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The 2014-2015 Toronto Raptors Thread: Why Not Us?

Kin

Kin

Active member
Here's the 2014-2015 Schedule:

Schedule

Here's the Roster:

Roster

If anyone's curious as to what happened this off-season with the Raptors: Kyle Lowry re-signed for 4 years/48 million dollars. They drafted someone in the first round who may or may not exist. They traded John Salmons for Louis Williams, a streaky combo guard. Greivis Vaszques re-signed. The role of "7 foot white guy on the end of the bench" will now be played by Greg Stiemsma.

I took the question in the title of the thread from a terrific profile of Kyle Lowry that ran on Grantland today. In it, he reveals that no matter how many times we may have run that last play against the Nets in our head, he's done it more. Also, it has this quote which I find great:

?Why not go out there and play your butt off every night? Just give it your all. You can?t worry if you look cool playing basketball. A cool basketball player is a garbage basketball player."
Click to expand...

A cool basketball player is a garbage basketball people, folks. Let's support the best team in Toronto.
 
Also, just because it's fun to watch:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kiEFK7bDssE[/youtube]
 
Gotta say, I've always been a passive basketball fan at best, but the team from last year got me hooked.  Heck, towards the end of the season, I found myself more excited to catch the Raptors instead of the Leafs. 

This current group has won me over.  They're likeable (from GM to coach to players), relatively young, work hard and seemingly love representing Toronto.  Hopefully they continue to grow as a team and take advantage of a relatively weaker Eastern Conference.
 
I've only ever been to one basketball game - which was the Raptors against the Bulls in the ACC in about 2003. The Raptors lost. And the Bulls weren't the team they'd been when NBA was a huge thing on TV in the UK.

I might try and follow it a bit more closely this year
 
Man yells at Carmelo Anthony, ?you stink,? gets ejected, loses job, sues Madison Square Garden

Madison Square Garden security wasn?t amused, and neither was his employer. Anthony Rotondi said he was ejected, arrested and fired after 12 years at ING.

http://www.thestar.com/sports/basketball/2014/10/01/man_yells_at_carmelo_anthony_you_stink_gets_ejected_loses_job_sues_madison_square_garden.html

 
The NBA re-ups their national TV deals with ESPN and TNT for 9 years/24 billion dollars or just under 90 million dollars per team per year. For comparison's sake, the NBA salary cap is 63 million dollars and the luxury tax limit is 76 million.

Steve Ballmer isn't looking quite so crazy now, I'd think.
 
Valenciunas, Ross here to stay, as Raptors pick up option year of their contracts ...

http://www.sportsnet.ca/basketball/nba/raptors-exercise-options-on-valanciunas-ross-2/
 
DeRozan sinks 'em in! 

Not since 2008 have the Raptors gone on a two-game season-opening winning streak.
Led by DeRozan (26 pts.) & Lowry(21 pts.), along with contributions from Amir Johnson and Valenciunasl, the Raps beat the Orlando Magic on the road 108-95.

Game story:
http://www.sportsnet.ca/basketball/nba/derozan-leads-raptors-to-another-win-over-magic/
 
Flipping between the Leafs and Raptors game, I like their composure on the court.  They went down to Orlando and didn't panic and slowly just started to beat up on them and stayed consistent with their penetration.  I like that.  Their defense has been awful in both games though and that's concerning.  Miami is going to take advantage of them pretty badly if they keep biting on penetration and leaving the kick-out 3 pointer wide open.
 
Meanwhile the Raps just gave the Wiz-ards a whupping on their way to a franchise best 5-1 start. The bench is looking like it could be a major strength of this team.
 
Nik the Trik said:
Meanwhile the Raps just gave the Wiz-ards a whupping on their way to a franchise best 5-1 start. The bench is looking like it could be a major strength of this team.
Click to expand...

I really like the Lou Williams and James Johnson additions so far.  Johnson does a really good job of driving into the paint and causing havoc.  Williams seems to have that ability to score in ISO plays (at least against a second unit).  Lowry continues to be extremely impressive picking up his 1st triple double of the year.
 
mc said:
6-1 and still not on the nba.com front page.
Click to expand...

On my browser Johnson's dunk is one of the video highlights and the story about the win is their second headline.
 
I don't really understand the criticsm of the lack of US media coverage. I heard the same complaints last year when the Jays were in first for that paltry portion of the season. People in America don't care about the Raptors or the Blue Jays and really, why should they? Until either team does something actually newsworthy, and on a consistent basis, why should the Raptors at 6-1 with 75 games remaining be a front page headline?
 
Andy007 said:
I don't really understand the criticsm of the lack of US media coverage. I heard the same complaints last year when the Jays were in first for that paltry portion of the season. People in America don't care about the Raptors or the Blue Jays and really, why should they? Until either team does something actually newsworthy, and on a consistent basis, why should the Raptors at 6-1 with 75 games remaining be a front page headline?
Click to expand...

The same reason other basketball teams are on there. What have they done to deserve front page status?

Both MLB and NBA have one team north of the border. Why not highlight these teams more? Personally I think it can influence players to view us in different light. But we are hardly on there.

On the other hand, Nik mentioned he saw the Johnson dunk highlighted.
 
The Raptors are getting horribly exposed by a much better Chicago team.  Casey's double standard of benching Valanciunas is becoming a bit of an issue IMO.
 
In a battle between Eastern and Western Conference titans, the Raptors led by Derozan and Ross, with contributions by Lowry & Valenciunas, beat the Memphis Grizzlies 96-92.

Former Raptor Vince Carter (1998-2004) was honoured in a video tribute before the game:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IfKacAhh9zM[/youtube]

 
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