The Raptors' diagnosis ... Dr. House style
Friday, February 15, 2008 | 07:24 PM ET
Almost two-thirds of the way through the regular season and heading into the NBA All-Star Break, the Toronto Raptors remain a maddeningly tough team to understand.
The first and obvious question - how good are these guys anyway? - is the hardest to answer because of the wide gulf between the team's level of play during quality wins and terrible losses.
The margins in four of Toronto's last five wins have been greater than 20, and in the fifth one, Wednesday's victory over New Jersey, the game wasn't nearly as close as the 18-point spread suggests. Yet sandwiched in between those five wins are four losses, including a 20-point loss to the at-the-time Pau-less Lakers.
Suffice it to say that, so far, the Raptors have been good but not yet good enough to truly scare potential playoff opponents, assuming anyone in the Eastern Conference outside the top five teams can actually claim to be vying for such a role.
Why is that? Perhaps it's time to abandon simple basketball explanations and take a more diagnostic approach using the methods preferred by Hugh Laurie's Gregory House character: inventing new and ridiculous diseases.
Here we submit a few lesser-known afflictions and the Raptors who suffer from them.
Clean bill of health: Chris Bosh, Jose Calderon, Anthony Parker, Rasho Nesterovic. Are these four players perfect? No, but they are what they are and are playing at a level you'd expect or, in the case of Calderon, way above it. Relax, it's a long season.
Actually injured: Jorge Garbajosa, T.J. Ford. Get plenty of rest, listen to your doctors and hope for the best.
Defensive awareness deficiency: Andrea Bargnani, Jason Kapono. It's true that Bargnani has improved in this area in the last few weeks as his confidence has returned, but it's probably more accurate to say his defence has gone from "abysmal" to "adequate." Bargnani's post defence has improved, but he is lost when left out in space while trying to defend pick and rolls, particularly when he has to recover and pick up someone else's man as the defence rotates. Kapono is similarly prone to turning his head and losing his man, a baffling tendency for someone so used to cutting backdoor when his team has the ball.
Recommendation: Either switch to more zones to cover for their deficiencies or attach an adhesive of some form to their hands.
Position anxiety disorder: Juan Dixon. You know that old joke about the man who comes in to see a doctor and says "Doctor, it hurts every time I make this motion with my arm. What should I do?" and then the doctor says "Don't make that motion."?
Here's my advice for coach Sam Mitchell: Don't try to play Dixon at point guard. Hand the ball to someone like Carlos Delfino and let Dixon go back to being an undersized shooting guard. Then he'll be fine.
Rookie wall syndrome: Jamario Moon. Remember when Carlos Arroyo joined the Raptors as a rookie in 2001 and in the pre-season was whipping no-look cross-court passes to teammates on the fast break and generally looking like the surprise find of the off-season? Flash forward two months later: Arroyo had became so spooked out on the court the Raptors cut him and replaced him Jermaine Jackson. Moon isn't in any danger of getting cut, but he is starting to hit the rookie wall, and as a result his decision making, once so assured, is now tentative.
Recommendation: Go win the slam dunk contest Jamario, and come back a new man.
Bench-warming disease: Maceo Baston, Darrick Martin, Joey Graham. No, this isn't among the list of ailments the end-of-bench players used to get back when the NBA mandated three of fifteen roster spots be for "injured" players. Nor is it the red blotches high school kids get on their knees after resting their elbows there. No, bench-warming disease is a psychological disorder that occurs when a player not used to quality time gets thrust into a game, one that causes him to act in unpredictable ways. For Martin, it's his baffling shot selection. For Baston and Graham, it's their tendency to foul anyone that moves, and a few that don't.
Recommendation: The ailment comes from prolonged sitting and staring into space. Get up once in a while. Stretch. High-five a few teammates, maybe.
Inconsistitis: Carlos Delfino, Kris Humphries. More than anyone else on the team, these two embody the on-again, off-again season for Toronto. Some games you wonder how Detroit could have ever traded Delfino or why Humphries isn't mentioned ahead of Bargnani as the 22-year-old-power-forward-with-potential on the team. And then they play another game, and you think maybe they switched jerseys with a couple of truck drivers they met at the bar last night. They disappear. You could chock it up to youth, but both players have been in the league now for four seasons. These two might require further examination.
Recommendation: More tests. Hey, what'd you expect from a doctor?
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About the Author
Paul Jay has been writing about basketball for seven years, working as a basketball columnist for Rogers Sportsnet and writing for CBC Sports, Raptors Insider, Dose and appearing on air with Sportsnet and Raptors TV. In his 12 years in journalism, Paul has written features for some of the best publications in the country, including the Globe and Mail, the Ottawa Citizen, Saturday Night, Canadian Lawyer and This magazine. He first joined CBC.ca during the 2004 Athens Olympics and currently writes online for CBCNews.ca as a technology and science writer.
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Comments
Chris
Edmonton
Totally agree with JeffJohn. I'll pick Bosh any day over Tmac and VC. Both guys are injury prone and do not have the heart to win a championship even though they have the talent. Funny how both were not in the all star game this year. Maybe it's a trend?
Posted February 19, 2008 07:04 PM
JeffJohn
Vancouver
Totally agree with Cole - the Raps need a rugged centre of PF so bad. If they can't pick one up they will have a really tough time advancing past the second round.
Charlie are you related to Wince Carter or something? CB4 not a franchise player? VC and McGrady are soleless! They are perrenial losers! CB4 is a solid guy who leads by example....
Posted February 19, 2008 01:54 AM
Cole
Toronto
The Raptors are missing that one guy who can bring some edge and grit to their defense. The team hasn't been the same since Charles Oakley left the squad.
Posted February 18, 2008 08:37 PM
royal
Kingston
The raptors do need to find a way to overcome their inconsistency, we all wish we knew what the answer to that was. Maybe it is the need for a truly good rebounder. As for Charlie saying that CB4 is not a franchise player. He may not make himself look spectacular like some players out there, he just goes out and gets the job done in so many ways. As for Vince, if he ever learned to hate to lose, then he could become a great player but it looks to me like he is fading slowly into the ranks of the merely good players.
Posted February 18, 2008 08:00 PM
charlie
canada
The Raptors are going to be a team which will make the playoffs but always get defeated the first round. Chris Bosh is a good player but I don't think he is a franchise player by all means he needs to take that extra step but the Raptors will be in the middle of the pack all the time. Hate to admit it but if Vince did stick around and Mcgrady back in the day they would have taken that step but now just a playoff team not a contender.
Posted February 16, 2008 08:56 PM