We're bored, and as we were reading The Star, we saw that Friday is Doug Smith Answers Your Questions on the Raptors Day.  In case you are wondering, we read The Star pretty often, since we are, in name more than in reality, a Toronto Blue Jays blog.  No seriously, I'll get back to doing more baseball posts regularly as soon as the Nets are eliminated.  After that I will have very little interest left in the NBA playoffs - will Detroit crush the Cavs?  Yes.  Will the Spurs (presuming they don't blow their 3-2 lead to the Suns) beat the Jazz?  I can't even muster any interest, beyond the fact that it sure would be shocking and appropriate all at once if Jerry Sloan finally won a title with this team, this year. That would be the only renditive ending to this season, and it may just happen... Boozer is an animal, and he can wear Tim Duncan down.  

Anyway, back to Doug Smith... yo, his column is kinda poor.  Like we don't like criticize people, especially "nice" people (meaning at least his column isn't like "this is why I hate Bonds, this is why I hate basketball" etc.), but it is funny how he really can't answer the questions very well.  Or provide much insight.  That's all.  Check it out:

-When asked about the possibility of the Raptors trading for a "possibly available Marcus Camby", Doug is like "Nope, they have acentercentre in Bargnani".  And that the Raptors have no interest in maybe moving Bargnani to the three (where his style is more appropriate).  If I'm the Raptors, you might want to consider adding Camby - the poor interior defense and rebounding of Bargnani is part of the reason that Kidd and Carter demolished the Raptors in the playoffs... the Raps got outrebounded by midgets, and those same midgets took it hard to ya'll in the paint.  Remember Vince in Game 3?  Maybe having a Camby there to swat some layups or drives makes a difference.  This Raptors needs some defense and rebounding in the paint to compliment Bosh.  

This dude from Australia asks about moving the ball more through Bargnani, as a possible pointcentercentre. Um, this is a 7 footer guy who, occasional pretty pass aside, has great court vision.  And averaged less than an assist a game.  Dude is a skinny white Curry, without the efficiency!  We kid, but he doesn't rebound well for a 7-foot guy, nor is his passing that great.  He makes solid passes, no doubt about it, and has great vision (supposedly) but... he tends to shot everytime he gets the ball.  So how are you going to run the offense through him, especially when he likes hanging out at the three point arc.  Better yet, why?  You have TJ Ford and Calderon, two solid points.  Why not let them take control of the offense?

My opinion: move Bargnani to the three, let him shoot over guys like Dirk does.  He's not going to go down low and post people up - he's just going to shoot over them.  Which is fine.  Focus him on making his jump even more wet, and shooting over smaller threes.  Which also allows him to play defense against people who aren't going to be able to shoot over him... worst case scenerio, a three gets past him (though Barngani is quick enough to not allow that to happen too much), with a strong frontcourt behind him (say, someone like Camby), they'll erase his mistakes.  

Now the question is do the Nuggets really trade Camby (very doubtful, though now is the best time to - his value will never be higher, and the injury possibility forever lurks), and  what do the Raptors have to offer?  What they have is something the Nuggets probably don't need - more point guards.  So, no, we don't see the Raps getting Camby.  But that would be the type of player they could use - an athletic, fast, shot-blocking, pass lane clogging center (my sentence, my American spelling!).

My favorite part (and he does this in like every column): "What do you think of Thaddeus Young from Georgia Tech?" Smith: "I don't know that much about him..." and offers up no info on Young.  I appreciate the honesty, and I respect it.  But dude... "this interweb thingy" is also good for something called Google.  

I didn't know much about Young myself, but I did some research on him.  He was a highly regarded high schooler (ranked #2 among SF in his class), went to Georgia Tech, and did okay as a freshman.  He would have been a lottery pick last year, had he been eligible for the NBA draft coming out of high school; as it is, he's projected as a high lottery pick at best - basically #15-25 on most mock drafts.  According to DraftExpress, he's going #25 to the Jazz, and Hoops Addict has him at #28 to the Spurs.

He's one of those SF we hate - a guy who can "hit threes" and "post inside".  His defense is subpar, and his game hasn't improved since high school.  Basically, he's still a supremely talented player who is relying on those skills that allowed him to dominate in high school.  He failed to make the leap to dominate, even slightly, at the college level, so we don't see him jumping to the NBA level and having an impact just yet.  He needs to work on his game more.

And that's why we hate the "do-it-all" Swiss Army Knife Small Forward.  They can shoot threes, yes.  The got some moves in the post, cool.  They are good at everything.  And just what are they really good/great at?  Nada.

Lamar Odom, Tim Thomas, etc... these guys are your patron saints.  Pay homage to the wasted ability.  The main problem: coaches never make them focus on one or two thing.  It's not a coincidence that Odom's best years have been with Pat Riley (who basically had him play as a PF, meaning just stay low and post and rebound, no shooting threes) and Phil Jackson (who told him the opposite - play SF, pass the ball, rebound too, but shoot threes and let Kobe do the interior driving, and don't post your man).  Basically, Young has not developed a reliable mid-range jumper yet, either.  Do that.  That's important to your game.

He also has a bad handle, which leads to most of his turnovers.  And he has a slow release on his jumper.  According to what I've read, he's not really a good perimeter player at all, and should be down low using his athleticism to play in the post (sort of as a PF).  In other words, he might be available when the Raptors pick, but I doubt he'll be a good pick up.  We do think he'll be great on a team like the Spurs, or the Lakers, where he'll be limited to doing the things the team needs him to do. 

Our opinion:  The Raptors need a SG with range and a reliable three (cue Jason Kapano for the midlevel exception), move Bargnani to the three, and get a shot blocking big man to man the middle.  Add a tough banger in the Oakley-Willis-Dale/Antonio Davis mode coming off the bench (there are still players like that, right?), along with Grabajosa (missed in the playoffs very much) and Calderon off the bench, and then the Raptors might be a legit contender for the Eastern Conference title next year.  Especially if the Pistons get broken apart (see Webber and Billups signing elsewhere)... the Raptors should really think about making some moves this offseason to make it happen next year....

Of course, I would like to hear what Skeets and Tas, and Hoops Addict, both Raptors fans and more knowledgable about the team than me, think about how to take the franchise to the next level.

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