By Peter D. Walker

The Raptors season is officially over, so its time to issue The Official RaptorTalk Year End Report Cards for the 2007-08 Toronto Raptors with player rankings.

               

#1. Chris Bosh: A-
Bosh had another Bosh-like year. He continues to play hard and get stronger. Can’t remember any Raptor player who works as hard as CB4. This is Chris' team. Unfortunately, he missed some games and the team went into the dumper without him through most of March. Durability is a factor and Chris was banged up.

#2. Jose Calderon: B
Jose was great through most of the season, but his performance tailed off towards the end of the season – particularly when he stepped back to let TJ start again. Clearly, Jose’s performance was better when he was getting 35 minutes per game as opposed to 20 to 25 minutes down the stretch. Defensively, he needs to work on keeping quick point guards in front of him.

#3. Rasho Nesterovic: B
Just about the best teammate you could ask for. Solid performer who just gets it done. He really came through big down the stretch when Andrea was fading. Always delivers a solid defensive performance and good rebounder who delivers clutch baskets when needed.

#4. Anthony Parker: B-
Parker has definitely lost a defensive step over last year. In the second half, his inconsistencies became more pronounced. Too many wing players have breakout games against AP. However, his ability to nail the three was critical to the Raptors’ success. Bottomline, this guy is a first class professional. Too bad we didn’t have him a few years earlier.

#5. Jamario Moon: B-
Jamario is the NBA’s feel good story of the year. Can jump out of the proverbial gym. Too often he shied away from going to the rim. On the other hand, he can hit the occasional three ball. His rebounding, quick hands and athleticism were big pluses.

#6. T.J. Ford: B-
TJ was arguably the Raptors best player until his collision with Al Horford. When he returned, we saw glimpses of the old TJ, but he was generally nothing like the TJ at the start of the year. His selfish behavior hurt the team and the way he was perceived by fans. No doubt, he’s played his last game in Raptors’ red.

#7. Carlos Delfino: B-
Has there ever been a Raptor who is as streaky as Delfino? I think not. Got to give him credit. He plays hard and when his shot is falling he is a tremendous contributor. Often during the season and in the playoffs, Carlos was on the floor in crunch time, which tells you something about his abilities. His inconsistency drove me nuts.

#8. Jason Kapono: C+
Really came into form in the playoffs. His grade is unfair because as Bryan Colangelo said about Jason – “he was under-utilized this year.” Blame Sam, not JK.  In the playoffs he played much improved defense and is tenacious working without the ball on offence. Of course his ability to shoot the rock is unparalled.

#9. Kris Humphries: C
Didn’t see much floor time down the stretch. Solid energy guy who hustles, but has some offensive challenges.  Had a better season last year.  But, he’s a hell of a lot better than Hoffa – so we’re not complaining.

#10. Andrea Bargnani: C-
Andrea had a promising few games to start the season and put together some plus twenty point games in January. His man-to-man defence improved and his intensity seemed to pick up later in the season. But, his shooting tough abandoned him and his confidence is shot. Overall, he regressed and was a non-factor through most of the season. Raptors need much more out of the first overall pick in 2006. Still loaded with potential.

#11. Joey Graham: D
Permanently glued to the bench. Apparently, his basketball IQ is not much higher than Hoffa’s. makes you weep to think Babcock selected Joey when most Raptor fans were salivating over Danny Granger, who fell into the laps of the Pacers. Definitely regressed from the previous season.

#12. Maceo Baston: D
In retrospect, you wonder why Bryan signed Maceo. Could have kept Slokar instead who was cheaper. Heck, you could have paid me to be a DNP.  The Raps were starved for rebounding, which is Maceo’s specialty – yet he rarely saw the floor. I suppose that says it all concerning his ability to play at the NBA level.

#13. Darrick Martin: D
Last year he made a solid contribution. Not the case this year. With TJ’s injury, he stood to gain a lot of playing time. Instead, his floor leadership has been sub-par and his shooting has been horrific. He was cut late in the year, but remained with the team.

#14. Primoz Brezec: D-
The ‘Gangsta’ brought nothing of value to the Raptors. An oddball hot head who led the Raps in tech’s is all we can say about him. No wonder every team that gets him, wants to dump him.

#15. Jorge Garbajosa: F
Outside of a few early season games and one good outing against Indy – Garbo missed most of the season. He is the Raptors award winner for ‘off-season stupidity’. Garbo deserves an F for putting his selfish desire to play for Spain ahead of his Raptors’ team. Sure could have used Garbo down the stretch. Why the hell he played for Spain against the advice of Raptors’ medical staff remains a mystery.

Coach & GM

Sam Mitchell: C+
The reigning Coach of the Year couldn’t get the team moving in the right direction. Yes, injuries played a part, but even when healthy – the Raptors were mediocre. After Bosh returned in March, the fully healthy Raptors went on a less than impressive 8-10 run to close the season and playoffs. Sam’s biggest failings were his inability to coax improvement out of Bargnani and his under utilization of Kapono. Decision to sit Rasho against Orlando seemed odd, too.

Bryan Colangelo: B
Like the rest of us, Colangelo was not happy with what he saw this year. The only reason he was graded so high is that he has assembled a decent set of tradable assets. The expiring contracts of Rasho, AP, Maceo and Joey are available for the right price. TJ Ford is definitely packing his bags and I’ll bet Andrea can be had for the right price. Throw in reasonably priced filler like Kris Humphries and you have the components needed to remake the Raptors. There are no bad contracts on the Raptors.

Team Grades

Overall Starting Unit: B

Overall Bench Bigs: C

Overall Bench Guards & Wings:  B-

OVERALL RAPTORS TEAM GRADE: C+
This team was a disappointment. Those are Colangelo’s words, not mine. While 41-41 can only be described as mediocre, the outlook for next year looks quite promising. Bryan has the assets necesarry to remake the Raptors for 2008-09.

  By Walter Dubowec

Tiger Woods was at the Raptors/Magic playoff game and he now has a dozen potential new golf partners looking to join him for a Tuesday morning tee-off in central Florida.

Once again, the Raptors inability to play tough in crunch time was the deciding factor as they lost Game Five and the series to the Orlando Magic: 4-1.

               

With four minutes left, the Raps got it down to 84-82 and then, with little resistance, they let Orlando go on an 8-0 run to quickly run the score up to 92-82. That was it - a 10 point Magic lead which proved to be the final margin of victory.

This year, head-to-head including the playoffs the Raptors were an unflattering 2W-6L versus Orlando. As I repeated over and over again – the Magic are a better overall squad, despite what many Raptors fans believed.

I, for one, never believed this ‘best match-up’ crap.

Not much else to say. Even though I predicted a Magic series win, I thought the Raptors would at least take it to six games and possibly seven games. That, in my mind is the most disappointing aspect of the series loss.

Looking forward to off-season trade scenarios

The season is over for the  Raptors and I’m ready to focus on Colangelo’s off-season moves, instead of lamenting a disappointing season. Doug Smith made some interesting observations on the FAN590 pre-game show with Eric Smith.

Based on what he's heard from within the Raptors organization – Bryan Colangelo's #1 priority is a scoring wing player who can also defend. No team in the NBA has as big a drop off talent wise as do the Raptors when you go from Bosh down to their #2 guy.

Apparently, Doug has heard from others in the NBA that Bryan is already looking at potential trade targets. There are top tier wing players available, but Colangelo will need to accept another bad contract to land the stud he covets.

Word is that Bryan Colangelo is willing to do that. A package of expirings including Rasho and Joey will likely be part of any such deal.

Also, Bryan intends on resigning Jose and making him the starter. He would like to keep TJ as a back-up, but that's not a role TJ is willing to accept. Therefore, its a virtual certainty that TJ is moved in the off season.

Bryan Colangelo knows he has to make definite progress in the off season or he risks losing CB4 to free agency – who signed a short extension so he’d have flexibility if he wasn’t happy with the Raptors’ direction.

This will be an interesting and active off-season. I fully expect a very different and much hungrier Raptors team to take the floor in October.

  By Walter Dubowec

“This is the loudest building I’ve ever been in,” said Chris Bosh after the Raptors defeated the Orlando Magic by the score of 108-94 in Game 3 at the Air Canada Centre.

Like we’ve been saying for weeks, if the Raptors hold up their end of the bargain and play hard, then the Toronto Raptors faithful will do their part as well or better than any fans in the NBA. The ACC fans were definitely Red-y to rock on Wednesday night.

The Sea of Red was back and the decibel count went through the roof for a full 2-1/2 hours!

                

Jamario Moon knew it, too. "I didn't know this place could get this loud. I could feel the court shaking a little bit." I'm sure Jamario never heard noise like that before!

Did the raucous crowd affect the Magic? Did the mocking chants of "H-o-o-o-w-w-w-a-a-r-r-d-d" throw off Superman? Absolutely!

"It was like us against the world,'' Dwight Howard said after the game. "What can I do? They think Superman sucks. I'll just show them that Superman doesn't suck." While Howard played well, his numbers were down from the first two games.

Even SI.com noticed the effect the wild crowd of 20,023 had on the outcome of the game.

“The Raptors owe some serious props to the red-clad, flag-waving Air Canada Centre crowd, a lively and organized assembly which maintained a high-decibel level and gave their players the best home-court advantage they could possibly expect. The atmosphere resembled a European soccer match during stretches -- somewhat appropriate given Toronto's melting-pot makeup -- with the fans singing and chanting and standing the entire time while rooting their players to victory.”

Jose Calderon's father, a former Spanish League star was at the ACC to experience the game. This is how he described the crowd to Spanish newspaper Marca:

"It's quite different watching games live or analyzing from home. I travelled to Toronto and I'm impressed with all that's around a playoff game. ACC was red, everybody was wearing Raptors shirts, they didn't stopped chanting, putting pressure on the opponent... It looked like a classic European basketball game more than an NBA game."

The crowd did not go unnoticed by the Sam Mitchell, either. "It's tough to play in an environment like that," he said of being the visitor. The Raptors felt the crowd's presence, "it makes you keep digging a little deeper, no matter how tired you get."

Jamario Moon summed it up perfectly, “Best fans in the NBA.”

Jamario, we promise that Saturday's crowd will be just as crazy, if not crazier!
 

By Walter Dubowec

An entertaining game and a tough loss that was expected.

This isn’t what Raptor fans want to hear, but right now the Orlando Magic are simply a better team than the Raptors. This season, Orlando has a 4-1 record vs. Toronto. Orlando won 52 games, Raps won 41 games. The only stat that matters are 'W's' and the Magic have more than Toronto.

Like I said before the series started, the Raptors chances against the Magic weren't good. The problems that plagued the Raps down the stretch would continue to plague them in the playoffs. 

                     

We've seen this all before

The Raps get off to horrible starts and then are unable to close it out at the end, despite fighting back. Tonight they had their opportunity and couldn’t capitalize on their chances.

We've seen this script countless times before with the same unhappy ending. The Raps fought back from an 18 point deficit and then missed the game winning shot as time expired.

Of course, they didn't help themselves down the stretch. Carlos' missed free throw, Bosh's errant ball save to Orlando, the Raptors inability to grab a rebound on a couple of Magic misses and the non-call on Superman when he hacked Bosh across the arm were all key plays and blown opportunities in the final minute. 

Elite teams make those plays. The Raptors don’t.

On the final play the Raptors probably should have driven to the hole, but if they were going to end it on a jump shot then either Kapono or Calderon should have taken the final shot - not a dead tired Bosh.  Jason and Jose had the hot hands and they both could have won it for the Raps at the buzzer.

Overall, Bosh played his heart out and delivered despite the bashing he's getting from upset Raptor fans who feel compelled to blame somebody after every loss.

Calderon really stepped up in a critical game and proved he's a winner. Bargnani was luke warm, but had 5 key points to trigger the Raps late run. Tonight it was Good Delfino, which made a huge difference – despite missing what proved to be a key last minute free throw.

Bad habits don't magically disappear in the play-offs

Before the series started I expected the Raptors to lose because they spent the last month (even with a healthy line-up) struggling in first quarters and showing an inability to close-out close games. Additionally, the Raps have been poor defensively and have not rebounded well.

Despite what many who wear rose (aka red)-colored glasses said to the contrary, it was my opinion that these disturbing trends would not cure themselves come playoffs.

Guess what? These trends have continued through the first two games. For that reason alone, the loss was expected.

After losing the first two games, the Raps statistically have a slim 6% chance of winning the series.