By Walter Dubowec

Just prior to the Raptors taking on the Boston Celtics, Leo Rautins, Toronto Raptors television analyst and head coach of the Canadian Mens’ Basketball team offered up some excellent advice regarding Andrea Bargnani.

During the FAN 590 pregame show, Rautins suggested the Raptors must focus on what Andrea Bargnani is and not what he is not.

                
                                      Leo Rautins then and now

I am in complete agreement with Leo's assessment. Everyone knows that Andrea is struggling and it appears his confidence has taken a hit. Something needs to be done to improve his play and I don’t believe a big man coach is the panacea that some are suggesting.

Leo Rautins’ astute comments run somewhat contrary to Sam's mantra of “just rebound and defend well and then we’ll worry about the scoring.” Mitchell wants Bargnani to focus on the areas of his game which are lacking – rebounding and defence.

What Rautins is suggesting is the polar opposite of Sam’s approach.

Leo believes the Raptors would be best served if they focused on enabling Andrea to find his comfort zone on the offensive end. Once his shots start dropping, Leo suggests that Andrea will gain confidence and that confidence will eventually spillover to Il Mago’s rebounding and defence.

That seems to be the way Andrea is wired. However, Sam seems intent on working it the other way. It is quite noticeable that the number of plays run for Andrea are down from last year. Andrea is looking over his shoulder because he knows that a couple of early fouls or a missed defensive assignment are quick tickets to the bench. None of that develops confidence.


Andrea enjoyed early offensive success against Boston

What’s interesting is immediately after Leo’s rant, Andrea got hot scoring the ball early against Boston.

And as Rautins predicted, Andrea gained confidence and picked up his play on defence and rebounding. He ended the night with his best all round performance – 20 points, 50% FG, 7 rebounds and 7 assists.

During the FAN pregame show, Leo said that everyone (meaning fans, media and Raptors management) needs to understand that Bargnani will never be a 'traditional' center and a dominant rebounder. Rautins believes that everyone needs to get over their vision of what 'Andrea the Center' should be. He isn’t a classic center. He’s a shooting power forward with a dazzling offensive arsenal for a seven footer.

Now Andrea may line up at the 5 and guard other fives, but on the offensive end its Chris Bosh who is more comfortable playing down low. One of Bargnani’s strengths is his ability to stretch defenses and cause mismatches on the perimeter. So establish schemes that play to those strengths. Build a team based on the strengths of two athletic power forwards as your front court. They are what they are.

Leo said he 'officially' played the PF position at Syracuse, but he played like a SF/SG. So while Andrea may officially play the center position, he often plays like a PF/SF and that's how Il Mago played in Italy. To think he’s going to become a classic center is a pipe dream.

                        

Rautins believes the Raptors and Andrea will be better in the long run if the Raptors simply focus on what Andrea is, as opposed to what they want him to be. Can he develop and improve on his deficiences? Absolutely. But this focus on Andrea's shortcomings seem to be having a neagtive effect on his strengths, also.

If Bryan Colangelo and Sam Mitchell wanted a traditional center, then they should have passed on Bargnani. They knew who he was when they drafted him. Why not build upon what Bargnani is good at?

If Bargnani could average 20 points, 7 rebounds and passable defence - would we accept that? Of course we would.

If we understand Leo Rautins, the Raptors are best served if they try to put Andrea into positions where he will likely taste success, instead of putting him where he’s likely to fail. Its sound advice and it certainly seemed to help Andrea play very well against Boston. Andrea followed with a 13 pt, 7 board game against Milwaukee where he showed good hustle and aggressiveness on the boards.

Let hope the improved play continues and that we can put all this negative talk about Bargnani behind us.