Bargnani Criticized By Teammates in Team Meeting

[Built Ford Tough]

Lowry also got some heat as well for playing seflishly, which is valid as well. Glad to see the players letting Bargnani have it, though.

 

Then there is Andrea Bargnani, Toronto’s windy avatar of dissatisfaction. According to sources, the team meeting following the 131-99 loss in Utah involved heavy criticism of Bargnani from his teammates, with some also directed towards point guard Lowry for overly self-centred play. But Bargnani, as always, was the focus.

 

Anybody can see why. He is back to being his own disinterested self, hoisting jumpers and standing straight-legged. Nobody has ever been able to reach him in his seven-year career; not Colangelo, not his coaches, not his teammates. Last season he was half-involved; this season he has melted back into his unformed puddle of untapped talent. He is grabbing the lowest percentage of available rebounds, 7.6%, of his career. It’s the worst basketball he has played since his disastrous sophomore season. He is finally being shopped, which means even Colangelo is giving up the ghost. But right now, there are no takers.

 

http://sports.nationalpost.com/2012/12/11/desperate-raptors-at-yet-another-crossroads/

 

This team is comedic gold, though. They are entertaining for all the wrong reasons.

[Check my Stats]

Everyone wants him gone except for Colangelo. Players are getting visibly frustrated with him ON CAMERA, I can only imagine the shit that we don't see.

 

Also, despite Lowry's nice numbers, he has been pretty big disappointment. His attitude, shot selection, defense, screen and role play (offensively) and lack of kickouts to shooters (though our 'shooters' may have something to do with this... Lowry just seems indecisive when he gets to the mid range off of a screen) has been a huge letdown. He was supposed to make our offense more dynamic this year, and improve our perimeter defense, neither has happened. I guess his injury can have something to do with it, but just the way he plays, idk there's something about it I just don't like. Hopefully he can sway me the other way. I guess maybe I was expected a TJ Ford type on offense (with the drive and kicks), and its my own fault for that expectation.

 

I hope coach got some licks in that meeting too. His work has been pathetic so far this year, but I can't help but feel like a lot of his decisions are with someone in his ear (BARGNANI???).

[DunkinDerozan]

I'm glad the team is letting him have it. Unfortunately we're now at a point where we would be lucky to get any sort of value for his Italian ass. Honestly I think trading him for just about anything would be an automatic upgrade though, with Davis becoming the new starting PF. I'm sure theres a team out there thats maybe hoping to make a playoff push that would add him to come off the bench and spread the floor a little bit. I just don't know how much they would be willing to give up.

[DunkinDerozan]

Everyone wants him gone except for Colangelo. Players are getting visibly frustrated with him ON CAMERA, I can only imagine the shit that we don't see.

 

Also, despite Lowry's nice numbers, he has been pretty big disappointment. His attitude, shot selection, defense, screen and role play (offensively) and lack of kickouts to shooters (though our 'shooters' may have something to do with this... Lowry just seems indecisive when he gets to the mid range off of a screen) has been a huge letdown. He was supposed to make our offense more dynamic this year, and improve our perimeter defense, neither has happened. I guess his injury can have something to do with it, but just the way he plays, idk there's something about it I just don't like. Hopefully he can sway me the other way. I guess maybe I was expected a TJ Ford type on offense (with the drive and kicks), and its my own fault for that expectation.

 

I hope coach got some licks in that meeting too. His work has been pathetic so far this year, but I can't help but feel like a lot of his decisions are with someone in his ear (BARGNANI???).

 

Since coming back from the injury, Lowry has not looked the the same player out there. I find it hard to believe its lingering affects from the injury though. I think a lot of it is the fact that the team is so bad that his morale has gone down with a lot of the others. This most noticeable difference between him then and now is his consistency on his jumper and his playmaking. Both have gone down hill.

[Built Ford Tough]

Since coming back from the injury, Lowry has not looked the the same player out there. I find it hard to believe its lingering affects from the injury though. I think a lot of it is the fact that the team is so bad that his morale has gone down with a lot of the others. This most noticeable difference between him then and now is his consistency on his jumper and his playmaking. Both have gone down hill.

 

That isn't an excuse. A big part of the reason why the Raptors are so bad is directly because of Lowry's poor play. These 25 foot 3's with 20 seconds on the shot clock, holding onto the ball for too long instead of swinging it, out of control drives and completely matador defense are absolutely killing the Raptors.

 

Just because the team is sucking doesn't mean you go out there and do whatever you damn well please or mail it in. The fact that Lowry is supposed to be a leader on this team makes it even worse.

[DunkinDerozan]

That isn't an excuse. A big part of the reason why the Raptors are so bad is directly because of Lowry's poor play. These 25 foot 3's with 20 seconds on the shot clock, holding onto the ball for too long instead of swinging it, out of control drives and completely matador defense are absolutely killing the Raptors.

 

Just because the team is sucking doesn't mean you go out there and do whatever you damn well please or mail it in. The fact that Lowry is supposed to be a leader on this team makes it even worse.

 

Oh I completely agree. It isn't an excuse to play poorly. I was just pointy out that that is probably why he is playing the way he is.

[YugoRocketsFan]

Toronto needs a coach that stresses effort, if you don't give effort you get benched, if you don't play well you get benched, this is exactly why I loved Rick Adelman

[Built Ford Tough]

Toronto needs a coach that stresses effort, if you don't give effort you get benched, if you don't play well you get benched, this is exactly why I loved Rick Adelman

 

Problem is that Casey isn't allowed to do that because that means Bargnani would never see the floor and that is a huge no-no around Toronto.

 

I may be completely off base here, but I think that if Casey was truly given full autonomy when it comes to the lineup this would be the case. From everything we heard about him prior to getting the job he was exactly this kind of coach. He stressed defense, effort and hustle. If you don't provide those, you will be picking splinters out of your ass. We've seen him do it when it comes to guys like Ed Davis, Jonas Valanciunas, Amir Johnson and even DeMar DeRozan (more so last season than this year because DD hasn't given Casey any reason to bench him this year as his effort level has been top notch) but not with Bargnani. That leads me to believe that he isn't allowed to bench him.

 

After all, Sam Mitchell was basically fired over his handling of Bargnani (at least in my mind) so the precedent is there.

[Dash]

So Lowry is still a ballhog? So glad we moved him in the offseason, I was shocked his trade value was so high and people thought him to be an All-Star type player even after playing like trash after that epic 20 game span last year and then getting benched for his backup (given Dragic was playing some awesome ball though).

 

I mean I'm not trying to bag on the guy but I never understood why he was getting so much praise even when he was on the Rockets. Granted I haven't watched many Raptors games but this thread feels reminiscent of my complaints about him last year.

[Real Deal]

That month or so when he put up Jason Kidd numbers...I always thought that was a fluke. We had a topic about him getting into the ASG last season, and I remember talking about him not being able to sustain those numbers. Teams just didn't know how to defend the guy for a while, that's all, and he was in a new role and at the beginning of the season.

 

I wouldn't have minded Lowry in LA, but that's because he would be playing behind three other scorers.

 

In Toronto, though? And in Houston? He just wasn't going to play up to expectations, once he was reaching for those triple-double numbers as a primary or secondary scoring option in a full season (don't think he was getting 10 boards a night, but it was around 7-8...with his 20 PPG and 10 APG, something like that).

[DunkinDerozan]

So Lowry is still a ballhog? So glad we moved him in the offseason, I was shocked his trade value was so high and people thought him to be an All-Star type player even after playing like trash after that epic 20 game span last year and then getting benched for his backup (given Dragic was playing some awesome ball though).

 

I mean I'm not trying to bag on the guy but I never understood why he was getting so much praise even when he was on the Rockets. Granted I haven't watched many Raptors games but this thread feels reminiscent of my complaints about him last year.

 

Wasn't it you who started the thread last year about how unreal Lowry was? Correct me if I'm wrong. I know some Rockets fan did.

 

I'm personally not worried about Lowry, and I still am fine with giving up the first for him.

[Check my Stats]

I was just about to post that, because i had an argument with a Rocket fan over him not being as good as they thought last year.

 

I too am okay with the trade still, because i am nearly positive that pick that pick isn't going to be much higher than last year, in a draft that is supposed to be worse. I think most of Lowry's negatives are between his ears, and I doubt we are drafting a player that winds up as good/better at 6 or so (which is where I'd guess we end up). He's been disappointing, but that's not because he has been brutal (well at least in those first few games he wasn't), but because maybe my expectations were too high after having the matador at the helm all these years. I hate to sound like colangelo, but the schedule is going to turn around, and when other teams tank, we will win meaningless games like last year, and wind up in that 5-7 range. I still think we walk away the winners in that trade.

Edited December 12, 2012 by Check my Stats

[Built Ford Tough]

So Lowry is still a ballhog? So glad we moved him in the offseason, I was shocked his trade value was so high and people thought him to be an All-Star type player even after playing like trash after that epic 20 game span last year and then getting benched for his backup (given Dragic was playing some awesome ball though).

 

I mean I'm not trying to bag on the guy but I never understood why he was getting so much praise even when he was on the Rockets. Granted I haven't watched many Raptors games but this thread feels reminiscent of my complaints about him last year.

 

I wouldn't say he is a ball hog. It is more questionable decision making.

 

He has done a solid job of driving and kicking. I don't know the exact numbers, but I believe he only has 10 or so less 3 point assists than Rondo does and that is with him missing those 2 weeks or so with the foot injury. Toronto isn't exactly a great shooting club either so it's not like he is finding Ray Allen on the perimeter or anything like that.

 

(I also realize that Boston isn't a very good 3 point shooting team either, making just 5 a game).

 

His screen management hasn't been very good. He doesn't seem to have any real chemistry with any of the Raptors bigs and does a poor job of finding the roll man. This isn't all on Lowry as the Raptor bigs are generally poor at setting screens and even Calderon only works well with Amir. Him being in and out of the lineup so often may be part of the problem as it is making it difficult for him to develop any real chemistry and get used to his teammates tendencies.

 

My biggest complaint is his defense, though. All he does is gamble and rarely actually defends his man straight up anymore. I think this is where his teammates are calling him selfish (well, this and the early shot clock deep 3's) as he is just gambling non-stop. It is pretty discouraging because we both know how good he can be defensively when he sets his mind to it. The few times he has actually gotten into it defensively, good things have happened.

 

Speaking of, when exactly did Lowry stop playing defense? You've obviously seen a lot more of him the past few years than I have and would know better.