Bright Side of the Moon?

Acie Earl scored 40 points as a Raptor in a 1996 game against the Boston Celtics. With that in mind, Sam Mitchell has decided to start Jamario Moon against the Utah Jazz on Wednesday. It’s been two games, 46 minutes, 21 points, 14 rebounds, five steals and two blocks for Moon; impressive, but, like Earl’s performance, in need of some reinforcement. There’s no chance that Moon will be as consistent as his perma-smile, but let’s hope he can give us another 30 games this year like the last two. I bet there’ll be just a little lump of turd in his shorts before the game.

Speaking of turd, things have gone apeshit in New York. Stephon Marbury didn’t practice with the Knicks on Monday and didn’t play against Phoenix on Tuesday. He says Isiah Thomas gave him permission to leave the team; Isiah Thomas said he didn’t give Marbury permission (Isiah Thomas also said that he didn’t harass Anucha Browne Sanders AND that the Knicks would make the playoffs this year). Difficult to know who to trust. Trading Marbury seems impossible for the Knicks given that, apart from being Stephon Marbury, he also has $40.3 million and two years left on his contract. Even more buckwild is that the Knicks’ leading scorer Tuesday night was ex-Raptor Fred Jones who had 19 points and nine boards in a loss to the Suns.

MoPete Watch: 10 points, three rebounds, 3-3 from three in 29 minutes, helping his old team out by beating the Nets 84-82 on Monday night.

(Sorry for the lazy posts, team. I promise to do a player-by-player Raptor report card - with special attention to the swingman logjam - after the squad hits ten games)

I Admire Sam Mitchell’s Testes

Judging by Sam Mitchell’s recent decisions, he’s either impervious to criticism or he’s been given complete confidence by the Raptors’ front office. First, he disregards, or at least under-prioritizes, the development of Andrea Bargnani as the team’s starting centre in favour of the defence of Rasho Nesterovic. Next, he starts 27-year-old rookie Jamario Moon at small forward last night against the Bulls. The result: two straight wins.

Bargnani didn’t respond well immediately, with a nine-point, two-rebound game against Philly, but did manage 14 points (no rebounds!) against the Bulls. As for Moon, a consortium of dipshits on RealGM’s message boards were comparing him to a young Shawn Marion at the start of the season. Moon did, however, look mildly Marionesque in Sunday’s game where he had 12 points, three steals and six rebounds. It looks like he’ll start until he plays poorly enough not to. He’s also impossible not to love.

In short, this post is a formal apology to Sam Mitchell. I, amongst many others, have been hyper-critical of you over the past two-and-one-tenth seasons, and you’ve been confidently unpredictable and occasionally confounding, but you’ve earned the respect of Colangelo, and that’s a feat in itself. And I promise to ease off (as long as you stop playing Juan Dixon more than 10 minutes a night).

MoPete Watch: 8 pts, 2 rbs, 1 asst, 2-2 from three in the Hornets 93-72 win over Philly on Sunday. Also, MoPete’s chum, Vince Carter, is getting an MRI done on Monday to his sprained ankle. Fingers crossed!

Bargnani Out, Rasho In

After three grotesquely comprehensive losses, Coach Smitch must have figured that the defence was letting the Raps down more than the offence based on his decision to start Rasho Nesterovic over Andrea Bargnani tonight in Philly.

For perhaps the first time this season I don't have a problem with Mitchell’s decision (unlike his decision to give Juan Dixon 21.8 minutes a game). Centre is arguably the most critical defensive position in hoops, and Rasho’s a good quarterback thanks to three years under Popovich in San Antonio. Plus, Smitch says that Il Mago will still get 30+ minutes.

As Ben Gordon, Manu Ginobli and Jason Terry have proved, a shift to sixth man certainly doesn’t mean becoming the sixth scoring option. Bargnani should get some better looks against teams’ second units. The move will also ease Bargnani’s transition to centre – a position which he only started playing last year. All things considered, Andrea has been doing a fine job.

The key word with the Raptors, since 19-fucking-95, has been “patience.” Looking at this team – and its cores’ ages – it’s a lot easier to be patient than in the past.

Tonight’s prediction: Raptors: 108 – Sixers: 97

Dirty: 3-Game Skid Marks

The Raptors’ season began with a comfortable win over Philadelphia, the sort of win you might expect when the defending Atlantic Division champions take on a poor-to-middling team in the midst of rebuilding. Then came the piqued expectations and pyrotechnics; a road win against their sentimental rivals the New Jersey Nets in which the Raptors won by 37 points, muted Vince Carter, and vindicated every woman in America by limiting documented wife-puncher and stripper-groper Jason Kidd to two points.

Fans wanted more. Instead, they got less.

The first half of Sunday’s game against the Celtics could only have been rendered worse if the CBC forewent their hoops coverage in favour of consecutive episodes of Road to Avonlea (with ratings of just 199,000 and no coverage for Atlantic Canada, the network might be considering it). A halftime deficit of 38-31 was loosely mitigated by the Raps keeping it close against the bloated “big-three” of Boston, and that Toronto eventually took the game to overtime where, as we know, they lost.

But Milwaukee?

The Bucks are irrefutably improved this year. The addition of Yi and coach Larry Krystowiak’s elixir of health earned Milwaukee wins against Toronto and Chicago. But the Bucks are irrefutably erratic, too, as they proved in losses to Charlotte and Orlando. On Tuesday night they decided to be the “improved” Bucks. To get a sense of the inverted disparity of that game consider that Chris Bosh shot 0-4 from the field while Desmond Mason looked like a special-needs Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, shooting 10-10 from the field, most of which were awkward jump hooks over Delfino and Kapono. Everything was dropping for the Bucks and nothing was dropping for the Raps. Write it off.

But Orlando?

The Raptors beat Orlando all four times they met last year, but Orlando didn’t have Rashard Lewis then. Lewis hit three open threes on the Raptors in tonight’s fourth quarter and everyone in Toronto - except Coach Smitchell and his team - are realizing how a bag of dicks tastes when a team (the Raptors) insists on leaving certified three-point robots (Lewis, Ray Allen, Michael Redd) to stand unmolested with an iced glass of ginger beer, inches behind the three point line.

In fact the inadequacy of Smitchell has already started an “Official fire Sam! Thread” on RealGM. I wouldn’t say I’m spearheading this, but I’m certainly near the front of the trolley. When, last year, the Raptors dropped to 2-8 after starting the season 2-2 (as they started this year) it wasn’t a question of if Mitchell would get fired, but when. However, Colangelo’s patience and genius roster-building rewarded Mitchell with a Coach of the Year award and a new four-year, $12-million contract. Mitchell seems to have spent the offseason finding ways to get outrebounded by fielding the five most incompatible players on a roster spilling over with talent.

After five games, wee Juan Dixon is averaging 21.8 minutes per game, the seventh-highest tick on the team. To his credit, Dixon is making the effort and scoring well, but passing has never been a priority to him, and the Raptors always do best when they swing the ball instead of creating off the dribble. Plus, Dixon is an unfortunately undersized combo guard who Michael Redd and Ray Allen abused this week. Dixon should get used to the taste of ass, since he’ll be eating swingman turd remnants in the post every night this year. One can only hope this is a showcase for a potential trade. Unfortunately, the NBA restricts teams from trading coaches.

Garbage Man Indeed

Three games into the season, near-perfect, save for a freakish Ray Allen three-pointer, and the grievances begin. Who from? The underplayed, yet solid Rasho Nesterovic? The fast-and-loose Juan Dixon? The stooge, Joey Graham? No, the intrepid, hirsute, “warrior,” Jorge Garbajosa. And yes, it’s largely an intentional misinterpretation by the Toronto Sun who ran the headline “Garbo Sits and Stews” based on the below quote:

"I don't know," (Garbajosa) said, when asked why he has averaged only seven minutes in the team's first three games. "I practise normally. I play in the European championships. I am fine. Everything is normal."

But the “complaint” reeks when you consider its source: probably the most over-rated player on the Toronto Raptors.

Garbajosa was the player that everybody wanted to love. Ever since Charles Oakley left the Raptors, Charles Oakley (and his groupie Doug Smith) rarely stopped saying how Toronto needed another Charles Oakley. In the summer of 2006 the Raptors found this man, signing Garbajosa for $12 million over three years. He “left it on the court” supposedly, winning one Euroleague MVP and two Spanish Cup Finals MVPs. Then the season came and the effort was there. Garbo tried hard, and all of those fans who loved him before he even played a single game tried hard to keep loving him. The result: 28.5 minutes/game, 8.5 points/game, 4.9 rebounds/game and 1.16 steals/game while shooting 42% from the field and 34% from three.

The Garbo fan loves to make the case that Jorge's contribution can't be quantified. Then they go on to point out his steals total which, for an out-of-position, 6'9" small forward was impressive. But you can't have it both ways, and in this case, i feel that the stats got his game right. Choose any game that Garbajosa played in last year and you will see a player lurching between great instinctive defense, and unathletic fumbling; long-range streak shooting, and front-iron bricking; no-look gems, and no-brain turds. The very injury that ended his season last year - and delayed his progress this year - was an example of the angel-hair line between playing hard and playing dumb.

That injury, or the events that followed it, are what some believe is preventing Garbo from seeing the floor this year. When Garbajosa passed on surgery to his gruesomely broken leg in order to play for Spain in the European Championships this summer, Raptors management couldn't have been pleased. Are Garbajosa and the front office in a stare-down over this? Doubtful, since Sam Mitchell seems obstinate, sometimes to the point of idiocy, in nearly everything that he does.

Instead, I favour Occum's razor: Garbajosa is outclassed this year. The acquisitions of Jason Kapono and Carlos Delfino have left even the 44th-chance Joey Graham on the bench (Graham didn't even dress for Sunday's game). And with Bosh showing that he's almost there against the Celtics, they've also left Garbajosa, the Juan Dixon of our front-line and one of the few combo-forwards in the NBA, with the following stat line for 2007:

7.3 minutes/game, 2 points/game, 1 rebound/game while shooting 22% from the field.

Garbajosa had another interesting quote this past January after winning the NBA's Rookie of the Month award for December 2006. “If I'm the best rookie in the league," he said. "Then this league is shit.”

Best. Game. Ever.

Sick Beasts 106 - Listless Turkeys 69

I just checked Merriam-Webster Online and they've actually replaced their definition of "gratification" with a link to last night's Toronto Raptors-New Jersey Nets boxscore. Instead of the Raptors raving about how critical this game was to them, they walked into the swamp (after gathering their belongings from the team bus) and offered a clinic on how to play team basketball while avenging a painful playoff series loss.

Let's look at the stats before discussing the unquantifiables:

- Thirty-seven is the largest margin of victory on the road for the Raptors ever. The franchise record is 39 set at home against the Hawks in 2002.
- By limiting the Nets to 69 points the Raps set a team road-game record and were just one short of the franchise record of 68.
- The Raptors shot 59 per cent (13-22) from three.
- Vince Carter scored seven points and Jason Kidd had two points.
- This might be the only time all year that the Raps outrebound their opponents, and it was only by three, 37-34. But when you shoot 50.6 per cent from the field, there aren't many rebounds to be had.
- The Nets, curiously, outscored the Raps 26-22 in the paint.

There was a point in the fourth quarter, with the Nets down 30-odd points, where Vince Carter was caught smirking to himself. The man is a dick, and dicks have a forcefield, albeit self-contrived, to deflect potentially demoralizing situations. You might call it a side-effect of hyper confidence. This was the most satisfying moment in the entire game for me, because you know not one of the men on the Raptors' bench would do that. Although, they were all smiling when Bokie (S)Nachbar airballed a jumper with less than five minutes to go. And why not?

Last night was probably the only time that I won't be yelling at Juan Dixon for taking a forced shot, before yelling at Sam Mitchell for providing Dixon with the opportunity to take that forced shot. And, to his credit, Dixon looked very good, scoring 14 points in 24 minutes. Bargnani's improvement was also on display, following up a 20-point Wednesday with 21 points and six boards last night.

But the the guy who's got my pants stretching the most is Carlos Delfino, who's had two disgustingly solid games to start the season. His line last night was 10 points, six rebounds, four dimes and four steals, which isn't numerically dazzling, but is exactly what the team wanted him to do when they acquired him from Detroit for two second-round picks. He isn't forcing anything and looks to have some of the best basketball instincts on the team. He might be Colangelo's Raja Bell in Toronto.

Let's leave with a look at Chris Bosh's annual, early-season buzzer-beater from last night's game:

Undefeated Raptors vs. Jay-Z’s Valetudinarians

7:30 p.m. ET - Izod Center

For a team with so much (elderly) talent, the New Jersey Nets finished with a spectacularly average record last year: 41-41, mediocre enough for second in the Atlantic Division behind the Raptors. True, the Nets played 56 games without center Nenad Krstic, who was rendered even slower when he tore his ACL in December. But there’s a reason why the Nets didn’t extend his contract for next season. And judging by his glacial 19 minutes in the Nets 112-103 win over the Bulls two nights ago, many are wondering when Krstic will call Lil’ Bow Wow asking for the magical shoes from Like Mike.

Couple Krstic’s infirmity with Jason Kidd’s (back), Richard Jefferson’s (wrist, ankle, knee), Jamal Magloire’s (finger) and Vince Carter’s (brain) medical histories and, if things go Milwaukee-Bucks bad, New Jersey could miss the playoffs.

This is all wishful thinking for Raptors fans, though. As the Nets proved last year, even if only two of Kidd, Carter or Jefferson remains in the line-up it will be enough to coast into the postseason.

If Coach Mitchell brings his knees up to his chest, keeping his legs slightly split, thus relaxing his sphincter, he might be able to pry his head out of his bum long enough to demand his big-men exploit their quickness advantage against the lurching Nets.

A freshly de-appendixed Andrea Bargnani had a few nice games in last year’s playoff series, mixing drives with threes, and confusing an already confused Josh Boone. That should work even better against the reconstructed knee of Krstic.

But the Nets know their weaknesses and have assembled a consortium of barely-competent big men (Boone, Magloire, Jason Collins and Sean Williams) to use every one of their fouls against their consistently better opponents.

In short, as you know, this will be a fun game. Home court advantage stopped meaning much to the Nets long before Jay-Z invested in them, and things are getting even worse at the Izod Center (dear lord) now that plans to move the team to Brooklyn in 2009-10 are becoming more realistic.

MoPete Watch: 30.4 minutes/13 points/ 3-5 from three/5-8 from the field/0 rebounds in the Hornets’ 104-90 win, Wednesday night.