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Young Gunz

"The Raptors are gunna suck".-Charles Barkley.

Well with Mr.Barkley being known for his crazy assumptions and brutal honesty, this is a very typical statement. I do not think (with current roster, trust me, there will be changes), that we will be a very successful team next year, BUT at the same time, I think we are going to be extremely entertaining and WONT be as bad as people think.

This is largely in part of the newly dubbed trio, the "Young Gunz", featuring Amir Johnson, Sonny Clarence (...yes his name is Clarence) Weems, and Demar (Air Canada) Derozan. These three are going to be one of the most exciting group of people to watch next year with all three of them being cutters and having hard offense, something that "Soft Toronto" has never seen with Prettyboy Bosh taking his mid range most of the time. All of these players are younger than 24 (Weems being the oldest), their potential is very high, and this coming season will very much shape the rest of their careers in the NBA. They will all develope before our eyes.


In addition to these three Young Gunz, we have Ed Davis, the defensive-minded NC Star, whom I think will take huge strides in his developement this year with a fair amount of PT for a rookie.

With this core of young guys (of course Andrea included (Colangelo would never let his baby go)), we are seeing a very different Toronto team then we have in the past, with a group of players who just love the game of basketball. The addition of Barbosa will also help the Raptors in their run and gun offense, and Kleiza can help in the shooting department (without Bosh and most likely Calderon, our mid range and beyond the arch shooting will take a bit of a hit this year).

The point guard situation will be dealt with, and make no mistake, Colangelo will find a point guard that will fit in with our run and gun system. If he is able to find the right piece at the point position, there will be a pretty good group of players out there, very capable of making the playoffs.


The main thing I like about this team is that, right now, there is no superstars on this team, just alot of potential. This allows the players to go out everynight, and try 110% to earn that superstar status.

With all these factors accounted, all the naysayers who said that the Raptors will be in the bottom 3 in the league will bite there tongue. The Raptors will finish around 9-10 in their east with their current roster, and with an upgrade at PG or C, make no mistake, they will make the playoffs. So Charles Barkley, get ready for a long season of biting your tongue, not that your not used to it by this point.

-Zach Stewart
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Dont Blame Colangelo for Turkoglu

Everyone in Toronto is so quick to point the finger at Bryan Colangelo for the whole Hedo mess. ITS NOT HIS FAULT.

Last year during free agency everyone wanted Hedo Turkoglu. There was quite a large list of potential buyers, largely the Portland Trailblazers, Orlando Magic and Toronto Raptors. Everyone was throwing big bucks at this guy to get him on their roster. Colangelo threw the biggest chunk of change and got him. Thats that, everyone at that time wasnt complaining about anything. In fact, alot of raptors fans were excited to see Hedo play for the Raptors. THAT IS THE GM's JOB! He is supposed to get talent that will help a team contend, how that player plays is dependent on himself and how the coach incorporates him, which brings me to my next point.

If you are going to blame management for the Hedo Turkoglu situation, I think the only position you can point your finger at is the Head Coach. Jay Triano did not implement Hedo properly into our system. In Jay's defense, he had a lot of things to balance with PG controversy, getting Bosh the ball, developing Derozan, but sorry buddy, this is the big leagues, having a lot of things on your list is just the beginning. Hedo Turkoglu is a play making SF, he likes having the ball in his hands, he likes dribbling it up from time to time, he likes shooting at his own pace. None of that happened in Toronto, Triano was very adamant that PG's carry the ball up, and that they would run plays and Turk would shoot when given the ball.

Dont get me wrong, I am not defending Hedo Turk, in my opinion the only person who let this deal look bad and let down everyone was Hedo himself, I'm simply showing Raps fans that if your going to blame management, dont blame Colangelo, blame Triano. Also in terms of the inflated contract, many players do not want to play in Toronto for one reason or another. In that case Colangelo is forced to sign mid-level players (forget the big guys, they dont wanna play here) for inflated contracts. I mean what do you want the guy to do, nothing? Anyone who bashes Colangelo for this situation doesnt know very much about the NBA, and how the systems work. Stop blaming BC Toronto. Its time for a good coach, true raps fans (not bandwagoners who come around when its playoff time), and players who actually want to play here in order to start winning.

-Zach Stewart
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Raps add Diaw, Chandler and Barbosa

Wow, what a day. It seems like yesterday Raptors fans wanted to fastforward to next years draft, when all of a sudden we have put together a decent (not amazing) group of players on the floor. It is VERY clear that Colangelo is going with a run and gun style offense with out Chris Bosh in the mix. Every position seems to suited for this style of offense with alot of depth on our team, except for the most important part of the team.

The point. Jarrett Jack is adamant that he can hold the point position and be a leader on this team. Jarrett, your a great guy, good role player, but lets not get ahead of ourselves. We are in need of a solid point guard which would really allow this team to excel. But who?

The Raptors need a speedy (preferably young) point guard. Many Torontonians would love to see Steve Nash in a raptors uniform, but at the age of 36 the Raps need to look in a different direction. Who do you think suits the role? I think Darren Collison would be a perfect player for us, but of course in order to pick him up, we would probably need to add the huge contract of emeka okafor, which, with this already pack frontcourt will be hard to manage without moving some of the players we already have. But Darren would mesh perfectly with what the Raptors are going for a fast pace game.

Though there is always a downside with adding so many players, they still need to get used to each other. So we may still be heading for a losing season, but at least it will be exciting.


-Zach Stewart
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Why the Raptors Dont Need Jose Calderon

A few years ago the Toronto fans had the Spanish fever. Jose Calderon was the best thing that could have happened to this city. Everyone in Toronto was a Jose fan over a TJ Ford fan (point guard at the time). Well Toronto, sorry to break it to you, Jose Calderon is NOT GOOD. He has never been good, and already passing his prime, he will never improve and be better than he is already.

Jose Calderon is a complementary player (which is something a point guard should not be). The only reason he was good when Ford was around, was because the two point guards had completely different styles of play and when Jose would come off the bench the Defense would not be used to his style of play, and Jose would exploit that. Okay, fair enough that's just using a D's weaknesses to your advantages, but what happened when he became a starter? With him in the driving seat we saw our winning percentage dip from 57% with Ford starting the majority of the games, to 40% when Jose started all the games. Still, Senor Jose could do no wrong in this city


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Toronto Raptors Future

To most fans we are looking down a long tunnel with faint light pushing through on the other side. This off-season has left us with yet another superstar hanging up the Toronto jersey for the last time. It is not known whether we will get anything with Bosh via S&T, but even if we do it is not going to do much to ease the pain of losing the All-time Toronto scoring leader. What should the Raptors organization do... Mope around? I think this is an opportunity to completely start fresh and press the reset button. Colangelo is known to be able to put an entire different roster on the court that could contend next year (however, for the Toronto Raptors, we do not have many players who are going to be worth much in the trading market).

The first step that Colangelo has done in the "re-tooling" process as he likes to call it, was resigning Amir Johnson for a 5 year, 34 million dollar deal. Most people are not very happy about this deal and think this is a big waste of money. I dont disagree, this is a waste of money, but from Colangelo's perspective, this is all based on potential. Amir Johnson may be a 5 year vet, but he is also only 23 years old. He has not had an abundance of playing time (with the exception of last year) to prove himself as a legitimate NBA player. This deal may turn out to be a bargain for the Toronto Raptors. Amir could take huge strides in his development, when playing more. Also with this resigning it gives us a much better defensive presence at the 4 spot, than what Chris Bosh had ever given the Raptors. His offense is in need of improvement, but hes a young guy and I think he will be able to continually improve his offensive game. All in all, I dont think the resigning of him was a bad move by Bryan Colangelo


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Hello Raptors Fans

Hey Raptors fans, my name is Zach Stewart. I live in Toronto Ontario and I have been a diehard fan of the Toronto Raptors for over a decade. I decided I would take the opportunity of Chris Bosh leaving and a new era beginning to start blogging. I think this may lead to some of the most exciting basketball in the NBA this season(with the trio together in Miami), and still a very bright future for the Raptors. So please read my blog, I will be expressing my opinions of the Raptors moves, or lack of moves this offseason. I am very open to criticism and would like responses. Thank you, have a great Day!

Zach Stewart
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NBA Finals: Keys To Game Two

Can Orlando slow down Kobe and even the series at one?


Well now that we have that pesky added off day out of the way, it's time to break down Game Two of the NBA Finals


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NBA Finals Game One: Live Blog

It's go time!


I'm not going to lie, this game is putting me to sleep. If this whole thing just stops at some point, you know what happened


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Pistons, Thunder Talking Trade?

How could you be so heartless Joe?


So I sat on this for about two days as I tried to wrap my mind around this


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Mickael Pietrus Dumps Hyperdunks for Jordan's

Goodbye Hyperdunks, hello Jordan's.


With the NBA Finals less than 24 hours away, Orlando Magic guard Mickael Pietrus is opting for a wardrobe change


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