Report: Raptors consider signing Mickael Pietrus and improving Wing Position

       The Raptors have been struggling as they have now lost 6 straight there recent loss was last night against the Grizzlies 103-82. The Raptors are currently sitting at a 3-13 record and are in the 2nd last position of the Eastern Conference. At the same time, the Raptors are dealing with injuries to Landry Fields and Alan Anderson who are out for a month or so and also play at the small forward position.

        There have also been report according to Sportsnet that the Raptors are interested in signing Mickael Pietrus as they have been looking for a small forward due to the injuries to Fields and Anderson. It might be true because a reporter for the National Post spoke to Bryan Colangelo and said that he is interested in improving production at the wing position. (http://www.sportsnet.ca/basketball/2012/11/28/toronto_raptors_consider_signing_mickael_pietrus/)

        Mickael Pietrus was in Toronto yesterday and was probably there because if he were to play for the Raptors, he would have to do a physical and do a workout before officially being signed. However, if Pietrus were to be signed by the Raptors, they would have to waive a player in order to make room for him as the Raptors currently have 15 players with guaranteed contracts. If the signing were to happen, the Raptors would likely waive a player with a one year contract such as Alan Anderson or Dominic McGuire. Who would you guys want the Raptors to waive if the Raptors were to sign Pietrus?

       I think that it might be a realistic possibility that the Raptors could sign Pietrus but it depends on Pietrus whether or not he would want to sign in Toronto as the Raptors have not been playing well. There are also other teams such as the Indiana Pacers and Los Angeles Lakers who are doing much better than the Raptors and has opportunity for more playing time that are interested in signing Mickael Pietrus.
(http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1421320-nba-power-rankings-separating-contenders-from-pretenders)

       Do you think that the Raptors should acquire Pietrus as the Raptors have been struggling and are currently lacking players at the small forward position? Or do you guys think that the Raptors should wait for Anderson and Fields to come back from their injuries? I feel that the Raptors should sign Pietrus who is a veteran as hopefully he can help improve our record and maybe get us a playoff push late into the season. Feel free to post your opinion on whether or not Mickael Pietrus would be a good signing for the Raptors.

About Mickael Pietrus: 

- 30 years old

- Would be able to provide veteran help to Terrence Ross, Demar Derozan and etc 

- Played for Golden State, Orlando Magic, Phoenix Suns and just recently with the Boston Celtics in the 2011-2012 season

- Has a career average of 8.4 points, 3.1 rebounds and playing time of 21 minutes

- Good 3 point shooter as he has a career average of 36 percent from the 3 point line

- Stellar perimeter defender

- Tremendous athleticism and quickness on defensive end along with great hands

Raptors basketball: Toronto Raptors first game at the Air Canada Centre, Demar Derozans contract extension and more!

       In this blog post, I will provide my thoughts and review about the Toronto Raptors first regular season home opener game against the Indiana Pacers. The Toronto Raptors lost to the Indiana Pacers 88-90 as Andrea Bargnani missed a jumper in the final seconds to push the game to over-time. In this post, I will also provide my thoughts on Demar Derozan's new contract extension and I will also provide a preview of the Toronto Raptors game tonight against the Brooklyn Nets.

My thoughts about the Toronto Raptors home opener against Indiana Pacers

       The Toronto Raptors had a pretty good first game against the Indiana Pacers, however there were a lot of flaws in the game like when the Toronto Raptors blew a 10 point lead when there were six minutes left in the 4th quarter and also went scoreless in the last 4 minutes 4th quarter. Overall, the  Toronto Raptors shot 36 percent from the line and were out rebounded 42-46. Dwayne Casey had positive things to say about the Raptors after the game at the Air Canada Centre and thought that the Toronto Raptors showed "grit and funk" which I also agree with him because the team did play hard, however little mistakes cost them the game.

      Jonas Valanciunas and Kyle Lowry who are the newest editions to the team played well as rookie Jonas Valanciunas was nervous in the beginning in his first game did have trouble guarding Roy Hibbert. 12 points and 10 rebounds and shows that he has the capability of being a double double every night.

      Point guard Kyle Lowry nearly had a triple double with 21 points assists, seven rebounds and five steals. Kyle Lowry is what the Toronto Raptors need as he can pick up the scoring load, make plays for his team and plays defence.

      Landry Fields who looked promising during preseason who I preached will be a important piece to the Toronto Raptors had a disappointing night with 0 points in 24 minutes.

      Andrea Bargnani in the first quarter seemed to look like he was coming to grip to be the player he was last year before he got injured as he had 11 points. However, he finished the game with 16 points, just 3 rebounds (more than Kyle Lowry), 3 assists with 4-16 shooting.

Demar Derozan contract extension

       I'm pretty sure that many of you have heard that Demar Derozan was granted a contract extension 4 years, 38 million dollars. Some people are happy and some are disappointed with the deal. In my opinion, I think it is fair for what Demar Derozan received because say if he will have a breakout season this year? We would probably end up having to pay him more than around 10 million per year.

       Bryan Colangelo also said that the Toronto Raptors may have lost Demar Derozan in free agency because as he would have been a restricted free agent where the Raptors would have had the rights to match any contract offered by another team. However, other teams would have overpaid Demar Derozan by offering him a poison pill contract which the Raptors would not want to match because they would feel he would not be worth the money and would have to lose him and a core piece. The other choice would have been that they would have matched the poison pill contract that the other teams offered which would ruin their Raptors cap flexibility and future plans. However, both choices are not a win situation.

       Demar Derozan is still 23 years old and has the work ethic to be sucessful. He still has loads of potential because in 222 games, he has averaged 14.1 points, 3.4 rebounds, 30.3 minutes in 222 career games with the Raptors and has made 743 free-throws out of 927. He also had the biggest scoring increase in his second year from 8.6 points to 17.2 points. Demar Derozan is a fan favourite in Toronto and he also has lots of love for Toronto. However, I hope that newly awarded contract will make him more motivated and will eventually improve his game that he is not fully developed like being efficient in scoring, passing and defending.

Toronto Raptors v.s Brooklyn Nets preview

       The Toronto Raptors will face Brooklyn Nets today at the new Barclays Centre in Brooklyn 7:30PM. If you live in Toronto you can also catch the game on television on Sportsnet. Brooklyn Nets will also make their season debut after being affected by Hurricane Sandy and also moving from Newark which they were previously known as the New Jersey Nets.

       It's going to be challenging to handle the duo back court combination of elite point guard Deron Williams and guard Joe Johnson because the Toronto Raptors mostly used the back court combination of Jose Calderon and Kyle Lowry against the Pacers. However, let's see how Brooklyn's bench will last against the Toronto Raptors.

       This blog post provided a review about the Toronto Raptors first regular season home opener game against the Indiana Pacers which the Toronto Raptors lost 88-90. I also provided my thoughts on Demar Derozan's new contract extension and a preview of the Toronto Raptors game tonight against the Brooklyn Nets. The Toronto Raptors will play there next game against Minnesota Timberwolves on Sunday, November 4th at 6PM.

       If you missed the first Raptors game of the season, check out the highlights! It was a tight and very exciting game.

Preseason thoughts

Raptors preseason is here and it is kicking. They've already played two teams where one was against Real Madrid at Air Canada Centre October 8th which they won  and Detroit Pistons in Detroit October 10th which they lost. I saw a lot of interesting things in the two games which I liked and disliked about the Toronto Raptors.

What I've liked:

Demar Derozan: So far in two games, Demar Derozan has been consistent and I've liked his effort he has put in scoring as he lead the team in scoring against Detroit with 17 points and 18 points against Real Madrid. He also made a lot of free throws against Detroit making 9 out of 10 in 27 minutes by being aggressive and attacking the paint. Altogether, he's made 19  free throw attempts in 2 games.

John Lucas III: I'm surprised with how good he has been in two games. I expected Lucas III to be a scrub and wouldn't get any playing time unless there were injuries at the point guard position. With the way he is playing, I think he could definitely back up Kyle Lowry if Jose Calderon gets traded. I've been surprised as he had 16 points in each of the two games and also has the ability to make 3 pointers reminding of Mike James.

Jonas Valanciunas: As Valanciunas made his preseason debut, a 5th pick in the first round of the NBA draft in 2011, many people thought that he would put a double double. I didn't expect it and nor was I going to expect much from him against Detroit as he just came back from an injury and is still learning to adapt to the NBA playing style. However, Valanciunas did make a presence on the court and did the little things that people should have noticed who posted two points and 2 blocks in almost 13 minutes.

His size and length could be seen on the court and which allowed him to set up picks for Jose Calderon twice and even for struggling Andrea Bargnani who made two 3 pointers in the corner. He block Greg Monroe twice, who is an up and coming offensive centre.

What I've disliked:

Defence: With all the attention of focusing on offence and playing more uptempo this season, Raptors defence has been horrible at times and even coach Casey knows it. During there game against Real Madrid, Raptors allowed Real Madrid to shoot 44 free throws and 42 percent from the field. The Raptors also allowed the Detroit Pistons to shoot 70 percent from the field during the 1st quarter. Raptors also allowed Pistons to allow 60 points in the paint. I think that Raptors big men have to do a better job to protect the post.

Free throw shooting: Raptors free throw shooting hasn't been good at all. Raptors went 18/28 from the free throw line and 35/57 two games combined. Players to notice are Andrea Bargnani who is 4/11 from the free throw line in two games. On the other hand, Derozan has been attacking the free throw line making 19 attempts.


Andrea Bargnani: Bargnani has been lazy, looks uninterested on the court and hasn't really made a splash in preseason. Perhaps, he might be a little rusty from not playing in the summer and recovering from his calf injury. However, I hope he'll be much different when the season begins because he will be a part of Toronto Raptors success. What he's done for the Raptors in two games is not good as he only grabbed 5 rebounds in two games(only 1 rebound against Detroit). He's made only two 3 pointers in 8 attempts and only 4 free throws in 11 attempts. I hope he can step his game up and be the player he was last year before getting injured.

Other notes:

- Kyle Lowry won't be playing any preseason games because of a strained muscle in his thigh

- The Toronto Raptors next game will be tonight against the Detroit Pistons at the Air Canada Centre. After this game, the Raptors will have 5 days off and play on Wednesday October 17th against Washington Wizards.

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Training Camp

The Raptors training camp has begun in Halifax and have been practicing to prepare for preseason. I have been watching and reading stuff about the first couple days about the Raptors and found some interesting stuff which I want to talk about in this post and express my opinion.

Andrea Bargnani:

       Andrea Bargnani, who missed a good chunk of games dealt with a troublesome calf injury last season says that he's 100 percent healthy after spending his summer in Italy to recover from his injury. It seems to me that he is serious about this season because he never played for his national team either. Not only did he recover from his injury, he also came to training 15 pounds heavier which is very good news.

I think his gained weight is crucial this season because coach Casey and the team will heavily rely on Bargnani to carry majority of the scoring load score each night. The team cannot afford Bargnani to be out of the line up because it would definitely decrease the chances of the Raptors making the playoffs. Andrea Bargnani is also going to be the main anchor for this team and this young team will need presence each game to not only be a scorer, but be a mentor and leader to the younger players. I hope that his gained weight will allow him to be consistent throughout this long season, be a better rebounder and be that same player he was last year before his injury.

Offence:

       Last season, coach Casey made the team focus more on defense rather than offence and "pounding the rock". However, last year, Raptors were 28th overall in points per game(90.7) which was horrible and Bargnani being out was a factor.  It's also important that coach Casey utilizes the teams potential in offense such as scoring and running for players like Ross, Lowry, Derozan, Bargnani and such.

Therefore, coach Casey is making the team focus on offense in training camp to make the team play more uptempo, attacking the paint and making three pointers. In my opinion, I think it's a good approach for the 2nd year raptors coach because last year, the team was 9th overall in points allowed per game, whereas the offense was not great. This team will need to be consistent both sides of the floor (offence and defense) in order to win games and perhaps making the play-offs this season.

Stay tuned, I will be talking more about Raptors preseason as it progresses and I will also make a post about my thoughts on the Raptors first preseason game. Please feel free to comment and talk about how you guys feel about the Raptors preseason so far.

Also, to find out more about the Raptors preseason and media day, you can find it all on the Toronto Raptors website at http://www.nba.com/raptors/

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!