Comparing the Raptors to the Wizards
FINAL SCORE: RAPTORS 98, Wizards 100
Complete Game Info
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The Wizards’ [15th place, 19-61/.238] immediate future is so much brighter, in comparison with the Raptors’ [14th place, 30-49/.380], that it’s not even funny.
STARTERS
Arenas vs Calderon
Young vs Parker [past his prime]
Butler vs Marion [past his prime]
Jamison vs Bosh [playing out of position]
Haywood vs Bargnani [not a dominating Center]
KEY SUBS
Crittenton vs Ukic [not yet ready for the NBA]
Stevenson vs Kapono [an albatross]
McGuire vs Graham
Songaila vs Humphries
Blatche vs O’Bryant [not an NBA-level player]
EXTRAS
James vs Banks [not an NBA-level player; an albatross]
Dixon vs Douby [not an NBA-level player]
McGee vs Jawai [not an NBA-level player]
Pecherov vs Voskuhl [not an NBA-level player]
Thomas vs ?
UPCOMING DRAFT PICK
No. 1-3 [overall] Selection vs No. 8-9 Selection [if not traded again]
Thinking back to where the Raptors’ player roster was in Jan-Feb/06, before Bryan Colangelo [Pres/GM] was hired, and comparing it to the current one:
27 - 55 .329 (pythagorean: 31 - 51 .382)
Name G Min Pts PPG FGM FGA FGP FTM FTA FTP 3PM 3PA 3PP REB RPG AST APG STL BLK TO
Chris Bosh 70 2753 1572 22.5 549 1087 .505 474 581 .816 0 13 .000 647 9.2 181 2.6 50 79 157
Mike James 79 2922 1604 20.3 576 1228 .469 283 338 .837 169 382 .442 262 3.3 460 5.8 72 3 206
Morris Peterson 82 3139 1374 16.8 478 1096 .436 241 294 .820 177 448 .395 381 4.6 190 2.3 104 15 126
Charlie Villanueva 81 2364 1053 13.0 435 940 .463 113 160 .706 70 214 .327 521 6.4 88 1.1 60 63 99
Jalen Rose 46 1238 557 12.1 180 446 .404 166 217 .765 31 115 .270 129 2.8 113 2.5 20 10 65
Matt Bonner 78 1711 583 7.5 209 467 .448 63 76 .829 102 243 .420 284 3.6 56 0.7 49 31 32
Joey Graham 80 1579 533 6.7 198 414 .478 108 133 .812 29 87 .333 244 3.1 60 0.8 37 13 92
Jose Calderon 64 1485 349 5.5 132 312 .423 78 92 .848 7 43 .163 141 2.2 288 4.5 42 4 101
Andre Barrett 17 261 78 4.6 35 97 .361 6 9 .667 2 13 .154 22 1.3 50 2.9 10 0 14
Antonio Davis 8 191 35 4.4 14 31 .452 7 20 .350 0 0 .000 36 4.5 7 0.9 3 1 8
Pape Sow 42 591 147 3.5 53 123 .431 41 57 .719 0 0 .000 146 3.5 8 0.2 21 19 30
Eric Williams 28 356 91 3.3 29 75 .387 28 38 .737 5 18 .278 50 1.8 15 0.5 7 2 15
Darrick Martin 40 340 102 2.6 34 97 .351 18 24 .750 16 40 .400 20 0.5 57 1.4 17 0 15
Rafael Araujo 53 618 125 2.4 55 152 .362 15 28 .536 0 2 .000 145 2.7 21 0.4 25 6 42
Loren Woods 27 324 62 2.3 28 59 .475 6 14 .429 0 1 .000 110 4.1 4 0.1 9 23 16
Aaron Williams 14 99 25 1.8 10 19 .526 5 6 .833 0 0 .000 15 1.1 1 0.1 4 3 5
Alvin Williams 1 10 1 1.0 0 3 .000 1 2 .500 0 2 .000 3 3.0 0 0.0 0 0 0
2006 No. 1 [overall], 1st Round Draft Pick
2006 No. 5 [overall], 2nd Round Draft Pick
is enough to put tears in the eyes of someone who really knows how to go about building a championship calibre NBA franchise, given the assets at their disposal 3 seasons ago.
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Where exactly each of these teams go from here will be determined by their respective General Managers, one of whom is already a 2-time NBA Executive Of the Year Award winner … the other of whom has yet to be recognized by his peers in this way [i.e. Ernie Grunfeld].
If the actual wager was …
Which one’s team is going to finish with more WINS during the 2009-2010 season AND go further in the NBA Playoffs?
on whom would YOU be willing to bet a sizable portion of YOUR own hard-earned money?
Tags: Aaron Williams, Alvin Williams, Andray Blatche, Andre Barrett, Andrea Bargnani, Antawn Jamison, Anthony Parker, Antonio Davis, Brendan Haywood, Bryan Colangelo, Caron Butler, Charlie Villanueva, Chris Bosh, Darius Songaila, Darrick Martin, DeShawn Stevenson, Domenic McGuire, Eric Williams, Ernie Grunfeld, Etan Thomas, Gilbert Arenas, Jake Voskuhl, Jalen Rose, Jason Kapono, Javaris Crittenton, JeVale McGee, Joey Graham, Jose Calderon, Juan Dixon, Kris Humphries, Loren Woods, Marcus Banks, Matt Bonner, Mike James, Morris Peterson, Nathan Jawai, Nick Young, Oleg Pecherov, Pape Sow, Patrick O'Bryant, Pops Mensah-Bonsu, Quincy Douby, Raffael Aruajo, Roko Ukic, Shawn Marion
April 11th, 2009 at 12:10 pm
how is bosh playing out of position?
bargnani is way better than haywood
April 11th, 2009 at 7:11 pm
alex,
1. Welcome aboard!
2. re: how is Bosh playing out of position
I’d encourage you to take a further look around my blog. There’s a lot of information in different spots on this site that conveys my perceptions of who Chris Bosh is, as a high end basketball player and a first-rate person.
Here’s the short answer:
Chris Bosh is a #5/Center who plays his best basketball when working at this position, Offensively, Defensively, and in terms of Rebounding.
When Chris Bosh plays alongside of Andrea Bargnani, however, he is forced to play as a #4/PF a high percentage of the time.
This is a situation which is less than ideal for both Chris Bosh and the Toronto Raptors.
3. re: Bargnani vs Haywood
There are 3 distinct phases to the game of basketball:
* Offense [when your team has the ball]
* Defense [when your Opponent has the ball]
* Rebounding [when neither team has the ball ... yet]
IMO, Andrea Bargnani has a relatively high skill level, in comparison with his peers, in only 1 of those 3 phases; while Brendan Haywood might properly be considered to have a relatively high skill level, in comparison with his peers, in 2 of those 3 phases.
If you think Bargnani is a better [?] basketball player than Haywood, then, you are certainly entitled to hold THAT opinion.
Some people tend to focus most/all-? of their attention on just one area of the game, to the exclusion of the others … while a different set of individuals choose to function in a different way than THAT.
April 13th, 2009 at 7:01 am
[...] khandor’s sports blog » Comparing the Raptors to the Wizards [...]
April 17th, 2009 at 12:36 am
thanks for the response
i would argue that bargnani has turned himself into an above average defender. he has great length and timing and this results in a high number of blocks even though he doesnt have a freakish vertical jump.
so you say that haywood is good is better than bargs in 2 out of these 3 areas of basketball. 1. do you think that haywood is a dominating center? would you rather have haywood or bargnani on your basketball team? what type of stats do you predict bargnani will average next season? i see him putting up roughly 17 and 7 with 1.5 blocks.
April 17th, 2009 at 12:45 am
also, i would argue that haywood is not as great a rebounder as you make him out to be. he has started 402 out of his 530 career games, yet he averages only 5.9 rebounds per game. these are not dominating numbers by any stretch of the imagination.
April 17th, 2009 at 2:32 am
Alex,
IN FACT … I don’t think Brendan Haywood is very good at all … yet he is still superior to Andrea Bargnani, IMO, as an all-around basketball player and a NBA Center.
I would rank these 3 players like this:
1. Bosh [very good]
2. Haywood [average]
3. Bargnani [below average]
As a Center, Bargnani’s individual defense in the low post vs another power-based player like D-Howard, for example, is one of the stronger areas of his overall game. That said, however, it remains an overall area of weakness, relative to the other High End Centers in the NBA.
Bargnani’s strength is as a perimeter shooter and it is very difficult to win important games, especially in the Playoffs, with this kind of player as your starting Center playing heavy minutes per game … although it is certainly not impossible with the right combination of other players around him. [e.g. Rebounder/Defenders and Low Post Scorers]
IMO, if the Raptors choose to keep Bargnani and trade Chris Bosh then they should also move Jose Calderon, as El matador is not the type of PG who is going to win a championship playing beside a Center like Il Mago.