is definitely within the realm of possibility, since they will have something to prove.

Raptors interested in Kevin Martin | Sacramento Bee

Aside from a complete breakdown in team chemistry, a regression because of Martin's presence or a trade offer involving an All-Star caliber player (specifically, a big man), Martin is going nowhere. According to sources, Cleveland, Houston and Toronto are among those teams interested in acquiring the dynamic scorer and are keeping an eye on how the situation unfolds.

PistonPowered: Detroit Pistons lose again, but they finally appear on track

Jonas Jerebko’s second-half turnaround was the biggest reason for Detroit cutting a 19-point halftime deficit to one. After shooting just 1-for-5 in the first half, he made all five of his shots in the second half. The big takeaway is Jerebko can play power forward with the rerturners on the floor. He had started at small forward with Prince out, but he played power forward in the preseason. This is especially relevant as Charlie Villanueva battles plantar fasciitis.

Another game taken by Toronto | Need4Sheed.com

Losing aside, it was nice to get Ben, Rip and Tayshaun back. Because of the suspensions to Daye and Jerebko on opening night, this was actually the first game all season long at full strength. Pistons started this one strong in the first few minutes of the game, but Toronto slowly pulled away leading by as much as 20. Fantastic third quarter where the Pistons outscored the Raps 28-13 to give them a chance in the second half.

Raptors Report Week Nine: Raptors Hottest Team In The East | Bleacher Report

Positives: Defense, offense, and toughness. The Raptors are finally looking like they want to win, and even with injuries to Reggie Evans and Jose Calderon, the team is playing well. Sonny Weems has emerged as a solid role player and Hedo Turkoglu is starting to show some grit.

Negatives: Rebounding is the main one. Bosh and Bargnani have to show some toughness inside and show some presence. This isn't really a negative, but the winning streak hasn't exactly been against contenders, and at least they are taking advantage of the schedule.

Raptors beat Pistons to win 4th straight

Being a sub-.500 team themselves, things don't often go easily for the Raps, and they made this one tougher than it could have been, allowing Detroit to close a 19-point deficit at halftime to just one with under six minutes to go. Didn't seem to worry Bosh who, asked if he thought at any point in the second half his club was going to blow this one, said simply "No." "Teams are going to go on runs," he told CBC Sports. "They made a run, you can't panic, if you do you will lose the game."

Things fall into place for Raptors – The Globe and Mail

“I think we're playing with a little more confidence,” said Raptors head coach Jay Triano. “We're getting more guys involved; we're starting to help each other and understand our defensive roles a lot better and as a result we get more stops, we get run-outs and that gives us confidence and everything starts rolling.” The Raptors play host to the Charlotte Bobcats

Detroit Pistons vs. Toronto Raptors – Box Score – December 27, 2009 – ESPN

Raptors Game Recap – The FAN 590 Toronto – Audio on Demand

THE FAN presents highlights (1) and the game recap (2) of the Raptors' 102-95 win over the Detroit Pistons, courtesy Paul Jones & Eric Smith.

CANOE — SLAM! Sports – Raps Calderon remains on the shelf

It was first thought that Calderon would miss only a couple of games when he hurt his hip on Dec.5 in Chicago and, in fact, returned to the lineup on Dec.11 after missing two games.

But he was forced to leave that game as well against Atlanta and his return date still is a mystery, though he is expected to consult with team doctors tomorrow.

All of which means Jarrett Jack will continue to start at point guard, which certainly hasn't been a problem as the 14-17 Raptors are 5-4 with Jack starting.

Hedo Turkoglu – December 27, 2009

Marcus Banks – December 27, 2009

Jarrett Jack – Dec. 27, 2009

Sonny Weems – Dec. 27, 2009

Jay Triano – Dec. 27, 2009

Chris Bosh – Dec. 27, 2009

Raptors vs Pistons – Game in Six MInutes

Filling in for the vacationing AltRaps and breast-feeding Arsenalist, it’s the “We swept a season series from a good team”edition.

Banks – Bynum crossed him over so bad, no one wanted to sit with him on the bench.

Bargnani – Hit a few timely shots, a timely block and a few boards. Had some lapses on defense and was on the bench during key defensive possessions at the end of the game, but that’s who this big lug is.

Belinelli – Oh so close to that double-double: 9pts 6fls. Apparently got into Hamiltons head, but all I saw was poor defense and and embarassing flops.

Bosh – Shouts of MVP were drowned out by cheers for pizza. The franchise had a big game AND the Raptors won, weird how that worked put. His defense was suspect at times, but none of the bigs were great in the paint today.

Calderon – His suit looked a bit baggy, gotta get the slim-fit stuff man.

DeRozan – Hopefully he took some notes from Rip on how an NBA shooting guard should play. Weems played the important minutes, ’nuff said.

Evans – At least he got to the game in time (see O’Bryant, Patrick).

Jack – I’m getting used to our point guard driving to the rack so much, opens up the floor for others to do their thing.

Johnson – Makes me cringe when he shoots jumpers, a free Amir is one who lives in the paint, not one who wanders on the perimeter.

Mensah-Bonsu – Hustled, put down some dunks, and was all over the glass – all during warm-ups.

Nesterovic – I swear I saw him nod-off a few times planted at the end of the bench. The team could have used his size on Big Ben down low, but Triano was coaching so we opted to let Wallace do what he wanted instead.

O’Bryant – Didn’t show up until the 1st intermission, way to support your team.

Turkoglu- Disappeared in the second half, but had a good game considering. Great dish to a slashing Weems for a dunk in crunch time.

Weems – The kid needs to slash more and shoot less, but he has emerged as the front runner at the 2. Great hustle today.

Wright – Got burn during crunch time of a close game, must have dug up some sketchy pics of Triano and that barista.

Driving The Bus: Chris Bosh

Under The Bus: Marco Belinelli

Game Theme: Coming as soon as I get to a computer

Tayshaun Prince back in practice, likely to play today – Detroit Free Press

And if there aren't any setbacks, he will likely be in the starting lineup today when the Pistons travel to Toronto and try to halt a six-game losing streak that has seen them plummet in the Eastern Conference standings.

"It's sore as usual, bumps and bruises trying to get back in the first practice," said Prince, whose return seemed to energize a team which has lacked passion its past few games. "But it felt good.

"Sometimes you think it's a lot of pain, but it's more soreness after I started working out."

When the Pistons announced on Nov. 3 that Prince's consecutive games streak would end at 496 because of the back injury, it wasn't known how long he would be out of the lineup.

Short break needed by Raptors – thestar.com

Christmas Eve and Christmas were days of entire sloth.

"I have learned to relax as time has gone on," Bosh said. "Different things work for different guys. I like to take a total break. Some guys like to watch basketball, watch tape, watch film, work out. I just chill, man. I don't do anything.

"At first, you feel like you have to do something. You know what? There's nothing wrong with just taking a break. In the long season we have, I've learned to appreciate our breaks."

Feschuk: Air Carter highly rarefied – thestar.com

Sometimes it's easy to forget how amazing he was. Everybody, after all, knows what Vince Carter is now. He is, age 33 next month, still a force of sorts – a spotty, moody, do-it-when-he-feels-like-it force. Once a slam-dunking, world-endearing machine known as Vinsanity, he has reinvented himself as Vinefficiency, a jacker of jump shots to the tune of a 40 per cent field-goal rate. Let's see how that works for his long-term relationship with Dwight Howard, Carter's Orlando Magic teammate, who shoots much less and at 62 per cent.

No Christmas miracle – Toronto Sun

"They're going to be embarrassed by the fact that we beat them by 30 in their building," Triano said. "We caught them on a back-to-back. We're not saying we're better than them, we just caught them at a tough time in the schedule, the same way we've been caught earlier in the season."

Triano was grateful for the time off for his players, as his team had played more games than any NBA team, heading into the break. However, the one down side to the break was that it might sap some momentum away from the Raptors, who are going for a season-high fourth consecutive victory today.

SLAM ONLINE | » Decade’s Worst: Jerseys

Like other teams in the era, the Rockets convinced themselves that slapping their primary logo on the front of their jerseys as big as they would be a good idea. The Raptors and Hawks made similar moves with similarly disastrous results. Making room for the garish logo meant moving the number on the front of the jersey up and off center to the chest. This break with convention should have been the first indication for the Rockets that they weren’t on the right track. But no, they pushed forward to new depths of ugliness by butchering the very notion of pinstripes.

Put the cold drumstick down and read this – Doug Smith

Q: Hey Doug. Beer question: in your travels around the NBA, which region would you say has the best micro-breweries? I was in Boulder Colorado in October and was very impressed by the local beers. Follow up question: is there an NBAer who comes to mind as a real beer connoisseur?

Will The Houston Rockets Land On National Television? | Bleacher Report

When the NBA released its national TV schedule this fall, the Houston Rockets joined four other teams deemed not worthy of an appearance on ESPN, ABC, or TNT.

The Toronto Raptors and Oklahoma City were each slated for one national TV appearance.

The omission was understandable at the time. The NBA and its partnering networks still sell stars, and with Yao Ming out for the season and Tracy McGrady's return uncertain, the Rockets presumably employed none.

Raptors give Pistons a lump of coal for Christmas « The Zan Tabak Herald

Will the Real Bargnani Please Stand Up

Andrea has been nothing but inconsistent in his time as an NBA player but every once in a while he makes you jump out of your seat. This is why Raptors fans hold on to the assertion that he will one day play like a Dirk Nowitzski. His turn around dunk was one of those stand up moments. He also shot the ball like a Hall of Famer last Night and looked very confident. The battle for him over his career has been making it happen in consecutive games. Here’s hoping he can put it together.

Jones on NBA: Fast break – sportsnet.ca

Somehow I think it will be a very different Detroit Piston squad facing the Toronto Raptors on Sunday than the one that was trotted out two days before Christmas. Ben Gordon was in uniform that night but did not play, while Tayshaun Prince and Richard Hamilton were getting work in before the game but did not suit up as they were decked out in "civvies" on the bench.

Chris Bosh: Canada’s Most Viral Athlete – AOL News Canada

Toronto Raptors forward Chris Bosh was named the most viral athlete in the world by ESPN Magazine for his heavy involvement with the Internet, and some of his YouTube videos have now been packaged on a DVD with a documentary titled 'First Ink.'

"I wanted to do something creative and different that hadn't been done before by another athlete," Bosh says of 'First Ink,' which focuses on his decision to get a large tattoo on his back.

Pistons-Raptors Preview | Times-News Online

Toronto (14-17) has been terrible defensively, giving up an Eastern Conference-worst 106.2 points per game. The Raptors had allowed less than 88 points only once all season entering a matchup with the Pistons (11-18) on Wednesday night, but held them to 27.9 percent shooting in a 94-64 victory.

It was the second-fewest points allowed by the Raptors, who surrendered 54 in a win over Miami on March 19, 2008. Toronto, which snapped an 11-game skid at Detroit, improved to 11-0 this season when holding teams under 100 points.

Pistons Tayshaun Prince, Richard Hamilton, Ben Gordon and Charlie Villanueva all game-time decisions for tomorrow | freep.com | Detroit Free Press

Pistons forward Tayshaun Prince has been upgraded to a game-time decision for tomorrow's contest against the Raptors in Toronto.

There is a lot riding on this game. The Raptors are barely in 6th place in the East, they are on a 3 winning streak, and can sweep the season series with the Pistons if they have another solid showing. They were able to solidify the Nets win with follow up victories over the Hornets and Pistons, and if they win on Sunday, they will give themselves in an opportunity to finish 2009 on a 5 game winning streak (and close to within 1 game of .500).

Even though the Pistons are injury ridden, they can’t be taken lightly. There is a lot of fight in these guys. I checked in with Dan Feldman of PistonPowered.com to get his take on this matchup and what he thinks about the Pistons season so far:

What you think about the first two times the Pistons/Raptors played this season?

Both times, the Pistons had played the night before and the Raptors were on two days rest. Yes, Toronto has looked excellent in those games. But both teams are on three days rest this time. I’m not ready to concede the Raptors are so much better than the Pistons until we see this third game — and maybe not even then if Richard Hamilton and Ben Gordon return from injury, but look rusty.

How are the signings of Gordon/Villanueva working out?

When healthy, both have looked pretty good. Unfortunately, that hasn’t been often. I’m cautiously optimistic at this point, but that’s a little more pessimistic than the start of the season. (Note: He provides a great scouting report on Charlie V here, great read)

Are the Pistons a playoff team?

If they were healthy all year, I have little doubt they would be. It just depends how quickly Hamilton, Gordon, Tayshaun Prince and Villanueva can get healthy. Detroit may be too far back at that point. As of now, my guess is yes, but I’m hardly confident.

Do Hamilton and/or Prince get traded this year?

Probably not. I certainly think Joe Dumars would be willing, but I don’t think he wants to give them away. With so many teams either in financial trouble or saving their cap space for the summer, I doubt he’d find a taker.

The Raptors did catch the Pistons twice when they were playing the second night of a back-to-back, but they took advantage. Both times, they weathered the early storm, and cruised to a win. Tomorrow, the Pistons will be well rested, so they wont need to push so hard from the tip in hopes the Raptors will fold early. That being said, they have nagging injury problems (Hamilton, Gordon (questionable) and Prince) and regardless of how well rested they are, they just don’t have the horses.

Detroit was able to stay in the last game with an incredible effort on the offensive glass, where they grabbed 23 offensive rebounds that resulted in 30 second chance points. Bosh and Bargnani will have to battle on the glass from the get go. I can’t even stress this enough, if we win the battle of the boards, the Pistons have no chance. Zero.

I came down hard on Bosh for not scoring enough last game, and I still stand by that. He dropped 12 points last game, and regardless of how much we won by, that production wont cut it against better teams. It can be argued that he didn’t need to produce as much since the Raptors had the game early, but he did play 33 minutes, so he was out there for a significant period of time. The Raptors need a balanced attack where Bosh/Bargnani are both contributing 17+ points a game, with Jack and Turkolgu running the show.

Jack and Turkoglu played masterful games on Wednesday creating for everyone. Seems like Triano is on to something with his usage of Hedo, I must say that I’m liking it. Still not a Triano fan, but he is learning his lessons, late as they may be.

I’m calling another Raptor win Sunday, too much has to go right for the Pistons to beat them.

On another note, we are very pleased to announce the newest addition to The Republic: Arsenalist and his family welcomed Alia to the world on Christmas day – a Festivus miracle! The kid is damn cute, Arse did well on this one.

Had a chance to chat with Tim Chisholm from TSN.ca about all things Raptors. You can click the play button below or listen directly in iTunes (41:10 min). You may also download the file (14.47MB).

For a list of topics discussed, make the jump.

• Jack’s play in contrast with Calderon’s.
• Suitability of Triano/Iavaroni’s system.
• The effect of dribble penetration on Andrea Bargnani.
• Zone defense and why coaches don’t use it.
• Chris Bosh’s desire (or lack thereof) to play with another star.
• How smart (or not) is Colangelo?
• Pops vs POB.
• How many stars does it take to win a championship?
• Jay Triano’s grades.
• Where’s the pick ‘n roll?
• Jonny Flynn and the triangle.
• …more

Raptors pick Pistons apart – thestar.com

After all, the Raptors had lost 11 straight here, a streak that pre-dates both the all-star and the head coach and stretches to April, 2003; they knew the significance of the moment.

"It was brought up just before the game and Chris said, `It's happening tonight,'" Triano said after the Raptors stomped the Detroit Pistons 94-64 on Wednesday night to extend their winning streak to three. "And with about 20 seconds to go, we looked down the bench and said, `We did it.'

"And it feels good."

Playing a depleted team on the second game of a back-to-back, with legs and minds fresh from two days of preparation, the Raptors simply took care of business in devastating fashion.

The 64 points tied a Pistons franchise low.

Hedo passes the buck – Toronto Sun

"Like I said before, if I have the ball in my hands, I can be more creative, and people can see what I can do," Turkoglu said after Toronto's 94-64 triumph.

Head coach Jay Triano said part of Turkoglu's recent success has to do with the fact that the team is figuring out how to put the ball in his hands more often.

"When he has the ball in his hands, he makes good decisions, whether it's for himself, or whether it's for role guys, or whether he picks apart a guy in the corner," Triano said. "He's 6-10 and he can see the whole floor."

Raps snap Motown jinx – Toronto Sun

"It's a long season, people have to understand that," Bosh said of the team's slow start to the year. "You can't write teams off because they're struggling (early). We were put together (this season) and sometimes it takes a while to gel. I think we're going to be fine."

Triano said the theme inside the Raptors' locker room the last couple of days was to win last night's game so they can feel good about themselves going into the Christmas break.

"The guys talked about how much more exciting it would be going into a break with a win," he said. "So I thought we were very focussed and we did the right things last night. We defended, we shared the basketball, our assists-to-field-goal ratio was very high. And we're a pretty tough team when we share the ball."

What do you want for Christmas? – ESPN Daily Dime

"Santa, listen up, if you take away the defensive intensity you brought us over the last three games, I might just lock you up in the chimney. While you're at it, bring us a taker for Jose Calderon who remembers him for what he was in January and February of 2008. Nothing past that."

Of the game and being part of a science experiment. For real! – Doug Smith

Look, I only know a few of you very well, and some of you not at all, and Lord knows we all don’t get along every day in this little piece of cyber real estate.

It’s like a bar, in some ways, or a crazy big house party. Lots of people here and there, conversations going on in every nook and cranny and if you want to avoid someone, you can.

But we do all kind of live here, or at least make it part of our daily destination and, for the most part, we’re all civil.

So believe me when I say, at this time of hopes for peace and friendship and fun and gentle times, that I hope every single one of you and your families has the bestest of Christmases.

I hope Santa’s good to all of you, I hope all of your families enjoy nothing but prosperity and that none of you burn the turkey or something silly like that.

FAN590 – Blogs – The Rap » Pistons Pasted

Stats that stood out:
- Points in the Paint: 30-26 Detroit
- 2nd Chance Points: 27-9 Detroit
- Fast Break Points: 12-2 Raptors
- Toronto gets its first win IN Detroit since April 2, 2003
- Toronto led by as many as 31 points
- Amir Johnson had 4 blocks (as well as 9 points and 6 rebounds) against his former team
- Jarrett Jack … solid again in the absence of Jose Calderon: 14 points, 7 assists, 5 rebounds, 0 turnovers
- Toronto with 26 assists on 35 field goals
- Raps have now won 3 in a row (Detroit (Dec. 27) and Charlotte (Dec. 30) up next)

Washington Informer – An Interview with Walt Williams

Maryland National Hoops Classic: Walt ‘The Wizard’ Williams, you were in the NBA for eleven years…that’s a long time these days. What do you think helped to prepare you for the life of a professional basketball player?

Walt Williams: I have to give a lot of the credit to the coaches that I played for in terms of honing my skills, but when it come to ‘life’ as a pro athlete, I must say that my family, friends and the community prepared me by making sure that I always stayed humble. When you enter into the life of a professional athlete you are given a lot of special treatment. You can either go overboard with it or keep it in perspective.

HoopsHype.com NBA Blogs – Jeff Fox » What ails Toronto?

1) “(The) Rap(tors) had one of the worst schedules to start the season than almost all teams in the NBA.”

Looking at the team’s schedule thus far, this is a very valid point. The Raptors have played the most games in the league and second-most road games (16). But it isn’t just a case of quantity of games – it is also the quality of their opposition so far that has caused problems. Of their 17 losses, three have come to Orlando, two to both Phoenix and Atlanta as well as losses to Boston, Dallas, San Antonio and Denver. Luckily for the Raps, Santa will be bringing them a much easier schedule in the New Year.

Raptors make defensive stand, shut down Pistons – NBA.com

The Raptors are 11-0 when holding teams under 100 points and 8-0 when opponents shoot under 40 percent. They also broke a hex in this building, ending an 11-game losing streak at The Palace that dated back to April 2, 2003. "We knew this team was struggling coming in and we really didn't want to give them a window of opportunity," Bosh said. "I didn't know it (the streak) was at 11 but I knew I hadn't won here, ever."

Malice At The Palace! Raptors Devour Pistons 94-64! | Slam Dunking

This game was over at the half; why Pistons coach John Kuester brought his team back out for the second half must have been as punishment. For there was no way that Detroit gave any indication in the first 24 that they even wanted to be playing, never mind competing. Toronto was nothing to write home about in the first but they were good enough to hold a 25-21 advantage when the quarter ended. The Raptors would put the game away in the second as they walked into the locker room at the half on top 54-37.

Why LeBron James and Dwyane Wade will become teammates … and win championships

So there are real signs James and Wade will play together. Or that they’re strongly considering it; in fact, we already know these two and the Toronto Raptors’ Chris Bosh, another unrestricted free agent, will discuss becoming teammates at a sit-down dinner in July. James and Wade want the same thing: to win. Everything else is secondary. Shots. Recognition. Controlling the ball. Anything is possible when great players share a common goal and are committed to reaching it.

The Canadian Press: Bargnani, Turkoglu lead Toronto Raptors to 94-64 rout of Detroit Pistons

"We really needed this win, because we've struggled here and we didn't want to give them a window of opportunity," Chris Bosh said. "I didn't know the streak was that high, but I knew I had never won here." Detroit shot 28 per cent from the floor, matching its lowest point total since the shot clock was implemented for the 1954-55 season. The Raptors entered ranked 29th out of 30 NBA teams in points allowed. "That was a terrible, embarrassing loss," Kuester said. "I'm taking the blame on myself, because we didn't look prepared, and that's my job."

Raptors Rewind- Merry in Motown? – Dino Nation Blog

It is a banged up group of Pistons. Charlie V and Ben Gordon will give it a go. Rip Hamilton and Prince will not. Raps still no Jose and no Reggie Evans. The pistons played last night and lost to the Bobcats. While the Raptors have been idle since a win over the Hornets on Sunday. Can the Raptors keep things rolling into the Christmas break. We are about to find out. Pistons have always had good success vs Toronto but the Pistons are on a serious decline and have lost their last 5 games as they enter this extended back to back with the Raptors. Christmas is almost here but a little business to take care of before then. Key to the Raptors hold a team under a hundred you win the Raps are an NBA best 10-0 when they do that.

Raptors rout depleted Pistons – thestar.com

They got the Pistons down by out-working them early and never let them up, holding Detroit to fewer points than any Raptors team had scored in a game this season, allowing them to shoot just 27.9 per cent from the field (another season best) while putting up another impressive offensive performance.

"That was one thing we really talked about: They played last night and we had two days rest coming into this game so there really was no excuse not to come out and have good energy coming into this game," said Chris Bosh, who had 21 points and nine rebounds and ceded offensive responsibilities to Andrea Bargnani (21 points) and Hedo Turkoglu, who had 11 points and 11 assists for his first double-double as a Raptor.

Detroit Pistons embarassed themselves tonight: Part II – PistonPowered

Here’s my guess, and I admit this is pretty blind: the Pistons have heard so much about their injury problems, the team has developed a defeatist attitude. They repeatedly hear it’s OK they’re losing, and now they believe it.

Even if that’s not it, something is wrong. I think the odds are everyone in that locker room knows what it is. Regardless of what it is, they have to deal with it.

Pistons coach John Kuester has gotten a lot of credit for the job he’s done thus far – and deservedly so. One of his biggest strengths has been getting the team to play hard every game most games.

Raptors suffocate undermanned Pistons squad – National Post

Andrea Bargnani had a much-needed breakout game to lead the charge. Bargnani had not scored topped 20 points in his last 10 games. And when Bargnani is not scoring, he is generally not contributing tangibly. However, Bargnani had 21 points to lead the Raptors' attack, adding two blocks to the cause as well.

Hedo Turkoglu, who bemoaned his effort in the season's first 30 games on Tuesday, also had a nice evening. The Raptors acquired Turkoglu in the name of getting another ball distributor, and Turkoglu had 11 assists against the Pistons. His previous season high was eight. He added 11 points for his first double-double of the season.

About Last Night: Detroit Pistons have hit rock bottom – MLive.com

1. You'd think the Raptors were building brick walls at the top of the key with the inability of the Piston defenders to fight through screens. The main way to improve in this area is to anticipate the screen. The Piston players have to communicate better about when and where the screen is coming from so that they don't get completely jammed.

2. The screener's defender was overcommitting to the ball handler. This allowed the screener to pop into wide open areas on the perimeter or roll free into the lane. For the second night in a row the Pistons allowed way to many open three-point shots off of the pick-and-roll.

Pistons tie franchise low for single-game scoring – The Detroit News

The 64 points, of course, was a season low. The previous low? A night earlier (76) against the Bobcats. The Pistons shot 27.9 percent (24-of-86), also a season-low.

The offense has completely dried up without Richard Hamilton (hamstring), Ben Gordon (sprained left ankle) and Tayshaun Prince (ruptured disc). Added to those, Charlie Villanueva is being greatly impacted by plantar fasciitis in his right heel.

Villanueva only played 12 minutes and was 0-for-7 from the field. He isn't getting lift on his shots and is laboring while running.

Toronto Raptors vs. Detroit Pistons – Box Score – ESPN

Jay Triano – The FAN 590 Toronto – Audio on Demand

The head coach of the Toronto Raptors joins the program to discuss injuries to Jose Calderon and Reggie Evans, the Raps game against the Detroit Pistons (Live tonight on THE FAN 7pm tip) and getting a chance to run with the Olympic torch!

Decade in sport: 10 basketball moments to remember – Posted Sports

The Graduate
As the decade turned, Toronto Raptors fans thought they were in good hands with Vince Carter. That changed on May 20, 2001, when Carter attended his university graduation on the same day as Game 7 of the Eastern Conference semi-final. He missed the final shot in that game, battled injuries in the three years that followed, and was traded in December 2004.

How to change your NBA destiny – Bill Simmons – ESPN

VP’s Take: As I wrote last July, there’s nothing more dangerous than a GM worried about his job who dumps the team’s long-term interests to protect the short-term. Everything Bryan Colangelo did last summer screamed, “I need to keep my job!!!” Now the Raptors are hamstrung with an overpaid, below-.500 roster that doubles as the worst defensive team of this decade — seriously, what did they think would happen when Jose Calderon, Hedo Turkoglu and Andrea Bargnani were three of the team’s best four guys? — and Chris Bosh seems like a mortal lock to leave. You can’t do the Frank Drebin Memorial “Please disperse, nothing to see here, please disperse” routine. Raptors fans are too smart. They get it.

Jay Triano – December 23, 2009

Hedu Turkoglu – December 23, 2009

Chris Bosh – December 23, 2009

Game in Six Minutes – December 23, 2009

This picture doesn’t speak about the game, but it is bloody awesome.

This game went down exactly how I said: the Pistons came out guns blazing from the tip, the Raptors weathered the early storm then put them away. This was what we wanted to see from our boys, facing an injury riddled team who is playing on the second night of a back-to-back, they beat the hell out of them. The Pistons were easy pickings with their top three players out with injury, and Villanueva walking wounded.

You have to hand it to Toronto’s strategy here, winning through attrition. The Pistons came out ugly. Missed shot after missed shot, but their bigs cleaned up the boards. Bosh and Bargnani were totally asleep on the defensive glass. Sure Bosh finished the game with 9 rebounds, but he did next to nothing in the 1st quarter when Wallace/Maxiel/Jerebko grabbed 7 offensive rebounds. Bargnani was no better, but at least he gets a pass for carrying the offensive load early.

I want to pick on Bosh here a bit, he didn’t seem very into this game. He wasn’t active, he didn’t really do anything, sure he got hung out to dry on two defensive rotations in the first half, but he was off. We didn’t get a great night out of him, 12pts/9rebs on 4-5 from the field and 4-4 from the line – in 33min of play, unacceptable. He didn’t take his first shot until the 4:43 mark of the 1st for crying out loud. While the Pistons front court is nowhere near where they used to be, they still have very active guys that can make you pay; and they made the Raptors pay last night. In all fairness though, Triano played him more then he needed too, 33min in this type of game, seriously?

One thing I was very pleased with was how Turkoglu and Jack were both in sync running the offense. They took turns creating off the bounce and got the rest of the team great looks to the tune of 18 assists on the night that led to 42 Raptor points. They ran that pick-n-roll to perfection, with half of the plays ending in a dunk or layup for the Raptors. 12 of the Raptors 35 made field goals were at the rim, with Turkoglu/Jack assisting on 7 of them.

Turkoglu’s playmaking is so important, I don’t even care about his scoring numbers. If he can drop 6-10 assists a game, grab 5-7 rebounds and play some defense, then anything he scores is icing on the cake as far as I’m concerned.

Anyone else pull out there hair when that elite/all-star level *cough sarcasm cough* Detroit front court pulled down offensive rebound after offensive rebound? They had 30 second chance points off of 23 offensive boards. The Pistons grabbed 41% of all available rebounds on the offensive end. That’s insane! To put into perspective how important that was for them last night: their eFG% was 28.4% on the night were they scored 30 points at the rim. Had they not grabbed so many offensive boards, they might not have had more then 40 points for the game, no joke, that’s how bad they were shooting last night.

It was good to see the Raptors drop 94 points on a night where Bosh only contributed 12. Bargnani carried the scoring load, but Jack and Turkoglu accounted for 67 of the Raptors 94 points last night (they scored 25 and assisted on 42). Brilliant, just brilliant.

Also, Free Amir man. The kid needs more playing time. It’s a thing of beauty seeing him active in the paint.

Just wanted to wish all of you Happy Holiday season. From Christmas to Chanukah to Kwanzaa, all we can hope for is that Santa doesn’t take away the defensive intensity he brought us over the last few games. Stay safe and enjoy the break.

Once again, filling in for the vacationing AltRaps, it’s the “C’mon, it’s a back-to-back…for the other team” edition.

Banks – The positive press got to his head. Came in and promptly turned it over twice, once on a childish double-dribble. Somebody check with Doug Smith and see if he still considers him a “trade asset”.

Bargnani – The jumper was on, hence the game was on. All his shots were in rhythm and he looked to break a sweat on offense. Needed to get more mixed up in on the boards, the Pistons’ +18 offensive rebounding edge speaks to their superior physical presence in the paint, but when you have an offensive game like he had, it makes up for a lot of things. Great shooting display, his shot-chart’s all over the place, don’t miss out on the reverse-dunk off the baseline drive, an almost patented move.

Belinelli – Amazing what happens when you start off by driving instead of stepping back for a three behind two screens. He admitted the early layup got his confidence going and from there he just let his instinct take over. Triano should test him early and see what he has in him for that night, chances are if he misses his first couple shots he’s a write-off for the whole game, if he’s on, great. Either way, with Weems in the wings he won’t be playing 25 minutes of 0-9 ball anymore.

Bosh – Let Wallace dictate his offensive game too much for my liking, wasn’t as aggressive as he needed to be against the laterally challenged Wallace. Lucky for us we didn’t need his offense tonight. Good effort on the glass and on the PnR with Turkoglu and Jack.

Calderon – Desde españa, a 6-3 G, numero ocho, Jose Cal-deron!! You’ve heard the last of those words from Herbie Coon.

DeRozan – He needs to get a grip on his handle, it’s too loose for him to be making the moves he tried early. Dribbled it off his foot the first time and right into traffic the second, the defensive work early was poor but took a nice charge against Stuckey in the third. Pushed it in transition but couldn’t supply the finish, he recognized the back-to-back weary Pistons defense and tried to exploit. I’m buying his jersey, just for wanting to play defense.

Evans – Part-times as Santa at Albion Mall.

Jack – Give him the corner three, he’ll nail it. Give him the paint, he’ll drive right through it. Pressure him up-top, he’ll make the right pass. Best part, he doesn’t concede on D what he provides on O. He played like a true PG early and when Turkoglu took over the playmaking, nicely transitioned into a SG who spaces the floor and D’s up his check. Liking the headband too.

Johnson – I finally get it. He’s playing for a contract. BC Beware: Do not overpay him! Now that that’s out of the way, another good aggressive defensive game. Had four swats and was the only guy who could get a handle on Jason Maxiell and Ben Wallace, happens when you face old practice buddies. The energy was great and something we’re almost taking for granted. Keep it up Amir, at this rate you’ll have a 6yr/55M contract by June.

Mensah-Bonsu – I liked him. Then I found out he’s a Tottenham supporter. He can burn in hell.

Nesterovic – The only Raptor that drinks Labatt 50. Or knows what it is.

O’Bryant – One thing about him is that he’s consistent, he’s even a healthy scratch in NBA2K. Respect.

Turkoglu- You’re telling me if we give him the ball early in the shot-clock and have him create by setting screens for him, he can be effective? What a shock? What we saw tonight should’ve been happening from Day One. Of Training Camp. It’s inexcusable how bad of a job Triano has done in integrating Turkoglu into the team. Having a player with his offensive skill-set might be the easiest thing to coach, yet Triano has managed to screw it up thus far. Here’s hoping this game signals the Big Turk’s return as playmaker. Him and Jack showed great chemistry tonight and the PnRs with Bosh all led to something positive. Even D’d up his man 30 feet out. No joke.

Weems – 8 rebs in 22 minutes, guard rebounding isn’t talked about enough. Best thing it does is that it helps your transition game since the pass from the big who rebounded the ball to the ball handler is eliminated. As long as he keeps the energy coming, he’ll get enough playing time to secure himself a place in the L. The Pistons’ 28% shooting can be attributed to our guard defense. Young Guns take a bow.

Wright – We have no use for him. Never did. Those of you who thought he should be starting instead of DeRozan, where are you? Show your face! Cowards!

Driving The Bus: Hedo Turkoglu

Under The Bus: Marcus Banks

Game Theme:

This week on The Doctor is In, someone has spiked the holiday punch bowl because I drank “the Colangelo Kool-Aid” when examining the first 30 games and the Raptors starting five! In “hot or not” the front office and Colangelo get some love, and in the internet’s most popular home game “Would YOU Make This Deal?” we wonder how Bosh would look playing Nellie-ball!

You can click the play button below or listen directly in iTunes (17:35 min). You may also download the file (6.12MB).

Dont forget to vote for your favorite Christmas Carol!

It’s been a minute since the last Raptors game. With five weeks of back-to-backs in a row (2-3 on the 1st night and 1-4 on the second night) and the toughest part of our schedule behind us (the Western road swing and 16 road games overall) the Raptors still have a chance to close the gap to .500 by the end of 2009 with games against the Pistons (tonight and Sunday) and Charlotte. It wont be easy, but if there is some effort and consistency, this team can get to 15-18 heading into the New Year.

The Raptors currently have the 7th seed, gotta love the East right? Better yet, the Pistons have lost 5 in a row and are close to free-fall status, but sit half a game out of 8th (.407 seems good enough to get you into the playoffs).

The Raptors head into Auburn Hills to face the Pistons on the first night of a home-and-home. This Pistons team is on the same level as the Raptors: middle of the pack/can fall anywhere form 5th to 10th in the East depending on how they battle on a game by game basis. They are free-falling a bit, half in part to a tough road schedule they just came off, and the other half due to some nagging injuries to important players (Prince/Hamilton have both played only 3 games this season, Gordon’s been injured and almost everyone else is listed day-to-day).

Coming off a loss to Charlotte last night means the Pistons will have to come out of the gates with their guns blazing if they hope to have any chance of taking this one. Ben Gordon is key tonight, if he is injured again, finding that instant offense will get challenging considering Hamilton will probably sit too. If you remember the last game, when Wright checked in to cover Gordon, the Pistons struggled long enough for the Raptors to take full control of the game.

Detroits injury situation will dictate how much burn Wright gets. The guy’s been in the doghouse, but he plays solid defense and was the only reason Ben Gordon didn’t score more then he did last time. Both Gordon and Hamilton thrive on taking their man off screens and creating great scoring opportunities. I just don’t trust DeRozan/Weems/Belinelli to play the type of defense necessary to shut them down, I’m sorry. I know there is a huge love-fest going on for Weems now, but the guy is a 9th man off the bench kind of player, can’t expect too much from him.

I hate to say it, but with Calderon out, it seems as though the defense at the point guard spot has improved. Jack is playing at the same level, but Banks was right, he is a game changer on defense, lol. Ok, he’s no Artest, but he’s better then Calderon which means that Stuckey, and especially Bynum, wont be running as rampant as they were the last time out. Bynum especially makes me nervous with his speed and dribble penetration, Stuckey does a pretty good job of that too, but Bynum comes off the bench which makes that attack constant on the Raptors defense. He lit the Raptors up the last time, and we had no answer for him.

There isn’t much standing in the way of Bosh and Bargnani to both have big nights again. Villanueva is great, but he givs up as much as he takes and Ben Wallace only brings rebounding and some defense to the table (the Pistons are effectively short-handed on offense with Big Ben on the court).

The game will probably be ugly, but it is very winnable for the Raptors. The Pistons are on the second night of a back-to-back, injury ridden and in the midst of a 5 game losing streak. You really couldn’t set the stage any better. Not much of a leap here, but expect a win tonight. The Pistons don’t match-up well against us at all when they are healthy, much less when they are mangled.

Little did you know that today is Canada Basketball Day. Join a bunch of ball-loving folk for some pick-up action at Hoop Dome around 1:30PM or so, and then head over to SCC for Raptor Fan Fridays.

Being dad has Bosh feeling festive – thestar.com

It will be nice for Chris Bosh to get back to Dallas for a couple of days of a Christmas break, a chance to relax with his family, exchange gifts and eat and hang out.

But that will be nothing compared to the real celebration that will come back in Toronto in a couple of weeks.

That's when Trinity, his 13-month-old wisp of a daughter, arrives and the excitement really begins.

Turkoglu gives himself a failing grade – Posted Sports

“Where I am right now, I am not really happy,” he said. “But you know, it’s just like time — for progress — you need to learn to realize what is going on, and I feel much better right now physically. I learn about the system and the plays, and I think things start to change with me handling the ball.”

Turkoglu was an Everyman with the Magic. A point-forward, a combination that helped Orlando reach the 2009 NBA finals. In Toronto, the guard part of the Turkoglu package was initially eliminated — by design. The Raptors were Jose Calderon’s team to run. But with Calderon out and battling a bad hip, Turkoglu has been getting his hands on the ball. Being a floor general, instead of just a shooter, has helped revive his flagging spirits and given him hope that better days — and better results – await in 2010.

Looking back 10 years and 30 thoughts – Elliotte Friedman, CBC.ca

7. Raptors/76ers second-round NBA playoff series, 2001. The only time Toronto ever advanced past the first round was a seven-game loss to Philadelphia. Both Vince Carter and Allen Iverson were at their peak. Iverson scored 54 points in Game 2, Carter came back with 50 two nights later. Then, Iverson had 52 in Game 5. Carter's response: "only" 39 in forcing Game 7, which the Raptors lost as he missed a last-second jumper. That morning, he'd taken a private plane to get his degree at North Carolina, and it ripped apart the franchise. Iverson was MVP that season. Owner Ed Snider said the ferocious little guard reminded him of Bob Clarke.

Bosh’s grown-up Christmas wish – National Post

Bosh could buy a yacht, a mansion and a trip around the world if he wanted to for Christmas. But all he really wants is a win in Detroit tonight and to spend the NBA's two-day holiday break at home in Dallas with his family. Doing absolutely nothing.

"Quite frankly, Christmas dinner tastes better after a win," Bosh says. "And I would like to have a good Christmas dinner."

Toronto reunites for practice on Boxing Day before embarking on a more forgiving stretch of the schedule.

DIMEMag.com – Power Rankings

21. Toronto Raptors (12-17): Last week: Lost at Miami; lost at Orlando; beat New Jersey; beat New Orleans. He’s still not scoring a lot (7.7. ppg), but DeMar DeRozan is starting to become a fixture on the nightly highlight reel with his dunks.

SportingNews.com – Power Rankings

16. Raptors (19). A couple of soft home wins have the Raps somewhat back on track, and a light week should help things, too.

Raptors Game Day – National Post

Who's hot? Or what's hot, in the case of Andrea Bargnani? The answer: the number six. The big Italian has sunk six shots from the field in five consecutive games.

Who's not? Hedo Turkoglu, the Raptors hit-and-miss offseason acquisition, has shot 14-for-40 from the field in his past four games, a stretch lowlighted by a 3-for-11 effort against Miami and a 4-for-13 outing versus New Orleans.

Bosh’s Christmas wish list includes victory over Pistons – Canada.com

“Our first 30 games happened in 53 days, our next 30 happen in 73 days,” Triano said. “That is 20 more days where we can do two things: No. 1 — rest; and No. 2 — practise.”

Triano expects the Raptors to be a fresher and more focused bunch in the New Year, with fewer back-to-back games to beat them down and more practice time to do what they have not managed to do much of this season: come together as a team.

But first the players will go their separate ways for the holiday. Jarrett Jack is headed home to Washington, D.C; Sonny Weems to West Memphis, Ark.; Bosh to Dallas and DeMar DeRozan to Compton, in Los Angeles.

Pistons lose to Bobcats, 88-76 – Detroit Free Press

The Pistons lost their fifth straight as they again had 52 points a game in street clothes, with Richard Hamilton (hamstring), Tayshaun Prince (back) and Ben Gordon (ankle) sidelined.

Throw in Charlie Villanueva being limited by a sore foot, and the Pistons had few options after Rodney Stuckey, who scored 20 points.

“I just couldn’t move out there really, man,” said Villanueva, who shot 2 for 8. “I couldn’t really take off. It’s frustrating.”

Six Pack: Trade Season Approaching – Boozer/Bosh – Hoopsworld

Will Utah finally part ways with Carlos Boozer? We know the Warriors would love to trade Corey Maggette, but would they move Monta Ellis? Tyrus Thomas is still on the block in Chicago. The Sacramento Kings would give up Andres Nocioni for a discount, and have Kenny Thomas' big expiring contract to peddle. If the Raptors don't right the ship, would they preemptively exchange Chris Bosh for a young stud under contract? The Rockets seem intent on finding a new home for Tracy McGrady. Donnie Walsh's plan in New York has been public knowledge for over two years now. What are the chances he finds a taker for Jared Jeffries or Eddy Curry? (Slim and none, respectively.) The Wizards are floundering and have a payroll approaching $80 million. What kind of offers will they be sending out…

Turkoglu awaiting the dawn of 2010 – Toronto Sun

“Hopefully it will be a rising 2010 for me,” said Turkoglu, who has been targeted as one of the reasons why the Raptors have gotten off to a 13-17 start, though they have won two in a row. “I’m feeling much better physically, and I’ve learned about the system and the players now.”

Turkoglu began the season fatigued and sore after playing for his native Turkey in the summer and helping to guide Orlando to the NBA Finals. It has taken him time to get completely healthy.

He’s also had to learn a new system with new teammates and there have been games when his numbers, and his effort, lacked. But head coach Jay Triano has also taken some responsibility for Turkoglu’s numbers, saying that he is still learning how to best utilize his new forward.

Toronto Raptor fans: What would you do if you were Chris Bosh? – HoopsVibe

The one thing that sticks out like a red thumb is the lack of a true definitive superstar. YES, Chris Bosh IS NOT A SUPERSTAR. Deal with it. Anyway, there is none on this roster. Calderon is great as a fantasy statistics point guard. He doesn’t turn over the ball much, but doesn’t create much impact in reality. He plays too safe and doesn’t take many risks. Chris Bosh is also a great fantasy stat power forward, but the guy is not a dominant superstar like Tim Duncan or Charles Barkley. The Turk is a good addition on paper although that’s not making a world of a difference in the win-loss column. The Toronto Raptors is a very talented team. It’s just they can’t accomplish much unless they turn things around DRASTICALLY.

Metro – Bosh looking forward to Christmas with his daughter

“I’ve got a house full of toys for her,” Bosh said yesterday. “It’s going to be fun.”

It will be the first “real” Christmas for father and daughter. Trinity would have been barely a month old a year ago, unable to really comprehend what was going on around her.

“This is the first one she’s going to be spoiled at,” said Bosh.

“She can rip open stuff now.”

Before getting a few days with his daughter, Bosh will take advantage of a break in the schedule to get home to Dallas. The Raptors play tonight in Detroit but don’t play again until Sunday afternoon.

Raptors Player Updates After 30 Games – Brothersteve

The Toronto Raptors have had a wildly inconsistent start to the 2009-10 NBA season. After going 5-5 in their first 10 games, the Raptors went 2-8 in their next 10, and finally 6-4 in the last 10.

Those kind of wild swings were bound to have ended in change, and change we got!

In the stretch between 20 and 30 games, Raptors fans witnessed some new faces in the starting line-up and in the regular rotation.

Jarrett Jack made his first starts of the season. Sonny Weems cracked the rotation on a regular basis. And Antoine Wright has found himself a spot on the end of the bench.

At the 30 game mark, the Raptors players are looking like this:

Some ‘Mo’ Heading Into Motown… – Adnan Virk

While Toronto still needs to figure out why it's own penchant for long range marksmanship has fallen off, a win against a good team like New Orleans (don't let their 2-11 road record fool you) is a positive sign heading into Motown on Wednesday night. The Pistons have been hit hard by injuries and are ripe for the picking on their home floor. And as for those concerned about Chris Bosh's lack of rebounding in Florida? He has a league-best 13 games this season with at least 25 points and 10 rebounds which is six more than the number two man, Brook Lopez.

Who represents the Raptors at the Slam Dunk Contest: DeRozan or Weems?

A decade ago, teammates Vince Carter and Tracy McGrady brought the Toronto Raptors fame and glory with their aerial antics at the Slam Dunk Contest.

Of course, Carter became champion and, along the way, turned Kenny ‘The Jet’ Smith into ‘The Broken Record’ because the TNT broadcaster could only say ‘It’s over’ when watching the young guard perform.

Ten years later, another pair of Raptors are hoping to duplicate Carter and McGrady’s success at the Slam Dunk Contest at Cowboys Stadium in Dallas, Texas.

The Tim Thomas Award goes to Hedo Turkoglu | Bleacher Report

After flirting with the Blazers, he signed a five year contract with the Toronto Raptors worth $53 million. The Raptors are currently below .500 with a 13-17 record. This may not be just down to the 30 year old, but when you commit $10 million a season to a player it would not be futile to expect a significant improvement.

Hitting a game winner reminiscent of last year's finals, the Turkish Sensation ended a four game losing streak, including a 145-115 pounding by Atlanta Hawks, first week December.

This was a one off as the highlights are few and far between for Raptor fans. We are only 30 games into an 82 game season but the 6-10 forward needs to step up.

Carter and McGrady – Hardly the decade’s finest – CBSSports.com

The Warriors paid $250,000 on draft night that year to move ahead of the Raptors and assure they would get Antawn Jamison, the "other" University of North Carolina standout, with Carter going next to Toronto. Turns out it was a wise investment. Jamison never turned out to be a great player, but his career — highlighted by consistency and professionalism — has been everything Carter's hasn't. At a far lower price to boot.

SLAM ONLINE | » Johnson Continues To Battle

“It was crazy,” Johnson told me after the first preseason game which saw him need stitches. “I got ‘bowed in the mouth and the foul was on me. I’m good now and I could have kept playing with the stitches but they said my tooth went through my lip. I didn’t realize that until I was in the back and they told me I needed to get stitched up.”

How many players in the NBA would brush off getting stitches in back-to-back preseason games and rush back to the court? Not many. Yet Johnson loves his role with the team and is happy being known as a hustle guy who comes off the bench to give the team an infusion of energy.

Dino Nation Blog: Christmas Edition Of 3 up and 3 Down

3. Jarrett Jack has been vocal and playing at a high level. No Jose….No Problem. Jack in 2010 will be your Raptors starting point guard. It is just a matter of when and not if he will be now. Still no idea on when Jose could return but it is clear that Jack deserves to keep his starting spot. Just as clear as it was for Jose fans that he deserved it when T.J Ford returned from injury. Jack has been a straight shooter and you get no B.S and a heck of a point guard. It is a New Jack New Year on the way you can Marcus Banks on it!!!

CB4 is for the Children! – Hoop Heads North

Recently the Chris Bosh Foundation treated some local Greater Toronto Area youth to spending a day with Chris Bosh while sharing a meal and getting a chance to shop at SportChek on CB4's dime!

Jarrett Jack is Xzibit! – Mediocre Forever

A picture is worth a thousand words right? These guys don't just look like brothers separated at birth, but rather identical twins separated at birth. If Jarrett Jack grows his hair and a goatee, you get Mr. X to the Z, Xzibit.

Raptors-Pistons Preview – CBSSports.com

In the opener of a home-and-home series, Detroit will look to snap its skid Wednesday night by winning its 12th straight home meeting with Toronto.

Detroit (11-17) seemed to bolster its chances to contend in the Central Division with the signing of Ben Gordon in July.

Gordon is averaging 18.7 points, but has missed eight straight games and 10 of the last 13 with a sprained left ankle. Richard Hamilton and Tayshaun Prince have also appeared in a combined six games.

Hamilton returned Dec. 12 from a sprained right ankle, but injured his right hamstring at Houston three days later. Prince hasn't played since Halloween because of an ailing back.

Gordon and Hamilton, who has averaged 19.9 points during the home win streak over Toronto, will be gametime decisions. Prince is expected to miss his 26th straight game.

Jay Triano – Dec. 22, 2009

Chris Bosh – Dec. 22, 2009

Jarrett Jack – Dec. 22, 2009

Hedo Turkoglu – Dec. 22, 2009

A big shout out to Christopher Bond from Evil Dead The Musical (evildeadthemusical.com) for his selections and singing of the top 5 finalists in our Home for the Holidays Karaoke Kontest.

Check out the five finalists below and vote for your favorite. Winner gets Raptors tickets.

DeRozan Fell

I’m Dreaming of a Tight Defence

12 Days of DancePAK

Deck The Halls With Reggie’s Trophies

Chris Bosh is Leaving This Town

So Raptors fans, this is it. 13-17. This is what we have to show for the first 30 games of the 2009-2010 season. Weren’t we told that this season would be different? Weren’t we promised by management that this team would compete, play defense, and challenge in the East? Wasn’t a full training camp, the toughness of Reggie Evans, and the addition of a fourth quarter closer supposed to fix the problems with last year’s roster? We were told that 2009-2010 would be better.

And now, the excuses continue:

• Reggie has been injured
• Jose is injured
• Guys aren’t comfortable yet
• Guys don’t trust each other on D
• We don’t shoot enough 3’s?

Seriously?

In football, Bill Parcel’s has a great quote, “you are what your record is” and what we are is a team, who 30 games in is: 13-17, 4 games under .500. That means, just to finish 41-41 (forget about winning 45+ games and cracking the top 5 in the East) we will need to go 28-24 and play at a .530 clip. And yet, for a team playing .433 ball, for a coach who has lost 2 out of every 3 games he has coached at the NBA level (and by an average margin of double-digits) that seems pretty lofty, no matter what the schedule looks like. Let us not forget that this team’s longest win streak this season is 3 games (and that included an OT win over 8-17 Washington, and W’s over the 10-16 Bulls and the 5-23 T-Wolves).

Take a look at what remains on tap for the Raps and (play the game yourself) check off which games you think are wins and losses and then total them up. By my most optimistic accounts, the team could go 25 and 27 – nowhere near enough to finish .500. If they were to play out the rest of the season like this, they would finish with 38 wins. Ironically, that still may be good enough to land the 7 or 8 seed in the east and a first round match up with Boston or Orlando. However, that wont be good enough to keep Bosh, and furthermore, you are better off for the future of the club to be in the lottery than you are to be the 8th seed in the east. I’m not sure that the geniuses at MLSE feel the same way. In fact, I’m pretty sure they would rather have a home playoff game than a chance at a game changing point guard in the draft. So, assuming that the 8th spot is NOT good enough for this club, there are at this point 4 options:

1. Tweak and make a run at the 5 spot
We all by now have heard the Jack Armstrong sound bytes about how this is the 5th most talented team in the East and that they should be striving for the 5th seed. So assuming it will take about 45 wins to get the 5th seed, you would need to tweak the existing roster and the mood in the dressing room to get this team to start to achieve to its potential.
Here tweaking would mean something along the lines of:

• Firing the coach
• Signing a vet, a recent retiree (i.e.: a Stackhouse or Bowen) to help shore up the dressing room and provide some solid minutes off the bench (12-15)
• And perhaps a minor deal for a legit point guard to handle some minutes while Jose is injured, i.e.: Belinelli to (insert team of choice) for (insert point guard of choice).

2. Cash in on your assets and rebuild on the fly
Here, you would acknowledge that this year is a write-off (may make playoffs but won’t win a round), but that you are not that far off from being a competitive team in the East. To choose this option you would also have to believe that Andrea has enough in him to take over this franchise. So, the key to rebuilding on the fly is to cash out your best asset (Bosh) while the value is still fairly high. The peak point for trading Bosh has already come and gone and the price of what you can expect in return will continue to decrease with every calendar day that passes and every Raptor loss. We should be looking at moving Bosh before the season is totally ruined and teams know that you have to move him or else watch him walk. Over the last month in my podcasts I’ve suggested several trades that you have voted on, sending Bosh to places like Chicago, Miami, Houston, Utah and OKC. In each case the package that has come back has included, some form of cap relief, a starter/younger prospect and a first round draft pick. Any package must include a first rounder, a current starter, and either cap relief or a young prospect.

Make a move like this, and you can continue to build around a young nucleus of guys like Andrea, Marco, Amir, DeMar, Sonny, and Jarret, who are all under 25. Besides, you can’t be much worse without Bosh. Really.

3. Blow it up and start again
Here is an option, why not blow it up? Why not make everyone available and start dumping players for expiring deals and number ones:

• Turkoglu, Calderon, and Banks to Houston for McGrady and a #1
• Bosh to Utah for Boozer and a #1
• Bargnani to Miami for Haslem and a #1

The point here is that it doesn’t matter what you get back, all you are looking to do is move out any contract that exists beyond this year and accumulate as many #1s and as much cap space as possible for 2010. If you were to go this way, it is possible that all that remains on this team come July 1st is DeRozan, Johnson, 50 million in cap space, and 5 first round picks in the upcoming draft. FYI, the draft looks to have some really strong prospects in addition to John Wall, the stud PG. And with all your team’s top players gone, Triano is free to coach without criticism, you can give significant minutes to DeRozan and Johnson and see what they can do, and you are likely to challenge both NY and NJ for the rights to draft John Wall.

4. Stay as is
History has shown that this is Colangelo’s most likely course of action. In fact, on CBC during halftime of Sundays game versus New Orleans, Colangelo said that he has no plans to either fire Triano or overhaul the roster. And while his words are inspiring and can make even the most disheartened Raptors fan, like myself, believe that there is better to come in 2010, the proof is in the figgy pudding. And so 2009 ends exactly the same way as 2008 did, with an underachieving roster, a coach without a proven track record for success, a significant amount of fear surrounding Chris Bosh’s approaching free agency, and no apparent cause for concern from MLSE or no stated intention to make the necessary changes to right the ship.

FYI, last year we were 11-17 on Christmas day.

As always, standing in the key, I’m the Dr., I’ve got my feet planted and I’m planning on taking a charge!

phdsteve

Note: Check back later to hear the Christmas Carols being performed!

Raptors Notebook – National Post

Raptors coach Jay Triano pointed out four games — the games before and after the Christmas break and the games before and after the all-star break — that prove how focused and mature a team is. It is easy to let your mind wander in those games. Jack compared it to exam time before winter break in college. "You might not study for that last final on Friday because you're thinking about going home and having that monthlong break," Jack said. "For us, it's kind of the same thing. Some people might be thinking of having two days off, going home, seeing your families and kind of having some downtime. But we've got some business to take care of before that time comes."

Raptors Looking for Christmas Joy – Toronto Sun

"They always say there are four games — the games before and after Christmas, and the games before and after the all-star break — where you really need to stay focused," Triano said. "It's no use looking at the schedule at the end of the year and saying: 'We have three games left and we have to win two of these,' when you can take care of business in and around Christmas and all-star time."

The Raps are in Auburn Hills, Mich., tomorrow night to take on the Detroit Pistons. After three days off for Christmas, the same clubs hook up again at the Air Canada Centre on Sunday afternoon.

Young Guns Firing For Raptors… – Raptors.com

While DeMar DeRozan has gathered attention for his rapidly maturing game, the Raptors other two young guns, Sonny Weems and Amir Johnson, have had a significant hand in the team’s improving play.

Consider the numbers: the 22-year-old Johnson is second in the NBA in offensive rebounds per 48 minutes and 21st in the league in rebounding despite a modest 17.2 minutes per game of playing time. He ripped down a dozen rebounds, Sunday, in a win over New Orleans and had 18 points and seven rebounds in Friday’s rout of New Jersey.

7 benchmark games for the Raptors – khandor’s sports blog

If the Raptors [13-17/.433; 2nd, Atlantic] can go into Detroit on Wednesday night and win a game against the Pistons, it will be a big step in the right direction:

Raptors back at practice (Video) – Toronto Sun

The Toronto Raptors were back at practice on Monday after winning 98-92 against the New Orleans Hornets.

Matt Devlin: Never Give Up On A Dream – Brothersteve

Matt Devlin, Toronto Raptors play-by-play broadcaster didn’t just luck into one of the handful of major league professional sports broadcasting jobs. He earned it with hard work, determination, and over-coming more than a few set-backs.

But Matt didn’t start out in life envisioning himself as the play-by-play guy for his favorite team. Like most kids, he loved to watch and play sports and the Syracuse NY native played baseball, football, and basketball well into his teenage years.

And when Devlin went to Boston College to pursue a Communications Major, it wasn’t the hands on program one might expect from a future broadcaster. But rather a media theory course. Matt still had no aims at a career before the TV cameras.

‘Young guns’ making their mark for Raps – Toronto Sun

While DeRozan was a prep star and a standout one-and-done player at USC, Weems took a less conventional route to the league. Weems was an all-state high schooler in Memphis, but relatively unknown. Still, he parlayed junior college success at Arkansas-Fort Smith into a two-year stint at Arkansas. A second-round pick by the Chicago Bulls in 2008, Weems eventually ended up in Denver, where he found little playing time, before heading to the D-League.

The off-season trade to the Raptors gave Weems a chance, and the player who “did mostly dunking, no dribbling, no shooting, nothing” while playing high school ball, has capitalized.

Jack said he knew nothing about Weems when training camp commenced, but quickly took notice of the high-flyer.

Raps’ Johnson ready to face former club – Toronto Sun

“We expected Amir to be a major player when we found out Reggie was hurt,” Triano said. “And he has been a great surprise. He has brought a great amount of energy and understands his role and does what we ask him to do. That has been great.”

Johnson appeared in just 11 games in his first two seasons in Detroit, but then played in 62 in each of the past two years. The Raptors got Johnson and Sonny Weems from the Milwaukee Bucks in exchange for Carlos Delfino and Roko Ukic, after Johnson’s rights were traded to Milwaukee.

Johnson’s 24 starts for the Pistons in 2008-09 were his only ones in Pistons garb, but he does not ponder how his pro basketball life might have turned out had he gone to university.

Weems proving he belongs with Raptors – Canada.com

“I know he really opened my eyes the first time I saw him play,” point guard Jarrett Jack said. “The first thing I did was I went home and told (Chris Bosh), ‘Do you know anything about Sonny Weems?’ He was like, ‘No, not really.’ I was like, ‘Watch tomorrow, he’s pretty good.’ ”

The whole underdog motif works for Weems. He grew up in Arkansas playing both basketball and football — he wears No. 13 in honour of quarterback Kurt Warner — only choosing basketball after going through a growth spurt following Grade 10.

Even after making his choice, he was hardly a standout.

“Oh, no, no, no, no, no. Not at all,” Weems said. “I tried to be but I wasn’t.

The Rap Sheet: Checkin’ In

The “trade Jose” talk has been getting a little louder lately hasn’t it. I’ll answer this question with one of my own; have you read an article from out of market that suggests any other team(s) want Calderon? The big question is can Jose return to his form of two seasons ago? If he can, the Raps probably aren’t going to trade him seeing they signed him long term. If he continues to decline, it’s hard to see another team that will want him at his price. Believe it or not point guards are a dime a dozen these days. In the last two years four of the top ten draft picks were point guards and most of them are starters today. With the cap coming down, teams will look more at shedding salary rather than adding it.

Week that Was & Week that Will Be – The Score

On the Hot Seat: Marco Belinelli – I've had Marco on this seat once this season, and now I'm forced to put him back on it. Here is a guy who can put up some serious numbers off of the bench, both scoring and distributing the ball. Unfortunately, to this point Belinelli has relied too heavily on his streaky shooting, rather than attacking the basket, looking for contact on the perimeter and getting his teammates involved. Triano has already cut Belinelli's minutes significantly, and if Marco can't find his consistency soon, he may become a fixture on the “DNP CD” list more often than not.

Trading Glibert Arenas to Raptors makes sense | Bleacher Report

The Toronto Raptors could provide a good home for Arenas, as they don't have a dynamic point guard on the roster. Jarrett Jack isn't terrible and Jose Calderon is a good stop-gap guard, but Arenas would be an upgrade.

Going to the Raptors would allow Arenas to evolve even further, as he claims he already has, and defer scoring to his teammates

Chris Bosh, Andrea Bargnani and Hedo Turkoglu are great scorers which means Arenas wouldn't have to shoulder the scoring load as he has mentioned on numerous occasions in Washington.

Behind the Box Score, Raptors vs New Orleans – Ball Don’t Lie

Playing on a bum left ankle, Chris Paul(notes) was clearly handicapped in this loss, unable to put his team over the top by himself. That doesn't mean that New Orleans couldn't have had this game, even with CP at (far?) less than full strength. The Hornets just didn't play sound and smart enough defense to pull out what could have been a needed road win.

This doesn't discredit Toronto's spacing, and the way it made a point to attack. This wasn't the prettiest offensive turn from the Raptors, but it was enough to win. This does mean the (relative) offensive struggles will continue for Toronto, but as the team desperately tries to claw its way back to .500, they'll take it.

One Game, Some things v3.30 – The Globe and Mail

And Sunday’s win was essential because it was a win, but also because it provided more credence to the breadth of the talent on the roster. Let’s not get too swept up in Sonny-mania just yet, for example, but check out some of Weems's numbers since he began getting some steady burn. Over his last seven games he’s shot 30-of-50 and is averaging 9.1 points a game. Take away that one possession Sunday when he missed four straight shots and he’d really be on fire!

Perhaps more surprising is that he’s made 17 assists against just seven turnovers. On the season it’s 24 helpers to 12 turnovers. Also, his per 36 minutes numbers are 13-4-4, on 46-per-cent shooting. Turkoglu is 15-5-4.5 on 43-per-cent shooting, but then again he’s only making $9.9-million more that Weems right now.

Chisholm: Emerging point guard issue in Toronto?

In that sense, Jack's defense has arguably been a better fit with the starting five than Calderon's once prodigious offense has been this season. Obviously Jack has benefitted statistically to be a starter, seeing his averages boost to 12.4 points and 6.0 assists per game, up from 8.3 and 4.0 as a reserve, and his shooting percentage jumped from 41% to 52% with the move. Those stats compare well to Calderon's 11.7 points, 6.2 assists and 52% shooting, but with Jack giving more rebounds (4.0 versus 2.2) and defense than Calderon ever has.

Those kind of stat bumps are expected when a guy goes from 27 to 33 minutes each night, but fortunately for Jack and the Raptors, his starting has impacted those around him, too.

Raptors’ Sonny Weems partakes in some light ageism – Posted Sports

If Jack is old, what does that make 33-year-old Rasho Nesterovic?

"Oh, Rasho is old as dirt. He moves so slow. But I love Rasho, man."

Weems can probably expect a hard foul in Tuesday's practice.

Johnson Showing A Ton Of Heart | Hoops Addict

Despite averaging a pedestrian 5.3 points and 5.1 rebounds in 17.2 minutes he’s been a huge hustle and energy guy for Triano off the bench. Not only that, but he’s started to find a comfort zone over the past month and it’s starting to show up in the stat sheet. On Friday he scored a team-high 18 points and yesterday afternoon he snagged a game-high 12 rebounds.

After the game on Sunday I chatted with Johnson about his strong play this weekend and he joked: “I’m trying to get a double-double but I can’t seem to get it. I get 18 points but then I only get seven rebounds. Or I’ll get 12 rebounds but I only get six points so I’m just trying to give my team a lift and do all the hustle stuff.”

Toronto Raptors After 30 Games: Big Changes Happenning « Brothersteve’s Green & Red Raptor Blog

Some player outbursts and a closed-door meeting later, and the Toronto Raptors looked like a new team just one day after surrendering that season league high 146 points to the Atlanta Hawks.

A three-game winning streak ensued. Followed by a two game losing skid, a strong win against Houston at home, two road losses, then two more solid home wins.

And the Raptors faced adversity as Jose Calderon injured his hip nine games ago forcing back-up Jarrett Jack into a starting role and making Marcus Banks give up his suit for a uniform and meaningful minutes off the bench.

Jack stepping up with 12.4 points, 4.0 rebounds, and 5.9 assists as a starter and the little used Marcus Banks pressed into seven games, providing 5.4 points on 47 percent shooting in 14 minutes per contest.

Raptors and Big Brothers team up for fundraiser – MyKawartha.com

The Toronto Raptors and Big Brothers Big Sisters of North Durham are teaming up for a fundraiser that is sure to be a ball.

The Raptors will hold a ticket drive at select games throughout January and February to raise funds for the north Durham non-profit organization, among others.

With every ticket purchased for select games, a $10 donation will be made to the agency. As a bonus, there's an opportunity to save up to 20 per cent off of the regular ticket price.

Discounted tickets cost $68.20 (regular $85) in the Group Zone and $37.20 (regular $43) in the balcony section.

Raptors, Talent Is a Terrible Thing To Waste | Bleacher Report

I am a strong believer in the term that Practice makes perfect, but I am also a strong believer in experience over raw talent. The Raptors five players that can be starting at the 2 spot on their roster, they are Sonny Weems, Marco Belinelli, Jarred Jack, Antoine Wright and DeMar DeRozan. Lets exclude Jack as he is a call above these guys. In my opinion the battle for this spot should have been between Sonny Weems, Marco Belinelli and Antoine Wright. With Wright getting hurt in training camp he dropped out of the picture. Thus leaving Weems and Belinelli. I am purposely leaving DeMar out of this discussion because I don't think that he should even be in the discussion as a starter due to his lack of experience.

Jay Triano – Dec. 21, 2009

Hedo Turkoglu – Dec. 21, 2009

Sonny Weems – Dec. 21, 2009

Jarrett Jack – Dec. 21, 2009

Amir Johnson – Dec. 21, 2009

Dynamic duo to the rescue – Toronto Sun

"Him and Jarrett Jack are probably my two closest friends on the team," DeRozan said.

"Sonny is probably my best friend on the team. We've got that vibe going on with each other and love being out there on the floor together."

But while DeRozan starts, Weems, of late, has been one of the first subs coming off the bench, so normally soon after he enters the game, DeRozan is subbing out. Yesterday, with the Hornets going with a small lineup, the two were on the court together for the final five minutes of the third quarter and made the most of it.

"It's an up-tempo game with me and DeMar and Jack running up and down the court," Weems said.

Amir Holiday Cheer – The Score

In the locker room after the Raptors victory over the New Orleans Hornets, Johnson asked a few of us if we had ever seen the video of he, Rasheed Wallace and a few of his former Pistons teammates singing Jingle Bells. My girl Natalie @ Need4Sheed.com had the video on her site last season, so of course, I've seen it, but I'm breaking it out again, in case some of you Raps fans have yet to see it.

Because the Raptors are playing against the Pistons on the 23rd, I asked Johnson where he will be spending his holiday. He said he would be staying in Detroit with some of his friends and family and that he was curious to see how the crowd in Detroit would greet him whe

More zee’s now seen as route to more hoops W’s – thestar.com

Raptors coach Jay Triano said Sunday his team isn't ready to drop the morning tradition.

"We've thought about it. We just don't think we're as experienced a team as the ones that are doing it," Triano told the Star's Dave Feschuk. "We still think we have a lot of teaching so that our players know what they're doing in certain situations."

A growing interest in sleep science – and a recognition that players need more time to recharge – is fuelling the trend. Simply speaking, NBA players often fail to get enough sleep.

The typical night game ends at about 10 p.m. By the time players shower, dress and speak with the media, it is close to 11 p.m. They are usually famished, so everyone eats a late dinner. Even the most conservative players – those who do not frequent nightclubs – will not get to sleep until at least 2 a.m. If the team is travelling, players may not reach their hotel until 3 a.m.

Optimism in short supply for Raptors – thestar.com

And let's acknowledge, as much as bad teams grousing about their schedule can get old quickly, that the schedule is about to get decidedly more hospitable. (The Raptors just played a league-high 30 games in their season's first 53 days. To put that compression into perspective, consider that the Raptors will play their next 30 games over a span of 74 days, which amounts to either more rest and a better chance to win, or one less excuse.)

This team isn't going to win 50 games, as Colangelo hypothesized they might in one of his pre-season daydream sessions. And finishing in the bottom four of the East's playoff teams is, of course, no recipe for ecstasy. The chances of Toronto winning a post-season series as a first-round underdog are positively slim.

DeRozan, Weems flying high

Really, they are not apt nicknames. Injured Toronto Raptors forward Reggie Evans has taken to calling his young teammates DeMar DeRozan and Sonny Weems Batman and Robin.

The implication is that they are a dynamic duo; they work well together. The problem, though: neither Batman nor Robin can fly. If only Superman had a sidekick, there might be some flight-capable superhero analogy to make.

Banks makes most of chance – Toronto Sun

"The one thing Marcus can do is defend," Triano said. "When he is in the game we try to let Turk (Hedo Turkoglu)run a lot of the offence from the point-forward position. Marcus can guard point guards and even tonight Chris Paul tried to post him up a couple of times in the third and Marcus was very strong and did a good job holding his ground.

"He has been taking advantage of the chances he has to play right now," Triano said. Banks has been around long enough that he knows his role, but has to be commended for staying ready even when playing time has been hard to come by.

Big Easy Buzz Blog

The Hornets’ starting five combined to go just 27-for-71 from the field. Overall, New Orleans was 37-for-95 (38.9 percent) and 3-for-21 (14.3 percent) on three-pointers. Aside from the shooting difficulties, the Hornets watched lesser-known, athletic Raptors role players such as DeMar DeRozan (10 points), Amir Johnson (12 rebounds in 22 minutes) and Sonny Weems (7 points, 5 rebounds, 5 assists in 30 minutes) turn in very productive games.
New Orleans missed an opportunity to win its third straight game, which would’ve given the Hornets a chance to move over .500 on Wednesday vs. a struggling and injury-riddled Golden State team in NOLA.

Familiar habits once again doom New Orleans Hornets – NOLA.com

"This was a winnable game for us, you know what I mean, " said New Orleans guard Chris Paul, who had 10 points on 3-of-13 shooting. "We just didn't come out with any type of intensity, same story, different night. We didn't defend, all the same some stuff that keeps on happening."

The Hornets still had a chance after Paul made two free throws with 1:05 remaining to cut Toronto's lead to 94-92. But the Raptors got a reverse layup from Chris Bosh, who scooped up a rebound after Andrea Bargnani missed a 3-point attempt with 49.9 seconds remaining.

Raps Replay – Toronto Sun

Marco Belinelli got the monkey off his back when he nailed an 18-foot jumper on his first attempt of the afternoon. His theory was he was thinking too much about the first miss and letting it affect his game. Unfortunately, he missed his next two, throwing his own theory in the dumper and finished the day 1-for-3.

Tim Floyd – The FAN 590 Toronto – Audio on Demand

The Hornets' assistant and former head coach of Demar DeRozan at USC joins Paul to assess his former player's progression in his rookie season and discuss the matchup with the Raptors.

Raptors Game Recap – The FAN 590 Toronto – Audio on Demand

THE FAN presents highlights (selection #1, courtesy Paul Jones) and the recap (selection #2, courtesy Eric Smith) of a 98-92 Raptors' win over the Hornets.

Banks a key to shutting down all-star Paul – Toronto Sun

Marcus Banks began the year as an afterthought, but is making his presence known with Jose Calderon down.

Banks was part of the Raptors second unit that came in and brought some life to a game that was desperately in need of it yesterday, a game the Raps went on to win 98-92 over the New Orleans Hornets due in large part to the contributions of that second unit.

Raptors Report Week Eight: Colangelo Is Great For Aquiring Players Too Late | Bleacher Report

First, Jermaine O'Neal and Chris Bosh were supposed to be the most dominant front court in the East, but this caused problems with chemistry and didn't help the development of Andrea Bargnani. Then he went and traded for Shawn Marion, a fast paced, high flyer who meshed in perfectly with the Raptors system. Problem was that he was washed up and past his prime.

Now he signs Hedo Turkoglu, a player who hits a few big shots to make his money but doesn't do enough to deserve that kind of paycheck. The only reason Turkoglu seemed a decent defender last year was because he was playing with the defensive player of the year Dwight Howard. As for offense, Turkoglu just doesn't seem to be able to get it done. He is turning over the ball, making bad passes, and taking bad shots. It's just not working out Hedo.

Raptors Find A New Wing: Sonny Weems Is Soaring! « Brothersteve’s Green & Red Raptor Blog

For the first 25 games this season, Weems was only getting minutes in about half of the games. And, the only time Weems saw double-digit minutes was during blow-out losses.

Perhaps fortunately for Weems, double-digit losses were happening a lot more than expected this season.

The first real sign that Weems may have caught his coach’s attention was in the 146 point debacle in Atlanta. Weems played 29 minutes in that game and while his stat line might not have been outstanding, no one could say Weems wasn’t trying.

Raptors find unlikely heroes – The Globe and Mail

The Raptors’ plan was to limit him to one side of the floor. Among the best to execute the plan was Banks, the nearly forgotten point guard who has been more than serviceable in a backup role behind Jarrett Jack while Jose Calderon (hip) has been hurt.

In one sequence during the third quarter, Paul was so frustrated by the rough treatment he was suffering at the hands of the burly Banks that he lashed out at the referees. At the start of the fourth quarter, Banks made a sloppy turnover in front of the Raptors’ bench, but redeemed himself by stealing the ball cleanly from Paul and scoring a jumper over him.

Raptors Blog » How Many Licks? – Toronto Raptors Blog & Message Forum

So far so good, just when the fans seemed to ceremoniously give up all hope. What happened to believing? Is that only something a fan can do when their team is entirely dominate most nights? I always thought that was the definition of a fairweather fan. Not that it matters, since today the stereotypical fan is too busy wailing and bemoaning every degree of imperfection found in the coach or the player they think needs to be the epitome of greatness to be worth biting into the Tootsie Pop themselves. They don’t have the belief required to take that bite, and they feel above the effort required to lick, let alone count the licks. So they just suck away, and if the team tries too hard to placate them, the team will go on sucking as well.

Punjabi Raptors win – The Zan Tabak Herald

Let’s hear it for Banks. He contained Paul, okay an injured Paul, for most of the game. Sure Jack did his part as well but Banks was a complete surprise. I’m not saying he’s worth his 5 million contract but he’s certainly is talented and useful player.

Dino Nation Blog: Raptors Rewind- Cowboy Up Edition

The lesson in what the Cowboys did was as good as their offense played for 3 quarters it was in the end the defense that secured the victory. The Raptors have struggled all year on defense and unlike in football, the guys on offense are the same on defense. But the lesson is clear as good as you can be on offense you need to have a defensive effort at the end of the day to win. Chris Paul is just as talented on a basketball floor as Drew Brees is on a football field. Paul is truly talented and is coming off one of his best games of this season. It will not be easy but the Raptors need to "Cowboy Up" and get a win.

Courtside – Credit Raptors for win over Hornets, but Chris Paul’s injury misfortune was the key; Weems making trade with Bucks look like a good one

Full marks to the energetic Raptors for their 98-92 victory over the New Orleans Hornets Sunday. Their defence was solid, the offence was clicking, Andrea Bargnani played with more intensity and effort than usual at the defensive end and Chris Bosh excelled again … but all-world Hornets point guard Chris Paul has been slightly hobbled all season with assorted bumps and bruises and this game changed when Paul injured his already sore ankle in the second quarter.

New Orleans Hornets road woes continue as they fall to Toronto Raptors 98-92 | New Orleans Hornets Central – - NOLA.com

“It’s crazy but as bad as we played we put ourselves in a position where we could have still won the game,” said Paul, who had seven assists ending a seven-game streak of double-doubles.
The point guard who played so well against Denver with 30 points and 19 assists, took a bad step early in the second quarter Sunday.
“I just stepped wrong and re-tweaked it a little bit,” said Paul, who missed extensive time with an ankle injury in November.
But he said the ankle did not hamper him.
“I just didn’t make the shots,” Paul said. “They did a good job of moving with the ball. I give a lot of credit to Bargnani, Chris Bosh and those guys. They were aggressive on the ball screens and never gave us a chance to get going.”

Raptors use late run to put away Hornets

The Hornets shot just 39% from the field, with all-galaxy point guard Chris Paul held to 10 points and seven rebounds on 3-for-13 shooting.

A lot of the credit for that belongs to Marcus Banks, playing only because Calderon is hurt. A former running back, Banks has the body to defend point guards really well. With Paul – whose jersey hung in Banks's locker post game – Banks was physical. Paul was even complaining to the officials at a few points, evidence of a job well done.

"Marcus can guard point guards," Raptors coach Jay Triano said. "Even tonight, Chris Paul tried to post him up a couple times and he turned, and Marcus is very strong. He did a good job of holding his ground."

The Raptors Beat the Hornets – Hornets247.com

I'm a little confused by Jeff Bower's use of Chris Paul at times. Yes, I know he's a top 3 talent in the league, but the man is fighting an ankle injury, comes up gimpy in the second quarter, and they still played him 40 minutes. It was also obvious it was bothering Paul too. No explosions into the paint, several mid range jumpers rather than drives, and his defense was atrocious in the second half as any determined drive to the basket would lose him. It was an ugly game for him – 10 points on 13 shots, 8 rebounds, 7 assists, a steal and five turnovers. Basically, he played like Jason Kidd.

Game in Six – Raptors vs Hornets

New Orleans Hornets vs. Toronto Raptors – Box Score – December 20, 2009 – ESPN

The Canadian Press: Bosh scores 25, all five starters reach double figures in Raptors’ 98-92 win

The Raptors stretched the lead to nine on a short Bosh jumper with 7:31 remaining, but New Orleans countered with a 6-0 run capped by an Okafor layup. New Orleans closed to within two on a pair of Paul free throws with 1:05 left before Bosh shut the door on the Hornets, grabbing a rebound of a Bargnani missed three and hitting a reverse layup.

Paul was called for travelling on New Orleans' next possession, and the Raptors made a pair of free throws down the stretch to ice it.

Toronto shot 47.1 per cent for the game while limiting New Orleans to 38.9 per cent from the field, and finished with a 52-50 rebounding advantage.

Jack was solid in the early going, scoring five points during a 10-0 run that put the Raptors up 14-6. A Brown three-pointer trimmed the deficit to three, but Bosh helped Toronto hang onto the lead with a long jumper from the right elbow. His 10 first-quarter points propelled the Raptors to a 26-22 advantage after one.

Jay Triano – Dec. 20, 2009

Andrea Bargnani – December 20, 2009

Marcus Banks – December 20, 2009

Amir Johnson – December 20, 2009

Hedo Turkoglu – December 20, 2009

Chris Bosh – December 20, 2009

Jarrett Jack – December 20, 2009