30 teams in 30 days: Break up the Toronto Raptors !!!

[Damage]

Introducing...

YOUR

TORONTO

RAAAAPTOOOORSSSSSSSSS



THE CITY

The Arena

The (New!!!) Symbol

Former Mascot

Current Mascot

What happened in 2012/13?

Besides that...

Record: 34-48
Place: 5th in Atlantic
PPG: 97.2 (16th)
OPP PPG: 98.7 (17th)
Attendance: 743,936 (16th)


Statistical Leaders:
PPG - Rudy Gay (19.5)
RPG - Amir Johnson (7.5)
APG - Jose Calderon (7.4)
Wins Shared - Amir Johnson (7.3). Amir Johnson...

What went wrong:
1. Started the season 4-13
2. They made a ridiculous mid-season trade for Rudy Gay
3. Kyle Lowry missed the majority of the season with ebola
4. DeMar Derozan still didn't learned how to shoot
5. Andrea Bargnani was Andrea Bargnani: hurt & awful
6. Alan Anderson shot 285 3's
7. Landry Fields is getting $6.25M to negatively contribute (-.2 WS)

What went right?
1. They closed the season strong, finishing 8-3
2. They found 2 very good building blocks in Terrence Ross & Jonas Valanciunas
3. Kyle Lowry returned from his ebola and appears to be doing fine
4. Amir Johnson proved to be a decent player (top 40 in rebounding rate for guys who played over 60 games)
5. Finished .500 after their horrendous start

2013/14 Additions:
1. Tyler Hansbroooo - PF

2. D.J. Augustin - PG

3. Steve Novak - SG/SF (

4. Austin Daye, SF/PF

5. Rudy Gay - LASIC

2013/14 Subtractions:
1. Andrea Bargnani

(traded to Knicks for Steve Novak, The corpse of Marcus Camby, Quentin Richardson's headband, a 2016 1st and 14/17 2nd rounders)

2013 outlook

Starters
PG: Kyle Lowry

SG: DeMar Derozan

SF: Rudy Gay

PF: Amir Johnson

C: Jonas Valanciunas

Bench Bunch:

And Dwight Buycks

Strengths:

1. Starting 5. By having a sort-of, kind-of go to scorer in Rudy Gay, a good, 2-way pg in Lowry, a slasher in Derozan and an intriguing front court in Johnson and Jonas, their starting 5 isn't terrible by any means.
Their defense was below league average last year, but if Jonas develops the way they think, the Raptors have a chance to be pesky on that front.
2. Core Youth. Terrence Ross is a name to keep an eye on. At times, the 22 year old Washington alum was electric - other times he played like a rookie SG learning how to play without the ball in his hands. Didn't help his minutes were up & down throughout the year. Jonas is 20 and Derozan is only 23.
3. Addition by subtraction - aka Andrea Bargnani - should help this team.

Weaknesses:
1. Their bench and depth. Outside of Ross and maybe Augustin, this team is scrubbed with scrubs. Novak can be a quality shooter off the bench, but he won't have Melo and JR Smith to spread the floor for him. Without a 2013 draft pick, this off-season was dull to say the least.
2. Defense. Raptors finished 27th in total rebounding rate (48.6%) & gave up 10.7 Offensive RPG (7th highest). Their opponents shot 45.8%. An increased role for Jonas should help this team on the defensive front.
3. No real go-to player. Rudy Gay can moonlight at times, but this team is your classic draft treadmill team. Not good enough to make the playoffs, not bad enough to get a game changer. Appears they will be the same thing this year.

Prediction:
The Raptors need a lot to go right in order to hit the 8th seed - health being a main proponent. I like the starters. The development of Ross, Jonas & Derozan is paramount for this teams present and future success. If they can stay healthy and play above their heads, I could see them fighting for the 8th seed.

High Record: 41-41
Low Record: 30-52
My Guess: 38-44

Quick predicts:
*Rudy Gay will be an All Star
* Jonas will avg. 12/12.
* Ross will continue to see up & down minutes, stunting his growth
* Derozan finally makes over 30% of his 3's

​

 

[adam81king]

Atlanta Falcons cheerleaders?

 

[Damage]

Atlanta Falcons cheerleaders?

Good eye. Are you seriously complaining???

 

[KCOTT]

Good eye. Are you seriously complaining???

also "learned" instead of "learn"

 

[kovanovich]

It should also be mentioned that Masai Ujiri was hired as GM this summer, and Bryan Colangelo was forced out. So aside from the minor changes made over the summer the current roster is basically Colangelo's, and Ujiri has nothing invested in it. Ujiri somehow managed to get a few picks for Bargs, and there were rumors over the summer that he might also dump Rudy Gay and maybe others as well. So I wouldn't be at all surprised, depending on how their season plays out, if they were to make a major in-season trade to shake things up. Colangelo's Raptors were consistently mediocre (or worse), but they never really "tanked." Somehow, year after year Colangelo managed to convince himself the team was always just another overpaid role player away from contending. But this is a new regime, so don't be surprised if Ujiri decides to go for a better ticket in the Wiggins sweepstakes and clear some capspace to build a team he believes in, especially if he were able to find another team willing to take on Gay's contract ($19M player option for 2014-15).

As the team stands, I think they could challenge for a playoff spot so it will be interesting to see how Ujiri plays his hand. That said, I have them at roughly 9th in the East, behind (not necessarily in this order): Miami, Chicago, Indy, Brooklyn, Atlanta, Detroit, New York, and Cleveland.

 

[theSTEREO.]

Triple rep. This is awesome.

 

[Cashius X]

[video=youtube;bTU37EXkSH4]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bTU37EXkSH4[/video]

 

[Damage]

]It should also be mentioned that Masai Ujiri [/B]was hired as GM this summer, and Bryan Colangelo was forced out. So aside from the minor changes made over the summer the current roster is basically Colangelo's, and Ujiri has nothing invested in it. Ujiri somehow managed to get a few picks for Bargs, and there were rumors over the summer that he might also dump Rudy Gay and maybe others as well. So I wouldn't be at all surprised, depending on how their season plays out, if they were to make a major in-season trade to shake things up. Colangelo's Raptors were consistently mediocre (or worse), but they never really "tanked." Somehow, year after year Colangelo managed to convince himself the team was always just another overpaid role player away from contending. But this is a new regime, so don't be surprised if Ujiri decides to go for a better ticket in the Wiggins sweepstakes and clear some capspace to build a team he believes in, especially if he were able to find another team willing to take on Gay's contract ($19M player option for 2014-15).

As the team stands, I think they could challenge for a playoff spot so it will be interesting to see how Ujiri plays his hand. That said, I have them at roughly 9th in the East, behind (not necessarily in this order): Miami, Chicago, Indy, Brooklyn, Atlanta, Detroit, New York, and Cleveland.

'
Yea, big time oversight on my part. Masai is the real deal. Simmons mentioned that Masai is going to move heaven & earth to shed Rudy Gay, which he should.

As far as what they should do, I have no doubt Ujiri is going to bottom out and get in play for Wiggins, Parker, Randle, Smart, Exum or Embiid.

 

[adam81king]

Good eye. Are you seriously complaining???

That wasn't even close to a complaint. It was a question because the 3 best looking women in that write-up were cheerleaders for a different team from a different city in a different sport.

 

[gourimoko]

That wasn't even close to a complaint. It was a question because the 3 best looking women in that write-up were cheerleaders for a different team from a different city in a different sport.

The Japanese bitch is bangin... Rarely do their women allow their skin to tan as it's not considered attractive in Japan. But I've noticed that the ones that do, go live...