The Toronto Raptors unveiled their new home jersies at a charity golf tournament. They are essentially the same as the old ones, but purple is gone in favour of a red and white colour scheme.

Raptor news: Chris Bosh is attempting to add a new weapon to his arsenal--the 3-point shot. Although going 0-13 last season, he is demonstrating the trey in pre-season workouts.

In an intrasquad game, Sam Mitchell sent out these lineups, which could be the ultimate first and second units for the team: T.J. Ford, Anthony Parker, Mo Peterson, Chris Bosh, Rasho Nesterovic, and Jose Calderon, Fred Jones, Joey Graham, Jorge Garbajosa, Andrea Bargnani.

Despite a slow start (1-10 shooting), the Raps won their first pre-season game @ Washington Wizards 93-88. The new Raps looked good in their debut: Barnagni went 3-6 (incl. 2-2 from 3 point land), Garbajosa hit the go-ahead trey with 38 seconds remaining in the game, Kris Humphries was apparently a surprisizing beast and scored 9 points in 14 minutes, and Fred Jones led the team with 17 points in 28 minutes.

I will be going to tomorrow night's game vs. Celtics, the first pre-season home game where Raptors fans can welcome 9 new players and the only holdovers from last season: Mo Pete, Chris Bosh, Jose Calderon, Joey Graham, Darrick Martin and Pape Sow (injured).

Did you pay for the ticket and if so, was it full price? Outside of baseball, I think all teams charge full price for preseason games and for football and hockey, at least, it's often not worth the price.

I paid $38.70 for an upper level 'bar' stool in the end zone (I this is actually one of best places to sit in the upper bowl as you can sit or stand and have a ledge to put your drink on, and much cheaper than the 'balcony prime' section at $56.60). But given that there are plenty of empty seats in a pre-season game, one can move around and sit in other areas during the course of the game.

Raps give their fans their money's worth, winning 118-112 in overtime. The Spanish duo of Jose Calderon (6-9 shooting for 13 points, 6 assists, 2 steals) and Jorge Garbajosa (6-10 shooting for 18 points, including 2 big treys in OT) starred for the Raps, in addition to Chris Bosh's 9-11 shooting (22 points) in 23 minutes of play.

Rookie Rajon Rondo starred for the Celticks with a game high 29 points (8-13 shooting), including a big 3 to send the game into overtime. Paul Pierce carved up the Raptors as per usual, scoring 23 points in 22 minutes.

With tonight's 103-81 victory over the Cavs (in Rochester), the Raptors go to 4-0 in pre-season. Neither Chris Bosh (sore left heel) nor LeBron James played. The Raps have secured victories with their newfound depth. While their starting lineup may not be the best in the league, I daresay their second (and third) unit players are as good as any bench in the league. How things will work out in the regular season when the rotations are shortened and the minutes reduced for the bench players, remains to be seen.

Start polishing the trophy.... the Raptors continue their winning ways and are now 6-0 in pre-season (7-0 if you include their victory over Maccabi Tel Aviv). One more pre-season tip, and then the season starts vs. Vince Carter and the Nets, followed by Charlie V. and the Bucks, and then Matt Bonner and the Spurs. Bring on those ex-Raptors!

Raptor Mania in Leaf land. The Leafs come first, second, third and fourth in terms of media coverage in this hockey crazed city. But for the first time in a long time the Raptors are certainly gaining prominence with all the off-season improvements and their 7-1 pre-season record. In fact with the Europeans on the roster, not only are the Raps getting much more local and national media coverage, but they are even getting substantial European coverage.

An article in today's Toronto Star pointed out that in addition to a much larger than normal Canadian media contigent at the Raps' last practice, there were about a dozen members of media from Italy covering every move made by #1 pick Bargnani. Italian television is going to televise the Raptors opener in New Jersey live back in Italy at 1:30AM local time. A first for an NBA regular season game. And with close to 500,000 of Italian heritage in Toronto, I'm sure the Raptors are doing all they can to increase sales to that group. In addition a number of Spanish media outlets were also in town following the exploits of Jorge Garbajosa and Jose Calderone, fresh off their world championship for Spain.

Everybody is fairly confident the Raps will be an improved team this year - but with 9 new faces in the lineup it may take a while to truly gel as a team - so it is hard to say if they will make the playoffs. I'm certain that they won't start the season like last year when they went 1-15 in their first 16 games. They should be fun to watch again for the first time in about 4 years.

Following a disappointing 102-92 season opener lossWednesday vs. the Nets (poor perfs from all the bigs--Bosh, Garbajosa, Bargnani and Nesterovic, but solid work from Anthony Parker and TJ Ford), the Raps came storming back tonight 109-92 at their home opener vs. the Bucks. Seven players in double figures, led by Chris Bosh's 12-16 26 point, 15 board performance.

Next up, Tim Duncan and the Spurs and AI(s) and the Sixers.

Hey - The Raps win their second game of the season - and this year it only took 4 games instead of 17 games like last year! Yeah!

Bosh hit a prayer 3 pointer as the shot clock ran out with 6 seconds left in the game for the thrilling 106-104 win over the Sixers. Bosh has really stepped up and it is clear from the way he is playing and his demeanor on and off the court that he is the obvious leader of this team - even at just age 22.

He was great last night - blocking an Iverson shot in the first seconds of the game and then his dramatic finish. 29 points and 14 rebounds. Apparently Bosh has changed the release on his shot and it seems to be working so far for him. Last year he was 0 for 13 from three point range and he has already hit two 3 pointers this year.

With TJ Ford directing a much faster offence than we have seen in these parts in years, this looks like it will be a fun team to watch. One more at home against Atlanta this Friday and then a 5 game western swing with games at Sacramento, Golden State, LA for the Lakers, Denver and Utah.

After a solid 2-2 start, the new Raps have looked like the old Raps and now stand 2-5. Mo Pete has been demoted from the starting line up in favour of Fred Jones, although that cosmetic change has not affected the win column.

Tonight the Raptors head to LA LA Land to take on Kobe and the Lakers. Lets hope they can hold Kobe to under 80 points this time.

================

P.S. I'm working on a Gay Day with the Raps, in support of the local lesbian basketball league. More details to come.

Bosh has been the only thing happening for the Raptors. The Nesterovic signing looks particularly bad right now. At the time I though San Antonio was nuts for letting him go in favor of Francisco Elson but, as usual, it looks like the Spurs knew exactly what they were doing. Toronto has to be secretly glad that Villaneuva is out with an injury, because that trade hasn't looked so good either up to now.

I wonder how long it is going to be before Coangelo pulls the plug on Coach Mitchell who remember he inherited from last season. The team is in disarray defensively and so far it appears the team is getting worse, rather than better as the season progresses. You would think with a good coach we would be seeing progress from one game to the next instead we're witnessing the opposite under Mitchell.

Our first round draft choice is showing no signs of life. Last night against the Lakers he was particularly brutal committing 5 fouls in his first 6 minutes of play, missing his only 3 shots from the field during that time and missing 2 free throws to boot.

While I'm certainly not happy with everything going on with the Raptors (and a coaching change is not necessarily a bad idea), I would like to come to their defence (something which the team sorely lacks):

- consider that 8 of their 12 players are new to the team, and 4 of those didn't even play in the NBA last season. In last night's Laker's game, 4 of 5 players in the starting lineup were new to the team.
- Bosh continues to improve; TJ Ford's numbers (7.5 APG, 14.5 PPG) are higher than his career averages and backup point guard Jose Calderon has been the most pleasant surprise of the season
- Coach has had some difficulty working Rasho and Bargnani into the game: in last night's Lakers game Rasho came off the bench in favor of Garbajosa and both ended up having good games (Garb 5-9, Rasho 4-5); one needs to have patience with 21-year old Andrea Bargnani, who's been picking up quick fouls and hasn't been able to play consistant minutes (one should be reminded of Dirk Nowitski's rookie numers: 20 min/game, 8.2 PPG, 3.4 RPG on 40% shooting... well below his career averages of 36 min/game, 22 PPG, 8.5 RPG and 46% shooting; Bargnani's numbers are 9.9 min/game, 4.4 PPG, 1.9RPG on 37.8% shooting).
- after only 8 games, one can't expect the totally re-jigged Raptors to be a well-oiled machine

Well Mark
I agree they have some time. But it is clear the East is still pretty weak and a team or two under .500 are likely going to make the playoffs. It would be nice if the Raptors at least are within barking distance of one of those last playoff spots and not too far behind by Christmas again - like last year. Even if they do not end up making the playoffs, at least hanging close will add at least a touch of excitement for a team that has not provided any real excitement for the last 3-4 years.

Remember last year was over with a 2-15 start. They are now at 2-6 and dropping. If they keep dropping Coangelo will likely make the move to bring in the coach he really wants. It makes sense for him to make a move this year if Mitchell is not up to the task so as to get a jump on next year - so a new coach is not starting from scratch at the beginning of the season.

One of the half time commentators during last night's loss to Denver was not so subtly being critical of Mitchell by pointing out that yes - the RAps are trying to be a more up tempo team, but they do not have the roster yet capable to play at the very fast tempo that many Western teams play at. So in these games in the West this past week, they should have at least at times tried to slow it down a bit, because they were playing teams with better up tempo lineups. Instead it was full speed ahead with tons of missed, rushed 3 pointers and the result - 4 straight losses. It is like when Mitchell would not change anything about the way they were defending Kobe in the one game against the Lakers last year when he scored 81 points, a game the Raptors had huge leads in and should have won. But no - he would not make any defensive adjustments and he just let Kobe have a field day.

I don't think he is the guy that can take this team to the next level. At least he has not shown me anything so far to indicate he is.

Excellent. (And not just in Mr. Burns' voice, either.)

An "anonymous" Raptor just completely trashed Sam Mitchell the other day. (There's a summary of his comments on FoxSports's "Dime.") I don't think I've ever seen a current coach get flayed like that by one of his players. Needless to say, he'll be the first coach fired this year.

I read that trashing, and of course everyone was wondering who it might be. My suspicion was that it was Mo Pete, since most of the players are new to the team (Rasho, Parker, Garbo, Bargnani, Ford, Tucker, Jones, Slokar) or are junior (Calderon, Graham). I don't think Chris Bosh would trash Mitchell that openly. So that leaves Mo Pete, or possibly Darrick Martin. But Martin may be looking towards a future coaching career and wouldn't jeopardize that. Interestingly, after that report broke, Mo Pete sat out the Cleveland game with supposed injury, breaking is 381 consectuive game streak (longest among active players) and coincidentally on Mo Pete bobblehead day. Mo Pete was recently demoted from the starting lineup to the bench, and has played his entire career with the Raptors, so it's not inconceivable that he's discouraged with the Raptors' historical 'one step forward, two steps back' system.

I personally think that Colangelo has to give Mitchell some time: after all, he had the entire off season to find a coach, but he showed confidence in Sam, despite seeing all his past woes with the Raptors. To fire him after only a dozen games makes his own decision to keep Mitchell look bad. Also, he needs to line up somebody or promote an assistant. My suspicion is he might want somebody who's not available at this time (such as a Phoenix assistant), so promoting a current assistant will just be a stop-gap measure, and may not necessarily improve the situation for a team that has had so many short-term coaches.

I do think that Colangelo has told Sam to play Andrea Bargnani more, as his own #1 pick was looking bad with limited minutes and limited production. He's averaged over 10 ppg in the past 3 games, after averaging less than 5 ppg previously.

=================

Watch out for the Atlanta scorekeepers! The Raptors were shafted in their Friday night game vs. Atlanta. In the fourth quarter they gave a point to Toronto that should have gone to Atlanta, then fixed it. Then they failed to credit Toronto with a 2-point basket. What should have been a tie game with 27 seconds left, was a 2-point deficit and the Raps were forced to foul, ultimately losing by 4 points. Had it been a tie game, the Raptors would have played the final seconds differently. Of course, they still might have lost anyways, but to have the scorer make not one, but two scoring errors in the fourth quarter of a close game--that's unacceptable.

The Raps win their fourth game of the season this afternoon which, in the woeful Atlantic division, is competitive. Although they had as much as a 27 point lead in the first half, that dissoved to a 4 point lead in the second half, before they pulled away to defeat the Pacers 92-83.

Canmark, did any players come to Mitchell's defense after those comments were published? Obviously, you know a lot more, reading the papers in Toronto. But if not -- then it's an acknowledgement that Mitchell's a dead man walking. Whether it's fair or not, when you've lost your players to that extent you can no longer coach effectively.

Like you, my guess would be it was Peterson. He's not exactly known as a malcontent, so that's another bad sign for Mitchell.

I haven't read where any media has asked a Raptor player to comment on or admit to being the malcontent. And given that the Raptors' 4-9 record puts them a mere 1 game out of first place in the Atlantic division...

Atlantic division standings:
Boston: 5-8
New Jersey: 5-8
Philadelphia: 5-8
New York: 5-10
Toronto: 4-9

The Raptors have chosen their division wisely.

Still, it seems to me that at some point the Nets are going to get their act together, and pull away from the rest of the dregs.

My vote goes to Mo Pete. Who else had cause? The Raptors simply aren't playing very well. So far, Bargnani has been a disappointment. The Raptors would have been better off drafting Aldridge. He's a more complete player. I would go so far to say that, as of this moment, Bargnani does not appear ready for the NBA's physical play. Dude just looks lost, scared, and timid out there. Also, why is Bosh roaming the perimeter for 3-pointers? Who's going to pull down his rebound? With Bosh on the perimeter, who's responsible for offensive rebounding and closing down the lane? I've only seen the Raptors play once, and I didn't get what they were trying to do. None of what they were doing made basketball sense, at least to me. So, maybe Mo Pete was right. I also don't understand why so many otherwise peaceful and team-oriented PG/SGs become so disgruntled in Toronto. Why is that?

The Raptors have hired shooting "guru" Dave Hopla to provide some help with their woeful shooting (24th in the league).

The revamped starting lineup and shortened bench has increased the minutes for the likes of Andrea Bargnani, who is beginning to show his skills (particularly in the Indiana game where he confidently knocked down a pair of 3's, and drove to the basket a couple of times including a nifty finger roll). Bargnani finally cracks the top 10 of NBA.com's rookie rankings.

T.J. Ford has stepped up his game in light of Jose Calderon's improved shooting (team-high 53% from the floor, 88% from the line), and is now 7th in the league in assists (8.1), and is scoring a career-high 15.4 ppg.

Mo Pete's injury has also benefitted Joey Graham, who's sometimes indifferent play has been elevated with double-digit scoring in 2 of the last 3 games, solid rebounding and defence.

Don't look now, but... the Raptors are only a 1/2 game out of first in the Atlantic. The 94-77 victory over the Hornets was their first road win this season. Solid game from Bosh (19 points, 14 rebounds) and great production from the bench: Bargnani's season-high 16 points, Joey's 14 and Jose's 13.

Atlantic division standings:
Boston, 5-8
Toronto, 5-9
Philadelphia, 5-9
New Jersey, 5-9
New York, 5-11

Hey Mark:
I'll tell you - if the Raptors can hang close to a playoff spot through Christmas - they may be in very good shape - assuming this team with 9 new players improves throughout the year as most people seem to expect.

I took a look at the December sked for the Raps this morning and it is another Road month. By Christmas they will have played 18 road games and only 10 at home. So considering they are a much better home team - with a 4-2 home record so far compared to a sad 1-8 on the road, if they can somehow manage to hang close to a playoff spot for the next 3 weeks - a time during which they play 9 more road games and only 4 at home - we may actually have reason for optimism heading into the New Year.

Of course that's assuming they don't tank and lose almost all 9 road games this month.

I was at last night's 106-102 victory over the Celtics. Very exciting, close game, with lots of lead changes.

Crowd was soundly behind Bargnani, who received the biggest cheer of the night for a driving dunk, and also for dropping a dime in the paint (Bargnani is a shoot-first guy who seldom get assists). He's averaged 25 min/12.4 ppg over the last 5 games.

Recently, the Raptors have stopped shooting the trey with their usual abandon, and were a second away from ending their NBA record 629 straight games with a 3-pointer at the Wednesday game at Dallas (Darrick Martin made a 3 at the buzzer in a losing blowout). At last night's game they were 1-6 from three (the one made 3 was by Bargnani).

Tonight the Raps take on the Knicks at the Garden.

Raptor rookies Jorge Garbajosa and Andrea Bargnani are moving up the NBA.com rookie rankings. This week Garbo is at #3 (up from #6) and Bargnani is #8 (up from #10).

Just about to head out the door to walk down to the ACC to catch the FIRST PLACE Raptors against Portland. That's right first place at 7-12. What a pathetic division. And the good news for the Raptors is that they are tied for first while having played more road games than other Eastern teams (12), and 8 games against stronger West teams, which is more than most Eastern teams have played.The bad news is that Bosh may not play today due to a sore knee. That would be a bummer as I think they could easily win with him in the lineup today, but will be hard pressed if he does rest his knee.

Today's Toronto Star rates the good and bad for the Raptors thus far as they play their 20th game today.

The good: Bosh - In spite of not being completely healthy he is averaging 20 points and 12 rebounds.
Jose Calderone: Coming off Spains World championship he is paying with much more confidence this year than last and is fast becoming one of the NBA's better backup point guards when he relieves TJ Ford.
Andrea Bargnani: After a slow start he is playing very well as of late - much better - faster than most people thought likely as he adjusts to a new country and new league. And he clearly has already become a fan favourite.

The Bad:
Team defence
Fred Jones
Bad three point shooting

Time to head to the ACC!Go Raps!

What a waste of an afternoon. Not only did CB4 (Bosh), not play - neither did any of the Raptors who dressed for the game. Woeful shooting, no rebounding and no energy. They were never really in the game.

Some good news though. I got an email from Canmark and it looks like the Gay Day with the Raptors will happen on Friday Feb 23 in a game versus the Pacers. Mark is still working out all the details but by the sounds of it a portion of sales will go to the Rainbow Hoops which is a lesbian friendly women's basketball league in Toronto.

Way to go Mark!

Following dreadful back-to-back performances against Portland and Miami, the Raps rebound with a victory over the Magic in Orlando, 91-84.

The number 1 draft pick, Andrea Bargnani, scored a career-high 23 points (in 29 minutes) on 8-16 shooting (including 5-8 from downtown).

Side note: J.J. Reddick, in his third game of the season for the Magic, was a lowly 0-3.

Hey Mark:
When I got home tonight I knew the Raptors had to be doing well because I could hear my roommate going nuts up in his room. I turned the game on just in time to see Bargnani nail three 3 pointers in quick succession to break the game open. It's beginning to look more and more that Colangelo knew exactly what he was doing when he picked him first overall. He really does seem to gradually improve from one week to the next. A nice road win for the Raps especially without Bosh, who may miss another game or two still resting his bruised knee.

Next up - the hated Vince Carter and the Nets visit the ACC this Friday.

Despite missing CB4 for the past several games, the Raptors, at 3 games under .500, find themselves in sole possession of first place in the lowly Atlantic division. And this is despite playing 17 road games to only 10 home games. January brings 10 home/5 road games. Hopefully the Raps can continue their strong home play (7-3; only team in the Atlantic with a winning record at home) and push themselves over the .500 mark.

44 games into the season... and the Raptors have hit .500! Yay!

And to further the excitement, Rainbow Hoops Night with the Raptors is less than a month away. The Raptors' first gay day will benefit our local lesbian-positive women's basketball league. Come on out Friday February 23rd. Raps vs. Pacers. Tickets are $30, available from Clayton Smith (Raptors group sales) at: 416-815-6173 or csmith@mapleleafsports.com

Rainbow Hoops night gets a plug in Montreal's Hour (Three Dollar Bill column; scroll down) and in Allan Maki's column (Amaechi comes out) in today's Globe and Mail.

Globe and Mail:



Three Dollar Bill, Hour (Montreal):

Despite a scare in the fourth quarter (as a 12 point lead turned into a 2 point deficit), the Raptors prevailed over the Lakers 96-92 for their fifth straight win. The Raps weren't as sharp as they have been of late, stumbling out of the blocks with only 16 first quarter points. But Chris Bosh led the way with 29 points and 11 boards, while Anthony Parker kept Kobe in check and provided 18 points, 7 rebounds and 3 steals for good measure. Next up: Pistons. Raps now 27-23.

Not to take anything away from the Raptors, who are playing extremely well (especially Bosh, who has been extraordinary), but the Lakers just don't seem to have adjusted to the return of Odom. He's not playing that badly, but the Lakers have been playing terribly as a team since his return. Strange.

As usual in Toronto, when the gays show up the home team wins. Over $500 was raised for the Rainbow Hoops league at the first Raptors gay day, as the Raps cruised over the Pacers 110-88.

Dear Toronto Raptors gays:

What's your secret?

Love,
Philadelphia Phillies gays

I don't know, but our teams must want us to come back again. I don't think the Raps or Jays have lost on a gay day.

On the way out they were giving away free Gillette Fusion razors. I guess they think gays would be interested in over-priced shaving technology.

Xtra posted some comments from attendees at Rainbow Hoops Night. They asked How comfortable did you feel at the game?

Last two Raptors games have been disasterous, sheer torture to watch. Today's 92-74 drubbing by the Knicks saw the Raptors make only 10 assists to 19 turnovers. Friday night's 114-100 dismantling by the Rockets saw the Raptors outrebounded 47-33. With the Raps staggering down the stretch, will anybody (Nets, Knicks) make a run at them?

If the Rockets "dismantled" the Raptors, what word would you use to describe the Rockets' 124-74 win over the Sixers tonight?

And didn't Xtra interview any men?

I think the Raptors looked like they had too much fun in Manhattan last night and it showed for their noon start today. They played lousy the first half but still lead. The third quarter was the worst 12 minutes of basketball the team has played all year. They mailed that one in. Lowest point total of the year, worst 3 point shooting something like 2 of 20!, and worst field goal percentage at around 34% - 27% in the second half! That one you just file under garbage and wake up for the next game.

Friday night they just got beat by the better team. Who would have though Rafer would be lighting them up from the outside like he did and McGrady was very hot all night.

They missed Calderone and Anthony Parker on Friday and today Parker was no where near 100% on his bad ankle. In the last 5 games that Parker has not played - and I'll include today's 'attempt' to play in that total - the Raptors have lost all 5. I don't think that is a coincidence. And MoPete - 0 for 7, 2 air balls and 1 for 11 going back to Friday! Yikes!

Not too worried about the Nets or Knicks yet. They have both been so inconsistent. The losses though are not helping their playoff seeding though.

And a bad weekend overall with the Leafs losing both games too. Now they are in tough to make the playoffs where thye are in a battle with 6 other teams for the last two playoff spots. It will be a fun couple of weeks!

Yikes! Andrea Bargnani apparently had an emergency appendectomy last night and may be out for a month.

The Raptors have released their 2nd round pick P.J. Tucker and will reportedly sign former Cav Luke Jackson to a 10-day contract. Jackson has been averaging 14.6ppg and 48.6% (34-70) from 3 in the D-league.

A Raps win and Nets loss clinch Atlantic Division title, first in Raptors history, and first time in the playoffs since 2002.

Following tonight's victory over the Knicks, the Raptors clinch home court advantage for the first round of the playoffs and have tied their franchise record for wins (47) with 2 games to go (@Det, vs. Phi).