Toronto Raptors Fans Feeling the Fear!

Following the latest embarrassment in Minnesota, the Raptors ended the preseason with just two wins and six losses. Worse, Hedo Turkoglu left the game early after tweaking an ankle and the Raptors’ abysmal three-point shooting continued.

After an exciting offseason of change brought in nine new players, many Raptors fans are now beginning to fear the worst.

Some current quotes:

“Expect 2-8 out of the gate.”

“…this team will start the year 2-10.″

Even: “Raptors will miss the playoffs.”

Some comments from fans:

“...the team has no chemistry”

“Bosh and Bargnani can’t work together.”

“Raptors, I can only see three wins in the first 33 games”

“If the **** hits the fan, 10-35.″

And what has brought about these fears?

For a start, this team was expected to score easily and often but has averaged only 95 points per game and shot only 24 percent from three.

Jay Triano has preached defense since the start of training camp, but the team is giving up six more points per game than it scores.

Jose Calderon started preseason in the worst physical condition of his NBA career. He actually looked ill at the first game in London.

Chris Bosh and Hedo Turkoglu couldn’t start the preseason on time because of minor injuries and fatigue? In their first games back, they didn’t play well.

Jay Triano has been featuring the duo point guard lineup of Calderon and Jack throughout the preseason with very limited chemistry shown between the two guards.

Antoine Wright, the defensive specialist from Dallas, had to have his knee drained after a training camp mishap and missed every preseason game until the last one.

The early fan favorite, Reggie Evans, sprained his foot and will miss the home opener.

The supposed depth players that Colangelo added in the offseason are playing worse as the preseason progresses.

Every player on the team has preseason statistics that are much worse than expected.

The Raptors keep losing to teams fans expect them to beat during the regular season!

A slow start to the regular season should be easy to explain and easy to accept, except that fans rarely find ways to accept losing streaks.

The Raptors face two of the top teams in the NBA at home to start the season and quickly follow that with a three-game, then a four-game Western road trip against teams expecting to make the playoffs.

Early wins will likely have to come against Memphis on the road or Detroit and Chicago at home.

Only winning two of these games is a real possibility and does not reflect the team’s ability as the season progresses. There is no justification for panic over a slow start based on this opening schedule. Winning four or more of the first 12 is cause for genuine optimism.

The chemistry issue is likely to be very real early in the season. When the division-winning 2006 Raptors brought in nine new faces, it took them 20 games to get their act together and started the season with just seven wins and 13 losses.

The lack of offense during the preseason has been surprising, but not so surprising when Raptors coach Jay Triano says he hasn’t implemented their core offensive plays yet in preseason.

The Raptors have lived on the pick and roll in the past and Triano has held off implementing the team’s best play until the regular season starts.

The shooting concerns will undoubtedly be resolved on their own. Players tend to shoot the percentages they usually shoot over time. The results from a short preseason schedule playing short minutes is not reflective of what should be expected during the regular season.

The effectiveness of the Raptors’ defense has been questionable, giving up 46 percent shooting by their preseason opponents. But like summer league, the intensity of the games has not been high.

Lineups have been based more on talent evaluation and getting certain veterans’ conditioning up to speed. It is very hard to project how the defense will look from watching these games.

Jose Calderon, Hedo Turkoglu, and Chris Bosh have all used the preseason to get their conditioning ready for the regular season. Their much lower than normal personal statistics in the preseason reflect this.

Chris Bosh: 25.2 minutes, 15.5 points, 6.7 rebounds.

Jose Calderon: 23.8 minutes, 8.4 points, 3.9 assists.

Hedo Turkoglu: 21.3 minutes, 8.3 points, 3.5 rebounds, 3.8 assists.

The good news is that based on the last couple preseason games, it looks like all three players are ready to go for the home opener. Turkoglu’s ankle sprain has been described as mild and he played on it during the second quarter of the last game.

Team chemistry is slowly coming together. In the final preseason game, Calderon and Jack were on the floor together twice for extended periods and the team performed well. In that final preseason game, both Bosh and Bargnani had three blocks. Give it some time.

Antoine Wright in his first preseason game had a very rough start. But in the fourth quarter, he started playing better. He scored all of his points (eight), grabbed all his boards (four), and got a block and a steal in the final 12 minutes. It’s still early, but Wright isn’t a rookie and should be ready to play.

The Raptors will miss Reggie Evans. But a sprained foot shouldn’t be a long-term injury and the Raptors have the veteran Nesterovic and the athletic Johnson to back up Bosh and Bargnani.

As the preseason has progressed, Johnson, Weems, and Belinelli haven’t performed as well as they did earlier. But these are all very young players with limited actual NBA experience.

As depth players on the team, they are important and hopefully one or more develops into a good rotation player. However, the Raptors’ season is not resting on whether these players can play heavy minutes or not.

And losing in preseason does not reflect on the team’s ability to win games over the regular season.

No one is writing off New Orleans because they’ve gone 2-6.

No one is giving the Clippers first in the West because they went 6-2.

The playoff expectations of Portland, Denver, Houston, San Antonio, Cleveland, Detroit, or Washington haven’t changed because they may only manage four preseason wins.

Not much should be taken from preseason results without a lot of context.

The betting line for the Raptors is 41.5 wins, good for fifth in the East, but tied with Washington and Detroit. The Raptors are expected to win more games than Chicago, Philadelphia, Miami, and Charlotte. Reference: khandor’s sports blog

As as been mentioned before:

Stand back.

Take a deep breath.

Look hard at the talent Bryan Colangelo has put together.

Realize only nine or 10 players ever get to actually play.

Take into account the Raptors face a very tough first month.

And, enjoy the show this very talented Raptors’ team is going to provide this season.

Brothersteve’s Green & Red Raptor Blog is still predicting the Raptors Will Bounce Back for a 47-win season.