Lots of Sam, and some other stuff

Know why I like Mondays? (Other than Warren Sapp, who I fear is destined to finish second?)

No games. Therefore no angst. And calm. A nice feeling of calm.

But what the heck, let’s rile some folks up. Too much calm is a bad thing:

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Can I say this? It’s never a case of black and white. There’s never a clear cut cause to any team’s woes and it’s no different with these guys right now.

The roster has flaws (backup PG, wing depth), the coaching needs improvement (creativity on offence) and the players have to be more consistently good. It’s not one, it’s not two, it’s all three.

The quick fix? There is none. Everyone has to get better.

You can’t put it all on the GM, all on the coach or all on the players. Responsibility has to be shared.

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Now, here’s some Sam stuff I hope answers a few questions:

Good Sam

The good players get better

STEVE RUSSELL/TORONTO STAR

There's Good Sam.

I don’t think you can make an argument against the fact Chris Bosh is better than he was four years ago; Jose Calderon has turned into a good player from a suspect one as a rookie and Andrea Bargnani is better today than he was as a rookie. The coach has put them in a position to improve and they have.

The combination of Jermaine O’Neal and Chris Bosh is working.

There were concerns whether he could make two bigs work together. In the five games before he got hurt, O’Neal averaged a double-double and Bosh had three double-doubles, a 40-point game and a 30-point game. They are a potent duo and the coach figured out how to make them one.

He has the respect of the players.

I’m sure there is some under-the-breath grumbling in the locker room – as there is in every single locker room in the NBA – but the players listen and generally play hard for the coach. No one has “tuned” him out.

He wins

Since Bryan Colangelo remade the roster after his first half season on the job – ridding it of a lot of detritus – the Raptors are 94-83, have won a division title and been in the playoffs two springs in succession. That’s an upward trend.

He can minimize the flaws in marginal players.

Kris Humphries has flaws that the coach can hide because when Hump tries to do too much, he sits him; Jamario Moon has flaws but somehow gives the Raptors what they need night-to-night. That he doesn’t drive the ball has as much to do with his mental makeup and ball-handling skills than anything.

Bad Sam

A predictable offence

DAVID COOPER/TORONTO STAR FILE PHOTO

And there's Bad Sam.

Far too much reliance on the high screen-and-roll, which teams are now finding ways to defend. I’m as sick of ‘horns-up’ as you are. And I imagine some of the players are, too. More ball movement side-to-side is a must. This speaks to the inability to find shots – open or otherwise – on a regular basis for a gifted shooter like Jason Kapono.

He can be intractable

I’m not sure how much advice he takes from his assistants, or even his boss. All coaches are paranoid to a degree, sometimes Sam’s degrees are too high too often.

Slow in-game adjustments

Maybe this goes more the flaw listed above but there’s no question he could better reacting to situations more quickly. When to double-team, when not too; when to ride a hot hand, when to call different sets. Room for improvement? Absolutely.

A forgetful mind?

Yeah, I think he should probably un-bury Joey Graham at the moment and let him get a block of games and minutes, mainly at the expense of Jamario Moon. Sam’s a big proponent of ‘how-you-practice-determines-whether-you-play’ and I believe some guys are far better game players than they are practice players.

Last-minute creativity

I can think of a couple of occasions in one-possession games when we saw something different. Neither worked. I speak of the lob to Bosh in the last possession of the Nets series and the halfcourt lob to T.J. in that game in Atlanta last year that the clock operators blew. There has to be more.

On balance, it’s my opinion the good out-weighs the bad and I don’t believe firing a guy with a 6-7 record coaching this team is a prudent move. I respect and understand there are those who disagree, somewhat vehemently, and that’s fine. I would expect the same respect and understanding of my opinion.

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And now, maybe some levity? After all, we’re as much about goofiness here as we are anything else, right. Someone asked in the weekend mailbag about players and smoking. This really didn’t lend itself to a story to tell there so I’ll tell it here.

World championships in Indiana in 2002, Yugoslavia, a big favourite to win it all, gets off to a start like 0-2 or 0-3 and something and it looks like they might not even make the medal round. Precarious, indeed.

A friend and I are talking to Peja Stojakovic one off-day at Conseco and we bring up the dire straits the team’s in and we wonder just how seriously everyone’s taking the predicament.

Says Peja, and I paraphrase a bit:

“Seriously? We’re taking it seriously. Vlade (Divac) is taking it so seriously he quit smoking.”

Must have worked because Yugoslavia beat Argentina in the gold medal game, one of the top five games I’ve ever seen anywhere.

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And now some mail:

Q: Is it just me or has Kris Humphries looked descent in the past couple of days. He's been shooting pretty well and hitting his free throws. It didn't hit me that he's doing well until I saw Hollinger Stats on ESPN that ranks him #9 in the entire NBA, 1 spot above Bosh and 2 above Kobe. And the rest of the Top 8 are all All-Stars. Now I do agree if he plays more minutes, those stats will fall, but Sam should really start playing him at least 20 mins a game. What are your thoughts?

Serge A, Richmond Hill

A: The Hump’s been very good since he’s had some time in the rotation but the danger with him as always been the more he plays, the more he wants to and that’s where trouble lurks.

Maybe a couple of minutes more – he’s averaging about 20 – but that’d be it.

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Let’s see, Eddie Jordan coaches a team that’s always injured, he gets the most of the mercurial Gilbert Arenas, he’s in the playoffs every year despite a spate of injuries, he somehow keeps the team together when two of his centres – Brendan Haywood and Etan Thomas had fistfights on three different occasions, including once in the locker room. His GM can’t keep a key backup like Roger Mason Jr. when everyone knows Arenas won’t play a full year because he never does. He restores some sanity to a franchise after Michael Jordan, Leonard Hamilton and, yes, Doug Collins made a mockery of it.

And he gets fired after 11 games? Man, they should name the arena after him, not fire him

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For some reason (pre- and post-games shows of games I wasn’t at and various out-of-market games that are available elsewhere) I’ve seen a lot of Raptors TV lately and can I just say this:

Surely to goodness there’s a big enough body of Matt Devlin work that he can do promo voice-overs rather than dredging up year old Chuck Swirsky ads, no? I bet Leaves TV doesn’t use Ward Cornell.

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This is interesting. Or it’s not, I’m not sure.

With the firing of Eddie Jordan, Sam Mitchell moves up to second on the list of longest-serving head coaches in the Eastern Conference, behind only Lawrence Frank.

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And, to wrap up:

Q: Never try to use MLSE having to spend money as a valid excuse for not making a good basketball decision. We have to pay $45 a seat to sit in the top corner of the ACC. We deserve better.

Mark F, Toronto

A: Ding! Ding! Ding!

Comments

[tino]

On J. Moon's point,while i agree that Sam should look at others on the roster,i don't think he will ever do it.At this time, i blame BC for not forcing Sam to give JK,JG and HA,a fair opportunity to see if they can help.Maybe he should just trade Moon:the benefit of such a move would surely not be who would be coming in, but those 20 minutes x gm that Jamario plays going to others.
My question to you Doug is on one other issue.Bargnani gets often called for marginal calls;to avoid that,should he do what J.O'Neil,Pierce and others do: get a tech for a couple of games so the ref will give him, like to the others, the benefit of the doubt?Would being "forcefully" vocal for short while, help him in the long run?Any suggestions for Andrea?

Blogger's note: Keep playing the same way, the refs will soon learn.

[zaddups]

Ok...Doug...at least you are listening it seems to most...if not many readers who agree that it may be time for Sam Mitchell to go.
I'm sorry but I've seen this kind of lack of discipline...terrible defence and lack of simple basketball sense since the day Sam was hired.

Let's not kid ourselves here...the day Sam won coach of the year was the day he extended his shelf life for a couple more years. Bryan Colangelo had NO CHOICE but to resign the COY. There was no other option. We all knew that Colangelo truly wanted to bring in his OWN MAN. But how do you fire the COY? You simply can't.

In my opinion...Sam is a great manager of player egos...notice he never calls out a player by name to the press for risk of losing some or all of the locker room. But he also never says "this one's on me guys" to the media.
I'm sick of hearing his tired and played out cliches "they shot the ball better than we did...we just didn't make shots...we couldn't make our threes...they are the World Champs for a reason". His post game comments have incensed me for years.
Sam's a good person...but has little true "coaching acumen".
That means he isn't creative...cannot change game plan(s) on the fly(lacks spontaneity) and is so stubborn and forgetful sometimes that he doesn't remember the players who are playing well from those who aren't. Chris Humpries at least brings energy...and for that reason alone should be a part of the rotation...every team has these guys and they are usually effective.

Here are some observations from the last couple games:
1. Sam you MUST foul Vince before he shoots that game tying 3 to send the Nets game to OT.
2. At some point when Vince or another superstar(Wade last week) is going off...double him....triple him or whatever...let lesser players beat your team...get the ball out of his hands. Just like against Kobe and the 80 whatever point game. After the 50 point mark. Double Kobe...get the ball out of his hands...then if he insists on going to the basket foul him hard...so he thinks twice about venturing to the key.
3. Get Kapono shots...go get game tape and see how the Pacers got reggie Reggie Miller shots...how the Sonics and Bucks and Celtics now use Ray Allen...How the Raps used Dell Curry even but for goodness sakes Sam...use the best shooter in the game and don't let him go to another team where he will surely shine!
4. Why would you double Kendrick Perkins and leave Ray Allen...one of the greatest shooters of all time wide open for 3? What was Anthony Parker thinking? Was this Sam's game plan tactic or a brain cramp by a supposedy "intelligent defender" in Parker. There seems to be some DISCONNECT between what Sam says he tells the players to do and what they actually do on the court. Sam if you're truly telling players things to do and they're not doing them...simply BENCH THEM!
5.The reason this team comes out trailing almost every game is their mentality. How many times do they start the game driving to the basket?...almost NEVER. Check the box scores or play by play of the games and see that in almost every game the Raptors start taking jump shots right off the bat...and this comes from the coach...the must change this mentality. If as a team you go to the basket from the get-go...like Boston did...you tend to get guys on the other team in foul trouble sooner...especially the bigs like Garnett who must help on penetration...this in turn gets the starters out of the game...where guys like Bosh and O'Neal can go to work.
6. Lastly...Jose's play. I definitely think Jose was hurting alot more than he let on when the season started and it was from he got injured at the Olympics in Beijing. He hasn't been turning the corner on the pick and rolls and has no explosion while getting to the basket.
As for Jose's defence. It's plain to see that teams are telling their guards to take it to Calderon and penetrate...because he doesn't have the foot speed to keep up. But why don't the coaches tell Calderon to back off quicker point guards like Rajon Rondo, Raymond Felton, Rodney Stuckey etc...make them shooters which is what they don't do well. He's always right up on them and continues to get beat which puts pressure on the rest of the team to rotate and help/recover. This is a simple thing and one of many little things the Raptors and the coaching staff are failing to do well.

I don't wish anyone to get fired(although I have been calling for Sam's ouster for years now)...but these things have been going on for too long and Mr. Mitchell always refuses to take any of the blame. Enough is enough.

[Chris]

Great breakdown on Sam. I think what's so frustrating is that his negatives seem like they should be easily correctable, at least year to year. For instance, lack of offensive creativity. The pick and roll is great, but let's add in some movement, some back door cuts. The Nets crawled back when they switch to a zone defense and it took the Raptors the entire 3rd quarter to figure out.

[Eric]

First of all, I'm not a bandwagon jumper. Proof? This Bargnani love-in. The man scores double-digits in more than one game in a row and all of a sudden someone deserves credit for his development? Let's reserve judgment on whether this man has really improved until he's shown it for more than one week! We've seen a lot of this before.

With Mitchell, I'm simply aghast at the two Boston games this year. Not just Sam, but also Chris. In the first installment, anyone with an eye was embarrassed by Sam's surprisingly passive, quiet, composed self, shrugging his shoulders at the end of the meltdown in a "They just made their shots" comedy... and ignoring the ugly Garnett/Calderon exchange as well. Chris too, being pushed around like a kid in grade 2. BULLIED! But for them both to come out on Sunday and do it AGAIN makes it exponentially worse and is, for me, a reflection of the problem. This is a man (Sam) who is so proud that he'd rather deny what's happening than explore ways to get better. With this sort of leadership, I have absolutely zero confidence that the team will improve under his watch. He's funny but that's all he is.

The same things will happen over and over and over in the future. It's already happened. Those who forget the past are doomed to repeat it, right? I can hardly think of a more textbook example than this team and that hurts.

For them to now wait until the season repeats itself is a waste of time and also not healthy for the future. The effect of another five months of losing or mediocrity on this team's spirit cannot be underestimated. But I agree- he can't be fired and why? Not just because he has a big ticket, but also because he might have the most inexperienced asst staff in the league. If he goes, who'd step in? Raptors PR mogul Jay Triano?

Your right, Doug. Everybody has a share in this pie of weak losing and underachievement. I can't wait to see them go off to the west coast for another debacle, say they don't make excuses, and proceed to set a record for making excuses! It'd be par for the course under this regime.

[SY]

Hi Doug,

Great Article~ I totally agree that Sam being intractable. You could tell from all the interviews (and post interviews) that he is very confident in himself (maybe with all the successes he had the last 2 years). If we can have a humble Sam after all these losses, it's probably good thing especially this early in the season where we can still turn things around. I think Sam really needs to be asking a lot of whys - Why is the team always come out with the lack of energy? Why is team always gets beaten at the wing? (I say Graham has more than enough potential to defend at the wing) Why is JK not taking the open threes (which is really his strength)? The question is though - can we win even with a humble Sam.

SY

[sam's fan]

im becoming a pistons fan if triano is the guy to replace sam. Didnt Triano get replaced by Leo Rautins and for the right reasons. Even Nash had an issue with triano, Think about it...not about triano coaching the raps but the fact that detroit is only like 3 hours away from toronto.lol

On a more serious note: Lets not make any changes until the end of this season, Changing coaches will not do anything, with our talent level, were a team destined to finish 6th to 8th in the conference with a first round exit. I dont see us going past the first round, were not deep enough to beat cleveland orlando boston detroit..there are other teams in the east but lets just pretend that those r the only ones we would have a hard time beating. But i cant help but mention, i think newyork is playing a lot better and has improved ALOT more than toronto and can end up over the raps by the end of the season. I dont mean wins n loses, cuz there already ahead in that, i mean a team with chemistry that can go deeper in playoffs

[RD]

Re: Amr - trading Bargnani

I think it's safe to say that with the progress Bargnani has showed thus far this season, along with the potential to become a much better player still, he's not an asset the Raptors are willing to part with.

Why do you care about Vince Carter trade scenarios? Had time to heal since he screwed the Raptors over the first time? I guess all it takes is one game to win you back.

[Anne MacKay]

Doug,
I loved your take on the firing of Eddie Jordan!
Eddie certanly had a great sense of humour. When Mo Pete put up that ridiculous shot at the end of a Raps/Wizard game to force overtime, Eddy Jordan was laughing along with everyone else. Some coaches would have been tearing their hair out, wringing their hands etc.
Have you ever heard of a coach quitting or do they just wait because they know they are going to be ousted anyway as soon as their teams starts to fail regardless of whose fault it is?
Sounds like Eddy had more reason to quit over the years than be fired!

[Alex]

wow some looooooong comments today. I hereby bestow upon recent events the title of "The Great Fire Sam Debate" (capital letters of course).
I remain on the record as saying this is NOT the time to fire a coach. End of the year maybe. Now would do more harm than good.

[WSG]

It's getting incredible how many words are going into this comment section of the blog every day. And ... most of them (probably), have at least some merit! I wonder how the growing number of comments here on the Raptors stack up against what other hoop-fans offer on their own respective teams? We sure seem to like our basketball here in torrono. And even so ... still no TSN2 on rogers ... and we have 3 games in a row coming up in the middle of December. THAT ... is a freeking drag ...

[C. French]

Hi Doug - as I wasn't able to see any of the games on the weekend, I refuse to believe they actually happened! Anyway, a non-Raptors question - with all this hype going on around Lebron and New York and 2010, I saw that Nike has done a lot around MSG for tonight's game promoting the whole "Lebron in NYC - 2010" with Red "Witness" signs, basketballs etc...Now I know that if the Knicks were behind this, there would likely be tampering issues and fines by the League. However, can a Company like Nike be reprimanded or punished by the NBA - given given that Lebron is under contract to Cleveland for the next 2 seasons, this marketing scheme is very similar to tampering had it been done by the Knicks or any other team? It appears to be a poor message from Nike (they don't want him in Cleveland), which reflects on the league.

Thoughts?

Blogger's note: No, Nike, or any company, are free and clear of any NBA repercussions.

[Alex]

Whether or not Sam's doing smoe good things, this team, with as many holes as it no doubt has, is not performing well. They don't move without the ball, they don't play with intensity and they are beyond terrible at every set play (after a time out, end of game situations, etc.) that a coach directly impacts.

They're sloppy, they have no variety in either offense or defense, they don't execute, and they don't play with intensity. 4 things the coach directly impacts. Period. Full stop. Smitch should've been gone last year.

[OLM]

Hey Doug, great blog today. It's good that there's a voice of calm and reason to go up against the critical tone that Feschuk usually puts out.

I have been a critic of Sam's for years, but I've always maintained that it's within his realm to change and grow as a coach, just like we expect it of Andrea to grow and develop. I think he's done a good job of that in his career, but he's been showing signs of stagnation this year, so I can completely understand the frustration coming from the fans, myself included. However, what I'm not about to do is to throw him under the bus, and demand that he gets fired until this season is actually finished. I think the only way to judge a coach and his team's performance is by looking at the whole season. We need to avoid overreacting to their early-season shortcomings and making a premature, Eddie Jordan-esque (loved your piece on him, btw) firing that will throw the team in limbo by having to learn something totally new and different from another coach.

My hope is that Sam will wake up to some of the realities of his own weaknesses, and take steps to address them. While some may think it shows weakness to seek help, I think it's a sign of strength that the person is able to acknowledge their shortcomings and seek ways of improving themselves. If Sam can do that, and the team still doesn't make it past the second round, I don't think you can hold it against him, you can only look at the roster, and find ways to improve the team.

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Just a thought on your Kapono comment yesterday, stating that he didn't take any shots. We all know that Sunday's game was lost because of defense, not because our offense wasn't making shots. I remember 2 plays where Kapono's lack of quickness and athleticism, and silly judgement imo, caused 2 and-1 plays. He is constantly out of position when he helps on defense primarily because he lacks the quickness to get back to his open man. Personally, I'm of the opinion that if BC can move Kapono for a more athletic, defensive wing (I'm not expecting a superstar for Kapono's salary), the team would perform much better without much of a drop-off on our 3pt shooting, with Andrea, AP, and Jose all more than capable.
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Just thought I'd agree with you on the Yugo-Arg 2002 World Championship game. Simply amazing. I think Yugo was down some ridiculous number in the dying minutes only to make a huge comeback for the tie, receive a major non-call in the dying seconds of regulation, and manage to pull it out in OT. Spectacular game, and I'll never forget Dejan Bodiroga's amazing plays to bring Yugo back in regulation.

As for Vlade's nicotine habit, I've witnessed it first hand. One night out in Chicago, sometime shortly before the 04-05 season, I happened to be at the same club as him. His group happened to be sitting in a corner booth, and I was at a nearby bar when I finally noticed him. Since I hung around that area for about 30 minutes, I witnessed the man chain smoke 4 or 5 cigarettes in that time, adding to an already overflowing ashtray. I had heard about his smoking habits in the past, but this was pretty extreme.
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Keep up the good work Dougie.

[JP]

@Kelsie.

Everything you have said is so dumb. Where would CB and Jose be without Sam? Exactly where they are now! Sam had nothing to do with their development. Development comes from the one on one with the Assistants.
Furthermore, Sam had 100% nothing to do with Bargs' development this year. If you remember last year Sam wouldn't even talk to Andrea. He let his assistants do it because Sam had no clue!
Give the credit to the person who deserves it, ANDREA! He figured it out and dedicated himself this past summer to getting better!

Sam is a marginal coach who has done nothing since he was hired. Thats right NOTHING!!!! a division title in the worst division in NBA History is NOTHING! and 2 straight first round stompings are NOTHING!

Blogger's note: I'm going to butt in here with something I was going to write about in the morning.
You are dead wrong on the assistants thing. Do you honestly think assistant coaches just go off and do stuff on their own. No. They take instructions from the head coach, who tells them "we need to work with this guy on that facet of his game." So before you go off half-cocked again, I just want to point that out.
The rest of your rant is, well, quite the rant; you're point about the staff -- in season or in summer -- working independently of the head coach couldn't be further from the truth.

[Dana]

Hi Doug,

Decent analysis on Sam and team. I mostly agree with Kelsie which is pretty close to what you had to say. Frankly some of the comments re: firing Sam, trading Bosh, firing Colangelo are a huge waste of time to read. I realize on a blog you get it all but still some of it is hard on the head.

I guess some people don't understand why Vince Carter is not loved. Simply put Canadians tend to look at sports through a hockey perspective. One of the things you don't do in hockey is quit playing but still "play"and keep taking your checque. Now I know Vince is American so he wouldn't get it but to a Canadian it is unacceptable, dare I say sin? It seems odd to me that many of the media (Canadian) have refrained from coming right out and stating it. Vince certainly gave us lots of clues, as in, "dunk is not in my vocabulary", etc., etc.

I'm happy for Vince and New Jersey if they can stand each other but personally if I played on a team with him I would have a difficult time in respecting Vince. He was well payed and continues to be. Personally I think he should thank the Raptors for the opportunity and the money. You did catch his comment, " when I watch a sport I'm a terrible fan too"(not exact quote but close) in relation to the booing. He don't get it.

Finally, I wish people would get over the "Leaf" syndrome. Do you realize the team hasn't won a cup in 41 years? Yes. The Raps and Jays (another maligned team) have nothing to do with it. Different sport, different players, different management. Can we just focus on basketball? The rest of the whiners should stick to fantasy sports.

[kelsie]

@jp

I'm glad to see you're clairvoyant and can speculate and forsee things that didn't happen. If you watched Calderon his rookie year, you should be a scout if you envisioned him playing at the level he has over the past two years. For you to insinuate that Mitchell had nothing to do with it reflects your basketball iq. If Lenny Wilkens or Kevin O'Neil was the coach of this team during those time periods, Jose would have been the same player he is now right? I can't say for sure but I would have my doubts.

I'm smart enough to know that I can't answer that question definitively but apparently some people can!

You know for a fact that Sam wouldn't talk to Andrea? He played a second year player (started him) at the 5, and as poorly as Bargnani played trying to learn the position, Sam never bad mouthed him and defended him to the media as a young player trying to learn in an unforgiving league. I'm not saying Andrea hasn't developed because of his own hard work but to adamantly state that this had nothing to do with the coach is wrong and it's your opinion that this is the case, which does not make it fact.

A division title for a team that has never won one, consecutive playoff appperances, and a coach of the year title sounds like a little bit more than NOTHING!! (You can ease up on the caps locks JP I can't hear you)

And thank you Doug for addressing this issue. I'm not saying Sam is the best coach in the league and he must improve as well, but to make comments asserting that he basically sits there while assistants do the real coaching is ludicrous.

[DJ]

Raptor fans are really fired up. It's as if 8 dollar beer and 45 dollar nose bleed seats just aren't enough any more. Now they want a team in Toronto that actually wins games.

BC must regret setting the expectations so high.

[Marc M]

Sam is trying to teach finesse players to play physical, trying to instill defensive principles and a passion for rebounding into offensive-minded individuals. Now it's up to the players to take those snippets and put it together.

Garnett brought a similar ethic to the Celtics as a player who led by example.

Doug: Have there been any effective player-coaches in the league? I can only think of Lenny Wilkens and Bill Russell.

Blogger's note: Those two were the gold standards, yes

[Cedric]

What about the Raptors actually get bold and trade Bargnani and Kapono for some fire power both at the post position and the wing. I'm thinking a trade with Portland: Bargnani & Kapono (we can even throw Printezis in there) for Channing Frye, Travis Outlaw and Diogu. I personally think the Raptors get what they're in dire need of with Outlaw and get some help at the post position although they're still weak at guard (I think Solomon will get better with time) Portland on the other hand get Bargnani who could maybe really flourish with the system they play (with Oden, Pryzbilla and Aldridge he won't need to even think of the 5 spot) and Kapono will get the open looks he needs to have an impact in a game.

http://games.espn.go.com/nba/features/traderesult?players=2750~2754~2015~2987~2010~3226&teams=28~28~28~22~22~22&te=&cash=22:28

[Scott]

If you're bashing the team, coach, GM, or players, you're a bandwagon jumper from the 06-07 season, and you cannot call yourself a true Raptors fan. However if you're remaining patient and rational, and are not among that group now preparing to hop right back off the bandwagon as if the Raptors were 1-12, then you are a true fan and good on ya.

The vast majority of these bashing comments are coming from people who believe that a team with a retooled starting 5, and promising potential, can show "Celtic-like" dominance within 13 games. Sure they were expected to be better and it's a disappointing start, but they weren't going to go 13-0. They've showed glimpses of how good they can be (3-0 start), but you've got to give it time because they will be good in time. How good? We'll see- maybe .500, maybe better. Remember that even if they finish with a .500 record, the O'Neal trade is going to pay off most in the playoffs where JO can control guys like Superman (like we saw in Orlando when he was in the game). If you're a real Raps fan, you'll stick with it. So this early in the season, you can forget about VC coming back (this VC talk only started because he won the game for Jersey), firing Sam (even if he may have his X's & O's deficiencies, he's still a decent coach in a number of ways that Doug points out), or making an eye-popping trade. Not going to happen!

[Alex]

Nice analysis and comments. I tend to think that barring a total collapse, Sam's future will be decided next summer (and right now I see him looking for a new job).

A question on roster improvement....

It seems there are two general ways to change this roster: make a deal mid-season and move AP's contract and attractive piece like Kapono or Moon (or some overlooked possibility that BC will surely investigate), or wait till the off-season and add through free agency and the draft.

You've said before that you expect a move this season if the team doesn't improve, but I'm torn over how management should handle their problems. I feel like this team has a good core and is only a couple of pieces away from greatness. A trade now might help one area but cause a problem somewhere else (like 3-point shooting sans AP and Kapono).

Which path should they take (if they need to take one)?

Blogger's note: Depending on where they are in January or February, I think a tweak would be in order. But if there's a guy they can get now who's better than anyone they think they can get in the summer, I'd make a bold move, too. But, no, I have no idea who that might be.

[eric]

This Toronto Raptors team, at one level, believe they are really good. They aren't.
Good teams bury bad teams. To some, there is a perception that good teams win in the crunch, that they win the close ones. Good teams do that more often than not, because they are good teams. However the distinguishing feature of a good sports team is that it puts away inferior opponents.
Good teams play at one level, no matter who they are facing. Sure there are let downs occasionally and that's when the coach must remind them of what has to be done to remain on top.
The Toronto Raptors are probably about mid-pack as far as NBA talent. When they play an inferior team, they believe they will win. They play just well enough to win and quite often do.
However, when a really good opponent surfaces, they try to elevate their game. It is amazing how badly they shoot the basketball against good teams. Why -- they are trying harder. They are digging deep and they are now out of their normal rhythm.
Doug, you are right -- it is an organizational problem from top to bottom. The players need a reality check and they need to bring their A-game EVERY night.
If they did that, they wouldn't cough up 18-point leads on a consistent basis. They would be able to give some minutes to guys buried on the end of the bench, and some much-needed rest to starters and they wouldn't choke so badly when they face a quality opponent.
Good teams probably could turn it on and off again, but they don't. Teams that think they can, play like the Toronto Raptors.