Raptors Roundup

Following a remarkable victory over the Orlando Magic and previous franchise player Vince Carter, The Toronto Raptors are getting prepared to go against their most recent departed all-star. The player formerly known as CB4 will face-off against his old teammates after leaving T.O to chase championships in Miami.

Franchise player leaves under negative circumstances, Raptors forced to rebuild, new season with very low expectations. Sound familiar? The Raptors entered 2010-2011 with possibly the lowest expectations since their inaugural season. They will hit the 10 game mark tonight and the forecast for this season is very black and white.

In terms of skill, this team severely lacks an uber-talented player who can take over games (and win them) single-handedly. It's assumed that Andrea Bargnani will take over the team and he the cornerstone for years to come. Labelled as being the next Dirk Nowitzki during his draft year, Bargnani has not come close to resembling Disco Dirk as he continues to find consistency in his game. Will he ever average 8+ rebounds in a season?

The PG platoon of Jarret Jack and Jose Calderon has been frustrating at times so far. Neither player has seized the opportunity to become the primary PG due to inconsistent play and turnover issues. Having two quality PGs is never a bad thing, however, but more efficient games from those two will go along away in making the Raptors competitive and preventing them from getting blown out every night.Since Coach Jay Triano has taken over the team, he has been preaching a defence-first mentality that has never materialized to on-court performance. The team currently gives up the 10th most points and, with a roster like the Raptors, that just won't cut it. Turnovers has been a major issue so far as they give up the 7th most turnovers and forces the Raps to play from behind on most given nights. The offence can usually manage to carve out 100-point games but more consistency on the defensive-end could swing games in their favor.

The youth movement is in full swing and with that comes with a roster full of athletic players. The likes of DeMar DeRozen, Sonny Weems and Amir Johnson gives the Raptors a lot of speed to play their up-tempo style. So far, Double D has shown glimpses of his potential as he has put together some solid games, such as the Orlando game (26pts, 7rebs), and may be the player the Raptors build around in the next few years. New additions Leandro Barbosa and Linus Kleiza have made minimal impacts so far. Barbosa is hampered with an wrist injury that is destined for surgery but his injury has given extra minutes to Weems and Julian Wright to show what they can do.

The Raptors firmly know that they won't win because of style, skill or talent for this season. Triano has made the team buy into his hard-nosed, bang-it-out, win-dirty game plan. To put it plain and simple, the Raps will win from working a lot harder than the other team. No player has embodied that more than Reggie Evans, the doppleganger of rapper Freeway. Significantly undersized at 6'8, Evans has managed be a top 5 rebounder that has given the Raps numerous second chance opportunities in games. His level of effort is something to admire and as a fan, you can only hope it is contagious amongst his teammates.

With the team facing Chris Bosh for the first time, there are a lot fo questions surrounding his departure and how it was handled. CB1 has been accused of not being a true leader, mentally checking out, and having negative opinions about Toronto and Canada. A lot of this criticism has come from the Raptors front office especially GM Bryan Colangelo. Bosh has been defending his reputation and saying there is no truth behind those claims. Either way, the path that the Raptors management took in bashing their former all-star has nothing but bad consequences attached to it. We have seen Cavaliers GM Dan Gilbert send out a public hate letter after LeBron left town. Although it was accepted by Clevelanders, the public image of Gilbert and the Cavs organization took a hit. The Raptors cannot afford to go down the same route. The team already faces a disadvantage in luring in free agents and selling them on the team, city, and culture of playing in Canada. Their biggest recruiting resource has left town and publicly bashing him, whether the facts are true or not, does not paint a better picture of the franchise in the eyes of others.

If I can summarize this Raptors season in one word or phrase it would be: Grind It Out. Grind it out in those games when you have games where you aren't suppose to have no chance of winning. Grind it out when you face injuries. Grind it out when you are in a slump. Grind it out through the long 82 game season and see what's the next step to put this team back to having to meet high expectations.