khandor’s sports blog

Watching a game like this one, last night, lays bare many of the problems with the Raptors’ organization, in comparison with an outfit like the Lakers.

The next BIG game on the NBA schedule happens this evening, in Boston, between the Lakers and the Celtics … and the Showtime.v2.crew was clearly in a Resting/Conservation State for last night’s encounter with the Raptors.

FINAL SCORE: RAPTORS 107, Lakers 115
Game Info

Despite the fact that Misters Gasol, Bryant and Odom played 44, 37 and 33 minutes, respectively, in no way were the Lakers’ three best players in last night’s game pushed to give their maximum effort. In reality, the Lakers cruised through much of this game, i.e. just doing enough to get buy … despite the absence of Andrew Bynum and the fact they were trailing on the scoreboard until well into the 4th quarter … with 11 players seeing action altogether, 10 of them for at least 8 minutes, and 9 of those for a minimum of 13:52 [i.e. Josh Powell].

When the game needed to be won, however … in the final 4 minutes of the 4th quarter … Kobe & Co. simply put their collective foot on the gas, and accelerated away from the Raptors.

Whoever thought that the Raptors’ player roster heading into this season would be good enough to compete with a LEGITIMATE CONTENDER for the NBA Title, like the LA Lakers:

PLAYER ROSTER TO BEGIN THE 2008-2009 NBA SEASON
Pos	RAPTORS			LAKERS
Starters
PG OG SF PF C	Jose Calderon Anthony Parker Jamario Moon Chris Bosh Jermaine O’Neal	=     =		Derek Fisher Kobe Bryant Lamar Odom Pau Gasol Andrew Bynum	= √√ √ = √
Key Bench Subs
PG PG/OG SF/OG PF C/PF	Will Solomon Roko Ukic Jason Kapono Kris Humphries Andrea Bargnani	= √	Jordan Farmar Sasha Vujacic Trevor Ariza Vlad Radmanovic Chris Mihm		√ √ √ =
Reserves
SF/OG PF/SF	Hassan Adams Joey Graham	=	Luke Walton Josh Powell		√ =
Extras
PF/C G/F G/F	Nathan Jawai		DJ Mbenga Sun Yue Koby Karl		√ √ √

was simply looking at the situation with their Eyes Wide Shut, including the Raptors’ President/GM, Bryan Colangelo.

The stark reality is that this Raptors’ team has only Andrea Bargnani [No. 1/2006] and Nathan Jawai [No. 41/2008] to show from the last 3 NBA Drafts [i.e. 2008, 2007 & 2006], and precious few tangible assets that are coveted by other organizations across the League upon which it can realistically hope to build a solid franchise for years to come.

After fielding a competitive roster a year ago which looked like this:

Sam Mitchell, Alex English, Mike Evans, Jay Triano
————————————————
Ford-TJ, Parker-A, Delfino-C, Moon-J & Bosh-C
————————————————
Calderon-J, Kapono-J, Graham-J, Bargnani-A & Nesterovic-R
————————————————
Martin-D, Garbajosa-J, Baston-M, Humphries-K, Brezic-P,

12 months later … the Raptors currently have a 19-32/.373 W-L record, are in last place in the Atlantic Division, are in 14th place overall in the Eastern Conference [out of 15 teams], and have an Interim Head Coach, Jay Triano, who has actually been a member of their coaching staff since the days of Lenny Wilkens.

Due to the way in which MLSE chooses to operate its pro sports franchises - please see the Toronto Maple Leafs, as a prime example - there is absolutely ZERO ["0"] chance that Raptors’ President/GM [Mr. Colangelo] will be the one who takes full responsibility [and the fall] for this sorry situation.

The best that Raptors fans everywhere can hope for now …

* With Jose Calderon on the shelf yet again with his recurring hamstring injury

* With Chris Bosh on the shelf now with a sprained right knee

* With Kris Humphries on the shelf with a broken fibula

and,

* With an oft-injured $21 Million per year player like Jermaine O’Neal on the books, in the first place, until the summer of 2010

… is that he [Mr. Colangelo] doesn’t panic and, instead, makes a worthwhile transaction or two during this next off-season, in and around the 2009 NBA Draft and the UFA signing period.

The current season for the Raptors is now officially a Lost Cause.

—————————-

FWIW …

TEAM		MP	FGM-A	3M-A	FTM-A	+/-	OR	DR	TR	AS	PF	ST	TO	BS	BA	PTS
lakers		240	45-89	7-17	18-23		10	35	45	25	20	6	4	7	10	115
			50.6%	41.2%	78.3%
			√	√	√		√	√	√	=	√	√	√			√
Raptors		240	42-90	6-15	17-19		8	32	40	25	23	0	8	10	7	107
			46.7%	40.0%	89.5%
										=				√	√

know, as well, that the Raptors did, in fact, lose the battle in almost every meaningful statistical category for last night’s game.

Tags: Alex English, Andrea Bargnani, Andrew Bynum, Anthony Parker, Bryan Colangelo, Chris Bosh, Chris Mihm, Derek Fisher, DJ Mbenga, Hassan Adams, Jamario Moon, Jason Kapono, Jay Triano, Jermaine O'Neal, Joey Graham, Jordan Farmar, Jose Calderon, Josh Powell, Kobe Bryant, Koby Karl, Kris Humphries, Lamar Odom, Lenny Wilkens, Luke Walton, Mike Evans, Nathan Jawai, Pau Gasol, Roko Ukic, Sam Mitchell, Sasha Vujacic, Sun Yue, Trevor Ariza, Vladamir Radmanovic, Will Solomon

This entry was posted on Thursday, February 5th, 2009 at 11:57 am and is filed under Basketball, NBA. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.