When assessing the talents of a number of current Toronto Raptors, one might be led by the comments from disgruntled writers into thinking that the Raptors were made up of a bunch of losers and hacks.
But as these are often the musings of the close followers of a team that missed the playoffs on the final day of the season, total objectivity may not the order of the day. Although there are occasions for those who only rarely see the team play to also toss in their opinion.
The Raptors facing the toughest criticism during the 2009-10 season were: Jose Calderon; Hedo Turkoglu; Andrea Bargnani; Bryan Colangelo; and, Jay Triano.
And in a world where accolades and scorn are based on results instead of effort, each of these maligned Raptors earned some that criticism.
Jay Triano
Least we forget, Jay Triano was a rookie Head Coach in his first full year at the helm, and at the start and end of the season, the inexperienced showed.
Letting Hedo Turkoglu skip training camp and much of the preseason because Turkoglu was tired is one mistake that Triano will never make again.
In the season’s first 20 games, Jay Triano kept using the Calderon and Jack pairing to close out games and they kept letting him down. Even well after it had become obvious to everyone following the team that Calderon and Jack together gave up far more points than they could score.
Plus one has to lay the blame at Triano’s door for how it appeared that the team fell into disarray during the early losing streak and again after Bosh returned from injury. The team’s lack of cohesion seemed to follow Triano’s game plan of force feeding the ball into Bosh on every play while Bosh struggled to find his game.
Rookie’s at any position will make rookie mistakes. But, since Jay Triano got the Head Coaching job in part because of his work with players on the US National team, we can safely assume Triano has coaching skills.
One can only hope he has learned the difference between coaching the NBA’s most motivated players and the rest of the league in time for next season.
Bryan Colangelo
After rebuilding a 27 win franchise into a division winning team over the summer in 2006, one might be lead to believe the Bryan Colangelo would have earned some breathing space from the fans in Toronto. But you would be wrong in making such an assumption.
In Colangelo’s four years directing the Toronto Raptors, the team made it to the playoffs twice followed by two seasons falling short. And considering Colangelo had inherited a team that averaged 29 wins in the four prior seasons, that was quite an improvement.
But Colangelo took a big gamble in 2008 trading depth and opportunity to bring in a player that many thought could make the Raptors a serious playoff team for the first time in eight years. Jermaine O’Neal limped his way into hindering Andrea Bargnani’s development and the gamble blew up in Colangelo’s face. It cost the Raptors a draft pick and a suspect contract to unload O’Neal’s huge deal and the first cracks in Colangelo’s fan support began to open up.
In 2009, Colangelo repeated the process that worked so well in 2006. Nine new faces, with the bonus of a veteran wing player with playoff experience, gave Raptors management and fans hope for another playoff run.
And at the All-Star break, it looked like Colangelo had revived the magic of 2006 as the Raptors tied the franchise high for wins with 29 to that point. A Chris Bosh injury and missing the playoffs on the final day of the season later, and Bryan Colangelo had become a failure in the eyes of many fans.
Andrea Bargnani
All Andrea Bargnani did in 2009-10 was set personal bests for points (17.2), rebounds (6.2), blocks (1.4), and shooting percentage (47).
And he did it while doing what he coaches asked of him.
- Andrea Bargnani spent most of the season at the three-point line and was the first player back defending the fast break. So much for getting more offensive rebounds.
- Andrea was routinely switched on to guards and wings defensively when his teammates couldn’t cover them. Even getting a fair number of blocked shots as these players tried to shoot over him. So much for getting more defensive boards when you are stuck trying to block out players faster than yourself far from the key.
- Stronger than in previous seasons, Bargnani did work deep into the post more often. But after pinning his man under the basket, Bargnani was routinely looked off. Maybe he got just a little frustrated with his teammates at times?
- Bargnani led the Raptors in blocked shots and had 30 multiple block games. During the year he played well against the league’s top big men including during wins over Cleveland, Orlando, San Antonio, and the Lakers. But he still takes writer’s jabs over his lack of defense?
When compared to other NBA centers, Bargnani ended the season 5th in scoring, 16th in rebounding, and in 12th blocks. Compared to all NBA players, Bargnani was 36th in scoring, 45th in rebounding, and 17th in blocks.
The oft used argument that Bargnani doesn’t get enough rebounds seems weak. NBA teams don’t have two 10 rebound per game players and the Raptors duo of Bosh and Bargnani at 17 rebounds per game is among the league’s best.
Bargnani is still a young developing player and his stats as the second banana on the Raptors are good. Of all the Raptors who have been maligned by the media and the fans, the negative comments about Bargnani are the most undeserving.
Hedo Turkoglu
When Hedo Turkoglu arrived at the Raptors training camp in 2009 he made the biggest mistake of his NBA career. By skipping training camp and most of the preseason, Turkoglu set himself up as a prima-donna and eventually fans, coaches, and even players would have reason to doubt his efforts.
In October, November, December, and February there was nothing wrong with Hedo’s on court production of 13 to 14 points, 4 to 5 rebounds, and 4 to 5 assists. Turkoglu was playing fewer minutes and taking fewer shots than in Orlando, but he was still effective. At least he was most of the time.
But what fans remember is:
- shooting less than 40 percent and scoring fewer than 10 points per game in January, March, and April;
- the disappearing Hedo on back-to-back games;
- Hedo leaving half way through a game and getting benched the next day for going out with his teammates that night;
- the incident in the bar when “his security guy” took the camera phone away from a patron and deleted all of her pictures;
- the seemingly whiny pouting player who looks and sounds unhappy;
- not hitting the big shots at the end of games and,
- a $10 million per season contract.
One should be tempted to give Turkoglu a mulligan for the opening mistakes, his family health issues, and his two-time broken face. But that’s not going to happen unless he comes back and plays well.
Jose Calderon
This one-time fan favorite has fallen into disfavor because of an inability to defend his own position. A perception has developed that somehow Jose Calderon has become the primary hole in the Raptors defense.
Jose’s detractors will point to his defensive rating of 116 points given up per 100 possessions as the worst on the team while at the same time defending Jarrett Jack’s defensive rating of 115. Perhaps something should be said about the defensive schemes being run by the Raptors as a team?
Defensive ratings over 110 points given up per 100 possessions are common for point guards in the NBA. Notable defensive ratings include: Mike Bibby 110; Chauncey Billups 110; Aaron Brooks 112; Rodney Stuckey 112; and Devin Harris 112.
And what fans may have forgotten is that last season when Calderon was playing through a hamstring injury, his defensive rating was 112. Perhaps this year’s increase is more a result of playing beside a rookie instead of the more defensively competent Anthony Parker. In the two prior seasons when Calderon was not hampered by a sore hamstring, his defensive rating was below 110.
Fans continued to notice Calderon’s offensive efficiency even though it dipped to a still very high 119 points produced per 100 possessions. Jose Calderon is an impressive scorer. A rare shooter with the ability to average better than 40 percent from three, 50 percentage overall, and 90 percent from the line.
In the two prior seasons, Jose Calderon averaged a scary offensive rating 123 and 127 points per 100 possessions.
But this year’s Jose Calderon did not look like the prior seasons unstoppable offensive force.
Calderon lost well over 10 pounds coming into this season as he recovered from his hamstring injury during the summer and a noticeably slighter Jose took to the floor during preseason.
There is a real concern about the impact of injury on Calderon. Jose does not perform well after an injury and it seems to take a long time for him to regain his form. That’s not something one can easily fix.
This season Calderon also found himself adapting to the needs of Hedo Tukoglu. Some might agree that Calderon and Turkoglu may not be ideally suited to play on the same team as both players saw their offensive efficiency drop.
Maligned Raptors: Deserving or Not?
When the team and General Manager start off the season with bold predictions of 50 wins and the team ends up in ninth place, it would be unreasonable for fans to not take out their frustrations on whomever seemed to be the cause.
And there is lots of blame to go around.
Brian Colangelo: Deserved
Brian Colangelo probably pressured Triano into keeping DeMar DeRozan in the starting line-up and may even have influenced the Jack/Calderon experiment to start the year?
And Colangelo has no one to blame but himself for failing to pull the trigger on a trade deadline deal that could have assured the Raptors of sufficient depth to win at least one more game and make the post season.
Bryan Colangelo has put himself under the microscope in 2010-11. He’ll have to perform well to regain the fans trust. (Some us have a lot faith in his ability to do just that.)
Jay Triano: Deserved
Jay Triano showed an inability to react quickly when his team ran into problems. With nine new guys, simpler might have been better?
Triano earned the negative comments he got. But he is getting a second chance and hopefully he makes the most of it.
Andrea Bargnani: Not Deserved
The only excuse for negativity towards Andrea Bargnani is because he was a number one pick. But that wasn’t his fault and besides, it wasn’t that bad of a pick. The only player from that draft who is significantly ahead of Bargnani is Brandon Roy and Roy is suffering through the injury concerns that originally dropped him out of the top five picks.
Bargnani did let his frustration show at times this past season and it showed itself by a lack of intensity. But being frustrated with one’s teammates or coach isn’t going to win you any fans.
Hedo Turkoglu: Deserved
Hedo Turkoglu earned the negativity he has received since the day he showed up to training camp and didn’t participate. He just made too many mistakes for a veteran player.
But one shouldn’t forget Turkoglu’s playoff performances of just one year ago. If Turkoglu gets his act together, he can still be a very effective player.
Jose Calderon: Not Deserved
The fact that Jose Calderon isn’t a strong defender shouldn’t have been that much of a surprise. Like most point guards in the NBA, his job is to facilitate the offense and he has been exceedingly good at that.
This season was a down year for Jose. But perhaps that was as much caused by the changes to team chemistry. Calderon was not put in a position to be successful. Another Colangelo mistake?
While there are Raptors deserving of the negativity that has been flung in their direction, the fact that the comments may have been earned doesn’t take away from the skills and ability of the people involved.
- Bryan Colangelo is still the Raptors most experienced and successful leader.
- Jay Triano is still considered to be a good coach by some of the best basketball minds in the US.
- Hedo Turkoglu is still just 12 months removed from an outstanding playoffs.
- Andrea Bargnani continues to improve.
- Jose Calderon is still a highly skilled point guard.
Deserving or not, these Raptors have a lot to contribute to a NBA team.
Totally agree with this post.
“1.Bryan Colangelo is still the Raptors most experienced and successful leader.”
and he’s setting the bar very low.
That’s true, the bar is low.
I agree with you on Calderon,
I disagree with Bargnani. In my mind, it was deserved.
I think it would be safe to assume that if Bargs becomes the number 1 option on offense, the Raptors are going to be worse off and his efficiency will plummet.
Defensively, Bargnani is an albatross except for the 30% of the time (thanks synergy sports) he is guarding players who post up.
If you were to keep Calderon (and I would over Jack), you have to move Bargs to the bench. Period.
Great article brother.
A good analysis of the performance of the Raptors in 2009/10.
One thing I would add re Caldderon is that despite only avg 26 mins per game, and coming off the bench for 29 games his 5.9 asts were 10th best among all PG’s, and his Ast ratio 36.2%(assists per possesion) was 7th best, with a 4-1 asssist to turnover ratio, in the poorest year in the last 3.
Calderon is clearly an excellent, efficient offensive game controlling starting PG.
Calderon was definately miss used by JT when he come back from injury and lost his starting job to JJ, because the game was going well, and then when the team started to struggle he was asked to start again, to kick start the team, but still split the minutes with JJ.
Rajon Rondo, Aka Mr. Triple Double, and fellow 2006 draftee is significantly ahead of Bargnani.
Right now Rondo would be the hindsight no. 1 pick. But he went 21st and wasn’t lottery pickable at the time.
“The oft used argument that Bargnani doesn’t get enough rebounds seems weak. ”
Are you nuts? Bargnani only has himself to blame for being one of the worst rebounders in recent NBA history. He himself has admitted his laziness to the media. If he was really serious about become an acceptable rebounder at the NBA level, he would have already committed himself to the gym to get his piss poor conditioning up to par. As it stands, he has shown little to no improvement since the second half of the ’08 ’09 season.
As far as Calderon goes, there should really be no argument concerning his impact on defense. He is not much better than a pylon. As an efficient, ball dominant (yet low usage) no risk offensive player whose favorite play is to waste away most of the shot clock only to pass off for a long two pointer, his defense should be much better.
Not nuts – Bargnani has suffered through some really bad coaching at the hands of the Raptors. He is constantly directly to do things that cause him to not get the stats he is then told are expected.
Nobody in their right mind would blame his inability to rebound on coaching. You either have the drive to get after the ball, or you don’t. Bargnani doesn’t. That’s all there is to it.
His ORebs will always be low, but if he’s not doing his part on the defensive glass (and he’s not even coming close), then that’s all on him and no one else. What, are the coaches instructing him to leak out after every defensive possession? Get smart.
One of a coach’s jobs is to put a player into a position to succeed.
That has not been the case for Bargnani, if one is measuring success by rebounds.
One interpretation is that the Raptors expect Bosh to get the boards and Bargs to box out/ defend. Which is not exactly an unusual situation – one can find examples of that throughout the NBA.
Nice write up Bro Steve.
Jose – right on. He has taken so much undeserved abuse from fans looking to place blame. He has been consistent year after year. Not perfect, but reliable. The guy can ball. He doesn’t make the fancy Steve Nash/Chris Paul pass… but he gets the ball where it needs to go, while not losing the Raps opportunities by turning it over
Jay – agreed. He is just a bit too much of a push over I think.
Bargs – I’m with you in part. His defense on his man was fine and he did do an excellent job switching (which people continually overlook). But he did do a horrible job shifting into (ie. helping) a new position when he was needed. However, anyway you slice it his rebounding needs work. He needs to fight more and work more for those boards. He just doesn’t do it… and he NEEDS to regardless of the circumstances.
Hedo – I wan to say I’m disappointed but it was kind of expected. My personal beef with him was he just didn’t look like he cared and the results reflected that
BC – I want to say he made his bed so now he has to sleep in it, but he did get a few raw deals along the way. Losing the ability to draft highschoolers with his first pick, injuries to Garbo, TJ and Bosh and FA turning down his offers. I guess its his job to make it work regardless, but sometimes it just seems like something was there to thwart his effort.
It’s time for Colangelo to put all the experience of his to work and put together a playoff team again.
Colangelo: I don’t completely disagree. I’ve disagreed with a number of his personnel decisions and do feel he’s the main reason the team is in the state it’s in.
Triano: I always got annoyed when fans would constantly complain about Triano’s use of Jack and Calderon together. It was indicative of their win now philosophy. Obviously Triano could see that the duo struggled together, but the whole point was that, if they could gel together, it would be a great combination to have at the end of games. The idea was to live with the growing pains hoping they would pay off in the future. Late in the season, there were a couple of games where the combination did help them win.
The other issue I have with his criticism is that a better coach would have somehow made a big difference. It wouldn’t have. This team, no matter who the coach is, was fundamentally flawed. A better, more experienced coach might have gotten a few more wins, and made the playoffs, but in the end, we’d be looking at the same team and there’s no way it gets out of the first round.
Bargnani: It’s no surprise that I don’t agree with this at all. FIrst of all, you’re only telling half the story in relation to rebounding. Per 48 minutes, Bargnani was 30th in rebounding among centers and 79th overall, one spot ahead of Carlos Delfino and one spot behind Corey Maggette. Clearly he is a bad rebounder, no matter how you look at it.
As for defense, Bargnani played well many times one on one against some good players, but you don’t mention his extremely poor team defense and the fact that he consistently failed to box out his man. Watching Bargnani on defense is an exercise in frustration as he would turn his back to the ball or his man, not rotate when he was supposed to get caught in no man’s land time and time again. Bargnani also didn’t consistently play good man to man defense. He played well in certain games, but then would disappear in others, appearing as if he didn’t care.
As for the being “looked off” all the time in the post, I call bullshit. There were sometimes he might have been in good position, but Bargnani has poor hands, doesn’t hold his position well, doesn’t hold his man off well and doesn’t have a good post game if he is able to get the ball down low. The problem is that, once in a while, he would do something impressive down low, so that’s what fans remember. They’d forget the numerous times Bargnani would call for the ball, only to be pushed out too far to do anything with it, or when he would throw up a weak fadeaway over a much smaller defender.
That’s the problem with Bargnani, he’s great if you ignore his weaknesses and focus on what he COULD do. But be able to do something and actually doing it are two different things.
Turkoglu: No argument here.
Calderon: Also no argument.
The Jack/Calderon hopes would gel didn’t look like it was working during the preseason – I went to 5 preseason games.
A better coach could really just mean veteran coach – but there should still be hope that Triano develops into a good coach. It just wasn’t last year.
Lots of people rag on Bargnani – but its not justified. The per 36/40/48 minute stats all need to be used with the utmost care. The reason most players don’t see starter’s minutes is because they aren’t good enough to play them and their coach knows their numbers will not translate up with minutes.
Good example Amir Johnson – based on his play last year, if the Raptors tried to play him over 30 minutes, he would would have fouled out of almost every game. Not many young guys play well after getting more than 2 fouls in a half. Hopefully he matures a bit more over the summer and we see some improvement next season.
I sit 4 rows up from courtside, Bargs got post position frequently – more than one would see on TV. He wasn’t rewarded for his efforts very often and when not rewarded in the first half, he often didn’t bother in the second.
Bargs does need to work on his maturity – he did let situations during a game impact on his play – he has to get over that.
Thanks for the detailed comments.
Brothersteve I sit a few rows higher than you and see the game pretty much exactly as you have. Of course Timmy and his few friends see a different game through their 3D glasses that make Bosh look like Kareem but they are entitled to their opinions. Meanwhile great article and pretty much sums up what I would say if I were as good a writer.
Keep up the great analysis as so many use everything they can to build a story they want, kind of like manipulating marketing data to get the story you want!
We have a tendency to over-rate or under-rate the players on our own teams. It is very hard to be objective.
Bosh for all his points and boards is often not the dominant force on the floor we envision him as. I believe his knee has restricted his ability to defend and block shots the way he could when he first arrived in the league.
Thanks, I appreciate the comments.
Wow, you are super obsessed with me, aren’t you? My comment didn’t even mention Bosh.