I don't want to write this, honestly, I really don't. Last night's game was disgusting and a disgrace. Toronto opened the year 2010 playing good basketball and even against a struggling Orlando team, a win over the Magic is pretty good. However, what followed it was a narrow win over a crappy Sixers team, another loss to the rival Celtics, and then blowing a 23, that's right, 23 point lead in a loss to the crappy Pacers last night. Blame it on the defense (Toronto socred 100+ in all fou games this week), blame it on lackadasical play while taking on weak opponents, fact is, this team has the talent to be above .500.
As always, one single player, the same guy who's been doing it for the past six years, is leading the way. Wednesday against Orlando, Bosh 18 points, 12 rebounds. Friday against Philadlephia, Bosh 29 points, 9 rebounds, and the game winning basket with 8.6 seconds left. Sunday against Boston, Bosh 31 points, 13 rebounds in a LOSS. Last night against Indiana, Bosh 27 points, 10 rebounds, again in a LOSS.
Let's face it, Bosh is the team and will be the team unless he is surrounded with bigger guys up front, more accurate shooters, and guys with some resemblence of defensive awareness. Unfortunatly, that doesn't look to be coming.
Anyway, an interesting propostion sits ahead as Toronto looks at what they want to with Chris. In preparing for today's post, I came across a video from Basketball Jones that talked of a "trade rumor" that would be the Raptors sending Bosh to the Lakers for Andrew Bynum.
Bynum may be a local New Jersey kid and yougn at only 22 years old, but is he a franchsie player? I say no. True, Toronto needs bigger guys, and by trading for Bynum and therefore allowing Andrea Bargnani to move to a position suited more for his play at power forward. However, the Raptors are a run and gun team, which is ill-suited for a player like Bynum. Now, at only 22, he may be able to adjust to the Raptors fast paced style unlike last year's failed experiment with Jermaine O'Neal, who never properly adjusted to Toronto's game plan. However, will Bynum be a dominant, Dwight Howard, or Shaquille O'Neal type force in the future? I have my doubts.
However, Toronto MUST have a sure-fire plan for Bosh. If Bosh doesn't return next season, they have to either trade him in the next month before the deadline OR do a sign and trade in the off-season. Losing Bosh and getting nothing in return would absolutly kill this franchise and team as a whole. Do I like the Bynum plan? Not really, his salary is alamringly high from what I hear and his future outlook is still a bit murky. He's a very good player, but enough to replace Bosh? The basketball mind inside of me says no.
Thumbs Up This Week
1. Chris Bosh- He absoultly dominated all four opponents this week and ran the floor himself, not to mention score a third of the team's points. He is going to be very sorely missed.
2. Andrea Bargnani- Ignoring an atrocious performance last night in Indiana, Andrea had 20+ points in two games and tied Bosh in Orlando with a team high 18 points.
His solid three point shooting in Boston also attributes this guy as a perfect fit for Toronto. If this team indeed loses Bosh, Bargnani must be prepared to take the load.
3. Jose Calderon- He's back and though he's yet to regain his starting gig, he's progressively been taking more shots, playing longer, and scoring more points with each game as he is in a 50:50 split with Jarrett Jack. Calderon will be full-time again so enough.
Thumbs Down This Week
1. Hedo Turkoglu- Horrendous week for him, with the lone good performance coming against his former team, Orlando last Wednesday. Very poor shooting and defensive play last week. Hedo is another guy that must step up big if Bosh leaves and the way he's playing, he doesn't seem capable.
2. Jay Triano- While he might be a solid X's and O's guy, there no sense of motivation or fire from him. This Raptor team has developed into a one half team and Triano can't seem to keep them motivated on all cylinders for 48 minutes. Shame on him.
3. Marco Bellinelli- I like Marco over DeRozen, as some of you know, but after watch poor shooting this weekend from Bellinelli, I'm beginning to realize he lacks the consistency to be a full-time shooting guard.
On the Medical Bench
Marcus Banks- He (thankfully) missed last night's game against Indiana with an "illness." Not that it makes a difference, but he's day to day and will probably go against the Knicks on Friday.
Reggie Evans- No real update on Evans' foot, but in related news, Evans has been activated to the active 12 man roster for the first time all season. Toronto in turned waived the Brit Pops Mensah-Bonsu, who played very sparingly and disproved the theory that there are good basketball players in Great Britain. As for Evans, still no updates outside of the active roster move.
My Raptors Picks This Week
A short week for Toronto as they get three days off starting today before two games over the weekend followed by an onslaught of games the following week. This week, Toronto takes a quick trip to the Garden to take on the Knicks, followed by a Sunday matinee (that AGAIN coflicts with the Dallas Cowboys) against the tough Dallas Mavericks. This is easy, there's no way I can pick the Knicks to beat the Raptors, even after an atrocious showing by Toronto in Indiana. And again, Dallas should effectively destroy the Dinos, but watch out for home surprises against West teams, we saw it a couple weeks ago against San Antonio.
Last Week 2-2
Season 13-8
Fri. at New York WIN
Sun. vs Dallas LOSS
Around the NBA
Atlantic- How about Rajon Rondo? Without him, Boston would've fallen way short against Toronto on Sunday, but the Celtic point guard has been tearing up the court since his return from injury and had a triple-double in the win over the Raptors on Sunday. With this guy guiding an injury depleted team, Boston remains one of the elite teams in the East.
Central- Big ouch and best wishes to Milwaukee Bucks star Michael Redd, who reportedly tore up his ACL and MCL for a second time last night in the Bucks loss to Phoenix. Some outlets are reporting it could be a career ending injurt for the great Bucks' star, let's hope for the best for this outstanding player.
Southeast- Here's your weekly Gilbert Areans update, he is suspended indefinitly and a rpobe is investiagting the entire case. Also, I want to touch base on the gun pointing incident in Philly. I actually watched that game and somehow missed the whole saga, but what a stupid move by Areans and that team as a whole. The Wizard organization is a complete mess right now and, as Boston Globe reporter Bob Ryan said last week on Around the Horn, this wouldn't happen if the late Abe Polien was still the team's owner. Maybe this incident will see the team change their name back to the Bullets? Who knows what's next.
Southwest- Hornets owner George Shinn is having his prostate removed tomorrow after being diagnosed with cancer last November. Prayers and best wishes go to Shinn, who's owned the Hornets since their inception in Charlotte in 1988.
Northwest- Another rumor from the trade department, a lot of buzz has been going on about Al Jefferson being dealt by the Timerwolves. On Basketball Jones today, the guys talked of a deal sending Jefferson to the Pacers for Danny Granger. Stay tuned to hear what goes down in Minneapolis.
Pacific- A bad season is getting worse for Golden State as they have lost forward Anthony Randolph for at least two months with an ankle injury, an injury that could be season ending. For a Warrior team that is a pitiful 11-25 and second worst in the West ahead of just Minnesota, this looks to be the capper on a forgettable season.
What to Watch This Week
Wednesday- Orlando at Denver 9:00 NBA TV
Thursday- Cleveland at Utah 10:30 TNT
Friday- Phoenix at Atlanta 8:00 ESPN
Saturday- San Antonio at Memphis 8:00 FS Southwest
Sunday- Utah at Denver 9:00 ESPN
Monday- Orlando at LA Lakers 10:30 TNT
Tuesday- Will come next week
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