Raptors Report Week 8: Youngsters Gaining Valuable Experience

The Raptors had another mediocre week, dropping three out of four games, and it seems like it's deja vu over and over again. The team can't play consistently, or play well for the whole game.

Injuries really hurt the team this week, with Andrea Bargnani missing two games, and Jose Calderon finally returning from his injury.

This team has shown flashes of its potential, but still can't seem to put it together enough to get wins consistently.

Record: 1-3

Performance on a scale of 1-10: 6.5

Here is a recap of the four games:

Raptors @ Bobcats, L 91-97

Positives

I guess you can say the defense was a positive, considering the Bobcats were held to under 100 points.

Negatives

This was just a bad game for the team. The Raptors had many chances to put the game away, but they just couldn't do it. Andrea Bargnani was sloppy, the whole team was sloppy offensively, and the Raptors' road woes continue.

Raptors vs Bulls, L 93-110

Positives

Jerryd Bayless was solid, but I can't think of much else to say about this game.

Negatives

The Raptors were killed in the paint, killed on the boards, killed in basically every aspect of the game. The club didn't have Andrea Bargnani, but this was not a good effort at all.

Raptors vs Nets, W 98-92

Positives

Defensively, the club was very solid. Andrea Bargnani and Jose Calderon were great.

Negatives

This game was too close, and despite the win, the Raptors were very sloppy at times.

Raptors vs Lakers, L 100-110

Positives

Despite the loss, this game was probably the team's best effort of the week. The Raptors played hard, and gave the champs a run despite missing Andrea Bargnani. Linas Kleiza and Jose Calderon played well, DeMar DeRozan played great against Bryant, and the team never gave in despite trailing by a large margin.

Triano said something along the lines of "We would have beaten a lot of teams tonight, just not this one" about the team's play.

Negatives

Despite generating a ton of turnovers, the Lakers shot an extremely high percentage, and killed the Raptors on the glass.

Overall, another losing week for the team, and while you can pull out some positives, the only thing that counts is the W's.

Ask Sachin

"What position do the Raptors have to improve on the most and what trade would you make to improve said position?" - Chris Webber, BleacherReport

I'd say either the C position or the SF position. The team has some nice wing players, and DeMar DeRozan can certainly develop into a great player, but at the SF position, Linas Kleiza and Sonny Weems haven't consistently been getting it done. Andrea Bargnani is a terrific player, but he plays more like a PF so a tough, interior C would be great to have. 

"Do you really think the Raptors will improve through the draft?" - Ranuka Gunaratne, Raptors fan page on Facebook

This team is very young already, and adding another piece can only help the "re-tooling" of this team.

"Should the Raptors Re-Sign Sonny Weems Next Season" - Ernest Law, Raptors fan page on Facebook

Weems can be a good role player off the bench, but if he's going to demand a starter's salary, i.e. 6-7 million per year, then forget about it.

I think Weems likes Toronto, so he'll probably be back.

If you want to have your question answered in the next Raptors Report, leave a comment below. Thanks.

GO RAPS!

PS: Next week there will be no Raptors Report, the Raptors only play one game.