09.15
“Andrea’s toughest thing is he puts more pressure on the next shot where as a veteran player understands ‘Okay, I’m missing some shots let’s get an easy one.’ He finds other ways to do things. Right now with Andrea his strength has always been his shooting so that’s what he goes back to. But when you’ve been in the league for a while you figure out let me go get a couple lay-ups. Let me get some loose balls. I’ll get to the free throw line. I’ll do other things. I’ll get out and run. Let me do some things like that. Andrea’s whole thing has been ‘I can shoot the basketball.’ And so it’s almost like he’s trying to prove to himself and everybody else that he can hit that shot. We encourage him to shoot the ball if he’s open and we feel like he’ll hit that shot but it’s a growing process.”
Ever since the departure of Vince Carter, Toronto has longed for an athletic wing type; someone able to break opponents down off the dribble, create their own shot, and excite the crowd with freakish displays of athleticism.
Oh, and unlike Vince, it would be nice if that person could play a little defense.
Before the last season began, it looked like Carlos Delfino was going to be Toronto’s best option in this regard but that was before Jamario Moon took the Raptors, and the league by storm.
The team with the most “ifs” in the division. The hope is to finish with home-court in the conference but that would likely mean finishing above Philadelphia which is hard to see happening unless many things go right. Not saying it can’t happen, just that the odds are against us. Areas of concern last year were: perimeter defense, rebounding, fourth quarter scoring/lack of SF production. Of those three major needs we seem to have addressed one – i.e: rebounding. The Raptors are hoping that the players who played mediocre or bad last year simply play better and produce more. They’re hoping that Bargnani’s miserable season was an anomaly and he can get back to terrorizing centers by taking them off the dribble. They’re hoping that the “addition by subtraction” at the PG spot works out in their favor and that Jermaine O’Neal returns to All-Star form and out-play the Dalembert-Brand combo in Philadelphia. Sam Mitchell needs to gel the team like Mo Cheeks did last year and I simply don’t have the confidence in him. I’d like to think we could beat Philly by a game or two but the reality here is too much to ignore.
Here are the Top Ten ‘IF’s’ that need to happen for the 2008-09 Toronto Raptors to make a serious run this season.
Life soured in Indiana, but the move to Toronto should revitalize his career. His presence will allow Chris Bosh to move to power forward, giving the Raptors a nice frontcourt. Remember, O’Neal once averaged 20/10 in back-to-back seasons. And he is only 29 years old, hoping to regain the status he once had.
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