Bringing finally glory to Canada ?!

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The NBA Season 2010/2011 is about to start and on one thing the experts are sure. The Toronto Raptors are the worst team in the east. Without franchise player Chris Bosh all the hope relies on a Italian shooter with no rebounding skills called Andrea Bargnani. The maximum wins the experts dare to tip are between 15 and 25. So they see it positive in Toronto as a rebuilding season with hopefully good luck in the lottery afterwards.

And now this new general manager: Todd Kennedy, a former broker in NYC who has a background at USC being a rotation player there. So he has the basketball and the business background. He's 31 years old and should look to build a supporting cast for a possible high draft pick plus a free agent addition in the summer of 2011. He has the OK from the boss to trade every player except for Andrea Bargnani who has a long term deal until 2015.

Start of the Season.

My first day foresaw a meeting with coach Jay Triano. He said to me that he wanted to experiment a bit this season. I convinced him that I'm keen on good defense and that's really not what the Raptors stood for last season. He said it's very hard to get better at it without Bosh. I didn't like this comment. Whining about CB4's absense isn't the right motivation for the start of the season.
I really wasn't convinced Triano is the right coach for the team so I had a meeting with team owner Rich Petway and he was OK with my decision to fire the entire coaching staff as my first official act.

I found my Head Coach very early. I chose Steve Patterson who never was head coach but who did a great job as a general manager in Portland for four years. I'm sure he is the right choice. As 1st Assistant I gave him 79 year old Dick Harter who will be great for the upcoming draft with his great scouting. He's very likeable. As 2nd Assistant I picked T.R. Dunn who did good assistant jobs for the Hornets in the 90's and lately the Houston Rockets. As 3rd Coach I picked Paul Mokeski who had an assistant job with Rio Grande up until now.

I'm satisfied with my decision and now let's change the roster.

The PF position is way to deep. Because it's more quantity than quality with Joey Dorsey and Reggie Evans not being good players. I don't like Amir Johnson so my plan is that Bargnani starts at the four with rookie Ed Davis being his back up. I have to do something about the SF and C position. Solomon Alabi and David Andersen are players for the garbage time not for a starting lineup. Let's look what we can get. I probably will give up the 2013 and 2012 1st Round draft picks with the plan to be a .500 team next season right away with the right additions right now and a upcoming draft pick.

Toronto Raptors trade Amir Johnson, David Andersen & 2011 2nd Round pick for Cleveland Cavaliers' Anderson Varejao

Toronto Raptors trade DeMar DeRozan, Reggie Evans, 2012 2nd Round Pick, 2013 2nd Round Pick for Los Angeles Clippers Rasual Butler, Eric Bledsoe

Toronto Raptors trade Jarrett Jack, 2013 1st Round Pick for Los Angeles Clippers Eric Gordon, DeAndre Jordan

Trading Recap:

Well I'm feeling pretty good about this trades. We now have four former Clippers with us. I hope we can get a winning aura even with some Clippers with us.
Anderson gives us a hard worker in the paint who is always good for offensive rebounds and some easy points. Neither Andersen nor Alabi could play this role. Getting rookie Bledsoe is great because Assistant Dick Harter sees great potential in this kid so he develops in a regular NBA starter. Butler gives the team a scoring option even when he's a bit one-dimensional being just a pure 3-point-shooter. But the most thrilling aquisition is Eric Gordon. He played well for Team USA this summer and will be our second scoring option. We lacked a good scorer who can create his own shot so he we have one now.

Our depth chart looks now this:

PG Jose Calderon
SG Eric Gordon
SF Rasual Butler
PF Andrea Bargnani
C Anderson Varejao

6 PF Ed Davis
7 SF Linas Kleiza
8 SG Sonny Weems
9 PG Leandro Barbosa
10 SG Eric Bledsoe
11 C DeAndre Jordan
12 C Solomon Alabi

Now we look forward to a season which can be very difficult season. Our goal are 30 wins. Hopefully we get these! We start at the 1st November @ Philadelphia!

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Toronto Raptors 112 - Philadelphia 76ers 110

In a very close game Anderson Varejao put up big numbers. With a 21 points 14 rebound double-double he outshined everybody. Especially from 3-point range we were red hot, hitting 61.1 percent from downtown. Bargnani finished with 23 points hitting 3 out of 4 Threes. Barbosa added 15 points off the bench and we were good. For the Sixers Louis Williams excelled making 26points.

Golden State Warriors (1-0) 90 - Toronto Raptors (1-0) 94

Second W to begin the season! Great effort by the guys. Varejao grabbed 11 rebounds but couldn't succeed in the offensive with just 4 points. Jose Calderon was the Raptors' top scorer with 20 points. 5 player had double-digit points with DeAndre Jordan and Sonny Weems two off the bench. For the Warriors Monta Ellis played sweet string music with 25 points.

Toronto Raptors (2-0) 76 - Milwaukee Bucks (0-2) 95

The Bucks played really great defense. We had a field goal percentage of 35 percent and only two players scored in double digits for us. Ed Davis off the bench as Raptors' top scorer with 14 points and Eric Gordon with 10 points. Varejao grabbed 12 rebounds. Especially Andrew Bogut played really nice this night with 21 points and 18 rebounds.

Detroit Pistons (2-1) 93 - Toronto Raptors (2-1) 100

Winning games against these other bad teams is essentially for us to have a decent record this year. With Bargnani having 20 and 9 rebounds and Calderon adding 18 they made our win. Anderson Varejao again with a great defensive game having 14 rebounds and 3 blocks. For the Pistons Rodney Stuckey was the top scorer with 21 points.

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I made a visit at USC because I was invited to hold a speech there about motivation. The speech was a success and the kids really were into that. Afterwards a big kid came to me and said that he was proud to meet me and if I know him. I knew this kid because this was the 7 - 1 Center machine Darius Catlett from USC who averages 27.4 ppg and 14 rpg this early college season. I talked with him five minutes long and I'm really into getting this player. I watched tapes of him and he can be a very dominant Center in the NBA, too I think. Maybe we can aquire him in this year's draft.

Toronto Raptors (3-1) 86 - Atlanta Hawks (2-1) 113

Well when you look at the score you can imagine that they really swept us. We won no quarter and Joe Johnson destroyed us with 32 points. At that point in the season we are the 5th worst team offensively scoring 93.6 ppg but defensively we're in the middle with 100.2 points allowed ranking at the 16th place. OK we need scoring and toughness. So lets have a look at the free agents.

I called Rasheed Wallace if he was willing to help us out one season at the Center spot as a backup for Anderson and he accepted but we had to limit his minutes to 20 or less. I was thrilled to get Sheed and tried to make another trade.

Toronto Raptors trade Solomon Alabi, 2012 1st Round Pick
for
Dallas Mavericks Shawn Marion, 2011 1st Round Pick, 2013 1st Round Pick

This could turn out great for us. Marion wasn't satisfied in Dallas coming off the bench and now "The Matrix" is a starter for us giving us heart, drive and versability at the 3 spot. He's 32 but I'm sure he can pull off a great season with us. With Sheed and Matrix arriving we have to veterans more and they really know how to play defense. Let's have a look how it turns out against the Bobcats who are 0-5 up until now.

Toronto Raptors (3-2) 81 - Charlotte Bobcats (0-5) 93

Captain Jack and Crash had us. Marion gave us in his debut a double double with 12 points and 10 rebs. Sheed came 9 minutes off the bench and scored only 2 points but had 6 rebounds and 3 steals. We played ok but we really need a go-to-guy and I'm not convinced at the moment that this is Bargnani. I have to talk with the boss about him.

The boss said to me that Andrea gets a three game trial. When he isn't overwhelming I can look for a trade especially because Ed Davis plays well off the bench.

Toronto Raptors (3-3) 116 - Boston Celtics (1-6) 103

I'm surprised that the C's had such a bad start in the season but this is good for us. In an awesome scoring performance Eric Gordon led us with 27 points while he was 65 % from the field. Marion again with a double double this time with 18 pts, 10 rebs and 4 assists. Ed Davis had almost a double double off the bench with 11 points and 9 rebounds. Andrea Bargnani with 6 points. 'nuff said.

Philadelphia 76ers (1-6) 90 - Toronto Raptors (4-3) 113

We are at home very strong. I knew that before but this was a great win. Ed Davis was named Player of the Game with 18 points and 7 rebounds. His competitor for the 4 spot, Bargnani, had disappointing 8 points with 3 rebounds. 1 game left for Bargnani.

Miami Heat (7-1) 108 - Toronto Raptors (5-3) 114

Before the game I went into the locker room and motivated the guys. They were really really determined. Bargnani seemed a bit depressed like he knew what would happen if he plays bad again. But Davis, Calderon and Marion really pumped up everybody. I had a great feeling about this game and it was OOOOON. The Super Friends from South Beach come to the cold Toronto to get their Diapers changed! Especially the second quarter with 43 points was absolutely jaw dropping. Even more surprising was the player of the game: No LeBron, no D-Wade, no Bosh, no Marion, no Ed Davis. No, it was Andrea Bargnani with 32 points hitting 10 out of 16 from the field! I really changed my mind about him after this game were he outshined the designated NBA Champions. We keep Andrea and hope our upswing isn't over yet!

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Toronto Raptors(6-3) 86 - Miami Heat (7-2) 113

Well now we were visiting the Heat and they were angry. They dominated us from the beginning on and almost everyone was disappointing. Ed Davis had 10 points off the bench in 21 minutes while Bargnani again was weak with 9 points in 31 minutes. I might call the Coach to bring Davis in the starting lineup for a few weeks.

New Jersey Nets (7-3) 115 - Toronto Raptors (6-4) 85

Ok, this was just...sad. Davis started and had 2 points in 21 minutes. Bargnani started and had... 2 points in 31 minutes! What the heck?! I was so upset that I was convinced that trading Andrea is the only solution.

Toronto Raptors trade Jose Calderon, 1st Round Pick (TOR) 2013
for
Minnesota Timberwolves Jonny Flynn

Ok, Jose didn't play soo bad but he brought bad mood in the team. And on this point we're all about chemistry. After my plan the 2013 pick won't be a high one because we will be in the top 5 of the East by then. Additionally this gives us more freedom for free agency 2011 because we're now 11 million under the cap and if we would renounce every contract then we would be 22 under the cap. So we get our draft pick, the one from Dallas, plus a high class free agent. This just can turn out well.

Toronto Raptors trade Andrea Bargnani
for
Oklahoma City Thunder Jeff Green

Ok I really like this trade because I think Green's a good talented kid and fits in just right with the new system.
Our new starting lineup looks like this:

PG Jonny Flynn
SG Eric Gordon
SF Shawn Marion
PF Jeff Green
C Anderson Varejao

Ed Davis SF/PF/C
Rasual Butler SG/SF
Rasheed Wallace PF/C

...

I will now do a ten game wrap up because it will just turn out too long.

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Next 10 games record: (1-9)

Ok, ok this wasn't very successful. But I don't care. I build now a young promising team with whom we can attack next year for the playoffs with a high draft pick and one good aquisition in the free agency.

In these 10 games Jeff Green is averaging 13.2 ppg and 6.7 rpg. That's okay I would say. Jonny Flynn is averaging 13.37 ppg and 7.75 apg. They're doing well but we had these games some key injuries with Marion out with a concussion and Ed Davis out with a sore knee.

Overall record now: (7-13)

The next 4 games we went 0-4 and I decided to do something about it.

Toronto Raptors trade SF Rasual Butler, SG Sonny Weems
for
Detroit Pistons SG Tracy McGrady, SF Austin Daye, 2011 2nd Round Pick

Ok, this could turn out bad. BUT: Austin Daye is also a good shooter for the Three and Tracy is the same age as Rasual. I think it's a fair trade and I really would like to see Tracy start. Eric Gordon was ok, but he has a horrible FG percentage with 38 %. Tracy is looking for his last hurra and I will give it to him. Get'em T-Mac!

Next 10 games: (1-9)

Ok the first four were lost like mentioned. But it didn't get any better. Tracy and Gordon switched the starter role every game and they both played solid.
In his six games with us Tracy contributed 15.6 ppg. This is nice and Eric Gordon really excelled in his role as sixth man. Next year when the free agent is there who most likely will be an outstanding scorer Eric will fit perfectly as the sixth man.

Overall Record: 8 - 22

[Soft]

Ok the next 10 games we went 2-8. But more important there started great tension in the team and the chemistry was completely lost. Eric Bledsoe was attacking Ed Davis, Brandan Wright was offending Jonny Flynn. So I had to do something to save the chemistry and I really did it great, I have to say.

Toronto Raptors trade Eric Bledsoe, Brandan Wright
for
Sacramento Kings Carl Landry, 2012 1st Round Pick

I don't know why in the world they gave me the pick. That was one of the biggest fails I've ever seen performed by a GM. But we're happy to have Landry who has an expiring contract and could possibly start for us at the PF spot.

Overall Record: 10 - 30

Next 10 Game we went 4-6.

Landry really gave us a boost. Since he's here he had 18.6 ppg and 8.4 rpg. Jonny Flynn has found a good partner for the pick-and-roll and we're not a good team yet but the fans see improvement. The Timberwolves are the worst team in the league with a horrible 4 -43 record and the Clippers and we're "arguing" about the second worst place. They have 13-35 record we are one game ahead with 14-36.
Just let this season end because I think we can come out big in the offseason.

ALL STAR BREAK

Dominic McGuire of the Charlotte Bobcats won the Slam Dunk Contest against Stanley Robinson of the Magic.

Jared Dudley won the Three-Point Shootout in the Final against Anthony Morrow and Anthony Parker.

In the Rooks-Soph Game only Jonny Flynn got entry. I was surprised that Ed Davis wasn't invited.

No Raptors' player made the all-star team. LeBron won the All-Star-Game MVP with 28 points, 7 rebounds and 8 assists. Here are the starting lineups:

EAST:

PG Derrick Rose
SG Stephen Jackson (!)
SF LeBron James
PF Carlos Boozer
C Dwight Howard

WEST:

PG Chris Paul
SG Monta Ellis
SF Kevin Durant
PF Dirk Nowitzki
C Yao Ming

Next 10 games we went 4-6.

Jonny Flynn almost had a triple-double in a game against his ex-club, the Timberwolves with 30 pts, 10 assists and 9 rebounds. Great game by the kid.

Next 10 games ended for us with a 5-5 record.

Especially Jonny Flynn is getting really hot towards the end of the season. He again missed twice to have a triple-double but is really playing a great all-around game right now.

The last 12 games of the regular season we finished with 6-6. So we have a record of 29-53 this season. I have to wait for the draft to say if I keep Landry or not. He really impressed me. But let's have a look at the stats of my players:

PPG:

Eric Gordon 18.1
Carl Landry 15.1
Jonny Flynn 13.2

APG:

Jonny Flynn 6.6
Tracy McGrady 2.4
Eric Gordon 2.2

RPG:

Anderson Varejao 8.9
Carl Landry 6.5
Jeff Green 5.5

SPG:

Jeff Green 1.3
Eric Gordon 1.1
Jonny Flynn 0.9

BPG:

Ed Davis 0.9
Jeff Green 0.9
Carl Landry 0.7

So let's analyze this year's playoffs:

Chicago (1) vs Indiana (8)
New York (4) vs Milwaukee (5)
Orlando (3) vs Boston (6)
Miami (2) vs New Jersey (7)

Ok Indiana is a real surprise in the playoffs especially with a bad 36-46 record. They will get swept by the strong Bulls who finished with 59-23 and played a great regular season.
NYK vs Bucks is difficult. They have almost the same regular season record. Knicks finished first in Atlantic Division with 46-36 and the Bucks finished second in the Central Division with 44-38. That's a close one which could go either way. But my guess is with Knicks because of their homecourt advantage.
Orlando - Boston is probably the hottest first round matchup in the East. The C's had a really weak regular season with a 38-44 record but maybe KG and Pierce can put out their A game then it could be very hard for Orlando. Orlando had a good 50-32 record and well...they have Dwight Howard.
Miami will roll over New Jersey. I can't imagine something else. The Super Friends want this championship too much.

WEST:

Denver (1) vs Memphis (8)
Dallas (4) vs New Orleans (5)
Utah (3) vs Portland (6)
LA Lakers (2) vs Houston (7)

The Nuggets had an awesome regular season with a league best 65-17 record. Billups and Melo worked really, really well together and seem to be unstoppable for Memphis.
Dallas and NO finished with the same record 53-29. When Kidd manages to defend CP3 at least ok then I'd go with the Mavs. But I don't think so. NO wins in 6.
Utah finished with 54-28 and Jefferson and Williams really are a good team. Millsap put up a notch and I don't think the Blazers can handle them especially because Oden is....injured. Surprise, surprise!
Everybody in LA wants this three-peat so hard. Yao and K-Mart 2 aren't stopping the Lake show.

So the first round is over now.

EAST:

Chicago (1) vs New York (4)
Orlando (3) vs Miami (2)

WEST:

Denver (1) vs Dallas (4)
Portland (6) vs LA (2)

I'll make it short:

Miami - Bulls
Denver - LA.

and the Finals are...

NBA Finals 2011
Denver Nuggets vs Miami Heat

And the Heat won 4-2! The Super Friends claim their first Championship!

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AWARDS:

Most Valuable Player: Dwight Howard
Defensive Player of the Year: Dwight Howard
Rookie of the Year: Tiago Splitter
Sixth Man of the Year: Tyson Chandler
Coach of the Year: George Karl

This years rookie class seems not so great. In the lottery we got the 2nd Pick what was great. There only two players who really, really stood out. They were absolute superstars right now! There was Jo Jo Eldridge a 6-2 PG out of Kentucky who averaged 28.4 ppg 13 apg 7 rpg and 3.2 spg. He was complete just now and was rated by my scouting crew as one of two five star players. The other one I already knew. It was the USC Center Darius Catlett. He is a 7-2 beast. Scored 25.3 ppg, grabbed 17.3 boards per game and recorded 4.3 bpg. These two were by far the best rookies in the class and I really wanted Catlett bad. I'm a USC alumni so I have a special connection to this college. Catlett is also an awesome defensive presence. I possess the 25th Pick in the 1st round and the 7th Pick in the 2nd round. Because the draft class isn't that deep I'll probably trade the picks or the players I get.

Well then there was the draft and I got the player I wanted. The Clippers took Eldridge with the first pick and we took Catlett with the second. As 25th we took PG DeVeren Bains. He's talented but has a bad personality so I think I'm going to trade him. Just like our 7th pick in the second round: PG Darrick Bullock. Both are capable of having a 6th or 7th man role but they don't fit the team philosophy.
After the draft I renounced every contract giving us 19 million cap room. We just needed a scorer for the SG position. Jason Richardson seems to be a good fit but he want 14 million over 5 years! Well I really don't want to pay for him this long so I give him 17 million for two years. 34 million is a ton of money but I think he would be the perfect fit for us!

[PointGuard]

A rough first season, but you seem to be setting up for some solid improvement in year 2011/2012.

[Tim Moungey]

Can't wait to see how Catlett turns out for you.

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Free Agency:

Well Richardson resigned with the Mavs. There was still Yao in the play so I thought about a sign and trade. The problem is that this free agency is full of 29 and 30 year olds. And no real stars. Melo resigned with the Nuggets so he was out of the mix. Then I had a idea:

Toronto Raptors trade Jeff Green, DeVeren Bains
for
Chicago Bulls Derrick Rose

Well this is it. Rose on the board and we still can afford a major free agent. Looks like we're going for Jamal Crawford and Carl Landry.

Toronto Raptors sign Jamal Crawford to a 3-year contract worth $20,025,720

Toronto Raptors sign Carl Landry to a 5-year contract worth $58,000,000

These two signings were among the most important for their respective teams:

Oklahoma City Thunder sign Zach Randolph to a 5-year contract worth $67,599,000

San Antonio Spurs sign Thaddeus Young to a 2-year contract worth $11,800,000


Zach Randolph gives OKC an inside presence what will make them even more deadly. Thaddeus Young is a young piece for the rebuild in San Antonio what will take place in the next years.

Toronto Raptors trade Jonny Flynn, Shawn Marion
for
Philadelphia 76ers Andre Iguodala, 2012 1st Round Pick

This gives us a world class defender and scoring option on the 3. We didn't needed Flynn anymore because of Rose's arrival. We're now going for Earl Barron as Center #3.

Miami Heat sign Michael Redd to a 2-year contract worth $2,625,532.

Ok Redd can still shoot and this team only gets better.

Well the Lakers got Barron but we now signed DeAndre Jordan for two years to give us more deepness in the frontcourt. Coach Patterson told me that he had an argument with Catlett and really thinks that he won't make an impact on the team. Well I thought otherwise and fired the Coach. I think it was time for a coaching stint of mine.

Now our starting lineup looks like this:

PG Derrick Rose
SG Jamal Crawford
SF Andre Iguodala
PF Carl Landry
C Darius Catlett

6 Eric Gordon SG/SF
7 Ed Davis PF/C
8 Darrick Bullock PG/SG
9 Anderson Varejao C
10 Austin Daye SF
11 Linas Kleiza SG/SF
12 DeAndre Jordan C/PF

Looks for me like a team who has a realistic chance for a deep playoff run.