Much like the fabricated hype that surrounds the couple of weeks before the start of a Toronto Blue Jays season (except for this year when no one gave them a chance), the same kind of garbage spews from the news shows of our favourite Canadian sports channels in anticipation of another Toronto Raptors season...
But when I look at this team, I see basically the same problems as a year ago with the only difference being that a good number of players that were there last year have been replaced with different names for the upcoming season....it's like taking a lemon car, painting it a different colour and trying to sell it to me again....
Counting on the Raptors is like someone who downgrades themselves to internet dating and allows themselves to be fooled over and over again by people who spend all their time putting together a great profile and putting up just enough selected profile pictures in order to entice someone into believing that they've possibly found the man/woman of their dreams....
Inevitably, that person will eventually find out after enough time that the person they thought was so great is really nothing special, the "relationship" will fizzle out, time will pass, but then they will get sucked in again by another great profile with different pictures, but with the same characteristics....
The Raps come into the year with Chris Bosh as the undisputed leader, but the problem is that he's never had that running mate to create the dynamic 1-2 punch.....last year, they thought that they had it with Jermaine O'Neal and that turned into a complete disaster.....this year, they think they have it with Hedo Turkoglu....
Turkoglu is going to be a nice complimentary player, but he's not a gamebreaker....he'll get you 15-20 points a game and mostly shoot from the outside, but because of what people saw out of him in the last couple of rounds of the playoffs, I think he's unfairly being given expectations that he just can't deliver when he's supposed to be on the downside of his career....
The problem with this team is that the starting five last year didn't offer enough resistance on defense and except for the change with Turkoglu (who isn't a very good defender either), the starting five remains intact....they need much more defensive effort from guys like Calderon, Bargnani and Turkoglu...
I also have a sinking suspicion that Andrea Bargnani will stay status quo or even regress after making strides a year ago....we've seen glimpses of why he was chosen number one overall, but I've never believed in a centre who relied on a jump shot to be successful....NBA centres are supposed to be tough and pound in the trenches....Bargnani shows none of that to me...
Speaking of toughness and grit, Jose Calderon is a guy that screams of someone that loves the highlight reel passes and flashy basketball, but really doesn't want to do the dirty work in order to win ball games, especially if it came down to playoff time in April-June....he's gotta do a lot more this year to improve defensively and get his game more well-rounded....
Finally, it's up to Chris Bosh to take the reins of this team....enough with the videos on youtube and the other hijinxs that get you in front of a teleprompter as you read the weather report on a local Toronto TV station.....man up, lead your team to the playoffs and most importantly, show why you should be in the same league as other free agents come the end of the year....
I give all these suggestions and yet, I don't believe any of them will come to fruition.....to me, the Raps will either fall short of the playoffs yet again, or will squeak in only to be bounced by either Boston or Orlando in the first round (whoever comes in first in the conference)....I'll be more than happy to say I told you so in April.... :-)