Saturday, July 25, 2009

The Raptors, Desired?

This offseason for the raps has had a unique theme within the NBA and the history of the entire franchise. Although I'm sure many have noticed it, it has received fairly little publicity and appreciation. What I'm referring to is the fact that this offseason is highlighted by moves of players who WANT to come to Toronto. Unheard of 5 years ago, hell even just 5 months ago. Highlighted by an uncharacteristic burning of Portland, Hedo has definitely helped foster an atmosphere amongst the NBA where players want to come to join the Raps. Preceding this comes the rookie signing of DD, who seems to have been genuinely looking forward to joining the Raptors. Yes it's a rookie signing and he had no choice but still, he seems sincere in his appreciation. Couple this with Jack agreeing to sign an offer sheet with Toronto as a primary backup (which is generally unheard of for previous starters) and we're now looking at a franchise that I dare say seems credible. In recent news, Rasho turned down many suitors to join the Raptors for a ONE year deal and Delfino has done nothing but spread good publicity about the Raptors and his desire to return to Toronto, not just the NBA.

As a Raps fan, this is extremely bizarre for a team that has a history of its bright stars fleeing, demanding trades or players refusing to even show up. To me this signals the beginning of something new. Not only do we have a much more talented NBA team, but we seem to have the attention of the NBA and its players. It all points towards us seeing Bosh for years to come and other players wanting to come up north to join him and the franchise.

7 comments:

  1. I think it is a bit optimistic and sugar-coated, but nice article

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  2. totally unrelated, but the line height for your text is too small, making things difficult to read.

    goob read.

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  3. I don't know about that.

    Last year, the crazy Raptor fans thought they had a "talented" team. They actually thought they would be Eastern Conference contenders, and that "Jose" would emerge as an All-Star guard. We all know how that turned out.

    Getting guys like Jarrett Joke in the offseason shouldn't be much cause for celebration. Seems like Toronto fans get excited whenever a black guy joins the team.

    The only good thing the Raptors have going for them (besides the laughably bad "nicknames" the players get) is the ever-looming potential for a Whiteout during what I'm sure will be many blowout losses this year:

    Calderon
    Delfino (is this guy even on the team again?)
    Turkoglu
    Bargnani
    Nesterovic

    I'd set the over / under of Whiteouts at 65 games, assuming Delfino is on the team.

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  4. Great sports site you have here man. I have a sports blog myself and I would like to exchange links with you. The easiest way to contact me is through my site by a comment. Let me know if this is possible. Jason

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  5. Hey we're still kicking around. People got swamped for the summer and scattered but we'll be back regularly in the next few.

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    ReplyDelete