It might be an interesting read for some of you, as I’ve been asked to do a pre-game report as a “Hornet’s Rival” for tonight’s game. It’s my first brush with NBA.com, so hopefully, I’ve come off well. A lot of the questions dealt with the analysis of the Raptors team as a whole rather than with the up coming game, so I think it’s a good for any of you that are interested in the Raptors.
Anyways, have a good New Year’s Eve everyone, and let’s hope this game doesn’t go past midnight
Categories: Writer: Kinnon Yee
It’s not quite the mid-season folks, but with the holidays here and gone, it’s a good time to review the Raptors’ season so far. Jeff Wong and Kinnon Yee of HoopsAddict.com take a look at several pressing issues.
Q: How do you explain the underwhelming 16-15 record, and should we really be disappointed?
Kinnon: On one hand, I wouldn’t say that the team is off to a slow start as they’ve had a fairly tough schedule so far. For one thing, they’re doing better than they were last year, and that’s with fairly significant injuries to many important pieces. Let’s look at that: Bosh out five games, Rasho out six games, TJ Ford out eight games and counting, Bargnani out four games, and Garbajosa out indefinitely. Each injury occurred in succession, and each injury has kept the Raptors from coming up with a proper, stable lineup. At the other end, Calderon’s been playing out of his mind, and Jamario Moon along with Delfino have been quite good. Personally, I thought they’d tie up more home games, and they’ve let a few close games slip through their fingers, unlike last year, where it was impossible to wrestle control of the game from the Raptors.
Jeff: I agree — injuries have taken a toll on the Raptors’ record. Their “Big Three” (Bosh, Ford and Bargnani) was out, as were four key bigs (the Rasho, Garbo, er, Bosho and Bargno). That left the Raps’ attack with little more than a perimeter game.
Another problem is that Bargnani is adjusting to the 5 spot, a pretty big change considering that he’s been a perimeter-oriented 3/4 prior to this year. He’s a key guy from last year who’s not producing right now.
But like you said, there are the positives: Calderon (let’s call him “The Ocho“) proving last year wasn’t a fluke, Jamario and Delfino coming out of nowhere, and now Kris Humphries playing well, too. Even the much-maligned D-Mart is playing some productive minutes. (Did I just say that?)
Q: Who’s the most outstanding Raptor up to this point?
Jeff: Gotta give it to The Ocho for stepping up big-time in TJ’s absence and proving himself a bona-fide starting PG. And looking at his career stats, it’s pretty amazing to see that his turnovers have gone down while his minutes went up.
Kinnon: On a night-by-night consistency basis, I’d have to say Calderon as well, but to me, a couple guys that have stood out a lot more as far as coming out with a better season to this point are Delfino and Humphries. Delfino has been a more consistent defender than AP in this early going, and he’s also shown scoring and rebounding ability at times. He’s gotta work on his free throws, but he’s a guy that I think the Raptors will need to use while they have him.
What more can you say about Kris, as he’s kept the middle a busy place and has come in and just taken away the ball from opposing players. He still tries to score a little too much and doesn’t have the court vision or presence of mind to reset a play, but the guy can light it up and has single-handedly kept the Raptors in it in several games.
Q: What do we need to do to make sure the rest of the season is a success?
Jeff: Uh, keep watching the games and keep cheering?
Seriously, “stay healthy” is the first phrase that comes to mind. Also, “stick to the game plan”: pass to the open man (a la Phoenix Suns) and keep the defence tight. Getting more players to go into the paint would be on the list, too.
Kinnon: I think Bryan Colangelo’s gonna have to look to make a trade, maybe a three-for-one (Graham, Baston, and Delfino) to get a player to come over who might be more consistent. With Delfino opting out of his contract, it’s doubtful that we’ll be able to re-sign him and Calderon.
Q: What does Bargnani have to do to get out of his funk?
Jeff: Keep healthy and keep playing. While taking care of his knees and whatever else may be distracting him, he’s got to find his shooting stroke, regain his confidence, and play decent D at the 5.
Kinnon: Yeah, Bargs just gotta keep at it. I’ve said it many times before: Bargnani and Nowitzki have had similar paths, so guys shouldn’t give up on Andrea so early. He’s in a funk, but so was Dirk for a lot of his rookie year, and Bargnani’s only recently been asked to change his game. I’m liking the recent aggression and look to drive hard to the hoop as well as his more consistent passing. Oh yeah: When he flashes to the post, pass him the ball for crying out loud.
Q: Finally, what do you think the Raptors received under their Christmas tree?
Kinnon: I hope that Joey Graham and Maceo Baston got some nice suits, because they’re going to be nailed to the bench like no one’s business. For Darrick Martin, a few extra dollars so he can buy a clue, and hopefully TJ Ford got a private jet with all the specialists he’s been visiting.
Jeff: I hope that my favorite basketball Parker, Anthony, found his groove and will remove any doubts at the 2 spot. I also hope the team got a jumbo gift pack of offence and defence to use every game the rest of the season.
Categories: Writer: Jeff Wong · Writer: Kinnon Yee
By Rob Shaw, Lead Expert for FantasyFanatics.com
Kyle Korver has been traded to the Utah Jazz for Gordon Giricek. Eddy Curry is now coming off the bench for an unstable New York Knicks squad. Scott Skiles has been fired after a disappointing start. Here’s a look at a few of the topics being discussed over the past week in the www.Fantasyfanatics.com fantasy basketball forum:
MARCUS CAMBY GETS A TRIPLE DOUBLE THE HARD WAY
Injuries have been the only detriment in the career of Marcus Camby. When he is on the court, there are few centers with the ability to rack up fantasy points the way the Camby man can. Minus the three-pointers, Camby is a jack-of-all trades in fantasy hoops. He is currently leading the NBA with 14.5 rebounds and 3.6 blocks to complement 9 points, 1.1 steals, and 3.2 assists per game. His free throw shooting (60%) has been lacking, but he has been dominating in the “big man” categories. On December 26 against the Milwaukee Bucks, Camby scored 10 points, blocked 10 shots, and grabbed 11 rebounds. While the 10 blocks are astonishing, big numbers are nothing new for the Nuggets center who in the very next game scored 15 points and 16 rebounds. With his health not being an issue, Camby has been a top 10 fantasy player throughout the first two months of the 2007-2008 season.
DWAYNE WADE DOING IT ALONE
The Miami Heat have gone cold this season, but Dwayne Wade continues to achieve in the fantasy realm. After sitting out the first two weeks of the season, Wade has returned to form, averaging 25 points, 7 assists, and 4 rebounds per game. His greatest foible lies in turning over the ball an astonishing 4.6 times per game. Another weakness lies in his inability to knock down the three-point shot. His numbers should improve throughout the season as he gets more comfortable on the court. He is currently shooting a career-worst 74% from the free-throw line. His best game came in a competitive loss on December 28 to the Orlando Magic when he scored 48 points, dished out 11 assists, grabbed 7 boards with 3 steals and 3 blocks. With Shaquille O’Neal ailing, Wade has to do all the scoring by himself, which explains the high turnover rate and the low free throw shooting (he gets tired!). This is the type of setting that leads to burnout and injuries for basketball stars (a la Tracy McGardy), so right now might be a good time to sell high on the Heat’s talented guard.
BULLS FIRE SCOTT SKILES
The Bulls decision to fire Head Coach Scott Skiles in reality may have plenty of implications in fantasy basketball. The greatest move so far by Bulls interim head coach Jim Boylan is moving Ben Gordon to the bench. While all eyes were on the youth on the Bulls roster, it’s actually the veterans who have been impacted the most. Gordon now becomes more lethal for the Bulls as he competes against the opposition’s second unit as the number one option for the Bulls. On the other hand, small forward Luol Deng now has a greater opportunity to become the focal point of the Bulls offense amidst the first unit. In the past 4 games, Deng has scored an average of 20 points per game, 4 assists, and 7 rebounds. After early season struggles, it appears that Deng and Gordon are on the mend. Rather than concentrating on the Bulls youth, expect the veterans to pull together to make the most of a tough season. Tyrus Thomas, Joakim Noah, and Aaron Gray do not get nearly enough run to warrant much fantasy attention. In addition, even when starting, point guard Chris Duhon is better in reality than fantasy hoops.
Top 10 Fantasy Ballers as of Week 8:
RANK LAST WEEK
1. Chris Paul 2
2. Shawn Marion 1
3. Kobe Bryant 6
4. Caron Butler 4
5. Baron Davis 7
6. Carlos Boozer 3
7. Kevin Garnett 5
8. Allen Iverson 9
9. Marcus Camby 13
10. Steve Nash 8
NO LONGER RANKED LAST WEEK
15) Lebron James 10
Chris Paul has climbed to the top of the rankings thanks to his steady output of 21 points and 10 assists. Most impressive for Paul is his 3 steals per game. In his last 4 games, Paul has averaged 4.5 steals. Shawn Marion’s consistency keeps him in the top two. Kobe Bryant moved up the rankings thanks to his Christmas day performance of 38 points, 7 assists, and 5 rebounds. Marcus Camby’s triple double brings him back into the top 10, while Lebron James fell out of the top 10 thanks to his wavering free-throw shooting, and inability to score as many as 30 points in the past 4 games.
Categories: Fantasy Basketball
It’s kinda nice. I make predictions, the Raptors follow them. It makes me look like some kind of weird Asian basketball prophet. Of course, I’d rather the Raptors prove me wrong and get their offense together, make some baskets, and shoot better than the horrible 37% they did yesterday. Afterall, they faced a Rockets team that was without McGrady, and got the Rockets to shoot a pretty ugly 40%. So where does the blame really fall?
I will not say that the blame goes with Bargnani, even though his 0-5 shooting night didn’t help matters. He did try to go to the inside several times, made a conscious effort to play some pretty good defense on one of the best centers in the entire league, and picked up six rebounds for the night. For a guy that hasn’t performed, I can’t expect much from him. Calderon, Nesterovic, Dixon, and Hump made suitable contributions to their roles. Dixon, in particular, has given some really strong play as a backup de facto point guard who is unafraid of taking a shot. His quickness makes him a good matchup against other PGs, and his size doesn’t become such an issue, especially when you consider that he’s taking Ford’s minutes. Nesterovic gave us the same solid play that we saw in Toronto the last time these two teams met, and Hump, while taking too many shots, was often the only guy that was attempting to be an inside presence for Toronto.
Of course, I’m laying the blame on Chris Bosh this night. Shooting a horrible first half percentage should have woken him up to the fact that he had to change his game. Yes, fans will look at the stats sheet and see guys like Delfino shoot 2-10 on the night, and say that he should have done some more. But it’s really Bosh that let his opportunities slip away by missing open jumpers and not driving to draw fouls when he’s not shooting a high percentage. Role players to play without using their head is one thing, but your star has to be just that. He has to be able to look at his own game and see what’s missing, and show his own teammates the way when they are lost as well. It’s times like last night that you wish you had a guy like TJ Ford (looking really sharply dressed from the sidelines, I might add) who sometimes plays with that kick-starting emotion that the team needs. He’s also one of the few guys that really gets into Bosh’s face during the course of a game. Then maybe, just maybe, guys like Jamario Moon won’t be taking a ton of outside shots.
So looking ahead, we’ve got a nice New Year’s Eve present in the form of Morris Peterson and the Hornets. Hopefully, the Raptors can grab a win and come home with some momentum for this road trip. Wow, home. It’s been a really long time since we’ve seen the Raptors back at the ACC, so let’s hope the Raptors can show Mo Pete the great team that he left behind.
Next Game: Raptors @ New Orleans
Categories: Game Recaps · Writer: Kinnon Yee
40% vs 32%. If there’s no more accurate summation for the “rust” that both teams felt, that static should be the most prevalent. In what turned out to be a battle of the team that kept turning the ball over and had a ton of injuries vs. the team that kept trying to make it from the outside, the Raptors should be thankful to come out with a win. That’s not to say that the game wasn’t amusing or exciting as Gregg Popovich getting ejected and then the subsequent interview after the game was plenty amusement, but you’re not going to goad teams into making 7 more turnovers than they usually make. Certainly, the Raptors won’t play seriously injured teams for the rest of the year, and scoring 83 points won’t cut it most nights.
Nevertheless, there are some positives to take from this game. For one thing, Bargnani seems to be slowly picking up the fact that he should drive all the way to the hoop instead of taking a short dribble into a long range jumper. Making all four of his free throws, he also showed that should he get around the basket, he can make fouls happen while scoring efficiently from the line. This just might be the turning point for Bargnani (he showed flashes of this in the Phoenix loss as well) and if he can keep it up for a few games, we might see another scoring presence besides Bosh to rely on in crunch time.
We should also thank our lucky stars that we signed Kapono and got Humphries into the game. As our two most efficient scorers on the floor for the night, they probably made the biggest difference in making sure that we weren’t completely stifled by the Spurs’ own defense. With Kapono being his usual deadly self from the outside and Humphries taking it to the Spurs in the middle, the Raptors managed to get away with a makeshift inside-outside presence.
Nevertheless, the Raptors have to do better than this if they really hope to string together a long streak of wins. The Spurs without Ginobili or Brent Barry are not exactly a hugely threatening team, and taking such huge players out of your lineup is bound to make offensive adjustments that much more difficult. The Raptors do need to be given credit for really sticking to it though, and not allowing a banged up team to stay in the game (a la the Clippers game), but for me, I expect that kind of effort out of this team. These are supposed to be the defending Atlantic Division champions, and they better start playing like it. The Raptors were so effective last year because they made sure that bad teams got beaten, and good teams were challenged. With the easier January schedule coming up, closing off the rest of this West Coast swing at .500 (they’re at 2-3 right) would be a real feather in their cap, and would position them for a similar run as the one we saw last year.
Next Game: Toronto @ Houston
Categories: Game Recaps · Writer: Kinnon Yee
Over at RaptorsHQ, Chris Clarke and I participated in a discussion over a variety of topics. In it, we address the Raptors toughness issue with the Basketball Jones guys, Michael Grange from the Globe and Mail. It’s a good read, and hopefully, you’ll get some additional insight into the Raptors season.
You can find the roundtable here.
Categories: Writer: Chris Clarke · Writer: Kinnon Yee
By Rob Shaw, Lead Expert for FantasyFanatics.com
Nazr Mohammed is a great pick-up after a trade, Alonzo Mourning’s fantasy owners are in mourning after a career-ending injury, and Yao Ming’s injury concerns are once again in play. Here’s a look at a few of the players being discussed over the past week in the www.Fantasyfanatics.com fantasy basketball forum:
NAZR MOHAMMED, CENTER, BOBCATS
It’s been an interesting career for Mohammed since he was putting up numbers in the SEC. The former Kentucky Wildcats star was a late first round draft pick in 1998. After struggling to crack into the Philadelphia 76ers rotation for two and a half years, opportunity struck when he was traded to the Atlanta Hawks in 2000-2001. In his final 28 games with his new team, Mohammed averaged 12 points and nine rebounds with a block. Injuries riddled his next few seasons before opportunity again came calling with the New York Knicks in 2004. As the team’s starting center, Mohammed averaged 11 points, one block, one steal, and eight rebounds before the Knicks suddenly realized they had a productive player on their roster, so they dealt him to San Antonio for a draft pick that would end up being David Lee (not a bad deal). The next three seasons, Mohammed again fell into fantasy obscurity as he played off the bench for the perennial contending Spurs, and then Pistons. However, this week, Mohammed was again traded, this time to the struggling Bobcats. With Primoz Brezec involved in the deal, the Bobcats are a team desperate for some help in the middle. After coming off the bench in his Bobcats’ debut, Mohammed has started his past three games. The numbers have been staggering: 17 points, 2.3 blocks, one steal, and 11 rebounds on 61% field goal shooting. It will be impossible for Mohammed to maintain those numbers; however, if given 35 minutes per game, 13 points, nine rebounds, and a block are realistic. Those are the same type of numbers that had fantasy managers drafting Andrew Bogut and Brad Miller in the early rounds. Mohammed is an excellent player to pick up if he is available. If not, offering your fantasy opponent Ronnie Brewer, Eddy Curry, or Jason Maxiell would be a wise decision, as productive centers are hard to come by.
JOSE CALDERON, POINT GUARD, RAPTORS
The player currently ranked sixth in the NBA for assists may soon average double-digits thanks to a boost in playing time. When T.J. Ford went down with a scary upper back injury, Jose Calderon was immediately called upon to fill in for the injury-prone guard. Last season, the 26-year old Spaniard averaged 13 points and nine assists as a starter. This season, Calderon has already been called upon to make 15 starts and he has responded with 13 points and 10 assists per game. Calderon is an excellent shooter who hits the occasional three and makes the occasional steal. However, much like Andre Miller, his bread and butter is getting the ball to open teammates. He has passed for 13 or more assists four times on the season, including 16 assists twice. The Raptors currently rank second in the Atlantic Division in the Eastern Conference and may have to make a trade to increase their depth. However, with Ford out indefinitely, you can expect Calderon to start, which means 13 points and 10 assists are in the books.
YI JIANLIAN, POWER FORWARD, BUCKS
The 6’11” 20-year old has tons of talent and ability, but despite starting, the playing time has been lacking. While recent first pick overall, Andrew Bogut, seems to have hit a plateau, Jianlian has demonstrated the rare ability to dominate a game. Most recently, the Chinese native poured in 29 points with a block, three steals, three assists, and 10 rebounds. More impressive was his efficiency. He missed just three of the 17 field goals that he attempted. On the season, Jianlian is averaging 11 points and six rebounds with a block. You might want to start proposing some trades for him now because as the playing time picks up in the second half of the season, his numbers may reach 16 points, eight rebounds, and 1.5 blocks per game. Jianlian seems to be everything we expected out of Darko Milicic, but the myths and stories of potential will actually prove to be real.
Top 10 Fantasy Ballers as of Week 7:
RANK LAST WEEK
1. Shawn Marion 1
2. Chris Paul 2
3. Carlos Boozer 3
4. Caron Butler 4
5. Kevin Garnett 5
6. Kobe Bryant 6
7. Baron Davis 7
8. Steve Nash 9
9. Allen Iverson UNRANKED
10. Lebron James UNRANKED
NO LONGER RANKED LAST WEEK
11) Yao Ming 10
13) Marcus Camby 8
As you can tell by the rankings, Lebron James’ return from injuries has marked his return to the fantasy rankings. Shawn Marion continues to dominate the fantasy scene thanks to his consistency and durability. Allen Iverson also makes the list thanks to his playmaking ability (7.3 assists) along with 26.6 points per game and 2.4 steals. Marcus Camby fell from the list simply because he played fewer games last week; however, after 19 points, 14 rebounds, and three blocks against the Kings on Sunday, he should return to the list by next week. Caron Butler maintained his spot despite missing a game this week due to injury.
Categories: Fantasy Basketball
