Tonight we thank Scott Carefoot of RaptorBlog for taking the time to enlighten us about that sole bastion of NBA Basketball in the great Canadian wilderness, also known as Toronto. I kid, really, Canada is great. Thanks to Scott and SJ, we are now all the wiser about a team that will forever be loosely joined at the hip with Portland because of a certain local player named Damon Stoudamire, not to mention 39 games of Fred Jones.
And now, the answers:
1. From an outsider’s perspective, what are your thoughts on the Blazers this year?
I’m just as envious as any-other non-Blazer fan of Portland’s embarrassment of riches in their young, talented roster. Raptors fans have their own particularly bitter view on the Blazers and Greg Oden since Toronto had the first overall pick in the 2006 draft and they could have hypothetically drafted Oden that year if he was eligible to declare out of high school. Of course, that was the first year David Stern instituted the draft’s age minimum so Bryan Colangelo didn’t have Oden or Kevin Durant to choose from. As you might have noticed, many of us are not too enthused about the consolation prize, Andrea Bargnani.
2. How do you see your matchup with them playing out? What part interests you the most? Any worries?
Mostly, I just want to see Oden and Rudy Fernandez play. They’re two of the guys I’m most excited about seeing in NBA action this season. As for how I see the Raptors matching up with the Blazers… not very well, sadly. The Raptors don’t have an answer for players like Oden and Brandon Roy, and I’m still mad Toronto didn’t steal Joel “Vanilla Thunder” Przybilla away from you guys when he was a free agent, as he’s a cult favorite of mine.
3. With all the hype surround this team do you consider the Blazers as “better” than the Raptors?
Well, it’s obviously too early to tell, but I don’t think you’ll find too many Raptors fans who wouldn’t swap rosters with you guys right now.
4. If you could grade the Raptors’ off-season, what would you give it?
I’ll give Colangelo a C+ for the O’Neal acquisition and signing Calderon to a reasonable deal. JO is a worthwhile gamble and Calderon is a great value for what he provides.
5. What excites you most about the Raptors in this upcoming season?
This figures to be the best defensive Raptors team in franchise history and I’m really interested to see if Chris Bosh can elevate his game to Top 10 Player status after his Olympics experience.
6. Realistically, where would you put the Raptors’ ceiling, high and low?
I’d like to think the Raptors’ ceiling is as high as 50 wins, but their worrisome lack of depth could put them in the lottery if the injury bug hits.
7. Looking at the team from all angles, what is the one thing that worries you about the Raptors?
I’m most worried about their lack of depth at the guard positions. Will Solomon, Hassan Adams and Roko Ukic isn’t exactly a Murderer’s Row off the bench.
8. If you were able to slip into Bryan Colangelo’s sweet custom suits and be GM but could only make one move, what would it be?
Unfortunately, I think the Raptors’ hands are tied in terms of making significant moves based on how their roster and salaries are established at the moment. They simply don’t have the flexibility to trade from any of their positions of strength, and Bargnani’s value is probably too low at the moment to take the chance of trading him right now and possibly having him pan out somewhere else.
9. What is the key to the Raptors success this year?
I’d say health and Sam Mitchell’s coaching are the main keys. I’m not really crazy about the idea of Mitchell making O’Neal one of the main offensive options — which I expect he will be despite his increasingly inefficient game on that end of the court.
10. Any sleepers we should be aware of?
I like Kris Humphries more than most people and I think he’s developing into pretty decent big man off the bench.
11. How do you feel about Sam Mitchell as head coach?
I’ve never been a huge fan of Mitchell, but now that Doc Rivers has a ring I really wonder how significant the coach is as long as he isn’t a complete drooling idiot. Mitchell has his players’ respect and has shown a pretty good ability to develop younger players. I certainly don’t blame him for Bargnani’s disappointing play like many other Raptors fans have.
12. We both have GM’s who are or have been held in high regard….so Colangelo vs. Pritchard, who do you take?
I think both fan bases are pretty lucky and mostly satisfied with their GMs. Oden fell into your laps so Pritchard can’t take credit for that, but Roy and Aldridge were obviously the right picks at their draft positions and Fernandez is looking like a very savvy acquisition on KP’s part. In Colangelo’s favor, the Anthony Parker and Jamario Moon signings were astute since they are both in the Raptors’ starting lineup now, but Toronto’s GM will ultimately be judged on whether or not Bargnani ever justifies being picked ahead of Aldridge, Roy and Rudy Gay.
13. Is it as much fun to watch Chris Bosh on a daily basis as we think it is or are we just fooling ourselves?
Honestly, I think many Raptors fans take Chris Bosh for granted, but we’ve really enjoyed how he’s come out of his shell lately both as an on-court leader and an off-court personality. I guess we’ll keep him.
14. Is this the weakest of the Raptor teams during their ‘playoff contender era’ of the past few years?
Check back with me in January for this one.
15. Could you possibly explain the near-bizarre passion that Raptor fans (slash Canadians) have this team?
I think it’s a combination of the facts that Toronto is a very multi-cultural city, the Raptors are “Canada’s Team”, and there’s a sizable g
roup of Toronto sports fans who root obsessively for the Raptors to try to counteract the blanket media coverage of the Maple Leafs in this town.
16. Has Andrea Bargnani hit his glass ceiling, can he improve or is this slowly becoming a situation where he and Mitchell just are not working out?
See, now you’ve left me feeling depressed with this final question. As mentioned earlier, I don’t think Mitchell is the problem. The problem is that he’s a first overall pick who has so far played like Italy’s answer to Vladimir Radmanovic. Again, check back with me in January.