As things stand, the Raptors’ future is about as clear as mud. With rumors that Hedo Turkoglu is on his way to the Raptors, some Raptor faithful have reacted jubilantly while others are dismayed.
On one hand, we get a good scorer who could potentially make it easier for both Andrea, whom I think is our best player, and Bosh to score because he can stretch the defense with the three. In addition, he is a good mid-range jump shooter. He is useful in the post and is a good passer.
Now the flip side of this deal is that the Raptors have to give up two guys that might be their only good defenders in Anthony Parker and Shawn Marion, both because of salary cap issues and because it is impossible for a team on the fringe of being a contender to carry two starting small forwards.
Additionally, losing The Matrix means that we lose rebounding which as the Raptor Nation knows well killed us many times last season. The one upside of Turkoglu is that he will average as many points and assists as both of these guys combined, so offensively this move would be an upgrade in my opinion but defensively still not looking too good.
Now let us assume these starters for now:
Center: Andrea Bargnani
Power Forward: Chris Bosh
Small Forward: Hedo Turkoglu
Now, many Raptor fans will be wondering what about point guard, Jose Calderon, right? Wrong. Now hear me out: He is a good point guard when he and the Raptors are knocking down shots and the offense looks good.
The problem with the Raptors, though, is that the offense often stagnates and the team turns into a straight jump shooting team. Many offensive possessions turn into pass–>maybe one more pass–>then chuck up a brick.
There are two people who mainly take the blame for this sort of impotence: Jay Triano and Sam Mitchell, aka the coach and the point guard.
This is not even the biggest drawback though. Jose cannot defend his position, many a point guard has gotten past him with ease only to find the paint completely empty because there is no help from the bigs or to find one of his teammates wide open for a three.
See Utah versus Toronto last year to see what happened to Jose when he was up against Deron Williams.
My recommendation is to re-sign Parker as our starting point guard. That move immediately improves …
July 6th, 2009 at 10:38 am
Andrea the best player? Jose not a great PG? AP better?
Have you ever watched a Raptors game?
When Jose was hurt, yes he was slow on D. But Jose turned the corner many times at the end of the year and was fine (no, not good) on defence.
Here’s a guy that played hurt most of the year, the only player this year to shoot >90% from the line, >50% from the field and >40% from 3 pt line (only Steve Nash, Dirk Nowitzki, Larry Bird, Reggie Miller, and Mark Price have ever accomplished this in the history of the NBA), 4th in the league in assists, took care of the rock, is poised under pressure, is a leader and the ultimate team player.
Opinions are opinions, but crazy talk is crazy talk.
July 6th, 2009 at 11:29 am
uhh… Are you sure you’re not high/drunk/f*cked up on PCP?
AP as our starting PG?
Raps in the top 4?
I don’t even know what to say… I’m as big a Raptors fan as anyone but this is nonsense.
Also: Your cap figures are way off. There are good articles on Raptors Republic and TSN.ca explaining why, essentially, the raptors are out of cap space.
Drugs aren’t cool- stay in school.
July 6th, 2009 at 12:35 pm
what a retarded article/blog. Can you at least get your facts straight, AP is a SG not a SF. Plus this has got to be the dumbest thing I have ever read “Raptors have to give up two guys that might be their only good defenders in Anthony Parker and Shawn Marion, both because of salary cap issues and because it is impossible for a team on the fringe of being a contender to carry two starting small forwards.”
HAHAHA so Dumb, really come on…..at least watch one raptor game before you try acting like an expert.
oh ya one other thing, Turk is a POINT FORWARD, which will help eliminate the stagnate offense, not AP
July 6th, 2009 at 12:51 pm
Jose is making $8 million per year to be our starting point guard. We’re not bringing him off the bench or playing him at the 2. Plus, Jose is one of the better point guards in the league. Also, Parker can only be signed to a veterans minumum contract now unless we unload some contracts (ie. Humphries, Banks), and even if we manage to unload these contracts for cap space, Delfino will be the much better signing as he can start at the 2, and also back up Jose at the 1 and Hedo at the 3. And he’s also much younger than Parker and if Parker wants to come back on a vets minimum deal, we’ll welcome him back with open arms. Same with Rasho.
This is how the team could look if we dump Humphries’ contract for a pick or trade exception and sign Delfino using the remaining $3-4 million remaining after signing Turkoglu.
Starting 5:
PG: Jose Calderon
SG: Carlos Delfino
SF: Hedo Turkoglu
PF: Chris Bosh
C: Andrea Bargnani
2nd Unit:
PG: Roko Ukic
SG: Anthony Parker
SF: DeMar DeRozan
PF: Reggie Evans
C: Rasho Nesterovic
3rd Unit:
PG: Marcus Banks
SG: Quincy Douby
SF: Minimum Free Agent
PF: Nathan Jawai
C: Patrick O’Bryant
I can work with that team.