And so begins a big, busy week

Join us at noon today for a live Q&A with Doug Smith, as the Raptors prepare to take on the Washington Wizards.

Hmm.

Four games in five nights, three of them on the road and all against Eastern Conference foes.

Big week indeed.

A split? That’d be a borderline disappointment. Running the table? Yeah, right.

Going 3-1? That’s about what’s needed, actually.

Oh yeah, one other thing. Let's move the game-day chat to noon today, if that's all right with everyone? We're still trying to find the optimum time for all concerned.

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The first reaction of a coach is to protect his own and there was Jay, doing it in spades yesterday afternoon.

“I can’t blame it on players for not being able to guard, I have to find the strengths and weaknesses of each guy and figure out how much I have to play them.”

He’s right, of course. One of the biggest and most important jobs of any coach is to put his players in the best possible situation to succeed, offensively and defensively.

If that means devising a system where they, say, switch all screen and rolls or double-team automatically in the post, so be it.

But it’s also an age-old method of deflect attention, and criticism, from the players and while it may play well in the media, it’s not going to fool anybody who wears a uniform.

They know. They know what they can and cannot do, they know what teammates can and cannot do. They are quite hard to bluff.

Look, the simple fact is this team doesn’t have a lot of great individual defenders and if anyone thought they did, they apparently hadn’t been watching.

Jay and his staff have decided that it’s not a bad idea to junk up a game every now and then, switch on screens a few times, show a few times, play a handful of possessions in a zone (usually after timeouts when opponents have likely called a play set up to work against man defence); anything to gain even a slight edge for a little time.

Maybe that works for a little while but it seems to me that clouding the issue with a variety of defensive schemes runs counter to finding one that works and learning.

On the other hand, maybe there simply isn’t one that works well enough and you gotta do what you’ve gotta do.

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So much for altering any lineup or rotation.

The feeling around the lads yesterday was that nothing’s afoot for tonight of the foreseeable future, although coaches always reserve the right to keep quiet about these thing until the very last minute.

And at least one player – Chris Bosh -- has, publicly, no appetite for it.

“Change doesn’t always equal success. I think the only change we can do right now is in the way we play and that’s really it. It has to come from within right now.”

Then he dropped a little history on us, while also making the case that it’s still quite early in the season, which in fact it is.

“The results are going to come, that’s how we have to take it. Rome wasn’t built in a day. There, that’s a little bit of knowledge for everybody. Or 18 games.”

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Speaking of teams not living up to expectations, we give you tonight’s visitors, the 5-10 Washington Wizards.

This is how Mike Lee writes it up.

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You know how they’re “recognizing” a bunch of Raptors from the past as part of this “celebration” of 15 years of mainly mediocrity, as if 15 is some significant milestone?

Well, why not go all out and do it every game?

Find someone obscure for whatever opponent is in on whatever night and “celebrate” them.

I can see it tonight:

A litany of Mike James jump shots in a 20-second video clip.

Or perhaps a retrospective of the half hour that Antawn Jamison spent as a Raptor.

You know, something to get the fans all excited.

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I read that it seems to be a fait accompli that Allen Iverson’s going to go back to Philly.

It’s a move that smacks of marketing triumphing over common basketball sense and I cannot for a second think it’s going to work.

Is he going to really help the team accomplish something on the court that it wouldn’t otherwise have achieved? Do you think Andre Iguodala is going to have the ball often enough? I wonder if Jrue Holiday develops as quickly playing spectator rather than point guard? Think Allen Iverson’s going to walk the ball up and throw it into the post to Elton Brand? You think when Lou Williams gets back that Iverson will cede his spot to him?

No, this, to me, is more about selling tickets and creating a buzz than it has anything to do with basketball. The Sixers are second-last in home attendance, drawing 11,412 per game and just edging out the woeful New Jersey Nets for 30th. There’s the reason.

Iverson’s best role right now, without a doubt in my mind, is getting it through his head that he could be a valuable backup on a good team and if he truly cared about winning, he’d have already searched out a solid franchise and offered his services as a sub.

Like, say, Boston.

But no.

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Tough night with no DWTS and only a late NBA game I really had no interest in. (Although I did watch a bit of Indy-Golden State and let’s just say that’s a game where passing was at a premium).

But the big gridiron game now makes me a New Orleans Saints fan, at least for now. The dude Brees is pretty darn good and it was fun to watch him shred Dour Bill and his boys.

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I will give them credit for putting in the time.

The Raps really didn’t work all that long yesterday – slightly under the usual time what with four games in five nights ahead of them – but long, long after everyone else had left the practice court, Jarrett Jack and Marco Belinelli were out there working on their shooting.

No idea if it’ll pay off but they were getting some extra work in.

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Comments

[Mark L]

Doug,

thoughts on this comment by Vince Thomas on NBA.com regarding AI and Toronto:
"Toronto: There's definitely 30 mpg available in Toronto. With Jose Calderon and Hedo Turkoglu, Iverson would have little-to-zero facilitating responsibilities and could focus strictly on scoring. And, although a Calderon/Iverson backcourt is about as bad defensively as Nash/Iverson, what Iverson would bring with him is more important. The Raptors have been soft and essentially swag-less since Charles Oakley bounced and Vince Carter gave up. What you have now is fairly talented team with a lot of potential, but missing a strut in their steps. If nothing else, Iverson gives the Raptors some machismo. And the hoops-crazed fans in Ontario would love him. In terms of effort, he's the anti-VC.

Blogger's note: I think he's wrong and I think it'd be a bad move

[Darko]

Jack, to put it as eloquently as possible, you are so full of crap
it's beyond bland.

[yertu damkule]

BrianV - uh, lou williams kinda sucks. not sure AI is the answer (pun not intended) for them or not, but honestly, it's not as though he's got all-NBA talent 'ahead' of him at that spot.

philly's an interesting team if they add AI...not sure what kind of chemistry they'll have (any?). seem to be made up of a lot of me-first chuckers.

[D-Mac Ottawa]

Wow Doug, just wondering, are we, your faithful, always this wiggy heading into a full moon?? P.S. Go Raps!!

[Dave in BG]

The real question is

Will AI practice?

[Kelsie]

"it's a good thing our GM would never build a team in a such away...using, say, diversity of the city or it's 'multi-culturalism' as the backbone for acquiring/retaining/extending certain players"

It's interesting but when this was suggested earlier in the year there were many people who disagreeed and thought it was purely coincidental. Meanwhile, the realists can observe what is happening and understanding how important it is to keep fans in the seats for BC and MLSE by selling us a 'diverse team' that is indicative of our great city, results be damned.

I could care less about diversity. Wins are the only thing that is important and I will be glad when the gloves come off for Colangelo cause the fans are deeply scrutinizing the players, the coaches and hopefully our management next.

[The Original Jack]

So the tweaking that Jay envisions is a change in the defensive schemes. Was there a defensive scheme in the first place? If the players just show some defense like bumping, screening on rebounds, challenging lay-ups, that would be a change. It's going from none to one.
I also question Bosh's logic. He's saying a change doesn't always equate to success. But if status quo is not working, why not change? It's not a drastic change that is required. Maybe just one player to add some fire to the line-up. Bargnani doesn't show any of this fire. Maybe Johnson will. Maybe when Evans comes back from injury, he can start in place of Bargnani. Or Rasho. If they don't try to tinker with the current line up, then it's gonna be the same all over.

[Ben]

This team needs energy and a better defensive rotation.
Its sad that Jay can't see that his starting line up is awful. Sit down Jose, sit down turk. Neither one of these guys are starters, they are finishers. Get in Jack first, guy works his butt off and gives intensity night in and night out. I don't even need to mention Bosh. Guy is a beast this year with his extra mass and he is really showing it. Now where is weems!? He is a freak on transition. There is a line up... Andrea (reggie to take his place when he gets back), Bosh, Demar, Weems, Jack. Thats some real energy. Bring in the finishers to slow the game down and play smart ball (Jose, Turk, etc). Right out the gates though we need some energy and we aren't getting it from Andrea or Turk or Jose. Sit em down!

[sara]

Bargnani may not be the best Center this team needs but the question is : where is the right Center to play alongside Bosh ? We had one,Mr. Jermaine O'Neal,a true Center , but we have seen how bad he and Bosh were together .... Evans and Johnson could bring more energy but will this compensate what we will lose on offense ?Actually AB is our second best scorer,not the last scrub.

[Dan W]

Probably not at all possible, but Andres Nocioni would be godd player for this team. He brings alot of the same skill set that Garbajosa did.

[Matt M]

Come on guys, I think the 'Toronto is a multicultural city' is more a selling point for free agents than the fan base. It certainly worked for Turk. As for the 'european' formula not working it seems to be doing fine in Phoenix (who use a free flowing system brought to the NBA by Mike D'antoni if I'm not mistaken) and the San Antonio Spurs (who have won multiple championships with a non-american core). That said, there are a lot of things not to like about the Raptors and if you would like to complain about something that doesn't exist outside your own paranoid minds don't let me stop you. But man you guys are grasping here...

[Nick M]

Great questions posed by AI, BrianV.

If only AI spoke a bit more like Rickey Henderson!

[david998]

Exactly what was Turkoglu supposed to bring to this franchise?
Or is this it?

Yikes,adding him to bargnagni and calderon was a recipe for defensive disaster.
I think all 3 can play and would be an asset to teams which can defend..but they can't all play at the same time.

[J]

Matt M: 100% agree. So tired of people making excuses simply because the team has a lot of international players. We got Turkoglu because he was arguably the best FA who we had a good chance of getting, not because we wanted representation for the Turkish fans in the city.

Ben: Wow. Did you really suggest a starting lineup of Jack, DeRozan, Weems, Bosh and Evans? I'm sorry, but does that really look like a starting lineup for a playoff team? One true offensive threat, two "rookies" (Weems might as well be one), one good backup PG, and a role player. If you're not tired of dumping the ball into Bosh and having him create, you will soon be!

[F]

While much can be said about the Raptor defence (and lack thereof), here is how the offence went for the Raps in the 4th quarter:

Bosh: 1/6 FG (blocked twice)
Turkoglu: 1/6 FG, 1/2 FT
Jack: 4/7 FG, 4/4 FT
Bargnani: 1/1 FG
Calderon: 1/1 FG
Johnson: 1/2 FT

Seeing as how Bargnani (20 pts, 57% FG) and Calderon (20 pts, 75% FG) were on their games last night, couldn't the coaching staff (let alone the players themselves) recognized this and worked harder to get Andrea and Jose more looks?

We see this kind of decision-making frequently and it hurts them in the fourth quarter of close games.