Houston or Toronto?
Last night’s game between the Houston Rockets and the Toronto Raptors served as an interesting benchmark for the on-going development of these two teams.
Toronto Raptors 92
HOUSTON ROCKETS 116
At the moment:
Toronto is 31-28/.525, 2nd in the Atlantic Division, and 5th in the Eastern Conference; while, Houston is 30-29/.508, 3rd in the Southwest Division, and 9th in the Western Conference.
Both teams played last night’s game without several key players in their respective line-ups, due to a variety of physical ailments/injuries:
Toronto
1. Chris Bosh/PF-C, leg injury [day-to-day]
2. Jose Calderon/PG, arm injury [day-to-day]
3. Hedo Turkoglu/SF, leg injury [incurred last night]
Houston
1. Yao Ming/C, foot injury [expected to return next season]
2. Kyle Lowry/PG, leg injury [day-to-day]
3. Trevor Ariza/SF, hip injury [day-to-day]
Examining the complete rosters for each team:
|
Pos |
TORONTO |
RK |
HOUSTON |
RK |
|
COACH |
||||
|
|
Triano |
2 |
Adelman |
1 |
|
SUB-TOTAL |
2 |
|
1 |
|
|
STARTERS |
||||
|
PG |
Jack |
2 |
Brooks |
1 |
|
OG |
DeRozan |
2 |
Martin |
1 |
|
SF |
Turkoglu |
2 |
Battier |
1 |
|
PF |
Bosh |
1 |
Scola |
2 |
|
C |
Bargnani |
2 |
Ming |
1 |
|
SUB-TOTAL |
9 |
|
6 |
|
|
KEY SUBS |
||||
|
PG |
Calderon |
1 |
Lowry |
2 |
|
OG |
Weems |
2 |
Budinger |
1 |
|
SF |
Wright |
2 |
Ariza |
1 |
|
PF |
Johnson |
1 |
Hill |
2 |
|
C |
Nesterovic |
1 |
Anderson |
2 |
|
SUB-TOTAL |
7 |
|
8 |
|
|
RESERVES |
||||
|
G |
Belinelli |
1 |
Taylor |
2 |
|
F/C |
Evans |
2 |
Jeffries |
1 |
|
SUB-TOTAL |
3 |
|
3 |
|
|
TOTAL |
21 |
|
18 |
|
|
EXTRAS/OUT |
||||
|
|
Banks |
2 |
Temple |
1 |
|
|
O’Bryant |
2 |
Hayes |
1 |
|
|
|
|
Armstrong |
1 |
|
LEGEND: Pos – Position; RK – Ranking. |
||||
is an interesting exercise when considering:
i. Chris Bosh/PF-C becomes an unrestricted free agent this summer;
ii. Chris Bosh is originally from Dallas, Texas;
iii. The relative “NBA talent” base on these two rosters;
iv. The “playoff prospects” for these two teams:
A. This season, and
B. Beyond the current season.
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Loading ...Tags: Aaron Brooks, Amir Johnson, Andrea Bargnani, Antoine Wright, Bryan Colangelo, Chase Budinger, Chris Bosh, Chuck Hayes, Daryl Morey, David Andersen, Demar DeRozan, Garrett Temple, Hedo Turkoglu, Hilton Armstrong, Houston Rockets, Jared Jeffries, Jarrett Jack, Jay Triano, Jermaine Taylor, Jordan Hill, Jose Calderon, Kevin Martin, Kyle Lowry, Luis Scola, Marco Belinelli, Marcus Banks, Patrick O'Bryant, Rasho Nesterovic, Reggie Evans, Rick Adelman, Shane Battier, Sonny Weems, Toronto Raptors, Trevor Ariza, Yao Ming
March 2nd, 2010 at 1:54 pm
If I’m Bosh, and if my priorities are 1) Max contract and 2) Competing for a ’ship, (those appear to be his priorities in that order) then I’m going to Houston over Toronto. Toronto’s essentially capped out with a mediocre supporting case. Houston’s capped out with a strong supporting case.
March 2nd, 2010 at 3:58 pm
Houston is a far more talented team than the Raptors.
The injury to Yao Ming is the only reason they aren’t winning around 55 games this season.
March 2nd, 2010 at 4:02 pm
Actually a little late with this - was expecting this after the Cavs game.
Fail to see your point. Are you saying you think Bosh will sign with Houston? The Raptors.
Funny you never really state what you think. Guess you are looking for some traffic again……………..
March 3rd, 2010 at 10:27 am
brgulker,
It will be very interesting to see where exactly Chris Bosh’s priorities actually lie, when he eventually makes his choice this summer.
If he chooses Toronto over a team like Houston, it would certainly seem to be the case that his priorities might just be in the order you suggested above.
On the other hand, if he chooses Houston …
March 3rd, 2010 at 10:27 am
Dave,
Agreed.
As presently constituted, there is more basketball talent on the Rockets’ roster than there is on the Raptors.
March 3rd, 2010 at 10:57 am
Tinman,
It does not surprise me in the least that you seem to be incapable of discerning correctly the reasons I chose to put together this blog entry yesterday.
Unlike, say:
i. brgulker and Dave … who chose to provide their comments on what I wrote without an “agenda of attack”;
and,
ii. countless others … who chose to refrain from commenting at all;
what you have to say, concerning my thoughts and ideas about the game, consistently misses the mark.
I suggest that you look closely at what brgulker and Dave had to say in their comments, if you’d like to understand better what I was getting at in this blog entry.
PS. The specific rationale behind this season’s performance for the Raptors has always been about being able to re-sign Chris Bosh, the team’s best player by a wide margin, when he becomes an unrestricted free agent this summer.
Take a close … and unbiased … look at what exactly Bryan Colangelo has actually been able to do with the Raptors over the last 4 seasons:
2005-2006, 47-35
2007-2008, 41-41
2008-2009, 33-49
2009-2010, 31-28, thus far
and, if Chris Bosh should eventually decide to NOT re-up with Toronto, try to tell me, with a straight face, that you believe the Raptors’ franchise has made substantial progress during this time period, relative to the other high end teams in the NBA?
e.g. LA Lakers, Boston Celtics, San Antonio Spurs, Cleveland Cavaliers, Orlando Magic, Dallas Mavericks, Utah Jazz, Denver Nuggets, Atlanta Hawks, Portland Trail Blazers, Oklahoma City Thunder, Chicago Bulls, Miami Heat, Phoenix Suns, Houston Rockets, New Orleans Hornets, Charlotte Bobcats, Milwaukee Bucks, Detroit Pistons, etc.