Posts Tagged ‘Dwane Casey’

Kings at Raptors Points Per Game: DeMarcus ain’t no Cousin Balky; Starters aren’t working; Ed wins job; Raptors miss Bargnani in this one

- January 5th, 2013

So ends the run. Just a horrible basketball game from the Raptors on Friday against the Kings. Though they deny it, the team didn’t show up to play and it was a classic let-down game. That said, even a Raptors team humming on all cylinders might not have been able to pull off a win the way a fully engaged DeMarcus Cousins was playing. That was one of the most dominant performances I’ve seen by a player at the ACC. It was Lakers era Shaq-like. It was a man against boys. There were no answers and for once, the team could have used Andrea Bargnani, who, for all of his faults, still has the biggest base on the team and holds his own in the post when he wants to. His offence also would have been useful, since all but a couple of his teammates were struggling mightily on offence. In certain games, Bargnani would be quite useful off of the bench. Speaking of which, was interesting to hear beforehand Dwane Casey basically saying Ed Davis will be his starter when Bargnani returns from injury (likely in 2-4 more weeks). It’s a no-brainer to anybody who has watched the games, but where Bargani is concerned, you never know. After being coddled and given the keys for years, I’m not sure Bargani will be satisfied as a deadly reserve, his best role in the NBA by far, and I still think he gets moved at some point. But nice to hear that Davis’ strong work has paid off.

Now, about the rest of that starting lineup. Mickael Pietrus is no longer needed with the emergence of Alan Anderson and Terrence Ross and the resurgence of Landry Fields. It’s past the time to start Fields or Anderson (Ross should be brought along slowly, playing a lot against reserves to build his confidence). Anderson’s probably a better fit if Calderon is starting, but when the Raptors do the correct long-term thing and re-insert Lowry as the starter, Fields is the better fit at the three. If Calderon starts, Amir Johnson should be starting with him (cc: Eric Koreen). They have great chemistry and though Johnson will foul a lot, he gives the team a far better chance to get off to a good start than Aaron Gray. Gray makes more sense as a fill-in if Lowry were starting.

Raptors were uncharacteristically sloppy early on. Not a lot of movement, a lot of bad passes and bad cuts and the Kings took advantage. “We were just flat from the jump, just one of those games,” admitted Ed Davis. “We didn’t have the energy, so we definitely have to come out with more energy Sunday afternoon.”

Back to Cousins for a second, he’s just a ridiculous talent. You need strong people around him to keep him in check, but you need guys with that kind of ability to be an elite team. Talent-wise, he’s top 15 in the entire league.

“He’s tough down there. He’s big, physical and we did a bad job of guarding him,” Davis said. “He was getting pretty much everything he wanted.”

With a few tweaks, the Kings could be decent going forward. Think they should move one (or both) of Tyreke Evans, Marcus Thornton and Aaron Brooks for a good veteran leader or two for a start.
Think the Kings will be fine with Cousins and Thomas Robinson up front. Could probably get value for Jason Thompson too, but best to wait until next year when Robinson is more ready to step in. Don’t call Robinson a bust. Far too early. Every time I see him play he does something that makes me say wow, he’s going to be solid, even though he’s undersized. With that motor and that athleticism he won’t fail.

Some more

Cousins:

“We’re playing good team basketball. What we’re trying to change is let’s try to make each other better every night, let’s try to make your teammates better. Doesn’t matter who is having a good night, let’s feed them the rock.

Exploit size inside? I wouldn’t really say they’re undersized, I had a good game. They have some good bigs on their team, I just had a good game.

We’ve been preaching let’s try to make each person better and that’s what I tried to do tonight.

(On the trash talk): That’s basketball, that’s nothing.

I hate coming through the airport, but I enjoy coming to Toronto.”

James Johnson:

“I love Toronto, wish things could have been different, but that’s the league. I wish these guys well and it’s always fun playing here.”

Interesting quote from Gray the morning of the game:

“We feel like this is a game we should win whereas before we were just hoping and wishing.”

There was an interesting pre-game discussion with the coaches about dealing with players in this day and age. Obviously, Cousins was the reason it was brought up with Keith Smart:

Casey on handling players, egos, etc:

“Dealing, I don’t like to use that word. I like coaching, communicating. I like those terms moreso than deal, because it’s basketball, it’s a sport. We’ve played it for a long, long time. I don’t feel like there’s a lot of difference between NBA players, they want to be coached, they want to have parameters, they want to be told what to do. They want to know what the rules are. They want to be held accountable. They want to know that they’re going to be held accountable for the job they’re going to do. That’s the way I’ve always seen it, there’s other things that always enter the picture in pro sports, contracts and all that stuff, but I try not to look at that. I’m human. You know who your star players are. You have to treat them the same. They might have a little more rope as far as shot selection and missed shots and that type of thing or maybe a bad night. But for the most part, you’ve got to treat everybody the same.”

Keith Smart:

“As players and coaches, we don’t pay a lot of attention to that. We deal with the issues that are in front of us. We don’t focus so much with what’s being said or what’s being written. You guys do a fabulous job doing your work for the masses and everything. But for us coaches, our daily job that we have everyday is to refocus each player to get him ready to play that game, to get ready to practise that day. That’s what we do. I don’t hold anything personally. I let them move on. Holding stuff personally eats away at you. I quickly move and get things behind me as fast as I can. I try to share that with my team, because that’s how the game is played. You’ve got to forget about a foul or a bad shot or a turnover and get to the next play. That’s what I try to share with my basketball team. We had our issues with some things on the floor this year, suspensions here have all happened that way. We put it behind us. I try to get them to understand that you put a game behind you as quick as you can and you put a moment or event behind you as quick as you can. Myself, the staff, we continue to do our job once again of trying to get the young man to understand how to grow and be a pro, not just for this year but for the rest of his basketball career. That is also going to help him in his normal civilian life when he can’t run up and down the floor anymore. As a coach now in the NBA — I’ve been around for a while now — you have to do more communicating with your players. You’ve got to do more things daily than you’ve ever had to do. Coming through early, players just did their job. They just came to practice and worked. Now you need to spend a lot of extra time. But you also have to be prepared for the game, scouting the opponent, getting yourself ready for the opponent. But you have to be able to understand that’s the time we’re in right now. You have to be able to manage each guy. I say all of the time: in our case, on our roster, we have 14 players. These are 14 individual corporations that I have to walk into a different door and manage and see what this corporation has to offer today. Each guy is managed differently. Not all of them are the same. You may have a group that is pretty close under a certain umbrella. Overall, they’re all individuals. You have to try to get the individual group to function as one. When you’re young, sometimes that’s hard. Again, they have the alpha-male syndrome. They all want to be first. You see how our team is starting to evolve a little bit. You can see how important it is for a team to grow together and share the basketball and support each other, and how much fun it is to play the game and how much fun it is to be around each other when you try to win some games.”

Really interesting stuff, though Casey threw cold water on the idea that players today are any different than they were 15 years ago.

“That hasn’t changed. I remember when I first came into the league in the early 1990s and it’s the same thing. Older players, younger players, it’s about communication. Same thing as in college, you’ve got to communicate and talk. It may not have to be every five minutes, but you’ve got to let guys know where they stand, what’s going on, what their role is and that’s one reason why we keep the role cards in case they do forget, you go back and have their role card. Again, just a natural human being type situation where you’re communicating talking, maybe about their family, moreso than basketball, I just think that goes a long way because you’re together so much in the NBA. You’re just like a family.”

“Communicating is something I’ve always done, I do it from a genuine standpoint because people know when you’re pulling their leg. You’ve got to be honest. Sometimes the truth hurts, but I think you have to be honest with players, people, agents, whatever it is. Sometimes the truth does hurt and sometimes the players don’t want to hear the truth, but you have to do it.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

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The return of Points Per Game: Pacers at Raptors PPG

- November 1st, 2012

New season means it’s time for a new season of my post-game thoughts, which will appear by Noon the morning after games.

Here we go with Pacers vs. Raptors Points Per Game:

- First off, that was the best atmosphere I’ve seen at the ACC in years. The fans were great, they were into the game and it was a heck of a contest. This Raptors team plays the way fans in this city like their teams, with an edge, at a fast pace.

- Kyle Lowry was superb. I tweeted he’s the best all-around Raptor since Vince Carter, sorry Chris Bosh, and I believe it. Made a difference at both ends of the floor.

- That said, Lowry’s main weakness is shot selection. He fires at will and at times that’s great, but down the stretch of a tight game, he needs to make better decisions. Ditto Jose Calderon, who got a bit trigger happy at the end, which is rare.

- People are blaming Andrea Bargnani for West going off, but Bargnani actually did a decent job defensively on him. Sure, he hedged too much late, but where was his help? It’s the lost offence, particularly from deep, that should cause concern where Bargnani is concerned. He’s never going to rebound, but his defence was pretty good last night. He needs to rediscover his form from outside. His overall shooting line could have been better, but the refs blew two wild shot attempts that should have led to free throw attempts.

- DeMar DeRozan had terrible timing. Really hurt the team, was completely locked down by Paul George and looked off all night. The pressure is going to be on DeRozan now that the Raptors overpaid to lock him up.

- Landry Fields had an even worse night and quickly bolted the room afterwards.

- Hard not to be impressed by Jonas Valanciunas. Played like a man against a tough opponent in Roy Hibbert. Also, Ed Davis and Amir Johnson are two solid reserve big men. Will give Raptors a lift all year.

- Referees clearly gave the proven Pacers the benefit of the doubt with the calls. Raptors better get used to that. This is how the NBA works until you establish an identity.

Some more thoughts from the paper:
The Raptors did some things quite well in the 2012-13 opener, but enough negatives crept in to deny the team a win against Indiana.
Head coach Dwane Casey foreshadowed the outing pretty well earlier in the day, when discussing how he thought the season would go overall.
“We’re taking steps in the right direction,” Casey said.
“To say that we’ve got to make the playoffs, it’s a bust if we don’t … I don’t buy into that.”
This could be the story of the season. Great effort, some distinct positives and a lot of tough losses.
Casey knows many people don’t think much of his team, but also believes that the pressure of making the playoffs shouldn’t be pushed onto the group.
“I’m excited about this team, I want to prove (the critics) wrong, and our players should want to prove them wrong. But we can’t have it where they’re predicting or saying (the Raptors) will win 30 games the next person says the season is a bust if they don’t make the playoffs. So, it’s confusing,” Casey said.
What the coach wants, is for the Raptors to show “Great growth … and maybe (if that happens) we’ll be knocking on the door at the end of the year. And that’s our goal, our internal goal.”
PLAY ‘EM ALL
Casey went deep into his bench, playing all but forward Linas Kleiza. Getting so many Raptors in early kept them fresh and ready for work later on.
He subbed wisely, using behomth Aaron Gray at times to try to slow down Roy Hibbert, who was giving Jonas Valanciunas trouble due to his sheer size.
Ed Davis gave the club a huge lift late in the third quarter when the game appeared to be in danger of slipping away, hitting a couple of shots, blocking one and getting on the glass.
The two point guard lineup of Kyle Lowry, who was spectacular and Jose Calderon also was used to great effect. Going with veteran Alan Anderson and nailing a complexly out-of-sorts Landry Fields to the bench also paid dividends for Casey.
GREAT, BUT
As good as Lowry and Calderon were (36 points, 11 assists, 6 steals, 3 turnovers), the duo made some uncharacteristic mistakes down the stretch, taking bad shot after bad shot and failing to run the offence properly, allowing Indiana to erase a big Toronto lead and score all of the game’s points in the final four minutes.
Lowry put the team on his shoulders and Calderon excelled as well, but they have to be smarter late in games.
BENCH BOAST
When asked what the main difference was between his first Raptors team and this one, Casey was succinct: “Our bench basically were our starters,” Casey said.
DeMar DeRozan said the feeling around the team is different as well.
“You see the hunger more in guys that’s been here and been through the tough times and you see the hunger in guys like Landry, (Lowry), that’s been in tough positions and been winning,” DeRozan said before the game.
“The hunger is there in everybody and we’re just going to bring it out tonight.”
The Raptors definitely did, but could not overcome 36.3% shooting from the field.
ROOKIE NERVES?
Rookies Valanciunas and Terrence Ross said they were nervous beforehand since they had watched many openers on television and now would be a part of NBA basketball.
Valanciunas said he had trouble sleeping.
But they didn’t show it. Valanciunas had one of the better first quarter debuts in team history, compiling six points, four rebounds and a pair of blocks.
But Hibbert frustrated Valanciunas for a while after that until the Lithuanian showed the vet some things at both ends in the third quarter.
Before the contest, Valanciunas said he had goals for this season:
“Win games. And win rookie of the year.”
DeRozan was the last rookie to start for the Raptors on opening night (Damon Stoudamire, Vince Carter and Joey Graham were the others) and had some advice.
“You’re going to be nervous, without a doubt. Just go out there, stay focused and do your job and don’t think too much.”
Afterwards, Valanciunas said he had fun, but was upset about the loss.
When reminded that there were still 81 games to go, he seemed surprised.
“That many?” Then reminded observers that he played 86 games for Lietuvos Rytas last season and about 100 overall, counting his matches with the Lithuanian national team.
He didn’t have to wait long to find out the answer to one of his pre-game musings:
“I like fans, maybe fans are going to like me? I hope so,” he said.
Valanciunas got one of the loudest pre-game roars and was cheered throughout the evening like a conquering hero, particularly when he tried to rip down the basket in a Shaq-like display on a dunk.
His counterpart, Ross was more tentative, missing a pair of three point attempts early and failing to see action in the second half.

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Celtics at Raptors Points Per Game:

- April 14th, 2012

Quite a victory by the Raptors and head coach Dwane Casey over Boston on Friday wasn’t it?

Not even the most hardcore of Raptor fans thought the team had a chance against Boston. Rajon Rondo clearly wasn’t into this one and Ray Allen was out, but this was still a statement game for Casey and his club. They won’t back down against anybody, they will fight and scrap and play above their talent level. It’s a very good sign for a franchise that has rarely had that over the course of its existence.

Some thoughts:

- I really liked the way DeMar DeRozan played. As he said afterwards, the shots weren’t falling so he decided to take it inside. He hit all 13 of his free throw attempts and consistently got elite defender Avery Bradley into trouble. As the clear No. 1 option, DeRozan stepped up. Now he’s going to have to learn how to do that in a complementary role going forward.

“Shots were’t falling so I was just trying to be aggressive. Get some easy points from the free throw line,” DeRozan said.

- Casey wants DeRozan to finish his and-ones more frequently, seeing that as “the next evolution” for the shooting guard.

- It was the seventh victory in team history when shooting under 35% fewest number of made field goals in a win.

- Full credit to Ben Uzoh for playing a great game. He has a knack for getting on the boards and was a major reason why the Raptors hammered Boston on the glass, a key to the win. He looked more confident and in control. Along with Justin Dentmon, he kept the turnovers to a minimum, another key.

“We defended and played together as a team, played hard. They really pick up the pressure, they really thrive on their defence. They’ve been on a roll. For us to get this win, this definitely boosts our confidence and shows what we’re capable of when we play hard, play together,” Uzoh said.

- Ed Davis remains a complete non-factor on offence and that jumper can’t be re-worked soon enough, but he is getting his on the boards. He had a game-high 12 rebounds and now has hit double figures in three straight games.

“Ed is putting his work in, paying his dues so let’s see where he is,” Casey said before the game.

- Casey’s comments about Bargnani were interesting. He basically said Bargnani (or other players) will be under a much different standard next season as the Raptors start to (hopefully) turn the corner. Minor ailments won’t mean missed games or extended absences. The toughness level and pain threshold will have to rise because the team is going to be intent on making a run at 7th or 8th in the weak East, which should be realistic with a number of upgrades coming via the draft, Lithuania, trades and through free agency.

- Casey said Bargnani’s standout first 13 games are “all he has to go on,” but later added that it might be unrealistic to think Bargnani can play at quite that high a level – particularly defensively, where he ranked No. 9 overall in the entire league, according to Synergy. Still, the coach wants him to be much closer to that level than to the Bargnani of old. As Casey says, he’s shown he can do it now, so it’s on him if he turns back into a pumpkin.

- Also interesting were Casey’s draft comments. I’ll have more on that another time, but suffice to say how hard a prospect plays will be a major factor for the Raptors. Valanciunas projects as a high impact guy with a great motor. Bryan Colangelo’s trick will be scooping up another prospect like that.

INFIRMARY UPDATE
Calderon was held out for “precautionary measures” so that he wouldn’t do anymore damage to his stitched up eye. He will try to return either Sunday or Monday against Atlanta.
His backup, Jerryd Bayless, is itching to play, but team doctors are expected to hold the restricted free agent out for the rest of the season.
Kleiza (knee) and Amir Johnson (back, foot) were able to play.

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Raptors at Thunder Points Per Game:

- April 8th, 2012

OKLAHOMA CITY —

So, the Raptors lose a game and Andrea Bargnani. Again. It’s not clear how long Bargnani will be out this time – he said his calf was hurting before the game and it got worse as it went on. He told the training staff and they told him to come off. It was too bad, since he was the best Raptor on the floor, aggressively taking the ball to the hoop as well as playing strong defence.

Some thoughts:

- I like what I see from Alan Anderson, he’s giving them a lot more than Rasual Butler did and they could do worse than making him a minimum guy at the end of the bench next season. He did a nice job on Kevin Durant, particularly early and blocked one of his shots. That said Casey was mad at everybody – including Anderson, who was on the court during that brutal 24-0 run, which was one off the franchise low, set twice.

“The end score isn’t important, I’m looking for the defensive toughness.

For the most part we’ve done that, we just don’t want to lose that down the stretch,” Casey said..

“DeMar can’t play 48 minutes and Jose can’t play 48 minutes. No matter who is on the court, you still need to have an attention to detail. Those breakdowns, they can’t happen.”

OLD KENTUCKY HOME

Former Kentucky Wildcats Casey and Jamaal Magloire were understandably pleased when shown a picture of the Superdome scoreboard taken just after the Wildcats won the NCAA title last Monday. Sunday’s backup centres, Magloire and the Thunder’s Nazr Mohammed teamed up to help Kentucky win its previous championship, back in 1998.

- Casey said he thinks there are “two teams playing at a different level, Miami and this team. Really explosive team, athletic, talented, not only on the offensive end but the defensive end as well. Present many challenges.”

- James Johnson isn’t going to get himself out of the doghouse by making poor shooting decisions.

- Toronto played very well early and forced a ton of turnovers, which kept the team in the game, but that all disappeared later on.

- You can tell from my game story, I think James Harden is a heck of a player. At one point he had only five points, but had arguably been the best player on the floor. Then he scored eight straight as Oklahoma City went on its run. Anywhere else, he’d be the top dog, or, at worst, second banana. I wonder if at some point he’ll go somewhere else either because he wants to be the man or, more likely, because the Thunder won’t be able to afford to keep so much talent?

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One crazy night in Memphis

- March 17th, 2012

Until tonight, the craziest game I’ve ever covered was the NCAA title game where Gordon Hayward rimmed out what would have sealed the biggest upset win in the history of sports. That one didn’t go in, so this one tops it.

My brain almost exploded, the gamer didn’t make the paper for first edition, the referees left having somehow pissed off both the home fans and the Raptors.

And oh ya, Rudy Gay hit another crazy shot against the Raptors, but this time, Toronto pulled out a win.

- Huge work from Jerryd Bayless. He’s defending better than ever this year and is playing some fine offensive basketball as well. Sure he had a boneheaded play, one of many by his at times clueless teammates, but this was a heck of an effort. They fought tooth and nail with one of the scrappiest teams in the league.

- Sure they had no business winning – Memphis missed 20 free throw attempts and is a much better team – but the bottom line is they did.

- The Raptors were all stunned in the locker room afterwards. None of them have been in a game like this, nobody would go on record, but they were perplexed by the horrific refereeing.

- Gary Forbes showed he is an NBA player. He is laying claim to Leandro Barbosa’s minutes.

Some quotes:

“Jerryd did a great job in timeouts and wouldn’t let anybody quit. As a coach, I didn’t have to say anything. I was really happy to see him take the bull by the horn and show leadership.”

“It was such a hard-fought game. The guys were passionate in timeouts and it was one of those games that if you were a fan you enjoyed watching.”

- Dwane Casey

“For them to come to our house and beat us like they did, Rudy hitting a big shot at our house, we just came here with fight in our heart. We had some confidence and weren’t scared. We went out there and played. We didn’t let anybody get in our way and we executed down the stretch.”

- James Johnson

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Spurs at Raptors Points Per Game:

- February 16th, 2012

Another good game, another tough loss. The Raptors are making an art of entertaining their fans, while still losing enough to stay in the Anthony Davis hunt. As usual, a few thoughts on the game and then some quotes I couldn’t get in to my story.

- DeMar DeRozan really needed that game after being a no-show too often of late. I keep harping on this, but he needs to be that aggressive player in order to succeed. He also took better control of the ball, which is needed since he can’t be turning it over off of strips 1-3 times every night.

- You have to appreciate the Spurs. Nobody ever pays any attention to them, yet all they do is win. Tony Parker: “We are nine in a row so if nobody talks about us, that’s good, we’ll keep playing good basketball.”

- Definitely some strange units out there. Dwane Casey said he was searching for offence with Bargnani, Bayless and Kleiza out. That left more defensive-minded players like James Johnson benched. He said he gave the red hot DeRozan a long break because of the back-to-back. Thought DeRozan would be able to give more down the stretch if he did that.

- Anthony Carter looked finished earlier this year, but now has found his game and is contributing.

- This team sure finds novel ways to lose eh? Five second call one night, two hands on the ball another. A foul out of bounds …

- The Raptors need to have better court awareness and stop taking a ton of offensive fouls. Too many Raptors are charging into opponents and it hurt them on Wednesday.

- Amir Johnson had been struggling mightily to hit mid-range jump shots this season, but he was nailing them on Wednesday

ONE OF A KIND

Metta World Peace one game, Popovich, the next? As a reporter, you can’t beat that.

The irascible Popovich is always a riot. With a dry, quick wit, Pop mixes bemusement with frustration as well as anybody.

He had some gems before the game:

To a larger crowd of media than he is used to: “It’s Toronto and San Antonio, take a break.”

On whether Cory Joseph should have stayed longer at Texas: “What am I, the answer man?”

On Joseph’s biggest challenge: “(Said dryly and in a short manner) “He’s a rookie.”

Some quotes on Joseph:

Cory Joseph:

“I don’t try to put pressure on myself, I just try to focus on the gameplan, play hard and let everything decide itself.

(Talks to Tristan about once a week). Only had like a week of training camp. Wanted me to get some game experience. Everybody looks at the D-League like it’s a bad thing, but Austin’s a good thing for me. Good coaching staff. (Soak up) A whole lot. Decision-making, what decisions I should do within the system. Just try to soak up as much as possible. Anybody can play in this league just given the opportunity.

(Watch Texas?) Obviously I miss it, but I’m happy where I am now. I watch them a couple of times when I’m able to. Hopefully they can win this next couple of games to solidify themselves in the tournament. That would make me happier.

Talk to Myck. Tell him to run your team, make sure you get the wins.”

Tony Parker:

“They played them all the way to the end. Just tough games for Toronto.

If we play like that, move the ball great and everybody’s healthy, we have a good chance to go all the way.

We played basketball all season long then TD got hurt and Manu went down the last game (last year).

On Cory: It’s tough as a point guard he’s not playing that much and we don’t practise so it’s tough for him to get some minutes because he doesn’t know the system, he doesn’t know the plays and Pop, sometimes he calls plays he didn’t call for 10 games. I’ve been here 11 years so I know the plays, so it’s tough for Cory. When you’re a point guard and you have a coach like Pop, you need practice time and you need to know all the plays and right now we never practice, we just rest, play, rest, play. He’s talented, we just have to be patient with him.”

Dwane Casey:

“Health is an important thing in this league and when you don’t have it you search. Tonight I was searching for any group that could help us.

This is a difficult team to play. We’ve played three emontional games, and I think our team competed in each of them. My hat is off to our guys because I think they competed and any basketball person, in seeing who we have in the floor, talked about how we competed.

That’s important to me, to the organization going forward. It’s going to help us once we get our program on the right spot. We want to continue this culture of playing hard, competing and putting yourself in position to win. What we have to do is execute … executing down the stretch. The game within the game (double dribble, holding call even though he was out of bounds). All the young guys need to learn how to play in those situations.”

“DeRozan. His major challenge this summer is going to be getting in the weight room, getting bigger, getting stronger. (Looking at Kobe and LeBron) looking at how big and strong those guys are and keeping the athleticism.”

“Good for psyche? No question. We don’t want to be satisfied with close, but with the growth that we’re making against the top teams (without top scorers), my hat is off to the guys who competed. The guys took up the slack.”

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Lakers and Kobe stun Raptors Points Per Game:

- February 13th, 2012

That was one entertaining contest on Sunday, moreso because I wasn’t writing on deadline.

A few Raptor points before I get into some good stuff from the Lakers, who I was assigned to for the day.

- The shooting line for DeMar DeRozan was ugly but he did a lot of good things in other areas. Career high in assists was most notable, obviously, but he also played nice early defence on Kobe Bryant and looked to attack offensively. He had good looks but they weren’t falling. Metta World Peace and Bryant also are much beefier and stronger than DeRozan and they are great defenders who gave him some problems.

- Ed Davis rebounded from an invisible first half to play quite well in the second half. Amir Johnson went from outstanding against Boston to a complete non-factor. Have to give a hand to Jamaal Magloire – as LAkers head coach Mike Brown did – for his performance, which was a major reason why the Raptors came back from an 18-point deficit.

- James Johnson is starting to become a fan favourite for his energy, athleticism and defensive results. While his jumper is coming along, there is still work to do in that regard.

- From where I was sitting Rasual Butler definitely didn’t call time out in time … BUT Dwane Casey definitely did. The refs blew it, despite what the NBA says.

- Not sure I’ve seen Bryant utilize the Dirk-esque one-footed, leg kicking jumper he displayed. Like when Dirk shoots it, it is pretty much money every time.

- A lot of love for Jose Calderon after his career-high 30 points. Pau Gasol says he can do that whenever he wants to if defences aren’t going to challenge his shot. Bryant said he is a big fan of Calderon (hint hint Mitch Kupchak. Unfortunately for Bryant, there doesn’t seem to be a way to bring Calderon to L.A. trade-wise).

Now on to some quotes I couldn’t work in here or here

Kobe Bryant:
“I wasn’t surprised, it was five seconds. I didn’t go to college but I can count.
It’s five seconds, it was good defence on our part.
DeMar? I think the world of him as a player. I’ve seen his game grow tremendously from last year to this one in terms of adding a pull-up jumper to his game. He has a post game as well, but he wasn’t able to show it tonight because we have significantly bigger guards but he can post, he can handle, developed the mid-range jump shot, can obviously finish at the rim so I’m liking what he’s doing.
Olympics. It’s a big Olympics for us. We have an opportunity to kind of cement ourselves as the powerhouse. We won the last Olympics, we won the worlds, winning the Olympics in London will put us back where we belong. (Wear and tear). Not worried. With that team, I’ll just coast. I’m there if they need me. Big shots? That’s what I do. They can do all the heavy lifting.”

Pau Gasol:
“There’s games wehre he is going to take more shots because they are there. If he’s making them, he’ll continue to shoot things if they’re available. He’s not going to force things for you.
We have weapons. We have players that are experienced and have been successful throughout their careers offensively and defensively so that’s the depth and the weapons that we do have and we can go to them at a specific point.”

Metta World Peace:
“Ettore Messina. He’s a great coach. He’ll be a head coach. He reminds me a lot of Phil Jackson. He won championships. How many he win, 20, something stupid like that, it’s ridiculous. I just talk to him about the game. Cool to see European coaches come to the NBA. Changes it up.
(On mega-rich stars like Mike Tyson blowing all their money) “It’s cool. How many people get a chance to fail? Even a guy like Tyson. How many people have a chance to get $300 million and lose it? Not many people have a chance to fail. Not a bad thing, just move on with your life. Do something else, be positive. At least he touched it.

I can’t (score) with this team. Right before I came, I was on Houston, I was averaging 20 in the playoffs or something. I came here it went pffft. People forget, but that’s OK.
I can still put up numbers, there’s just no rhythm now. If I had to score. With Drew getting better, Kobe still playing better.

(On Kobe): “He’s in shape he takes care of his body. Those guys like Kobe, they came and they went. Kobe don’t take nights off, never. I seen him adjust his game sometimes, but no nights off. Maybe he passes more.
I’ve seen potentially more natural scorers, but Kobe got fundamentals. Kobe’s just different. I’ve seen people that were more talented than Kobe, but did they have the fundamentals and the work? He understands the little things the fundamentals, the footwork. It’s like writing a story, the same words over and over again, that’s not going to fly. You’ve got to change it up.
His technique is ridiculous.”

Mike Brown:
“Dwane Casey is a heck of a coach, those guys made a good choice picking him as the head coach. They did a terrific job of mixing in zones and brought us to a standstill a little bit at times.”

 

 

 

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Raptors at Utah Jazz Points Per Game and thoughts on Bargnani injury:

- January 26th, 2012

- Unfortunately, Andrea Bargnani’s injury is going to overshadow what probably was Toronto’s gutsiest effort of the season. Bargnani said he will be out “a while” and left the arena on crutches, according to Eric Smith. Don’t expect to see the big guy in February, though that’s just my speculation. The Raptors will be extremely careful with him. The team has looked more than competent with Bargnani in the lineup and mostly like a complete disaster without him. Things could quickly get ugly again and now he won’t get the all-star selection he deserves. I understand Dwane Casey absolutey needed to get the team off of the skids, but the Raptors were asking for trouble playing Bargnani heavy minutes back-to-back when he had just returned from a nagging injury. His getting hurt again was a predictable outcome. Now, that said, if I were Casey, I likely would have done the exact same thing.

- Respectable franchises don’t carry 10-plus-game losing streaks against multiple teams so that’s why ending long droughts against Phoenix and Utah the past two nights is so important to the Raptors. Those streaks were embarassing, frankly and indicated that Toronto wasn’t on the same footing as some of the league’s other franchises. The sooners stuff like that is wiped out, the better the franchise will be viewed league-wide.

Now, on to the game:

- I’ll get the negatives out of the way first: Not sure if it is fatigue, worse support from his teammates, or a recurrence of injury, but Jose Calderon isn’t the same defender as he was early in the season. Early on, he was adequately keeping opponents in front of him, far better than we had seen over the past few seasons. Of late, that’s changed. All he needed was a cape on Wednesday night and he would have looked like a matador. Devin Harris simply destroyed him off of the dribble.

- All Calderon needs is a cape the past few games. Harris the latest point guard to destroy him off the dribble. From my viewpoint, Calderon seems to be trying to stop point guards from a less than conducive angle. He basically is attacking picks from an ineffective angle. HE is making it harder for himself to recover when the point guard uses the screen to head to the hoop and seems to also be giving up too easily hoping for help that isn’t coming. Harris blew by him all night, including at crucial moments, and only three missed free throws by Harris prevented a possible loss from being hung on Calderon (though Calderon did make some huge plays and shots to be fair).

- The starters again looked lost early, allowing the team to go down 18 points at one point, though DeMar DeRozan was aggressive again and played well from the start. Heavy fouling in the first quarter is one of the main reasons why the Raptors consistently find themselves down big.
- Jerryd Bayless did some nice things down the stretch, but doesn’t seem to be in shape yet. All his shots are short, which indicates his legs aren’t there yet.

The positives were more plentiful:
- After being invisible, Ed Davis scored on a nice post-up and showed some flashes.
- Leandro Barbosa has been fantastic of late, leading a strong bench. The team looks better with Bargnani or James Johnson and the bench than it does with starters at many points.

- Linas Kleiza has looked much better than he did last seaason. He’s healthy and proving very valuable for a team with limited scoring options. Expect him to replace Bargnani beside Gray in the new starting lineup (though again that’s just my guess) and the Raptors will expect him to continue to play well and pile up the points.

- Once again, the zone worked well for Toronto, allowing the team to fight back from a deficit and throw off an opponent. In particular, the ability of the Raptors to guard the three-point line was top-notch. Usually a zone allows good looks from three, but Toronto players were out to contest far faster than is usually the case.

- James Johnson continues to excel defensively and is now on a nice run of strong games. If he can keep this up, Bryan Colangelo has one less thing to worry about this off-season and can focus on upgrading at guard. At the worst, Johnson is showing that he can be a defensive stopper. At best he can be a valuable starting small forward, if the Raptors don’t land one of the stud SF’s in the draft.

- It was nice to see Bargnani come out of his shell both in Phoenix and in Utah, a trend that has been apparent all season. He let out a primal scream after missing a shot just before the conclusion of the first half.

- DeRozan brought the closer’s mentality, which  we haven’t seen in a while. Obviously he got the message sent when he was benched for the entire fourth quarter in Phoenix.
- Toronto’s defence forced multiple air balls down stretch and forced Utah into poor execution. Only four absurd Utah shots during the course of the game made this a double OT thriller.

All in all, a big night for the Raptors, though the Bargnani news certainly will be a crushing blow to the team’s psyche.

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Raptors at Suns Points Per Game:

- January 25th, 2012

Finally, a win. Gutsy effort in Phoenix and a lineup change results in a victory to end a long losing streak. Oh, Andrea Bargnani might have had something to do with it.

- Bargnani proved again that he is an all-star, rebounding from a bad shooting start to absolutely pick apart the Suns. Sure Marcin Gortat lit up the Raptors, but Bargnani was only defending him part of the time and did better on that end than others.

- I liked the move to start Aaron Gray, I predicted at the start of the year (before Gray had his health problems) that he would start beside Bargnani for many matchups. Gives the team more size and a better screen-setter at the five. Also sends Amir Johnson a message – get your game back in gear, and he seemed to read it loud and clear. Johnson only played just shy of 13 minutes, but was back to his old active self. Plus the move forced me to try to remember the last time the Raptors started two 7-footers … I can’t remember that ever happening actually, since none of Chris Bosh, Jermaine O’Neal, Antonio Davis or Donyell Marshall are 7-footers.

- Toronto’s 3-pt shooting was a big positive. Beside Bargnani’s 4-for-6, the rest of the team went 4-for-9. That kept them in it when Phoenix was hot, and was a major reason why the end result was a win. Which leads to …

- Leandro Barbosa. He was the reason the Raptors were within four at the half in a game Phoenix should have had well in hand. Barbosa went 3-for-3 from three and was brilliant, particularly in the second quarter against his former team.

- Barbosa’s strong play helped mask another invisible night from DeMar DeRozan. This is at the troubling point now, especially since Bargnani was back, which was supposed to help DeRozan return to form. I liked his agressiveness early, but DeRozan failed to get to the free throw line and could not finish his chances.  His regression is the most negative aspect of this Raptors season, which is now a quarter of the way complete. Something needs to change and quickly. Right now DeRozan looks like a reserve, not a major piece of Toronto’s rebuild.

- I like what Ronnie Price has done for the Suns. Gives them a defensive boost. What the heck happened to Channing Frye? He can’t play anymore. Like at all.

- One more negative before I get to some positives. One of the reasons Toronto’s defence doesn’t look as good as it did early on is because Jose Calderon is no longer keeping anybody in front of him anymore. That’s been the case the past few games and didn’t change against the great Steve Nash. Nash blew by Calderon, this time with guile, not the speed other point guards have been using. Calderon, like most, to be fair, had no answers for Nash and his crafty, change of pace maneuvers. Another concern, re: Calderon, is the fact that he is making 1-2 bad passes at critical times (leaving his feet after dribbling into no-man’s land) throwing the ball away at inopportune times. It almost cost Toronto the game and would have had Phoenix hit more shots in the clutch. He did make some better decisions late that helped the Raptors win the game.

- James Johnson followed up his best game of the season with an even better one. He defended well and was solid on offence. His play would be one of the brighters spots of this season, though I’m sure Bryan Colangelo would prefer to have Johnson showing little instead of DeRozan and Ed Davis both showing next to nothing so far, aside from a fast start from DeRozan.

- Linas Kleiza continues to help the bench with his ability to score.

- I believe Toronto turned the ball over nine times in the first quarter but ended up with 16 total, so obviously the team did a much better job taking care of the ball as the game went on.

- OK one more negative. Marcin Gortat abused the team for three quarters. There was little resistance, he rolled to the hoop unguarded or overpowered the Raptors. The team finally guarded him better in the fourth.
- Dwane Casey drew up some good plays, including one to end the first half and bring the Raptors within four when Calderon went to James Johnson for a dunk. His team also used screens very well and Phoenix puzzlingly didn’t figure out that leaving Bargnani open off of screen and rolls or pick and pops was a very bad decision.

All in all, more good things to say than bad, but DeRozan and Davis need to get on track or else Colangelo doesn’t have nearly as much in his cupboard as he thinks and this retool is in worse shape than we thought.

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Wolves at Raptors Points Per Game

- January 10th, 2012

Some thoughts on a good Raptors win over Minnesota after I’ve had a night to reflect on it:

- Raptors continue to show the ability to beat the NBA’s lesser teams. They have held tough with playoff squads, but Jersey aside, have handled the minnows quite well.

- Incredible effort from Amir Johnson despite battling sickness and a thumb injury. The thumb issue helps explain why he has had trouble hanging onto balls this season and hasn’t finished as well. Despite denials from Kevin Love, who said his bad night was all him. Johnson was a major reason why he was off.

- Again, Andrea Bargnani was outstanding. His offensive play is self-explanatory – he is simply killing opponents with his fakes and footwork right now, daring them to challenge his shot and then darting by them. But it is his defence that remains the shocker. The man D is improved (not that it was terrible before), but his ability to cover ground and help out his teammates on switches and fighting through screens has been superb. He played 45 minutes against Minnesota, will be interesting to see what he has left against Washington

- James Johnson was also great. As has been the case many games this year, Johnson seemed to be everywhere on the court. And this time he didn’t make as many errors as is sometimes the case from overcommiting and trying to do too much. Johnson has some Jerome Williams in him – ie. doing too much, gambling, over-reading on plays, but I think he is going to be a better player. His jumper even looked good in extended warmup drills and the few times he shot during the game.

- DeMar DeRozan looks tired. Perhaps the effort required on defence and the schedule is hurting him on the offensive end? HE started very well when he was rested. He was more aggressive and even posted up. He needs to do more of that.

- Ricky Rubio is a real talent – duh. I like the Luke Ridnour-Rubio combo offensively, but the Wolves got punished defensively when they were on the court.

- Derrick Williams showed me it is just a matter of time until he becomes an impact player in the NBA. Still like him as a 4, but that obviously can’t happen, given how good Love is.

- Another game where the Raptors hold an opponent under 40% (34%). Impressive stuff, though this crazy NBA schedule has something to do with it.

- Dwane Casey said one of these days something is going to go in for Rasual Butler. Butler is doing his job defensively quite well, but is hurting the team by missing all of his shots. Doesn’t sound like a lineup switch is coming anytime soon.

- Linas Kleiza should learn his fate today. Team seems to be expecting him back on Wednesday against Sacramento, with Jerryd Bayless more likely for the weekend.

A few quotes I couldn’t work into my story:

Kevin Love:

“Just an off night. Nobody scored the ball particularly well and they just executed down the stretch. We had a couple of turnovers and that was the game.”

“The best thing about the NBA is there is another game tomorrow …  everybody has nights like that and I’ll bounce back.”

Rick Adelman:

“We have to finish at the basket and we have to be a little bit tougher than we were tonight.”

Ricky Rubio:

“(Calderon’s) a great defender, he can (play) defence very well. He knows how to defend, he’s smart on offence and defence and he has legs, he’s strong and he can guard everybody.”

Rubio has no regrets with staying in Spain: “I was with a team that won almost everything over there. I know how to handle the pressure (now) because of that.”

This just in, Jose has legs! (For some reason I found that quote hilarious).

Dwane Casey:

“I was pleased by the disposition (of the team after the disappointing second half in Philadelphia). But there were still a lot of subtle things (to work on).”

 

 

 

 

 

 

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