Expectations Out Weigh Raptors Reality

When this off-season started I wrote a blog about hope being back for Raptors fans. Almost always when there is hope another word is tied to that word which is expectations. We all have them for lots of things from the New Batman movie to tonight's 1000th episode of Raw. The trouble with expectations is depending on how much you want something to be good will impact on them. Some will convince themselves that something is good no matter what because they have waited for it. A fan could have been all in for Steve Nash and now is just as happy with Kyle Lowry. They might even convince themselves that Lowry was the right move. Even if they thought Nash was to begin with. Landry Fields was at first a horrible contract that we only signed in attempt to keep the Knicks from getting Nash. Now maybe he is like Shane Battier and the dude is kinda funny this could work. These are the people that rationalize. They want to ultimately be happy so they convince themselves to be happy.

Then you have people that will ultimately never be satisfied and take every rumour they hear to be fact. The Raptors were suppose to trade for Rudy Gay or Andre Iguodala. Land Steve Nash too and head on a magic carpet ride to the NBA Post Season. What the heck happened? Colangelo is a totally failure to these people. He didn't even make a good draft pick. I mean all the mock drafts had Terrance Ross rated way lower. As we know people that do Mock Drafts are so much smarter than real NBA G.M's. I mean they have a section of the resume for an NBA G.M that asks do you have any Mock Draft experience? These people accept rumours as fact and expect the rumours to be at very least matched or have something even bigger and grander happen.

But somewhere in the middle of those to types of people is the reality of things. Colangelo pointed to this off-season as the thing we all needed to be patience and wait for. Endure another bad season and things will change. We have all this flexibility he would point out on a regular basis. Not to mention Jonas was coming and in a fictional mock draft, that doesn't exist, had he been in this season's draft he would have been 2nd overall. In the end what we have ended up with for being patient it pretty under whelming when all is said and done to this.. We have all had birthdays or a Christmas in which we had high hopes for things we would get and in the end got a sweater and socks. Not that there is anything wrong with a sweater and socks we just wanted more. Bryan Colangelo promised us all kinds of shinny new toys and in end has not really given us that.

True, the off-season is not over but it sure seems the Raptors can not make the big splashes that were promised. It is not that Kyle Lowry isn't a good player. It is not that I don't love the young man arrived and in his opening press conference said he was going take the keys to the car and lead this team to the playoffs. I like that and the confidence that goes with saying that. Still when I look at what a team like the New Jersey now Brooklyn Nets have done, I find it hard to believe. The Raptors promised a cannonball like splash this off-season and delivered some ripples from skipping a rock across the water to this point.

They as they have done with Jonas Valanciunas done a terrible job in managing expectations. Raptors fans so want to have something to be excited about and you need to be aware of that. While Jonas ultimately could be and maybe even likely be a nice future piece, the odds of that happening right away would be slim if you just look at NBA History in terms of big men in general, or big men from Europe even more so. Like Jonas this off-season has been hyped up for over a year and in the end has left us disappointed for the most part. I think the Raptors will improve marginally. However to be a playoff team seems a far fetched dream of an idea to me. Even Colangelo himself has changed the party line to contending for a playoff spot. The Jays have been on a 18 year plan to do that haven't they. Now making the playoffs in the NBA is a lot easier for sure, but that said when you look at the off-season as a whole I find it hard to see how the Raptors would make the playoffs, without some serious help and a prefect scenario developing. If your thinking a trade for Jose Calderon could fix that I would suggest your dreaming. Calderon has been attempted to be moved for close to two years, even with an expiring contract I don't think he brings you back the pieces to change the ultimate outlook. I encourage they players, coaches and management to prove me wrong about all of this. I would like to see the Raptors be successful as much as anyone. I just don't see that success coming any time soon.