Linkage - March 07
Last Friday, NBA all-star forward Chris Bosh left the first quarter of a game against the Indiana Pacers complaining of soreness in his right knee. Three missed games later, it’s not clear when he’ll be back.
"We’re not putting a timetable on it," Bryan Colangelo, the Raptors’ president and general manager, said yesterday.
"No injury is the same, they’re unpredictable. Based on his history [of knee injuries], his average recovery time has been a week to 18 days, but Chris will not be back until he’s physically ready to come back. That’s always our approach to these injuries and we’ve been consistent on that."
The Raptors will be home for two games before leaving on a formidable trip against Western Conference teams, and Colangelo allowed that the Raptors may be without their best player when they head out.
"There is the possibility he’s going to miss all or some of that trip," the GM said.
The Raptors are finishing what has arguably been the softest part of their schedule, but even though only three of their past 14 opponents had winning records, the Raptors were just 8-6.
"This has been a rough stretch," Colangelo said, "though it came after a stretch when we won five of six games. What’s most frustrating is the opponents we’ve lost to are teams we should have beaten. When you lose those games, it means you’ve got to make it up by beating a team you might not be favoured against. We’ve got some work to do. We can’t lose to teams we should beat."
The Raptors were in a similar situation last season when they went west for a difficult four-game trip before Christmas without Bosh and came home with two wins. Colangelo is hoping for a similar rally.
"We’ve always felt like depth is our greatest strength," he said. "We had some guys step up last year and hopefully some guys will realize that this is their time and take advantage of it. There are times in a long season when the coaching staff gets pushed and tested, and individual players get pushed and tested, and this is one of those times."
"We told Jose and T.J. ‘Just run the team, trust your teammates, don’t try to do too much, just let your teammates have it.’ Just run our stuff, execute and make sure we move the ball and get good shots and if we get good shots, we should make them," Mitchell said.
Coming one night after a sub-par shooting effort in Orlando, those words could have fallen on deaf ears but both guards stepped up and kept everyone involved.
"Chris is a really important guy," Calderon said, "but (Wednesday night) everybody did a great job and that’s the way we have to play basketball — like a team."
Looking back on the three-game losing streak, the only all-round stinker was the Friday night loss to Indiana. "We were just flat that night," Mitchell said.
There’s no denying the margin of error with Bosh in the lineup is a whole lot bigger. Without him, which the Raptors appear to be for a few more games, they have to be that much focused, like they were Wednesday in Miami.
"We were aggressive from the beginning and we didn’t let down," centre Rasho Nesterovic said of Wednesday’s effort.
That same kind of mentality is what’s needed to keep the Raptors afloat until Bosh returns.
Avarice, ambition and arrogance have become the NBA’s unspoken triple double, qualities that recently surfaced in the wake of players who have brazenly thumbed their nose at lucrative extensions or publicly announced they were opting out of mega-million-dollar deals.
It evokes ugly memories of Oliver Miller, that great ambassador, who ran his mouth more than he would run the floor as a member of the expansion Raptors.
While the times and lifestyles clearly have changed and the money being doled out to the modern-day hoopster pales in comparison, the Big O made the big mistake of overstating his value on the hardwood.
Rather than play out the final two years of his deal worth a total of $6 million US, Miller decided to opt out following the Raptors’ 1995 inaugural season, hoping to cash in on a decent season on a losing club.
Reality soon hit Miller when no team expressed any interest, forcing Miller to accept the league minimum.
In the four games (we’ll include the Indiana game since Bosh played less than a quarter) Bosh has missed, Parker is averaging 20 points a night … With the Raptors not getting back until dinner time last night, Andrea Bargnani will not be re-examined until today. He is likely looking at some time in a dentist’s chair after two teeth were loosened thanks to a vicious Alexander Johnson elbow.
"T.J.’s growing and maturing," said Martin, the reservist who doubles as a locker room counsellor. "He’s learning that you have to adapt to what the team needs. You have to do what’s best for the team to win, and at the end of the day, individual accolades will come."
It’s easy to dismiss Ford as a selfish menace to chemistry, especially when you stack him next to Calderon’s cheery humility.
But it’s important to remember that the traits that make Ford occasionally insufferable – a lot of nerve, a chip on his shoulder and a bottomless belief in his superiority – also make him invaluable.
Said Martin of Ford: "He’s been through a lot this year, had to make some tough choices, and I think part of coming back … sometimes you don’t factor in how important the mental aspect is. You can still believe you can leap tall buildings, but there’s a bigger perspective. There’s other people to consider. … He’s still young and he’s still growing.
"He’ll be a better man at 30 than he is at 24. We all are."
The extra motivation for Toronto should come from wanting to pay back their opponents for what went on earlier this season.
The last time they faced the Wizards, Toronto let them off the hook despite the Wizards missing both Caron Butler and Gilbert Arenas. Butler was a late scratch for that late-January game and whether or not that gave Toronto a false sense of security, the Raptors played poorly for most of the night and lost in overtime.
And the struggling Sonics, who had lost four of five coming into the game, drilled the Raptors 123-115 just before Christmas, another road game Toronto will regret not taking full advantage of.
The game against the Wizards does take on added significance in the Eastern Conference standings in the final seven weeks of the regular season.
The 33-27 Raptors are trying to hold off Washington in the battle for fifth and sixth in the East and a win gives them a 5 1/2- game lead with just 20 to play.
And with the Wizards also facing a five-game trip out west before the regular season ends, that kind of bulge should be practically insurmountable.
A win will also keep alive Toronto’s hopes of moving up in the standings to gain homecourt advantage in the first round of the playoffs.
Before last night’s action, the Raptors trailed the Cleveland Cavaliers by 1 1/2 games and with the Cavs four behind third-place Orlando, a first-round matchup between Cleveland and Toronto is looking more likely.
The importance of taking care of business at home – Toronto is only 18-12 at the Air Canada Centre – is underscored by the schedule the rest of the way.
"There’s nothing really to test," Bosh said on Wednesday. "I know what my limits are. I have to be able to do certain things before I can jump and stuff."
He is unlikely to play against Washington on Friday or Seattle on Sunday. His status is also uncertain for a five-game Western road trip that starts Tuesday against the Los Angeles Lakers.
"I don’t have a game circled," Bosh said. "I think it’s just too early for that."
So the Raptors’ renaissance in Miami had better be for real. If they play like they did in Orlando and Charlotte, things could get ugly out west.
The players believe the poor outings were merely a result of getting used to their roles without Bosh.
"When the best guy is out, everybody thinks, ‘I have to step up,’ " said Rasho Nesterovic, who has joined the starting rotation with Bosh out. He had 16 points and 10 rebounds in Miami, after scoring a season-high 17 points against Charlotte.
"But we just have to relax and play our game."
"We’re a good team with or without Chris," Nesterovic said. "We are obviously much better with Chris. But we are a good team. If we just play our defence like a good team, not one-on-one, and on the offence, if we get open shots, we’ll be OK."
Besides the Cavs, which dark horse team is most likely to make a surprise run to the NBA Finals?
Henry Abbott, TrueHoop: Orlando has the big man and the coach for the job. And it’s easy to picture Hedo Turkoglu and Rashard Lewis having huge series. But it’s tough to bet on a team with an uncertain point guard situation.
So I’ll take Toronto: The Raptors have a big man in Chris Bosh, a steady point guard in Jose Calderon and maybe some learned lessons from last year’s disappointing end to the season.
John Hollinger, ESPN.com: I don’t think anyone is particularly likely in the East, but if forced to choose I still have to go with the Raptors. If Bosh and T.J. Ford are both healthy they’re the best offensive team in the conference.
Chris Sheridan, ESPN.com: For lack of a better candidate, I’ll go with the Toronto Raptors.
I could see them upsetting Cleveland in the first round if the Cavs can’t defend their point guards (remember what Tony Parker did to them in the Finals? Calderon and Ford could do something similar) and if Bosh gets to go one-on-one against Mr. Disinterest, Ben Wallace.
CB4 doesn’t only take care of business on the court, he’s also known to toss up a triple double at your local sorority party. I guarantee he put up some serious numbers the night this was taken.
Chris Bosh: What I love most about Bosh is his consistency. Over the last three years he’s had scoring averages of 22.5, 22.6, and 22.6. Dude brings it every night, he plays hurt (when the Raptors let him), and he already ranks among the best shooting big men of all-time. If you don’t believe me, watch a Raptors game and you’ll see how many of Bosh’s points come on the perimeter. With career averages of 49 percent from the field and 79 percent from the line, Bosh is gonna be a 50-80 guy, and a Hall of Famer.
The Raptors drafted Vince Carter in the hopes of becoming a threat in the Eastern Conference. Carter has since left the tundra of Canada for the Soprano-like setting of New Jersey. Now the Raptors are seeded fifth, but don’t look to be settling for that.
Led by Chris Bosh and an army of unknowns, the Raptors have finally earned that much needed respect. With 13 tough games on their remaining schedule, including a meeting with Kobe’s Lakers in less than a week, the Raptors need a strong finish to solidify themselves as a threat in the playoffs.
Do you think Vince Carter is kicking himself for asking for a trade? Probably, but the Raptors aren’t worried about him at this moment. They look more determined than they have been in recent years, and if that’s any sign of things to come, Toronto could be this year’s Cleveland.
The Qbica Power Rankings reflect recent performance and are based on offensive and defensive efficiencies. These efficiencies are adjusted for the strength of each opponent a team has played against. Recent performance is weighted using a continuous function.
(Weighting recent performance using the traditional sliding window of X last games leads to abrupt changes in rating as the window slides from game to game, therefore it is avoided).
Our rankings will appear to differ from other power rankings, but all Qbica metrics are evaluated against real performance to maximize predictive value, not some speculative formula or subjective assessement. If some one else’s rankings are different, they probably got it wrong.
T.J. Ford is not happy about losing minutes, and possibly his job altogether, to Jose Calderon. And it’s really not a shock that he’s irritated. Ford can play, would probably start for several teams in the League right now, and has an NBA-sized ego. It’s safe to assume that no matter how great Calderon has been this season, T.J. watched and still thinks he could do better. You don’t get to this level without thinking you’re the best … even though Jose has been a revelation this season and was arguably one of the All-Star game’s most glaring snubs.
At this point, there’s probably no way for Ford to reclaim his status, especially with Calderon’s restricted free agency looming (the Raps have already said they will match whatever offers come Calderon’s way). So what becomes of T.J.? Does he demand a trade in the offseason? And if he gets out, where could he win a starting job?
We all heard KP unsuccessfully pursued Jose Calderon at the deadline. With Calderon’s stock at an all-time high, the Raptors were understandably less than interested. While the pointguard is entering restricted free agency this summer, Raptors GM Bryan Colangelo has said he’ll match any offer from other teams.
Message: "Don’t waste your time."
Message 2: "If you want him in a sign and trade, I’m being very picky."
As a Calderon fan, I’m biased here, but I can see him fitting in great with this team and filling a huge need. What would the Blazers have to give up to get him? Draft pick(s)/expiring contract(s)/young player(s)? Bring in more teams to make it work? KP and his crew can figure that out.
Beside the fact that Calderon is very good, the Raptors are hesitant because of formerly-starting pointguard TJ Ford’s issues. When Ford went out with another scary injury in December, Calderon shined especially bright, and has thus far held on to the starting spot upon Ford’s return. To the casual observer, all seemed fine. Damn.
Today, some hope. TJ Ford might not be that cool with coming off the bench after all. Yes TJ, please please please force management to make a decision. Your health issues and comparatively large contract make you much less tradeable than Calderon, you’re more likely to be the one who stays. Portland could send you some real backup pointguards that won’t steal your light. Excellent.
Mar 7th, 2008 at 4:16 pm
hollinger has a massive hard-on for the raptors. wow the guy pumps them every chance he gets. pretty good move if you ask me, IF the raptors pull out a miracle, he looks like a genius, but if they don’t no big deal, they weren’t expected to do anything.