since were on raptors playoff talk
lets say the raps win the titanic division, most likely in 4th place in the conference, theyll play a 5th place team
the raps are great at home, but they are young

i think, if they finished 4th, they will win round 1 in 6 or 7, then lose round 2 in 5 games

but ANY playoff experience for these guys is fantastic
that experience at this stage of this franchise team will get them hungry for playoffs the next year, and hopefully a key veteran will want to come to the T. this off season to help teach these youngens how to develop even more

(maybe oakley will come out of retirement)

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Originally posted by Jeff Button fuck, when i said best team in the east RIGHT NOW - i meant just that.... RIGHT NOW. this is not to say they have the players (or overall team) to keep this type of play up.

They just lost to the best team in the east

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Originally posted by MarkT I am *hyped* for this season! I boldly predict a 6th place finish in the conference...that's right...6th. I'll even take any even-money bet that they at least make the playoffs. While I don't thin Bargnani will start, imagine how a big lineup of Bosh-Nesterovic-Bargnani is going to be a nightmare matchup for virtually every team in the league. Sick! For the first time in Raptor history, there is DEPTH on this roster...we also have a pass-first, quick PG...and some serious athletes on the team. Defense is still a bit suspect with no premier shot blockers or crazy defenders, but their athleticism and quickness should compensate enough. My pick for the player who will most surprise and impress everyone...Fred Jones.

4 months later, time to revisit the predictions

I remain even more confident of the playoff berth...although where they finish is still up in the air.

Fred Jones...disappointing...he's in a nasty slump...but he's too talented to stay there much longer, IMHO.

Depth is indeed the reason the team is where they are right now...Calderon is doing an incredible job along with Ford at the PG position and Bosh is really taking a leadership role on the team.


I think it's very premature to start making comparisons to established contenders in the east like Detroit and Miami. Those are teams stacked with players with championship experience and who have largely been playing together for a hell of a lot longer than the Raps. Keep in mind the Raptor lineup has been virtually revamped from top to bottom and they are *already* playing rather well together.

Detroit's starting lineup, especially since Webber joined them, is tight...but Toronto's bench is deeper and better overall, IMHO. Miami is scary as long as they are all healthy. Take out Wade or Shaq and they fall apart (no disrespect to Alonzo who filled in quite well while Shaq was out). I don't see the Raps beating either of them in a playoff series...yet.

There's still a lot of ball to play in the regular season...Raps have a chance to win a couple of series, depending upon health and who are their opponents.

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Originally posted by MarkT I remain even more confident of the playoff berth...although where they finish is still up in the air.

Only challenge in the Titanic division will come from the Nets and that team is so iffy, though with Kidd as PG, anything is possible.

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Fred Jones...disappointing...he's in a nasty slump...but he's too talented to stay there much longer, IMHO.

Barring major injury problem, I don't think he's going to get mins. The Raps are so deep in depth that Jones is like the last guy Mitchell would call up.

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Depth is indeed the reason the team is where they are right now...Calderon is doing an incredible job along with Ford at the PG position and Bosh is really taking a leadership role on the team.

Yep

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I think it's very premature to start making comparisons to established contenders in the east like Detroit and Miami. Those are teams stacked with players with championship experience and who have largely been playing together for a hell of a lot longer than the Raps. Keep in mind the Raptor lineup has been virtually revamped from top to bottom and they are *already* playing rather well together.

As the season goes on and the team learns to play even better, the Raps will do even better IMO

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Detroit's starting lineup, especially since Webber joined them, is tight...but Toronto's bench is deeper and better overall, IMHO.

C Webb is... iffy. He's playing well because Detroit is a good team. Though it seems to be a perfect match for Detroit and Webber as Webber seems to have filled in the gap left by Ben Wallace and Nazir Mohammed has not been really been able to fill. But Webber's probably on his last legs and Detroit will be searching for a quality replacement.

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Miami is scary as long as they are all healthy. Take out Wade or Shaq and they fall apart (no disrespect to Alonzo who filled in quite well while Shaq was out). I don't see the Raps beating either of them in a playoff series...yet.

Well, depends on what kind of conditioning both Detroit and Miami is at the end of season. Shaq is injury prone. Take away Shaq and Miami is quite beatable IMO, as long as Wade can be held to only 20pts (a gargantuan task for sure)

Raps can score, and as long as Raps don't get frustrated by Detroit's defence and settle for jump shots and keep trying to go inside, Pistons can be beaten too.

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Originally posted by chinamon not true. i say "ugh" but i am a tranny.

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Originally posted by kotsy lol colour me retarded

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Originally posted by EvilTree ... C Webb is... iffy. He's playing well because Detroit is a good team. Though it seems to be a perfect match for Detroit and Webber as Webber seems to have filled in the gap left by Ben Wallace and Nazir Mohammed has not been really been able to fill. But Webber's probably on his last legs and Detroit will be searching for a quality replacement. ...

agreed. While Webber is definitely a shadow of his former self, he's a pretty good fit for the Pistons with Ben Wallace gone. He's not nearly the defensive player Ben is, but has meshed pretty well.

He's definitely a short-term solution though, as you said...I think it's the Pistons making a run this year and maybe next.

meh...with the exception of maybe a healthy Miami, whoever comes out of the East is going to get smoked by any of the top 4 in the West anyway...so discussing Detroit at all is pointless anyway

holy shit!!

way to almost blow it Rap's!! Luckily, we managed to hang on to the lead to win the game, and once again the Raptors show that they can play against the top teams in the East.

Last edited by infinity HiGH on Feb-14-2007 at 04:09

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Originally posted by infinity HiGH holy shit!! way to almost blow it Rap's!! Luckily, we managed to hang on to the lead to win the game, and once again the Raptors show that they can play against the top teams in the East.

That was almost a big fuckup. They can't just let a team go on a 13-0 run at that point of the game.

well the Bulls domination of the Raps finally comes to an end :P

Raps were sloppy as shit for the last bit and almost blew it...they could *easily* (and probably should have) called a foul on that last play.

meh...they pulled it out, but that was getting ugly at the end.

Jersey tomorrow. Hopefully the Raps ride the high and win another one. With Kidd hurt and the Nets just getting destroyed by the Spurs tonight, the Raps should have a big edge!

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Originally posted by MarkT Jersey tomorrow. Hopefully the Raps ride the high and win another one. With Kidd hurt and the Nets just getting destroyed by the Spurs tonight, the Raps should have a big edge!

Thats what I'm saying, but I also said that we're easily taking this game with 2 minutes left, when Toronto was up 10pts...

Anyone else want to see Calderon play more than he is right now? We almost blew it AGAIN with Ford coming back in the 4th quarter. I think Jose is much better in crunch time because he gets way less turnovers and is much more consistent at when taking jump shots and going for layups.

Also the trade deadline's coming up. I'm thinking Colangelo trades a combination of Jones/Sow/Humphries +a 2nd rounder in exchange for a 1st in the next draft (since we don't have a pick) or a player with a rebounding presence. He has already ruled out dealing Mo Pete. What do you guys think?

^^^ next year's draft is supposed to be quite deep. If Colangelo could snag a 1st rounder, that would be a sweet move...but probably a hard one to make?

I'm loving Calderon...I don't know why they made that switch at the end either. I think it will take more time to figure out who should start or play the most minutes.

I wouldn't mind seeing a Drew Gooden type guy come over in a trade...a rebounder who can shoot and isn't a turnover machine.

Other than that, I hope they doesn't mess with the lineup too much, given the team's progress over just half a season. So I can't see the Raps doing anything significant at the deadline unless they do deal MoPete.

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Originally posted by infinity HiGH Thats what I'm saying, but I also said that we're easily taking this game with 2 minutes left, when Toronto was up 10pts...

seriously, talk about a near meltdown on both ends of the court, lol