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Much has been said about the fact that the Raptors don't have a Franchise player with Bosh's departure. Most of this talk insist in the negative impact that this could have in the team. But lately there's been evidence that this could be possitive in some point.
We all know that the NBA is a Superstar league, where player are bigger than systems and coaches, even though I hate that it's that way, it's true a it's the biggest difference between the NBA and International basketball.
However i think there's a tendency recently for teams without superstars to have some positive impact. Of course, this evidence in my memory, has two succesful examples. One is almost ten years ago and can be seen as a preview of a new era. This case is the Orlando Magic that was a basket ago to being a playoff team when everyone expected to be the worst team in the NBA. That year, Darrel Armstrong was the best player and Doc Rivers the coach. Another well know player on that team were, Bo Outlaw, Ron Mercer and Mike Miller. Rivers was the Coach of the Year in that season.
The other case was the Milwaukee Bucks of last year, with Redd injured for most of the season and with the late adittion of Salmons. Bogut was their best player. He's and extraordiary and complete player, but he's not consider a Superstar by the NBA Market, where David Lee is an All Star in a awful team that play no defense. Jennings was consider lately as a Franchise, but he was a rookie and has good and bad moments. But with players like Ilyasova, Salmons, Ridnour, Bogut, Delfino, Mbah Moute and Charlie Bell and coached by in my opinon one of the best coaches in the NBA - Skyles- they finished 5th in the East, above Wade's Heat and Rose's Bulls, and they were a big obstacule to the Hawks in the playoffs (finished 4-3).
This year, judging by the preseason, the Raptors are not the horrible team the specialist predicted, Kleiza, Derozan and Bargniani are solid players, so Barbosa, Calderon and Jack. I'm not saying we're going to be last year Bucks, but with one or two more moves with role players (another SF and an improvement to Amir), we could have a better season than everyone expected.
And don't worry about season's preview that are destroing the Raptors. They're doing the same with Khan, Rambis and the Twolves and they're 5-1 in the preseason. It's too early to judge, i know but they're another young team without superstars, but in my opinon they're in the right direction (don't forget that kidd Rubio that is coming next year). Last year preview of the Bucks were painful too, and look where they finished
We all know that the NBA is a Superstar league, where player are bigger than systems and coaches, even though I hate that it's that way, it's true a it's the biggest difference between the NBA and International basketball.
However i think there's a tendency recently for teams without superstars to have some positive impact. Of course, this evidence in my memory, has two succesful examples. One is almost ten years ago and can be seen as a preview of a new era. This case is the Orlando Magic that was a basket ago to being a playoff team when everyone expected to be the worst team in the NBA. That year, Darrel Armstrong was the best player and Doc Rivers the coach. Another well know player on that team were, Bo Outlaw, Ron Mercer and Mike Miller. Rivers was the Coach of the Year in that season.
The other case was the Milwaukee Bucks of last year, with Redd injured for most of the season and with the late adittion of Salmons. Bogut was their best player. He's and extraordiary and complete player, but he's not consider a Superstar by the NBA Market, where David Lee is an All Star in a awful team that play no defense. Jennings was consider lately as a Franchise, but he was a rookie and has good and bad moments. But with players like Ilyasova, Salmons, Ridnour, Bogut, Delfino, Mbah Moute and Charlie Bell and coached by in my opinon one of the best coaches in the NBA - Skyles- they finished 5th in the East, above Wade's Heat and Rose's Bulls, and they were a big obstacule to the Hawks in the playoffs (finished 4-3).
This year, judging by the preseason, the Raptors are not the horrible team the specialist predicted, Kleiza, Derozan and Bargniani are solid players, so Barbosa, Calderon and Jack. I'm not saying we're going to be last year Bucks, but with one or two more moves with role players (another SF and an improvement to Amir), we could have a better season than everyone expected.
And don't worry about season's preview that are destroing the Raptors. They're doing the same with Khan, Rambis and the Twolves and they're 5-1 in the preseason. It's too early to judge, i know but they're another young team without superstars, but in my opinon they're in the right direction (don't forget that kidd Rubio that is coming next year). Last year preview of the Bucks were painful too, and look where they finished
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