The Raptors have picked their next head coach and it will be Dwane Casey who is the hot shot head coaching prospect as he has been credited with putting in the most effective zone defense in the NBA and helped the Dallas Mavericks win the NBA championship as his zone defense took apart the Miami Heat offense. Dwane Casey has been a head coach before with the Minnesota Timberwolves with a record of 53 - 69 and was 20 - 20 when he was fired in 2007 after 40 games into the 2006 - 07 season and he has been an assistant under some good coaches with George Karl and Nate McMillan with Seattle Super Sonics and most recently with Rick Carlisle in Dallas. He would of been the five Raptors head coach at the beginning of the 2003-04 season as he was a finalist for the job that Kevin O'Neil got and now he is going to be the eighth Raptors Head coach. He will need to get some defense out of some bad defensive players like Andrei Bargnani, Sonny Weems, Amir Johnson and DeMar DeRozan but players like Ed Davis will fit in nicely in a defensive system and should become a better player for it and even James Johnson could fit in well with the system and become a better player. If Reggie Evans gets the right deal to stay in Toronto he will feel right at home and would be a great leader for the defensive ballgame and besides that I do not know what kind of defensive player Bryan Colangelo can get through trades or free agency but he will need to do something to better the defensive qualities of this team. As only the Detroit had a worse defensive field goal shooting and nobody can win very many games allowing your opponents to shoot 48 % from the floor as your average and yes 60 point first halves and even 70 point halves came common place with the Raptors and teams shooting 60-70 % in a first half did happen a lot as well.
Brian Colangelo has to hope he made the right choice as he is on a very short leash right now but for the first time in franchise history the Raptors are putting their foot down and saying defense first as when Jay Triano talked about it that was what it was just talk and I know we had guys like Charles Oakley and Doug Christie who were able to shut the other teams top players down but the offense was very good at that point as well with Vince Carter before his franchise contract and he was still a beast on the offense.
The next thing to do is put it in the minds of the fans by instead of given away pizza every time the Raptors score a hundred do it when the Raptors hold their opponents under a hundred
Tom Mehegan
Monday, June 20, 2011
Sunday, June 19, 2011
5 former Raptors players that disrespected the Raptors franchise and did not want to be here
The Raptors players that disrespected the franchise
1. Alonzo Morning - Signed a 4 year contract in 2003 with the New Jersey Nets but then had his Kidney transplant and then played the next year in limited time with the Nets and complained to the media that he did not want to be with the Nets and was traded to Toronto. He did not want to play for Toronto even more and refused to play and was bought out to be able to return to the Heat and finished the season and then 3 more seasons with the Heat including the NBA championship in 2006.
2. Hedo Türkoğlu signed a 5 year / 53 million dollar deal with the Raptors heading into the 2009/10 season after have a great season with the Orlando Magic where they lost to the lakers in the NBA finals and he came in to Toronto and looked out of place from the very start but it was a game where he did not play because of a stomach flu and was spotted by fans partying late into the night after the game.
3. Hakeem Olajuwon signed a 3 years / 17 million and he netted only 9.8 points and 6 boards in 61 games in the 2001 - 2002 season and ended up retiring before the end the season to take a one day contract with the Houston Rockets who retired his jersey before the end of the season.
4. Vince Carter and I am only looking at after he went on the plane to North Carolina to have the Tar heels retire his jersey just before game 7 of the Eastern Conference Semi-final and then signed a 6 year and 94 million with the Raptors and demanded that the Raptors sign Olajuwon, Alvin Williams who destroyed his leg and could not play again, and Antonio Davis. Then Carter was not the same again as he would fall on the floor and roll around for the next 3 + seasons where people were looking in the 300 level for the sniper.
5. Antonio Davis after a season and a bit after signing a huge contract he decided that his kids could not be in the Toronto school board and sent the kids and his wife back to the states and demanded to be traded back to the states and was traded for Jalen Rose but was traded back to Toronto in 2006 and he played 8 games before being injured and missing 12 games before being put on waivers and retired.
These are not the only reason that the Raptors have only won one playoff series in 16 years but they did not help
Tom Mehegan
1. Alonzo Morning - Signed a 4 year contract in 2003 with the New Jersey Nets but then had his Kidney transplant and then played the next year in limited time with the Nets and complained to the media that he did not want to be with the Nets and was traded to Toronto. He did not want to play for Toronto even more and refused to play and was bought out to be able to return to the Heat and finished the season and then 3 more seasons with the Heat including the NBA championship in 2006.
2. Hedo Türkoğlu signed a 5 year / 53 million dollar deal with the Raptors heading into the 2009/10 season after have a great season with the Orlando Magic where they lost to the lakers in the NBA finals and he came in to Toronto and looked out of place from the very start but it was a game where he did not play because of a stomach flu and was spotted by fans partying late into the night after the game.
3. Hakeem Olajuwon signed a 3 years / 17 million and he netted only 9.8 points and 6 boards in 61 games in the 2001 - 2002 season and ended up retiring before the end the season to take a one day contract with the Houston Rockets who retired his jersey before the end of the season.
4. Vince Carter and I am only looking at after he went on the plane to North Carolina to have the Tar heels retire his jersey just before game 7 of the Eastern Conference Semi-final and then signed a 6 year and 94 million with the Raptors and demanded that the Raptors sign Olajuwon, Alvin Williams who destroyed his leg and could not play again, and Antonio Davis. Then Carter was not the same again as he would fall on the floor and roll around for the next 3 + seasons where people were looking in the 300 level for the sniper.
5. Antonio Davis after a season and a bit after signing a huge contract he decided that his kids could not be in the Toronto school board and sent the kids and his wife back to the states and demanded to be traded back to the states and was traded for Jalen Rose but was traded back to Toronto in 2006 and he played 8 games before being injured and missing 12 games before being put on waivers and retired.
These are not the only reason that the Raptors have only won one playoff series in 16 years but they did not help
Tom Mehegan
Wednesday, June 1, 2011
Raptors move Triano upstairs while Colangelo gets ready to make a decision that will make or break his time in T O
Toronto Raptors GM Brian Colangelo decided to not pick up the opions on Jay Triano's contract and is now looking for a head coach that can be successful as it is Brian's last kick at the can as the Raptors GM because he has a 3 year deal with third year being an organization option which means if Brian has a bad season next season he will be fired. Jay Traino had a 87 - 142 (.380) and now Brian needs to take a step back and make the right choice as the next Raptors head coach with the background of defense first and being able to motivate the players to go beyond their ability on the court to make them into better players which hopefully makes the team into a more successful team on the court and in the stands. It is very important to not just choice a friend U get along with like Mike D'Antoni who is a run and gun coach who could not spot defense even if it was a 18-wheeler because he would be run over by it first and with the parts the Raptors have it would be like putting a square pag into a round hole and on the court it would be like being a garbage dump because it would stink so badly that U throw up. So Brian has probably one of his most important and toughest decisions that he has had to make in his long career in the NBA and it will be a life or death kind of decision and for starts he has Jay for the time being as his personal assistant at least for 2 weeks when Jay's contract runs out.
Go Raptors
Tom Mehegan
Go Raptors
Tom Mehegan
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