Why the Toronto Raptors Will Make the Playoffs Next Season

(Photo by Dave Sandford/Getty Images)

As things stand, the Raptors' future is about as clear as mud. With rumors that Hedo Turkoglu is on his way to the Raptors, some Raptor faithful have reacted jubilantly while others are dismayed.

On one hand, we get a good scorer who could potentially make it easier for both Andrea, whom I think is our best player, and Bosh to score because he can stretch the defense with the three. In addition, he is a good mid-range jump shooter. He is useful in the post and is a good passer.

Now the flip side of this deal is that the Raptors have to give up two guys that might be their only good defenders in Anthony Parker and Shawn Marion, both because of salary cap issues and because it is impossible for a team on the fringe of being a contender to carry two starting small forwards.

Additionally, losing The Matrix means that we lose rebounding which as the Raptor Nation knows well killed us many times last season. The one upside of Turkoglu is that he will average as many points and assists as both of these guys combined, so offensively this move would be an upgrade in my opinion but defensively still not looking too good.

Now let us assume these starters for now:

Center: Andrea Bargnani

Power Forward: Chris Bosh

Small Forward: Hedo Turkoglu

Now, many Raptor fans will be wondering what about point guard, Jose Calderon, right? Wrong. Now hear me out: He is a good point guard when he and the Raptors are knocking down shots and the offense looks good.

The problem with the Raptors, though, is that the offense often stagnates and the team turns into a straight jump shooting team. Many offensive possessions turn into pass-->maybe one more pass-->then chuck up a brick.

There are two people who mainly take the blame for this sort of impotence: Jay Triano and Sam Mitchell, aka the coach and the point guard.

This is not even the biggest drawback though. Jose cannot defend his position, many a point guard has gotten past him with ease only to find the paint completely empty because there is no help from the bigs or to find one of his teammates wide open for a three.

See Utah versus Toronto last year to see what happened to Jose when he was up against Deron Williams.

My recommendation is to re-sign Parker as our starting point guard. That move immediately improves our defense and keeps a good shooter on the floor. AP filled the position well when Jose was down injured, so I really think it can work. Plus, I think we can get good value for Calderon in a trade.

Realistically though, I do not see this move happening, so let us move on to backup PG. We have three back up PGs on the roster, count em one, two, three. Douby, Banks, and Ukic. I do not know much about Douby to be honest; he was with the Raps for a pretty short time last year.

Banks is a guy who got a fat contract, then, to coin a phrase, I found on ESPN.com "signed and retired" this move prevented the Suns from signing Rajon Rondo when they drafted him, so let us disregard him as a contributor.

I think Ukic is the best backup we have. He played well last year in his rookie season. He can defend his position, has a decent shot, and he attacks the basket aggressively getting to the line and even coming up with acrobatic finishes.

Shooting guard has been a black hole for the Raptors since Vince Carter left. The best that the Raptors have come up with is AP or a platoon of him and Delfino.

Now based on the assumption that Hedo is in, AP is out, and Delfino (he is the only guy we can resign affordably) and DeRozen are the remaining SGs on the team. This position has great black hole potential yet again. Rookies with terrible stats in one year of college never fill me with confidence.

I suppose the kid needs a chance. They say he's athletic, has good size, and seeing as he is a rookie, maybe he will work hard and D up...yeah right. Maybe, I guess you never know.

Delfino is at least experienced averages almost 10 points so not that different from AP, can play a little D and attacks the basket with emphatic flushes on occasion but personally I do not really rate him that highly. He was not very impressive two years ago in Toronto and likewise in the Olympics for Argentina.

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