Raptors Preseason: Grading The Performances

Chris Bosh is aching to get the season started, while Jason Kapono thinks that six to eight games is just right. Kapono might want to take ten or twelve at the rate he's shooting the ball. The following is a grading and brief analysis for each Raptor.

Kris Humphries

Humphries has always had the physical tools to be a very good player in this league. This preseason, Mitchell has given him the minutes, and to his credit he's been productive.

Humphries is a great rebounder and if he can stop getting the visions of Jordan every time he gets two feet of separation, he can be a very valuable player off the bench.

Grade: B

Jason Kapono

Jason Kapono has been awful. He gives a lot up on defense and if he's not shooting the ball well, he's about the most useless player on this team, with the exception of Hassan Adams, who might be the most useless player in the entire league.

Needless to say, there isn't a chance he's going to be the starting shooting-guard, and probably shouldn't be playing the position at all. At this point, you have to consider the Kapono signing a failure--especially when James Posey was available at the same price.

Grade: D+

Jermaine O' Neal

The early hype around O'Neal was that he was blocking eighteen shots in pick up games, that he was in great shape and was being an enforcer. In the preseason, we've seen a player who looks like his best days are behind him. He hasn't been able to block or rebound at a dominant rate, and while it is simply preseason, he looks seriously sluggish.

People need to get on board with reality. O'Neal has his limitations. He's got short arms, bad hands, and he's a horribly inefficient scorer who won't accept it. However, I fully expect him to round into form around December.

The impact he's had as an intimidator justifies him starting. If he can bump himself up to about forty-five percent from the field, and stay under thirteen shot attempts per game, stay healthy, and continue to play solid man-defense, he'll be worth the bill for the Raptors.

The bill? Well, he's the highest paid player in Canadian sports history, and fifth highest paid player in the league.

Grade: C+

Andrea Bargnani

Bargnani's weight hasn't slowed him down at all. He's confidently banging in the paint, settling for fewer 3-pointers, rebounding at an acceptable rate, and has been the best shot blocker among the Raptor bigs.

He's been the best scorer per minute for the Raptors, beating Bosh by a slim margin. He looks like he's on the cusp of proving the doubters wrong. That said, he still could stand to cut down the fouling, and he could be a little more consistent in the rebounding department.

He's showing great ability in driving and has often found players open off of penetration. At over seven feet, and 263 pounds, that kind of play isn't easy.

As for the bad side, he's seemed to lack explosiveness. He has above average athleticism, and he's been quite reluctant to get more than eight inches off the ground thus far.

He's also getting carved up when guarding wing players, and for evidence, look no further than what Philadelphia did to him. On defense, against any wing players not named Matt Harpring, he's going to be beaten and pick up cheap fouls. On offense however, the combo of O'Neal-Bosh-Bargnani has looked promising in spurts. 

If Bargnani can stick to exclusively playing the power-forward and centre positions, he can be a leading candidate for sixth man of the year honors. I can't think of another bench player in the league outside of Ginobili who can score at a higher rate than Bosh--especially when Bosh himself is having a pretty solid preseason.

Grade: A

Chris Bosh

Bosh has been notorious in years past for not showing in game-shape, but because of his work in the Olympics, he's shown up in December-form. He's more comfortable with his back to the basket game, and he's been better on the defensive end.

There is no telling how good of a statistical year Bosh can end up having now that he'll likely wipe out the traditional fifteen bad games he usually starts with.

More importantly, the Raptors have gotten off to some unimpressive starts in years past due to his struggles. With Bosh, Bargnani, and Parker all in mid-season form, the Raptors might be able to catch some teams off balance in the first month--instead of the other way around.

Grade: A-

Roko Leni Ukic

Roko has played in very limited minutes, and aside from a few turnovers in Minnesota, and getting abused on the block by his Croatian-teammate Zoran Planinic against CSKA Moscow, Ukic has been spectacular. He's been able to beat his man off the bounce, penetrate and dish, and he's been decent at keeping in front of his man.

With Ukic, once he gets the shot worked out, he should be the clear choice behind Calderon. I predict that within two years, we'll hear protests to have Ukic starting. If you assume that he can eventually get a consistent shot, his size, length, creativity, and lateral quickness will make him the best point guard this team has seen since Stoudamire's rookie season.

Grade: B

Willie Solomon

I'm going to say this for the record. I've hated Mike James more than any other player in league history. So you can imagine my discontent with a less talented, less entertaining, and more turnover-prone version of him getting more minutes in preseason than Roko Ukic.

Much like I vented frustration as Calderon toiled on the bench behind James, I'll be voicing displeasure as long as Mitchell continues to favor mini-versions of himself over the European imports Colangelo hand-picks. You can imagine Mitchell, a scrapper with little natural talent has great appreciation for guys like James, Solomon, and Jamario Moon.

Everyone likes the underdog, but there's a reason that someone who scores as well as Solomon, and has decent athletic ability was playing in the middle of no where last season.It's the same reason Hasaan Adams was playing in Europe. He belongs there.

With Solomon, you have five options. He's going to turn it over twenty percent of the time, take bad shot twenty-five percent of the time, simply pass it off and allow someone else to create twenty percent of the time, pass the ball to a player who shouldn't have it in that position ten percent of the time, and actually do the right thing the other twenty percent of the time.

Grade: D+

Hassan Adams

Okay. Let me do this quickly, because talking about Adams is painful. I will never understand Colangelo's obsession with acting quickly in the off-season. He does everything on the first day, and later on you see much better players still available while you've locked your team into the likes of Adams and Solomon.

With thirteen players on the Raptor's roster, players like Adams may actually be relied on in certain situations. If Parker goes down for any amount of time, Adams would have to be a part of the rotation.

The idea of starting Kapono against the likes of Kobe and Vince gives me the feeling that Raptor fans might actually start to miss Jalen Rose's defense. That's harsh.

Adams is out of shape, undersized, has no offensive game to speak of, and to put the icing on the cake, he's been bad on the defensive end as well. I would have preferred the Raptors to take a shot on James White, or perhaps Julius Hodge.

If Parker retires next season, the Raptors have nothing at the wing. Lets hope they use Jermaine O'Neal's expiring contract to fill the void next season.

Grade: F-

Joey Graham

Now granted he played in limited minutes, Graham looked solid. He almost might make me happy I once argued on air that he had a shot at being a starting forward for this team. Just for the record, if he goes back to normal in the next two games, I never said what I just said. Damn. He's so frustrating!

Grade: B

Jamal Sampson

Who Cares? Seriously? I hear he's a really nice guy. I guess that is something.

Grade: Incomplete

Nathan Jawai

He's been sidelined with a possible heart condition. Here's to hoping he gets better. Considering the play of Humphries and Bargnani however, it seems likely that he's going to collect a lot of DNPCDs.

Grade: Incomplete

Jose Calderon

Jose has been a little bit of a disappointment thus far. His play has been average on offense, and on defense, he's been awful, getting carved up by guys like Randy Foye, and Andre Miller among others. It really has to make you wonder if there is any truth behind defense starting at the point guard position.

If the Raptors expect Jose to contain penetration from other guards, like Ford, Iverson, Nash, Parker, or Paul, they're in some serious trouble. Those games might be the ones where you pull Ukic, or Solomon off the pine a little early.

That said, he's still running the offense, and making open shots. But this All-Star talk better stop. I'm a Raptor fan, a Jose Calderon fan, and a Spanish National team fan. But if you think Calderon is an All-Star, you better be employed by MLSE. Devlin, Swirsky, that means you!

Grade: C+

Anthony Parker

Parker looks good early. He's been by far the best wing player for the Raptors, and they'll really be in good shape if he can keep this up for the whole year. He's easily the most underrated Raptor, and he gets dogged for having slowed down, or lost a step. He looks better this season than last, so let's say he turned the clock on this one.

Grade: B+

Jamario Moon

He's a little frustrating, and you can't help but shake the impression that he's not the sharpest tool in the shed. It isn't that he can't exactly complete an English sentence without making some huge grammatical error, its that he seems content with being less than mediocre.

I can't imagine a player who could do less with the talent he has. The Raptors need him to get to the line, and they also need him to rebound and block shots. But along with that, they need him to be a good basketball player.

Playing along with two of the smarter players in the league in Parker and Calderon, he really gets exposed for making some really bone-headed plays.

That said, I really think he is the key to the Raptors season, due to the lack of depth at the wing position for this team as it is. If Graham can play to his abilities, the Raptors might want to keep Moon on the bench.

If Graham returns to his play from last season, Moon will be vital for this team's success given the amount of talent other elite teams have on the wing.

Grade:B-/C+

Final Thoughts:

I like the move to bring in O'Neal, but only because of what he will mean as an expiring contract, and a locker room presence. On the court, he doesn't fit what the Raptors do offensively, and he's a major injury risk. If I were the GM, which I'm not, I could say that both Parker and Bargnani would be Raptors.

But with the Ford situation, I might have gone for Artest over O'Neal, saved Rasho's and Maceo's expiring deals, and perhaps taken a chance in the draft on a young player like Nicholas Batum from France.

Certainly, if Canada is a place for any international player, it would be for a French one.

Despite being Italian, I was praying the Raptors would avoid trading Humphries for Belinelli, and try instead to make a move for Fernandez, who was still available when the Heat were up to pick at 20.

Instead, the entire league stands by as Portland continues to shore up wing players to play with Oden and Aldridge.

Here's some food for thought. Without doubt, out of Portland's wings; Batum, Outlaw, Roy, Fernandez, and Webster, every one of them would have a shot at starting for the Raptors, and four of them would certainly start while Batum is still a little raw.

It's scary. I'm not sure if it shows just how good Portland is, or just how weak the Raptors are at that wing position. This preseason has done nothing to erase those worries.