GT: Raps at Cavs - Raptor Revenge

[BasketballCrush]

It's Bryan's MO to give Andrea more minutes when he struggles. That has been the prevailing wisdom in Toronto as long as Bryan has been here. His deficiencies will be solved with more playing time.


So I am still not entirely certain, that Bryan did not have some input to how Andrea should be used, in order to get the most out of him.

[Hugmenot]

Okay well I honestly don't give a shit what you say because you just pissed me off. You guys are fucking hilarious! I'm supporting him because I know he can do better and be better.

+1

Keep in mind though that you will never change haters, be they hating Bargnani, DeRozan, Casey, or whoever else is the target du jour.

[Nilanka]

Okay well I honestly don't give a shit what you say because you just pissed me off. You guys are fucking hilarious! I'm supporting him because I know he can do better and be better.

I think we can all agree that Bargnani can be better in short spurts, but there isn't anything anyone can point to that suggests Bargnani can consistently be a net positive on the floor throughout the course of a full season. We've been waiting for 7 years.

[BasketballCrush]

The problem is that there is book as thick as the bible with his advanced stats, and there is nothing good to be learned from it.


This idea that fans, will trick other teams into Andrea by loving him is one of the silliest ideas around. We are the love struck club, we always were. We booted players, coaches and systems out of town before Andrea. Now there is nothing left, but Andrea showing us that he can play in spurts, and he can't even do that.


It really gets hokey and unicornish when media personalities think that changing the fans reaction to Andrea is going to change his play. ....at that point you are at the end of your rope.

[mcHAPPY]

We try not to stoop to telling people to "Shut Up" around here .. its very much a Grade-3 tactic that holds no place is real debate.

As for Bargnani, confidence has ALWAYS been his thing. Last year, people were talking him up and low-and-behold, he plays well. This year, people knock him down, he plays like shit. Not surprising.

And while one should never choose to rely on a player who is that emotional and sensitive to outside opinions, one can't overlook the impact he could have had last night (or any other night) if he managed to knock down a few in a row, and get his head out of his shot.
His potential impact is far greater than that of Aaron Gray. However, his likely impact, at this point in time, is not.
Its a tough place to be in if you're Casey. Damned if you do, Damned if you don't.
Bargnani could have been the difference, in a good way, in alot of these games. Unfortunately, he's potentially been the difference in the wrong kind of way.

Sorry. Gotta disagree here.... like big time.

Last year Bargnani put it all together for a stretch of games. Then he got injured.

This whole off season was about the people who have trashed him for years continuing to do so and people who have supported him for years continuing to do so. I don't think anything had changed from previous seasons.... if anything there were probably more people talking him up due to what he showed last year. And it wasn't only his game last season that was a noticeable improvement, it was him as a human; he showed emotion and competitiveness.

The problem was Andrea came in to the season out of shape and complacent. His focus continued to be on his shooting when it is the other areas of his game causing the biggest problems - for years. But now this year his offense has become an issue because he brought inefficiency to a whole new level while offering nothing else (assists, rebounds, solid d, energy) to the table. To make matters even worse, it was clear he didn't give a flying fig newton on top of it all. Then he makes the comments about being the worst team in the league (which is fair because they basically were) which is something you just don't do.... like ever.

The end of your post is summarized very easily I think: Bargnani has all the talent with none of the desire to make use of it. That is Casey's problem.... and the Raptors problem.... and our problem.

#tradeBargnani should have been retired February 21st but alas it lives on.