Built Ford Tough

I [expletive]ing hate this team. They can't even tank right.

Johnson (James) is really forcing things on offense. That is 3 turnovers from him just becasue he tried to do too much or make a fancy pass instead of the simple play. I like what he has done defensively so far, but his offensive game is a huge work in progress. PS: What is it about Calderon whenever he plays against Paul? He normally gets torched by any and all star point guards, but for some reason he always plays very well against Paul, both offensive and defensively.

Andrea Bargnani just drew an offensive foul by boxing out Emeka Okafor. No wonder it snowed today. Oh yeah, nice block by JJ on Okafor. Very impressive recovery from him as he came out of nowhere to get that block.

Jack is back! Even though he sucked something fierce this season for the Raptors (and from what I have heard he has struggled in New Orleans as well), I really wish this guy was still on the team.

What they should do is give him some actual consistent minutes to actually see what he can do. Colangelo talks about how this season is about rebuilding and developing the young guys (and he constantly mentions DeRozan, Davis, Amir and Bayless as those young guys), and yet Bayless plays only 15 minutes a night and Calderon is still getting nearly 38 minutes a night. That does nobody any good at all. Give the guy some minutes to actually see if he is a reliable piece heading forward or if they should throw him to the curb. These minor things with the younger players should be the primary focus for the rest of the season, but I don't see that happening unfortunately.

Switch Perry Jones with Harrison Barnes and add Jonas Valanciunas (depending on how he does during workouts and what not) and that is pretty much what my draft board looks like. Irving is definitely number one (if you were around earlier you would've constantly saw me raving about him), but I wouldn't be heartbroken if the Raptors managed to grab Barnes either. I still think he is going to be a good player in this league, and I really like his game alongside DeRozan's as worst case scenario he becomes a Shane Battier type of player (good to great defender and a reliable shooter from deep on offense). Those two attributes would be nice alongside DeRozan's limited perimeter game and poor defensive ability. I know Jones (Perry) has the potential to be the best player in this draft and all, but I honestly want the Raptors to stay away from him. If they want to take a chance on a project I'd rather them go after Valanciunas just because of the fact that I think he has the ability to become a great defensive center. He would be last on my list of the four guys I mentioned above, but something about him definitely intrigues me. Things will definitely change as we get closer to the draft, especially with March Madness right around the corner and then workouts/combine stuff not long after that. EDIT: By the way, Sacramento lost tonight, so the Raptors are now tied with them for the 4th worst record in the league (Washington lost tonight, putting them a half game ahead in the race for worst).

Lets wait more than 3 games before giving him credit for anything. Jerryd Bayless looked amazing in his first couple weeks as a Raptor as well and now he looks like a borderline NBA player. (I wasn't actually serious with that comment you are quoting, though. I know the Raptors have two players that are solid help defenders in Amir and Davis, with JJ having the potential to be another).

I posted this on another forum about a month ago, so it isn't completely up to date (and I don't feel like going over and correcting all of it), but it gets my point across. - Bosh is playing with the best player in the league in LeBron James and another top 3, arguably 2nd best, player in Dwyane Wade. Aldridge's 2nd option is who exactly? A 2nd year Wesley Mathews. - Aldridge plays 39.2 minutes per game. Bosh plays 35.3 minutes per game. That is basically 4 more minutes that Aldridge is on the floor than Bosh is, which gives him plenty of more opportunities to score. - Aldridge takes 17.5 shots per game and 5.5 free throws per game. That comes out to be 40.5 points available to Aldridge based on his total shot attempts and free throw attempts. Bosh takes 14 shots per game and 5.5 free throws. That comes out to 33.5 points available to Bosh. Aldridge scores 21.4 ppg, which is 52.8% of his total points available. Bosh scores 18.5 ppg, which is 55.2% of his total points available. Since they are both big men, who take less than half a three a game, I disregarded that, but it's not like it would make much of a difference. - Looking at advanced statistics: Aldridge has a USG% of 26 to Bosh's 24 Aldridge has an ORTG of 111 to Bosh's 113 Aldridge has a TRB% of 13.8 to Bosh's 13.4 Aldridge has a TS% of 53.6 to Bosh's 56.3 Aldridge has a OWS of 3.8 to Bosh's 3.3 - Per 36 minutes, Aldridge is averaging 19.7 ppg and 8.3 rpg while Bosh is averaging 18.8 ppg and 8.3 rpg. Pretty similar, but Bosh's numbers are more impressive considering he is doing this as the third option while Aldridge is doing it as the first option. As far as defense goes, you are acting like Aldridge is some sort of defensive anchor while Bosh is Andrea Bargnani. Best case scenario Aldridge is slightly above average defensively while Bosh is slightly below average. To say that Aldridge is a better player because he is a better defender than Bosh is pretty humerous to me considering how marginal the differences are in regards to their impact defensively, especially when you consider that Bosh is undoubtedly the better offensive player. Aldridge is averaging a career high 22.4 ppg on a career best 55.2 TS%. Bosh has averaged more than 22.4 ppg 5 times in his career and the worst TS% he has had as the number one option was 56.9%. It is clear that you dislike Bosh and this conversation is going nowhere, though. Like I said, Aldridge has had the better season this year, but to say that he is now a better player than Chris Bosh is a flat out joke considering Aldridge's career year would be about the worst season Bosh ever had as the number one option. I'll leave it at that. EDIT: Did you seriously just call Aldridge an elite player? And you say that Bosh is overrated?

So because you have seen Bosh play live you know more than the rest of us, like people who watched him play aroung 70 games for the past 7 years? Look, I don't think anybody is trying to argue that Aldridge has had a better season than Bosh this season, but put the two under the exact same circumstances, surround them with the exact same supporting cast and put them in the exact same conference and you are honestly going to sit here and tell me that LaMarcus Aldridge is a better player than Chris Bosh? Give me a break. I don't like Bosh that much or anything and hate the way that he ended things in Toronto (dogging it down the stretch, the whole Twitter garbage, etc...) but I won't let that kind of bias interfere with my judgement of Chris Bosh as a player.

It isn't really hating, though. What he said is true. I'm not saying that Martin isn't a great scorer because he is (and I've said it numerous times on here before, I think at least, haha). He is one of the most efficient scorers in the league with his ability to hit the three ball and get to the line, the two most important things when it comes to efficient scoring, but other than that he is below average at best in every other area of the game. Poor rebounder, poor playmaker, poor defender, etc... Even with that said, there is no reason to suggest that he can't be a key component of a championship team, either. I wouldn't build around him by any means, but he would be a nice complimentary piece alongside a good, two way big man (basically Yao if he is healthy), a good all around small forward and a good floor general in a point guard. His best role may be as a scorer off of the bench, but you can definitely win in this league with Kevn Martin playing 30-35 minutes a game. You can't win with him being the best or probably 2nd best player on the team, though.

Happened later. The reason the Jamison to Warriors deal fell through, at least to my understanding, was because the Cavs wanted some sort of draft pick or protection on a draft pick that the Warriors weren't willing to agree to. As for the injury, they might as well say that he will be out for the year. Not saying the injury isn't legit or anything, but this is exactly the kind of thing that pops up for tanking teams around this time of the year. We will be seeing all sorts of "injuries" popping up from teams like Cleveland, Toronto, Sacramento, Minnesota and Washington over the next month.

http://basketball.realgm.com/wiretap/211587/Bibby_Agrees_To_Buyout_With_Wizards He gave up a lot considering what his next contract is going to look like.

Max Lepierre also went to the 'Nucks.

Johnny Malkin is traded.... THANK GOD!!!!!! I don't think I hated a Leaf player more than John Mitchell. Watching him try and dangle 5 players at a time will be missed, though.

I only heard about the Lupul to Islander and Penner to Montreal ones. What other fake trades have been posted on Twitter?

Not surprising, though. With all of the trades made leading up to the deadline, I thinke verybody knew that it would be a pretty slow deadline. Nice return for the Oilers for Penner. Teubert, a 1st and another pick (2nd or 3rd I think Mckenzie said) is a very nice return considering how much Edmonton needs defensive prospects. I doubt we see Hemsky traded now, though. If Penner was dealt to Montreal I could've seen him being moved to LA, but with Penner going to LA I don't really see who else would give up what the Oilers want for him. Maybe Nashville with Ryan Ellis, but they already dealt their 1st rounder for Fisher. I think this trade makes Hemsky unavailable.

NBA W L PCT GB 1 Cleveland 11 48 .186 ---- 2 Minnesota 14 46 .233 2.5 3 Sacramento 14 43 .246 4.0 4 Washington 15 43 .259 4.5 5 Toronto 16 44 .267 4.5 6 New Jersey 17 42 .288 6.0 7 LA Clippers 21 39 .350 9.5 8 Detroit 22 39 .361 10.0 9 Milwaukee 22 36 .379 11.5 10 Charlotte 26 33 .441 15.0 Found this on RealGM. That win against Minnesota earlier in the season really screwed the Raps tank up. If they would've lost that game like they should've, they would be tied for 2nd right now instead of tied for 5th.

Ellis is a scorer and nothing more. What exactly does he do that makes you think he is a "beast all around player"? His assist numbers are average, rebounding is average and he isn't even the most efficient scorer around with a 53% TS%. The only other thing that he is better than average it is playing passing lanes. He is much closer to being one dimensional than being an "all around beast". Curry averages 3.5 rebounds per game in one of the fastest paces in the NBA. That is average at best from your point guard when it comes to rebounding. Lee is the definition of empty stats. The only reason why he was a 20/10 player for the Knicks last season was because of D'Antoni's system and the fact that the Knicks had nobody else worth a damn on offense. It isn't a shock at all to see him averaging 16/9 this season because he is not a star player. He is a role player being paid star player money. Biedrins sucks defensively. I don't know why he got the reputation as a defensive anchor or anything because he has never been that good of a defender. I guess it is probably because he was one of the few players who gave any sort of effort defensively for the Warriors with him blocking a few shots and grabbing a few boards. I'm not saying that Curry and Ellis aren't nice pieces because they are (although Ellis is paid a little too much to my liking) but with the way you describe these players, you make it sound like they are all stars and not the 2nd/3rd option, role players and average bench bigs like they actually are.

Bosh is the better player but Aldridge is having the better season due to their respective roles on their teams. Aldridge is having the best season of his career this season and it still isn't any better than any season Bosh had with the Raptors since his sophomore season. Maybe you can argue that Aldridge this year is having a better season than Bosh had in 07/08, but it isn't even comparable to what Bosh did last season, the year before or in 06/07.

Bibby would be the better fit. Ford is useless as a spot up shooter and that is exactly what he would be on the Heat. What exactly is the point in bringing him to the Heat when he is at his best when he is able to handle the rock and break down the defense, things that he will rarely be given the opportunity to do? Ford's entire game is off of the dribble. He is basically useless if he isn't controlling the rock. Sure, he is a better point guard in the sense of running a team and creating plays than Bibby, but Bibby is clearly the better fit for the Heat than Ford is. I don't even think it is debatable between the two of them.

It really depends on the offseason. If the Grizzlies bring back both Randolph and Gasol, I can see them making the playoffs over the next few years. Denver, Utah and Phoenix are likely going to be out of the playoff picture for the next few seasons, so that opens up 3 playoff spots for the Grizzlies that normally weren't available. Also, if Mayo bounces back next season, as I would expect him to do (if he is still there), that also bodes really well for them. Assuming they manage to keep this core together and no conference altering moves are made, I think it is highly possible that the Grizzlies manage to sneak into the playoffs a couple of times over the next few years.

If the Raptors draft a small forward, I'd rather see them go after Harrison Barnes. I know he has struggled at times this season and isn't living up to the hype he had, but he has also shown glimpses of why he was so highly regarded coming out of high school. Since Drew left the team and Marshall was inserted into the starting lineup he has played much, much better, which isn't a surprise at all considering how terrible Drew was. I still think that he is going to be a very nice player in the NBA. I actually think he may be a better NBA player than a college player. As far as the two Jones's go, I'd rather see them go with Terrence than Perry if they are looking for a small forward. I think Jones is going to be a face up 4 in the NBA and nothing other than his ability to handle the ball makes me think he will ever be a small forward. I haven't been exactly impressed with his perimeter game. Honestly though, I'm not sure how well either of them would be as small forwards. They both seem like tweeners to me. That is pretty much the story of the draft, though. It seems like all of the top picks, outside of Irving, Sullinger, Barnes and Valanciunas, are tweeners.

Chris Phillips also signed a 3 year, $9.25M deal with a NMC with the Sens, effectively taking him off of the market.

Who cares, they are all scrubs.

Wow, the Raptors lineup currently is: Soloman Alabi Alexis Ajinca Sonny Weems Leandro Barbosa Jerryd Bayless Talk about a scrubby lineup. Wow.