Raptors: The Kids aren't the problem

Some random thoughts from last night's opening show, where I coulda swore that was Wade Belak out there waving at another Wizard going to the basket:

Adjective of the night: We'll be checking in from time to time on what's affixed to the Raptors from visitors. For opening night, Eddie Jordan has this one:

"I tell you, Toronto's got a scrappy young team. ... It's a good, scrappy team and we were lucky to get out of it."

(Scrappy, from the Oxford Canadian Dictionary: "1. Consisting of scraps; 2. Incomplete; carelessly arranged or put together; 3. Pugnacious or tenacious"; From Young's Sports Euphemisms: 1. Annoying; 2 Useless; 3 Doomed. See also, "pesky")

PETER POWER/TORONTO STAR

Call his number in crunch time, please.

The intros: They're all yours, kiddies, I lost interest in this stuff when everyone was using the Alan Parsons Project. Best line I've seen all morning comes from Scott over at Raptorblog: "Matt Bonner is Napoleon Dynamite."

Overused Mantra: It was about three minutes into the broadcast when the mantra started -- they're young, they'll make mistakes. It kept going into the postgame alibis. After one night, it's clear about the only reason to watch this team is for players like Bosh, Villanueva, Calderon, Graham. It isn't about counting down the days till Jalen Rose is packed out, or watching Rose miss an open three or get whistled for a charge (yes, it was a charge, just as surely as Haywood oversold it), or Morris Peterson halfheartedly chasing Chucky Atkins over top of a screen with Matt Bonner waiting like a smiling maitre'd for an escort to the hoop. I thought this was what could reasonably be expected for an opening night from this group: some emotion and raw ability from the kids, little defence (inside, or on the run), very little coaching, narrow defeat. Got a little more than expected out of Calderon, and let's watch his role increase from here -- let's hope, anyway, because Mike James didn't do anything to shout out that the starter's job is his. Should've got a little more out of Villanueva, but that wasn't his fault. Were in position to win, but couldn't close the deal, in part because they never really steadied themselves down the stretch. They'll grab a few of these, though not nearly as many as they lose, over the course of the season.

Second-guessing: Why no timeouts in the final two minutes? What exactly did Matt Bonner do after going in for Villanueva late in the fourth and Wiz up by two? Hey, you heard me, why no timeouts in the final two minutes? When does Bosh get his number called in crunch time? Uh, timeouts?

PETER POWER/TORONTO STAR

Great scream, shame about that last shot.

Leap of logic: I like Jack Armstrong, but just try and connect the dots here -- "You hear all this talk that the Raptors don't have a centre. You know what -- do the Detroit Pistons have a centre? They just have a dude that brings it all the time, a winner. I'll take Ben Wallace on my team any day of the week."

Eight minutes with Jose Calderon (directly from second-quarter notes, because looking back on 'em it seems to sum up the Raptors' whole night):

High dribble. Frisky.

Decent ball movement with Calderon in, still can't make shots. Defence still horrid: Rose loses Hayes on another back cut. Bosh loses Haywood -- dunk. Arenas blow by CV, he doesn't even wave at him.

Calderon passes out of backcourt trap. Not much conviction from Wiz, but handled okay.

Hayes in transition, dunk. They're just killing Toronto getting down the floor, Raps offence is all jumpers. Oh, Hayes back cut, layup.

Calderon off a Bonner rub, hits j, steals inbounds pass and to MP for layup. Finally, a guy makes a play.

JC def. rebound. Goes baseline on Arenas, draws double, pass to MP open 3 -- good. 7-0 run, it's all JC's doing.

Atkins iso on JC -- let's see what he's got, they're saying -- drive and spin -- charge Wizards. Nice.

Oh, Bonner halfhearted doubleteam -- dunk, Hayes.

JC drive, hurdler's kick and leaning pass around two defenders, MP misses open 3. This guy's doing it. Next up, he gets screen up high, hits a 3.

JC runs screen-roll, flips off to CV popping out for 3. He's lighting it up.

Jamison abuses Rose. Arenas blows by Peterson. Ruffin beats CV to hoop -- foul.

The links:

Here's your boxscore.

Doug Smith's game story is here. And Dave Feschuk's column is here.

Best of the rest comes from the Post, Bruce Arthur looks at Jalen Rose (subscription required).

And for a view from Washington, go here.

Comments

[Richard]

The new guys [Villanueva, Graham, James] looked good out there. A very winnable game. But man-oh-man. Lemme ask ya a question. Yer up by 1pt with 3+ min on the clock. You bring up the ball. Time out? Ok. No prob.’s. Set up a play? Maybe in the post? Nope. Instead James throws up a 3pt’er and miss. Yer lucky to get Villanueva to get offensive rebound. You kick it out to Rose. Wadda ya do? Time out? Nope. Set up a play? Nope. He decides to chuck up another 3pt’er. Wow. What’s going on. Bosh this time get the offensive rebound, again! You kick it out. Surely you’ll call a timeout – right? Naw. Why not have MoPete chuck up another 3pt’er. Wiz recover the ball. That was pretty much the game for me there.

…and Rap coach Sam Mitchell, when he should’ve snapped and put on his crazy face and yell at people, didn’t’.

[Sean Hart]

Attended yesterday's game and I have to say that the marketing folk should be fired. The organ music was annoying...this isn't a hockey game and it's not Madison Square Garden...I don't need to hear Crocodile Rock playing when the Raptors are on offense. And as for that opening that was self-described as totally wicked, it was ridiculous...an intro is supposed to strike fear in its opposition...having these guys dance around like buffoons with the newly hootched up dance pack is nothing short of pathetic. Beyonce? Cmon now! If you wanted to go the diva route, they should have played a little Mary J. Blige's No More Drama...with images of Vince, Rafer, Lamond Murray etc. flashing before our eyes.

[Richard]

I didn’t look at the box score, didn’t even know that jamal Crawford didn’t start for the knicks last nite. The first bit of drama in NYC. you can always rely in NY Knicks to keep us entertained.

Jamal Baffled On Bench
New York Post - 11/03 - 5:13 AM EST
Jamal Crawford sounded disappointed and angered that Larry Brown threw a curveball with his starting lineup last night, benching him at shooting guard in favor of Quentin Richardson for last night's season opener.

Crawford looked crushed and didn't seem to understand the move, and wound up with an awful six-turnover outing in last night's 114-100 overtime loss to the Celtics.

"I think I had a great camp, I adjusted well," said Crawford, who entered with 4:20 left in the the first quarter. "I'll be professional and be ready when my number is called. That's it. That's my statement. I'm done with it. I'll be professional, be ready when my number is called."

[Richard]

Time: 8:25PM. Just got in and now catching the Raptor/Cavalier game now. It was exactly what I though. The Rap.’s are putting up a far better effort than they did against the Pistons two nights ago. Hopefully Bosh and Rose will have a better outing. And why not? The local print, radio and sport cable folks sure didn’t let them forget these past few days. So, why not have someone get on their side for a bit for support. Ok, sure, my name in this industry means diddly squat but I’m a fan of the Raptors and more importantly the NBA.
So here’s what I managed to ‘lift’ from one or two web sites. Let’s start with what I wrote in one sentence a few blogs ago. And that is that the rookies are definitely looking good – and that was in a loss to the Wiz and Nets even in the loss to Pistons. But hey, talk about baptism by fire!! Minute-wise being the crucial stat in the last three game (not including tonight) these work-horse rookies rank as such: Jose Calderone with 32.0 avg. min., 10.3 pts (T-3rd among rookies), 6.7 ast. (T-13th in NBA), Charlie Villanueva with 28.7 avg. mins., 8.0 pts (8th among rookies), 4.3 rb’s (6th among rookies), and Joey Graham with 17.0 avg. min., 6.3 pts and 4.0 rb’s.
And under the conditions that the Raptors are with not much support from the veterans so far then what can Coach Mitchell do. Here’s what he said in reference to the rookies minutes of play: "I've got to keep pushing, prodding and pulling. I have to keep doing that until I pull it out of them," he said. "There's no pill, there's no speech, there's no quick fix. Everybody goes through it (as a rookie)… Charlie has never seen anything like he saw against Detroit," Mitchell said. "He saw Ben (Wallace) and Rasheed (Wallace) and then Antonio McDyess. And then Darko (Milicic), 7-foot-2, coming into the game."
It truly was a massive wave after wave of offensive so one can’t blame the wide-eye looks they (rookies) gave each other after being outplayed by a team like Pistons. I say lay off the rookies. That’s what the coach is for and more importantly what the veterans are for. I’m a MoPete fan but I say ‘can it!’ and keep the malcontent whining yourself for now. Just come out and play as best as you can. Let what Rose said after the Net lose resonate and that was to take the high road and shoulder the blame as a vet yourself – for now…
\R