9 Days Left To The Real Deal For The Raptors

We are nine days from basketball that means something and it could not come soon enough. My apologies about the end of last week we had some internet issues here at DNB HQ. Raptors have three games to survive to get to basketball that matters. What this week should be about are the guys that are on the fringe of this rotation. In the game on Wednesday DeMar DeRozan went down and looked like he turned an ankle. It turned out he was fine but it was a big reminder that this stuff doesn’t matter at the end of the day. At least for the guys that are going be your starters.

On Wednesday we finally saw a pulse from both Terrence Ross and Landry Fields, once is great but over this next week we need to see some consistence from both. In general the Raptors bench has looked very weak throughout this pre-season with some rare exceptions.

You hopefully learned from last year that record in the pre-season means very little. So if the Raptors win tonight against the Knicks tonight or later in the week against the Grizzlies and Bucks is not the point. It is about keeping the main pieces of this team healthy and the people that are fighting for a spot to use this time to earn it.

As far as the Raptors final roster spot it seems clear that Julyan Stone is the favourite to occupy it if the Raptors plan on using that fifteenth spot at all. To be honest Wright and Morais were in an uphill battle from the start. Raptors already had almost signed Stone in the summer and due to health concerns had to move on and sign Dwight Buycks.

The Raptors get a second look at the Knicks tonight but will see what exact version of the Knicks we get. New York is a team that has no problem with giving it stars a seat for pre-season games. The Raptors have been resting Steve Novak quite a bit to make sure he is one hundred percent for opening night.

I’ll be down at the ACC for the final home pre-season game against Memphis. Looking forward to seeing what is going on with some of the guys heading into the season. The real NBA season and WWE 2k14 video game can not get here soon enough.