Raptors

Only 28 days until season tip off.

    With the NBA Lockout still looming (Opening Day has came and gone) and with no clear end in sight, Raptors Rapture has decided to stay positive and give you five reasons why you should actually be excited for the 2011/12 Toronto Raptors Season. 5.  A Shortened Season Actually Helps Think about it. The last shortened season created sheer chaos as certain players were out of shape (Shawn Kemp) and the long layoff allowed for teams to succeed that probably would not have in a regular 82 game slate. Now I will admit that today’s NBA is much different, [...]

Probably Jonas’ best effort on the big stage, and it was against Chris Kaman and Dirk who aren’t slouches by any stretch of the imagination. Impressive defense and flashes of brilliance in the post.

Jonas finally had a breakout game in the Eurobasket second round putting up 18 pts, 5 rbs, 1 assist, 1 steal, and two blocks in 19 minutes against the Nenad Kristic led Serbians.

Sonny Weems has made the jump. Over the last few days much speculation has been made about Sonny Weems’ and his status with the Raptors, the Raptors did offer Weems a qualifying offer on his expiring RFA contract and were presumably close on resigning the up and coming shooting guard. But with the uncertainty of the NBA lockout, Weems has decided that taking his game overseas for a season would be the best route for his career and was in talks with various teams over the past few days trying to work out a deal that would send him to Europe for next season, [...]

  Last week, the Raptors selected Lithuanian big man Jonas Valanciunas with the fifth pick in the 2011 NBA Draft, and while Valanciunas is a highly touted prospect among draft experts and bloggers alike, many Raptors fans are in the dark when it comes to the young Lithuanian big man. Here is the 411 on the Raptors newest young gun: Strengths: Crazy wingspan Explosiveness Aggressive rebounder Amazing off the pick and roll Shot blocker 70.8% shooter in the EuroLeague last season 88.5% from the free throw line Tough Weaknesses: May not have a NBA ready body Can’t create his own [...]

  Yesterday the Raptors decided to remove Jay Triano as head coach of the Toronto Raptors and move him into a consultant role with the team. Triano went through highs and lows with the Raptors, inheriting a team that lost its way under the Sam Mitchell, then had to deal with injuries and Hedo Turkoglu’s lack of desire to play with the Raptors, then the final hardship of losing Chris Bosh. I personally feel losing Bosh handcuffed Triano as he lacked the finesse player that could facillitate his European style of basketball that he learned while coaching Canada’s National Team. [...]

Any excuse to post this video:

This is the first of what I hope to be a series of guest articles by friends of mine in the NBA blogging community. This is Atique Virani’s (@upandatom786 on twitter) post on Andrea Bargnani and what the Raptors should do with him. Enjoy. On Andrea Bargnani Andrea Bargnani hasn’t performed like a number one pick. That isn’t news for anyone. The Italian big man, while showing flashes of All-Star scoring potential, has also shown flashes of D-League worthy defense. His rebounding has been just as bad. All in all, he hasn’t lived up to his top billing. But honestly, [...]

The Raptors decided to solve their ongoing GM issue heading into the Draft Lottery, giving current General Manager Bryan Colangelo a multi-year extension to stay with the franchise. In his five year tenure Colangelo has experienced both highs and lows with the franchise. Winning the Executive of the Year award in the 06-07 season when the Raptors won 47 games and captured the Atlantic Division crown. But in recent times Colangelo has been oft-criticized by fans, including me, for making questionable transactions and running a team that was once on the cusp of becoming a perennial playoff contender into the ground. Add [...]