"Behind Enemy Lines"

The Raptors are on a 3 game road trip after hosting the Pistons at the ACC on Friday and need to consider two things about their opponents: the depth of their bench and sustaining a lead for more than 2 quarters. We are seeing some pretty good basketball from the Raptors and their starters putting up better numbers but their downfall has been playing consistently. This week they are up against Detroit, Washington, New Orleans and San Antonio. Consider the points I mention below when watching these games. I look at each game individually and analyze what the Raptors need to do to win. Yes, even against the Spurs who are first in the Western Conference because I believe the talent is there. Let's get to it.


Detroit Pistons @ Toronto Raptors - Friday, January 14

• These two teams have played twice already this season and split the wins.
• Their last meeting on December 22, saw Detroit win 115-93 over the Raptors.
• During this game, Detroit's top 4 starters averaged about 24-28 playing minutes. Toronto's top 4 averaged a significant amount more at 33-37 minutes. Not much difference in production from the top 4, the difference came from the bench.
• Detroit Pistons Inactive List: Jonas Jerebko (right Achilles tendon - partial rupture), Terrico White (broken right foot) - both have missed 37 games so far and Ben Wallace.
• The Raptors need to watch: Richard Hamilton and Tracy McGrady who had 35 and 17 points respectively coming off the bench during their last meeting with the Raptors.
• The Key for Raptors: Go hard in the first two quarters and go into the 3rd quarter with a respectable or sizable lead. During their last meeting with Detroit, the Pistons dominated the 2nd quarter producing 38 points to the Raptors' 21. The Raptors' fought to catch up after that.

Toronto Raptors @ Washington Wizards - Saturday, January 15

• These two teams played twice this season and split the wins.
• Their last meeting on November 16th saw the Wizards win 109-94.
• Washington lead the first 3 quarters of this game. Three of their 5 starters put up double digit points, including Gilbert Arenas with 20 and Andray Blatche with 22.
• The key to this game was Washington had a more consistent and productive bench: Nick Young with 20 and Hilton Armstrong with 10.
• Washington's Inactive List: Josh Howard and Hamady Ndiaye.
• Key for the Raptors: Do not let the lead change hands and if it does change, keep it to a minimum and of course, on the Raptors side. And shut down Nick Young. Young had 43 points in the Wizards' last meeting with Sacramento which saw the lead change 5 times and tie 8 times. Be consistent and solid.

Toronto Raptors @ New Orleans Hornets - Monday, January 17

• This will be the first of three meetings for these two teams this season.
• New Orleans currently sits at 6th in the Western Conference and is on a two game win streak as of Thursday morning.
• New Orleans pulled off a 92-89 win in their last game versus Orlando where they lead the 1st and 4rth quarters.
• This will the first time the Raptors will meet their former teammate Jarret Jack since he was traded to New Orleans. He has played 27 games in a Hornets jersey - none of them as a starter. (As a Raptor this season, he played 13 games all of which were starts).
• The next time they meet after Monday's game will be on March 1st in Toronto.
• Key for the Raptors: stay strong in the first half and even stronger in the 4rth quarter. The Hornets have guys like Chris Paul and Marcus Thorton who can be counted on for key shots and for putting up solid numbers.
• Hornets Inactive List: Marcus Banks and David Anderson.

Toronto Raptors @ San Antonio Spurs - Wednesday, January 19

• This will be the first of two meetings for the Spurs and Raptors.
• San Antonio currently sits at 33-6, is in 1st place in the Western Conference and is on a 4 game win streak as of Thursday morning.
• Their last game against the Bucks saw a 91-84 result in favor of the Spurs. They only lead the 3rd and 4rth quarters of this game.
• Spurs Inactive List: James Anderson.
• Key for the Raptors: Don't count out the Spurs if you are leading at the half. They are a team who has proven their ability to re-group and score points. And forget about their record and standings - they are just like any other team in the NBA - a team to beat.

Thanks for joining me today. As always, I love hearing your comments and suggestions. Please add me on Facebook and Twitter - I am the one with a purple jacket and a red microphone. Or you can leave a comment after this article and I will add you. (Go to the friend page not the "public figure page". The "public figure page" just popped up and is not authorized).

As always have a great weekend and I will see you here on Tuesday for more NBA coverage in "NBAz in 7 Dayz".

Raptors/New Orleans Trade??? White Flag for 2010/11 and Green Beyond

After the Summer in Raptor land, a trade is never a trade until I get an e-mail from the Raptors saying they have made it. But this one is being widely reported and may in-fact have legs to it but has some issues as well. Bryan Colangelo just can't make a simple trade...EVER!!! Only kidding but a nice simple trade would be nice. So here is the deal as it is being reported according to several sources .

To Toronto:

G Jerryd Bayless
F Peja Stojakovic

To New Orleans:

G Marcus Banks
C David Andersen
G Jarrett Jack

Ok on to the problems. Bayless may not be able to be traded. He was acquired in the off-season and was with Portland last year. The only loop hole to this is if he is dealt in a straight 1 for 1 trade. Doesn't that apply to Andersen as well? Not sure he was never traded for actual players so might not. In fact my research says it doesn't.

It may work if you trade Bayless for Andersen straight up.......DING DING WINNER WINNER.

So that problem is solved. Thanks to Real G.M Trade Checker. Now does the rest of it work? Nope it doesn't. Ok so something involving cash or exceptions will need to happen. Raptors do not have to use ALL of the Bosh trade exception so could use a portion of it, to get the big fat expiring contract of Peja, to add to the remainder of the Bosh exception. That would work but only if Bayless was traded in the package. Which he can't be until sometime in December. I believe the date is the 10th but don't quote me on that. Do Bloggers need to start getting capologists? maybe.

But assuming the Hornets and Raptors have them I am sure this stuff will get sorted out. So for the sake of argument we will say this can happen even though how it would is a little foggy to understand.

So if the Raptors do this deal they have basically raised the white flag on the 2010/11 season. But they have set themselves up to be a giagantic player in the NEW CBA free agent period which depending on if there is or isn't a lockout will happen eventually. It would also be a safe bet that this new CBA will be far more cap restrictive and make cap space even more valuable. Talk of the elimination of the MLE and Hard Cap have been thrown around.

So in theory the Raptors become an attractive landing spot for free agents. All except for that whole Canada thing. Raptors would really only have one of their own players that they likely would want to re-sign in Sonny Weems. This is just a rough estimate but the Raptors should have somewhere between 25-30 Million to spend. Let's assume Sonny really kills it this year he still likely gets no more then 5-6 Million? That is if he seriously steps up. Any thing less then a complete blow the doors off season the number goes down. Actually that amount of money to spend might be a little more because Reggie Evans would also be expiring as well. Bottom line the Raps will be loaded with cap space.

So based on Bryan's moves this off-season this trade should be no surprise to anyone. His plan has clearly been to reset the Raptors for being a player under the new CBA. That is what was so attractive about the Charlotte deal for Evans and Calderon that never happened. It also in the short term might have helped the Raps be slightly more competitive.

The down side is this is clear proof that Jose Calderon as of this moment is just untradeable. That is the only conclusion you can draw. He also for the short term is your starting point guard with 2 combo guards backing him up in Barbosa and Bayless. Jose has played well in recent days but in the past when he has moved from back-up to starter the results have not been positive. The lone exception to that in his contract year when Ford was hurt and that set up a number of dominoes that led to Calderon's over priced contract and Ford being shipped to Indy in what turned out to be a brutal trade. Anyone seen Roy Hibbert lately he is pretty good. Nathan Jawai was last seen in Summer League. J.O is now sucking in Boston.

Andersen would give New Orleans a back-up center that can do a number of things they do not have at the moment. Jarrett Jack is a great back-up to Paul and if things go south and you need to move Paul eventually he can be a stop gap starting point guard. Banks is expiring and at least gives them part of what they gave up in Peja's fat contract. As for Peja he has past his prime like 3 years ago at least and really does not offer the Raps a lot other then a guy that use to be able to light it up from 3 point range.

The Bottom line to all of this is that if you had hope for this season and Raptors trying to be a playoff team....FORGET ABOUT IT. But if you were accepting the Raptors reality and looking towards the future this gives you reason to be optimistic. It also may just be the thing to give Bryan Colangelo and Jay Triano a free pass on this season. Not sure if I like that. But as we all learned in the Summer...A Deal is not a deal until a team is announcing that is. So far on that front the Raptors and Hornets have not said anything. What we do know is Brown or Jordan will not screw this trade up. So will wait and see if this thing gets done. Sooner or perhaps later if they can't figure out a way to move Bayless.