Wednesday, September 26, 2012

Kyle Lowry v.s Jose Calderon

     With preseason just a couple days away, coach Dwayne Casey will get a chance to evaluate his group and determine who will start on opening day. Coach Casey will definitely keep a close eye at the point guard position to see whether point guard Jose Calderon or newly acquired point guard Kyle Lowry deserve to start on opening night.

As it was announced that the Raptors had acquired Kyle Lowry in the summer, point-guard Jose Calderon was not impressed with the trade. Various sources of media reported that he requested a trade as he was expecting to be the starting point guard for the '12-13 NBA season. Colangelo also said that he has no plans of moving Calderon. Therefore, there will no doubt be competition as to which one of the point guards will deserve the starting role on opening night. Below are the strengths and weaknesses that I found of Jose Calderon and Kyle Lowry to give an idea of who deserves the starting role on opening day. 

Kyle Lowry

Strengths:

- Young (26 years old)
- Good scorer and is able to find ways to score to the basket (15.9 points per game last season)
- Great rebounder (5.3 rebounds per game last season)
- Good work ethic

Weakness:

- Lacks experience as a starting point guard (starting point guard with former team Houston Rockets for only two seasons)

Jose Calderon

Strenghts:

- Pass-first point guard
- Able to make plays for his teammates (8.8 assists per game last season)
- Experience (started 293 games for the Raptors since 2005)
- Valuable (expiring $10 million dollar contract)

Weakness: Poor defender

Based on this comparison, I would want Kyle Lowry to start as he is young and would fit with the young, energetic and fast core squad (Demar DeRozan, Terrence Ross, Jonas Valanciunas, ED Davis and so on). Also, Lowry is pretty young and his hard work and energy will help anchor this team to be energetic and fast paced. In my opinion, coach Casey's plan to make his team more defensive should easily give Lowry the starting role because I think his double dribble penetration defense and pressuring the ball against his opponents will be an advantage over Calderon's poor defense.

What do you guys think? Should Kyle Lowry deserve the start over Jose Calderon or vice versa? Feel free to comment on your opinion and there will be more posts to come!

Saturday, September 22, 2012

Part 2 review of Toronto Raptors 2012 off-season




Other off-season moves by the Toronto Raptors:

- The Toronto Raptors finally signed Centre Jonas Valanciunas this year to a rookie contract who was selected 4th in the first in 2011 by the Raptors as his team agreed to a buyout. Valanciunas is a promising big man with his strength for rebounding and blocking shots which the Raptors really need in the post. 

- Raptors choose not bring back Jerryd Bayless as they removed his qualifying offer of about $4 million who then signed with the Memphis Grizzlies. Bayless did express interest to remain with the Raptors. However, due to the acquisition of point guard Lowry and having Calderon as a point guard would have made it costly for Raptors to keep Bayless

- Raptors traded James Johnson for a 2nd round pick as we all knew it would happen because of reported conflict between the management 
 
- Raptors signed point guard John Lucas III to a 2 year 3 million dollar contract who is a very good option as a 3rd string point guard

- Raptors signed veteran Alan Anderson who can provide support to the bench. He was also signed late last season when multiple Raptor players were injured

- Raptors brought back and signed centre Aaron Gray who can be one of the mentors to Valanciunas
Raptors also brought Canadian centre and Torontonian Jamal Magloire, a veteran who has played 12 NBA seasons will be a key mentor to Jonas Valanciunas

- Raptors signed forward Dominic McGuire who played with Golden State warriors last season and appeared in 64 games

     To sum up the whole offseason, it was a good one for the Toronto Raptors. Although they are not likely to win the championship this season, they are heading towards the right direction and getting to the playoffs this season should be their main priority. However, the team must be able to mesh and it could days, weeks or even months.  Please stay tuned to my blog as I will be blogging more about Raptors related news in a couple days!

 

A review of Toronto Raptors 2012 off-season



     Welcome to my blog! This blog will be all about the Toronto Raptors of the National Basketball Association. I will be blogging almost everything about the Toronto Raptors whether it’s a trade, about important games and any other Raptors related news.

As the NBA season is just around the corner and preseason just a couple of days away, my first blog post will be a review of Toronto Raptors offseason. More specifically, my first post will be about the Raptors free agency period and the draft in the offseason for those who may have not paid much attention!

Free Agency

     The Toronto Raptors no doubt did have a busy offseason. Coming into the offseason, the Toronto Raptors had to address their needs which were the point guard position, small forward position and the centre position. 

The Raptors really wanted to address the point guard position by pursuing Steve Nash and did everything they possibly could. Bryan Colangelo and his team met Steve Nash on the first day of free agency to get him to sign with the Raptors and offered him the most money(36 million dollars). However Nash chose Los Angeles Lakers as family was his main priority. 

The Raptors also acquired Kyle Lowry who was playing at an all-star calibre before the all-star break with the Houston Rockets. The Raptors traded away their protected first round draft pick and Gary Forbes. Lowry who is 26 and still young, will bring two way point guard play by pressuring the ball and making all-star plays for his teammates. 

The Raptors also acquired Landry Fields through free agency by signing him to a 3 year 20 million dollar contract. It was reported that the Raptors signed him to prevent New York from a sign and trade for Steve Nash. This may seem a lot of money for Landry Fields, however, if Fields can be the same player in his rookie year when he was named Rookie of the Month twice and named to the NBA All-Rookie first team in 2010, his contract might be worth it.

The Draft

This years draft, the Raptors chose 21 year old athletic Terrence Ross from the University of Washington with their 8th pick. Many fans were not in favour of the pick as many Raptors fans were hoping for centre Andre Drummond or point guard Austin Rivers with their number 8 pick if Harrison Barnes was taken. However, Terrence Ross is really what the Raptors needed with his ability for athleticism, shooting, defense and rebounding. 

The Raptors also chose power forward Quincy Acy in the 2nd round of the draft who is similarly being compared to former Raptor, Reggie Evans as he can rebound, defense and score in the paint.

Please stay tuned for more as I will post a part two blog about the Raptors offseason and much more!