# NBADraft.net predicts 21 wins for Raptors this season



## speedythief (Jul 16, 2003)

http://nbadraft.net/2006-07atlantic001.asp



> Toronto Raptors
> Projected Record: 21-61
> 
> This should be a team on the upswing after signing Chris Bosh to a contract extension and getting the #1 pick in the draft. So, why the decline? Quite frankly (my apologies to Stephen A. Smith), the Raptors lost too much talent. Gone is point guard Mike James (after a career year) and forward Charlie Villanueva (after a nice rookie season). In their place is T.J. Ford, a quick distributor who doesn't shoot nearly as well as James, and #1 pick Andrea Bargnani, a talented but young foreigner who will be hard-pressed to match Villanueva's rookie numbers. Rasho Nesterovic will be given a chance to resurrect his career but to date has been a complete waste at center. Also, no one on the team has a three-point shot that scares anybody. The Raptors will have some growing pains this year, but with a large amount of cap room looming next summer they will be in position to improve.
> ...


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## Timbaland (Nov 18, 2005)

He doesn't take into account all our other additions such as Garbajosa, Freddy, Parker, etc. And while we did lose Mike James and Charlie, much of their stats came in games where we lost anyhow, so their departure doesn't make much of a difference. I don't think this was a fair evaluation and the analysis just appears to be on the surface.


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## ballocks (May 15, 2003)

wow.


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## JuniorNoboa (Jan 27, 2003)

I don't even think we have cap space next year like he suggests.


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## Timbaland (Nov 18, 2005)

ballocks said:


> wow.


I feel a storm brewing.


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## JuniorNoboa (Jan 27, 2003)

Timbaland said:


> I feel a storm brewing.


Not worth my time.. it is that bad.


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## madman (Oct 20, 2003)

good, more motivation


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## TRON (Feb 29, 2004)

> Originally posted by *JuniorNoboa !*
> 
> I don't even think we have cap space next year like he suggests.


yah, no major player$$ coming off the books that I think of



> no one on the team has a three-point shot that scares anybody. The Raptors will have some growing pains this year


I agree, teams tend to give us that three as they are not too worried about any one dead eye gunner on this team. I am sick of the threes personally, but I guess this is how they want to play, with an emphasis on getting shots off quickly instead of working for a more quality shot.

In the end, what will matter is getting off close to 100 shots a game like the NJ game, cause even if we shoot a terrible percentage, we will have taken 20 more shots than our opponents.


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## SkywalkerAC (Sep 20, 2002)

the guys at nbadraft.net have really just given up haven't they? oh how the once mighty (or once followed anyway) have fallen. could this writer have put any less effort or foresight into this?


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## bigbabyjesus (Mar 1, 2003)

terrible analysis. ignore some of bryans best moves.


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## undefined_playa (Oct 23, 2005)

lol...rafael araujo and eric williams are considered key losses


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## speedythief (Jul 16, 2003)

Does anyone remember if NBADraft.net liked our draft picks?

If not, they might just be covering their asses.


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## Stratagee (Aug 25, 2005)

key losses araujo, eric williams hahahahhaah :biggrin:


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## NeTs15VC (Aug 16, 2005)

Wow this is really suprising. I think if anything the Raptors will do better then many people think they have really good team chemistry, just watch


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## cv3bandwagon (Mar 16, 2006)

Who cares why the "experts" predict, I honestly don't think there is any way this team is worst then last season. However sometimes these experts should see how well these parts fit together as a whole instead of just evaluating the overall talent on the team.........even though I think it's increased dramaticaly over the off-season obviously. 

Also I find it strange that one of the leauge "preimer" mock draft sites aren't aware of the talents fo Jorge or Parker? One would figure they would know how good they actually are seeing how they are supposidly scouting the leauges these two guys were stars in.........just one more reason I hate NBAdraft.net. Seems to me more and more everyday they meerly copy and past their crap from other sites.


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## billfindlay10 (Jan 24, 2003)

Wow we don't have a three point shooter that scares anyone.

Who the hell is Mo-Pete, Bargnani, and Garbajosa palying for?


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## Dee-Zy (Jan 12, 2006)

Add Bosh to that list now.


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## SickGame (Jan 23, 2006)

It doesn't anger me enough to start a huge ramble, just makes me scratch my head at how the editor would allow this writer's amazing display of basketball knowledge to be published.


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## DWADE4 (Aug 18, 2006)

I'ma HUGE raptors fan but cant be bias all the time. Lets face it we have brought in talent half who havent stepped in a regular season NBA game. With awhole new bunch of guys, 3 in the starting line up, it will take time to settle in a flow. I dont agree with them that we will win only 21 wins. But on the other hand we wont be as good as people predicted until next year til the team plays like a team.


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## TRON (Feb 29, 2004)

> Originally posted by *billfindlay10 !*
> 
> Wow we don't have a three point shooter that scares anyone.
> 
> Who the hell is Mo-Pete, Bargnani, and Garbajosa palying for?


they're all good three point shooters but nothing that teams would be fairful of. Mo had a 3p FG% last year for us at 39.5%, good for 29th in the league, which is pretty good but nothing that would scare teams.

I bet most teams would rather guys like Mo and Bargnani shoot threes all game long instead of going to the bucket or working the post.


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## trick (Aug 23, 2002)

JuniorNoboa said:


> Not worth my time.. it is that bad.


...


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## anniebananerz (Jan 8, 2006)

Although Mike James did win us some games last year with his stellar shooting, in my opinion, having him on our team was one of the things that held us back. Now we have a real point guard in T.J. Ford, something this team has lacked over the years.

And umm, _no one on the team has three point shooting that scares anyone?_ What the heck is the writer writing about? We have plenty of three point shooters (and now you can even add Bosh to the list of perimeter shooters). Although their focus or specialty of their games isn't about shooting the three pointer, we have plenty of good three point shooters that can make the shots when the team needs them to.


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## SkywalkerAC (Sep 20, 2002)

anniebananerz said:


> Although Mike James did win us some games last year with his stellar shooting, in my opinion, having him on our team was one of the things that held us back. Now we have a real point guard in T.J. Ford, something this team has lacked over the years.
> 
> And umm, _no one on the team has three point shooting that scares anyone?_ What the heck is the writer writing about? We have plenty of three point shooters (and now you can even add Bosh to the list of perimeter shooters). Although their focus or specialty of their games isn't about shooting the three pointer, we have plenty of good three point shooters that can make the shots when the team needs them to.


Getting and making good 3-point shots is a huge part of our offense, as it is for Phoenix. We've got plenty of guys that can fill it up from beyond the arc. We just haven't been shooting all that well in the preseason.


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## narrator (Feb 11, 2006)

I love how everyone rushes to nbadraft.net's analysis when it's good news and trashes it when it's bad news. Granted, that piece did seem half-hearted.

It's easy to say that the "foreigners" won't be able to handle "Americanized" basketball. But that's a cop-out. The truth is that nobody knows how well this team is going to do. For the first time in at least 3 years, I'm optimistic about the Raptors. Personally, I'm expecting steady improvement over the course of the season and when Bargnani hits the rookie wall, I'm hoping people who haven't played a lot (*caugh* Slokar *cough*) will be able to step in and provide something (not everything, but something). If everything goes well, the Raptors win 33-40 games. And with more improvement next year, it'll be playoffs.

The most important thing is to improve. And I think the Raptors will do that.


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## Benis007 (May 23, 2005)

undefined_playa said:


> lol...rafael araujo and eric williams are considered key losses


ha


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## trick (Aug 23, 2002)

anniebananerz said:


> Although Mike James did win us some games last year with his stellar shooting, in my opinion, having him on our team was one of the things that held us back. Now we have a real point guard in T.J. Ford, something this team has lacked over the years.


We wouldn't have won as many games without Mike James' help. That doesn't say much, but it's better to have 27 wins than 21 (Portland).


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## butr (Mar 23, 2004)

What a moron. Way more depth on this team. Legit C, added toughness, quickness, shooting range. That adds up to what 7 less wins?

Re-tar-ded


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## Turkish Delight (Mar 17, 2004)

I think the Raptors are more likely to get twice as many wins than that.


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## martymar (Jan 5, 2006)

wow no though or effort in the predictions must be looking at a crystal ball


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## Junkyard Dog13 (Aug 9, 2003)

Is Aruaja a Loss?

giving him up for Knickers, Bra's & thongs for the dance pak would have been considred a gain anything for Aruaja is a gain anfd I feel Humphries will be a good role player.


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## shookem (Nov 1, 2005)

Junkyard Dog13 said:


> Is Aruaja a Loss?
> 
> giving him up for *Knickers, Bra's & thongs* for the dance pak would have been considred a gain...


Those girls work very hard and if they need new undergarments, I will volunteer to help the effort by measuring them to ensure proper jiggledge, err.. comfort.

I predict the NBAdraft.net losses it's credability before Christmas, oh wait, that happened last year!

The real point is the fact that BC got anything for Hoffa and EDub is wickedly awesome.


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## ballocks (May 15, 2003)

shookem said:


> The real point is the fact that BC got anything for Hoffa and EDub is wickedly awesome.


yeah, i don't know if i totally agree there. hoffa, sure. ewill? it better not have been a coup to unload him to any team that wanted him- it better not have been. there better have been teams in demand for his services. otherwise, imo, his contributions in toronto were an utter, bitter and complete failure, the vince trade wasn't as palatable as babcock and others made it seem at the time, and someone would need to take that pill.

i'm not saying it really matters, but with the way we were talking about eric's assets for this team when we first acquired him, you'd think it was a foregone conclusion that he'd have some positive effect here. but if he didn't, to the point where it became an achievement to just return anything for him on the trade market (putting him in the same category as rafael araujo--- think about that for a second), someone would need to eat it. i would eat it if it were me. but instead, we haven't heard much on that front, babcock's been fired but wayne and sam haven't. if they failed to extract any value from that player whatsoever, someone should have the courage to now stand up and acknowledge the error (not the trade, just ewill- because the nets sure didn't "dump" him on _us_). nobody was expecting a superstar but people were indeed expecting _something_ from eric williams. if we/he brought his value down to zero (which is what it would be) in the time he was playing here, an explanation (even an apology) would be warranted, imo.

now, i don't know why i wasted two paragraphs on ewill but i feel pretty passionate about this. we better not have been looking to dump him in the same way we were looking to dump hoffa. 

peace


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## shookem (Nov 1, 2005)

ballocks said:


> now, i don't know why i wasted two paragraphs on ewill but i feel pretty passionate about this. we better not have been looking to dump him in the same way we were looking to dump hoffa.
> 
> peace


I can tell you the Raps were trying to dump Edub in two letters: BC, he doesn't give a damn about the Vince Carter trade, that pill has been swallowed and that captain's ship has gone down long ago.

EDub never looked good on the court and didn't earn a minute of PT on one of the worst teams in the NBA. Why did he suck so much, we'll never know but you can't blame anyone other than the GM that traded for him and Williams himself.


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## narrator (Feb 11, 2006)

ballocks said:


> now, i don't know why i wasted two paragraphs on ewill but i feel pretty passionate about this. we better not have been looking to dump him in the same way we were looking to dump hoffa.


Williams _was_ dumped just like Araujo. He became a cancer and had to be excised. Now, why he became a cancer is another issue. Personally, I think Babcock just told Mitchell not to play him and instead play the kids; this may have been a mistake since Eric Williams was a decent player at the time. Thus, the Carter trade is all done now. The trade was horrible. The outcome was horrible. Now it's time to move on. And that's what Colangelo is doing, as Shookem said.

Williams needed to be moved just like Araujo needed to be moved. He needed to be moved to whoever would take him. Colangelo found a taker and pulled the trigger. Good riddance, I say.


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## Benis007 (May 23, 2005)

narrator said:


> Williams needed to be moved just like Araujo needed to be moved. He needed to be moved to whoever would take him. Colangelo found a taker and pulled the trigger. Good riddance, I say.


yep

i wonder if the 21 win projection included the 6 we got in the preseason. :banana:


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## speedythief (Jul 16, 2003)

narrator said:


> Williams was dumped just like Araujo. He became a cancer and had to be excised. Now, why he became a cancer is another issue. Personally, I think Babcock just told Mitchell not to play him and instead play the kids; this may have been a mistake since Eric Williams was a decent player at the time. Thus, the Carter trade is all done now. The trade was horrible. The outcome was horrible. Now it's time to move on. And that's what Colangelo is doing, as Shookem said.
> 
> Williams needed to be moved just like Araujo needed to be moved. He needed to be moved to whoever would take him. Colangelo found a taker and pulled the trigger. Good riddance, I say.


Eric was one of my favourite players when he was traded to Toronto, but how we misused him and how poorly he handled himself has really made me indifferent to him since. Kind of a shame, really.

But keep in mind that San Antonio wanted him before he signed with New Jersey. He was ready to sign with the Spurs before an offer from his hometown came through and (under the circumstances) he couldn't resist. It's not a coincidence that he was included in the Nesterovic trade. He was a big part of it. Bigger than Bonner, IMO.


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## shookem (Nov 1, 2005)

speedythief said:


> It's not a coincidence that he was included in the Nesterovic trade. He was a big part of it. Bigger than Bonner, IMO.


He was a huge part of the deal, probably the centerpiece due to balancing the books. 

Is it still dumping if the other team wants the player being traded to them?

What if no other team did?


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## JuniorNoboa (Jan 27, 2003)

speedythief said:


> It's not a coincidence that he was included in the Nesterovic trade. He was a big part of it. Bigger than Bonner, IMO.


No one was a big part of the trade IMO. I don't think San Antonio, really has much use for either player, but wanted to get rid of a longer contracts

Williams nor Bonner were showstoppers in getting it done. For SA It could have been junk, as long as the contracts matched and expired.


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## The Mad Viking (Jun 12, 2003)

nbadraft.net should stick to mock drafts!

:clown:


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