khandor’s sports blog

Hopefully you, the visitor/reader, will take the time to click on each of the links you see below.

If you do … slowly but surely … a picture should begin to emerge which will help you to better understand the current, and on-going, “crisis” in Raptorville.

Like most good things in life, it really does take time … and, patience, diligence, expertise, well-honed instincts, perseverance, etc. … to build and, then, thoroughly understand something - or someone - of substance and authentic high quality.  

Here goes …

[for your added benefit, the most important/pertinent ones are marked with an asterisk/*]

1. You Make The Call [Mar 18 2008] *
2. Tic toc, tic toc, tic toc … [Apr 11 2008] *
3. Two solitudes in Raptorland [Apr 16 2008] *

4. Of scorpions, frogs, GMs & coaches [Apr 30 2008] *
5. Understanding Bryan Colangelo’s method of operation (good & bad) [Jul 02 2008] *
6. Talking the talk, already … in Raptorville [Sep 29 2008]

7. Deciphering the correct code for the Raptors [Dec 3 2008]
8. Wait a second … what’s really going on here [Dec 04 2008] *
9. What’s really going on here … Part II [Dec 05 2008] *
10. Respect for tellers of truths [Dec 8, 2009]
11. Understanding the Role of Defense in the NBA [Mar 11 2009]
12. Truth Tellers Beware - The REAL reason Sam Mitchell was fired by the Raptors [Mar 11 2009] *
13. In Raptorville, something changed last night … and it wasn’t good [Mar 12 2009] *
14. What observations like these SHOULD tell you about the quality of your player roster [Mar 13 2009] *
15. Of scorpions, frogs, GMs & faces of the franchise [Mar 25 2009]

16. State of the Raptors Address by Bryan Colangelo [Apr 20 2009] *
- this has Six [6] Parts to it and you need to watch each one
17. Assessing Bryan Colangelo’s Press Conference [Apr 21, 2009] *
18. Worst Owner in major North American pro sport? … You Make The Call [May 14 2009] 
19. Raptors might be Lottery bound, once again, after the 2009-2010 season [May 20 2009]
20. Five off-season moves for the Raptors which would have helped to address their Treadmill status [May 29, 2009]
21. Lack of Quality Depth is a major problem for the Raptors [May 29 2009]
22. Original Sin, in Raptorville [Jun 02 2009]
23. Knowing who the Raptors’ FOUNDATION player is [Jun 04, 2009] *
24. Local media for the Raptors is beginning to lay blame in the right place, at last [Jun 04 2009] *
25. Where will Andrea Bargnani rank in the Eastern Conference next year, as a Center? … You Make The Call [Jun 05 2009] *
26. Where for art thou, Saviour, in Raptorville? [Jun 06 2009] *
27. Could a Bargnani trade benefit the Raptors? [Jun 11 2009] *
28. Raptors fans: What would happen, if … [Jun 17 2009]
29. In the NBA Eastern Conference … It’s not hard to tell which one is which? [Jun 25 2009] *
30. 2009 NBA Draft Trackers for the Raptors [Jun 26 2009]
31. Raptors’ best possible line-up, as of June 30 2009 [Jun 30 2009]
32. Which franchise made out best from 4 team trade? [Jul 10 2009]
33. What the 4-team trade was REALLY about from the Raptors’ perspective [Jul 11 2009]
34. When three birds of a different feather flock together, it’s a poor omen for the Raptors [Jul 14 2009] *
35. Early look at NBA rosters: Eastern Conference [Aug 17 2009] *
36. Interesting [accurate?] POV on the Raptors, under Bryan Colangelo [Aug 24. 2009]
37. Initial thoughts on the Raptors talent base compared with the previous 3 seasons [Aug 24 2009] *
38. Strength of the Eastern Conference compared to 2006-2007 [Aug 25 2009]
39. Raptors Bench Strength: In eye of beholder [Aug 28 2009] *
40. YOU MAKE THE CALL: Best possible group of wing players for the 2009-2010 Raptors? [Aug 31 2009]
41. YOU MAKE THE CALL: Available Roster Options for the Raptors, 2009-2010 [Sep 02 2009]
42. How the Eastern Conference looks for ‘09-10, based on individual player ratings, by position [Sep 08 2009] *
43. Raptors improvement relative to other teams in division & conference [Sep 14 2009] *
44. Thumb-down 35 special … for the Raptors [Sep 18 2009] *
45. How the Raptors could be improved with Player X replacing Bargnani [Sep 18 2009] *
46. Uh-Oh, here he goes again [Sep 28, 2009] *
47. All the problems have been fixed with a Radical Roster Make-over? [Sep 29. 2009] *
48. Toronto Raptors Season Preview: Games 1-20 [Oct 20 2009]

49. Raptors half-way through their first 20 games [Nov 16 2009]
50. Raptors’ crunch time starts today vs Magic [Nov 22 2009]
51. Raptors punked by Celtics, according to Wright [Nov 28 2009] *
52. Ominous words … in Raptorville [Nov 29 2009] *
53. Source of Raptors’ on-going defensive problems [Dec 01 2009]
54. What the Raptors SHOULD do right NOW to improve their performance against High End opponents [Dec 02 2009] *
55. Raptors at the 20 game mark, exactly where an astute observer SHOULD have expected them to be [Dec 03 2009] *

================================================

When yours truly has occasion to read an article in which the Raptors’ GM is quoted as saying: 

Colangelo doesn’t pass the buck

- “At the end of the day, there’s a lot of talk about this being about coaching and systems and things like that,” said Colangelo, who was en route yesterday to meet his team in Washington for tonight’s game against the Wizards. “But at the end of the day if you’re looking for someone to blame, you can point to me because I’m ultimately the one responsible for putting this group together.”

- “The poor performance defensively has disrupted the other, more positive things we’ve been doing and the team is in a funk,” Colangelo said. “It happens in the course of an NBA season, and it’s up to us to get them out of it.”

- “This team has far too much talent to cast off or give up on. I have no doubt these guys can play, but talk is cheap.”

- “We can change the system and tweak it all we want, but it still comes down to execution and effort by the players,” Colangelo said. “It’s been very disappointing.”

and, then,

read a column by Dave Feschuk, in which he has revealing quotes from the team’s former head coach that read like this:

Mitchell has advice for Triano

- “At some point you hope the owners start realizing that you just can’t coach in this league without having coached,” Mitchell was saying the other night. “People sit there and think they can do it. … If you could just do the Xs and Os, yeah, you might figure that out. But it’s, how do you deal with people? How do you deal with your team when you’re down 20 at halftime? You have to know when to kick ‘em in the ass, and you have to know when to go in there and put your arms around ‘em and love ‘em? … I had to learn that.”

- “People don’t understand how relentless I was on Jose and Chris. I cut ‘em no slack,” said Mitchell. “Andrea, it was different. I cut Andrea a lot of slack.“

- “You pick your spots,” Mitchell said. “Sometimes you just have to walk away and say, `Don’t say (anything). It’s a bad night. Don’t compound it.’ … And sometimes you really get on their ass after you win. … You pick your spots.”

and, then,

read a blog entry by Chris Black, in which he begins to put the pieces of the puzzle together, one by one … 

Dissecting a Disaster
READING BETWEEN THE LINES
Mr. Feschuk is an intelligent writer. He knows there are certain things he can and cannot write in the paper. Jarrett Jack and Antoine Wright are both intelligent (if not exactly in-shape) basketball players. They know they can’t call out specific players in the papers.
However, if you read between the lines of Mr. Feschuk’s columns over the last two days, I think you’ll see that he’s saying the Raptors are growing frustrated about how Andrea Bargnani is treated by this organization.
You even get the sense from the Mitchell quote that he didn’t even want to cut Bargnani that much slack, that it was almost an organizational mandate to do so.
MY OWN OBSERVATION
As I mentioned earlier this week, I was at the Suns game on Sunday. On two separate occasions, Bargnani just totally forgot to rotate on defence (I’m sure he forgot to rotate many more times than that, but I’m just pointing these two out for a specific reason). After his gaffe led to dunks for the Suns, a visibly frustrated Hedo Turkoglu threw his hands in the air and said/yelled something in the direction of Bargnani. The Italian was naturally oblivious to Turkoglu’s criticism, and merely continued up the court, happily mouth-breathing away.

… what, then, becomes clear is:

I. Just how much on target the views expressed in this space have actually been for the last 2+ years, concerning the goings-on with the Toronto Raptors;

II. Just how much of a negative and divisive force Andrea Bargnani’s poor Defense and Rebounding have actually been within the Raptors’ team for the last several seasons; and,

III. Just how off-base is the Basketball Philosophy [and overall Basketball Acumen] of the Raptors’ Management Team, in terms of placing the correct value on:

A. Team [and Individual] Defense

B. Rebounding, and

C. Shared Team Offense,

when assessing the REAL ability of their players, compared to the other High End teams in the NBA.

Since the Boston Celtics of Red Auerbach, Bill Russell, Bob Cousy, and John Havlicek, etc., first established their pro hoops dynasty, more than 40 years ago, High End performers across the league have learned to value and identify the individual players, and coaches, and GMs, etc., with the personal attributes it takes to be able to WIN BIG, i.e. given their commitment to: i. Defense, ii. Rebounding, iii. Sharing The Ball, and, iv. Physical, Mental and Emotional Toughness.

When a franchise, at its core, has a Basketball Philosophy that DOES NOT reflect these basic, fundamental values … which dwells at the heart of the game and a successful team … it has very little hope of ever developing into a championship calibre organization in the NBA.

There are NO successful short-cuts in THIS game.   

Tags: Andrea Bargnani, Antoine Wright, Bryan Colangelo, Chris Black, Chris Bosh, Dave Feschuk, David Berri, Demar DeRozan, Hedo Turkoglu, Jarrett Jack, Jay Triano, Jose Calderon, Marco Belinelli, Michael Grange, nbaroundtable.com, Sam Mitchell, T.Jose Caldesports, Toronto Raptors, Wages of Wins

This entry was posted on Friday, December 4th, 2009 at 1:41 pm and is filed under Analytics, Basketball, Life Lessons, 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.