Remember all that hype surrounding the Raptors prior to the '07-08 season?
Raps fans were buzzing about the '06-07 Atlantic Division champs. The season looked promising.
A two-headed monster at PG (Ford and Calderon), a maturing Andrea Bargnani, and a more confident Chris Bosh were supposed to give the Celtics a run for their money as the leaders of the Eastern Conference.
Unfortunately, the season turned into one of turmoil and disappointment—to say the least. Colangelo and Co. had to come up with a new plan for '08-09—and although there are many skeptics, there is reason to hype up this season again.
The acquisition of Jermaine O'Neal is an interesting one. When he says he's here to support the team and help them win, I hope he means it. When I heard Ray Allen and KG say the same things last year, I heard voices in my head saying "BS, BS, BS". Those voices were wrong.
As the leader of the once-elite Indiana Pacers over the last few years, Jermaine is now coming to a team that is organized in a non-patriarchal fashion. Sure, Chris Bosh is the bonafide leader of this team. However, although his talent and play is superior to others, he is not one of those players that can take over a game a la King James, Kobe or Dirk.
This is a team that will have to run on all cylinders, on the offensive and defensive (primarily) side. Bosh will benefit from J.O.'s presence. One only has to remember the days of Oakley-Davis-Willis—a trio of big, hard bodies that all benefited from each others presence.
If you look at CB4 and J.O.'s game, they certainly have an edge over Oak-Antonio-Willis. Throw a resurgent/confident Bargnani (everyone cross your fingers) into the mix—and man, now we're talking.
Calderon will be the Calderon of the '07-'08 season. The reason why he faded somewhat through the second half was because he was playing 42-46 minutes a game when TJ went down.
If Ukic can back him up with 15-20 minutes of average (hopefully above-average) play, then the PG position that was somewhat of a problem last year is solved.
Newly-acquired Solomon brings experience, and can step up in case of any injury. No offense to Darrick Martin, but these back-ups can play.
It's looking like the starting lineup will be:
C - O'Neal , PF - Bosh, SF - Kapono/Moon, SG - Parker, PG - Calderon
Parker is at a crossroads in his career. He'll have to shine this season—he's a free agent in 2009—to get the money he wants in the NBA. He is certainly one of those players who may take the ever powerful Euro over Uncle Sam's paper.
If Sir Kapono plays like he did against the Magic in the playoffs, Jamario Moon may be out of the starting lineup. On the flipside, if Jamario bulks up and shows an effort to start driving a little more, there could be some healthy competition at the SF position.
7 comments Last one added 11 months ago — Leave a Comment
Richard Le 11 months ago
awesome article. I'm also an avid raptors fan. I feel like kapono is due to break out. He had a hard time getting his shot off midway through the season because he can't really get his shot off but he proved he has a semi reliable floater and can be a modest driving threat as well. I love anthony parker's game. He's akin to raja bell except he, at this point in both their careers, a more reliable offensive threat. they're both great perimeter defenders.
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Elgin Tagle 11 months ago
Yeah...although I mentioned about the whole "X's and O's" thing, I think Sam Mitchell ought to rethink his game plan for Kapono. Kapono was trying to hard to create his own shot way too many times last year. If they have some special plays for him and start actually setting screens for the dude, then he'll be back to his Miami Heat form.
I'm an AP fan as well. He's due for a break out season (if he wants to stay in the NBA).
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c s 11 months ago
Great article, of course our main players are gonna be important, but i think at the end of the day the two guys that are really gonna make the difference is both barganani and ukic, because in reality we are gonna need that scoring from him i've always said you need another big scoring guy outside of your big men im just crossing my fingers that he can get to at least 18ppg next season the thing is his height makes him a deadly threat becasue he can score over anybody so he can be useful in so many ways like dirk is. The other guy roko ukic like i said earlier because first of all this guy is a true pro and he is coming to the nba with more experience the jose calderon did this guy is amazing we need him to come off the bench and make a impact fast, and i know he can do that. His height allows him to get rebounds and be a great distributor even if JO does go down, we at least need these guys to step up and go right away let's keep our fingers crossed but i truly think we will win between 50-55 games wait and see, go RAPS!
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Elgin Tagle 11 months ago
I agree... Bargnani is a HUGE question mark. I'd be happy with 14 points a game, 7 boards. That should be more than sufficient enough for a 6th man. He could start at SF if and only if they up their defensive help on the 3. It'll be extremely difficult as Bargnani is way too slow to guard 3's.
Ukic looks very promising. We'll have to wait and see what he has to offer. I am confident that he is an upgrade from Darrick Martin. As is Solomon.
Go Raps Go!
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Marin Perez 11 months ago
It's very dependent on whether JO can hold up. He's supposed to be healthy now, and that will make a tremendous impact particularly on the defensive end.
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Mark Brown 11 months ago
Kapono will get wide open looks with Bosh and JO and will be deadly.
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Richard Le 11 months ago
I think Bargnani's first two seasons proved he was too soft for the NBA at the time. After two seasons to adapt to the NBA, I hope a seven footer that's as athletic as Bargnani can bulk up and average at least six or seven rebounds coming off the bench. If Bargnani has a modest break out season, the Raptors will get some much needed depth. I think aside from the main wild card (Bargnani), Ukic and Solomon are key wild cards as well because if they can be productive while Jose goes off to rest, the Raptors can stay fluid. I like the Steve Nash comparisons, but Jose doesn't want to be Steve Nash when it comes to defense. If he can up his defensive prowess and continue to produce like he did last season, there's no reason he can't become a premier point guard in the league.
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