Toronto Raptors who are still playing Alumni thread ....

[guyroch]

Chris Bosh add it again and another reason why I don't like him .

In a recent interview he talked about how he is excited about NBA basketball again and its cause of the Lakers . He talks about how he hasn't felt like this in awhile. He mentions March madness but talks zero about being in T.O during Championship run.
This guy has amnesia when he is talking to U.S national media when it comes to T.O

[HogieTime]

Chris Bosh add it again and another reason why I don't like him .

In a recent interview he talked about how he is excited about NBA basketball again and its cause of the Lakers . He talks about how he hasn't felt like this in awhile. He mentions March madness but talks zero about being in T.O during Championship run.
This guy has amnesia when he is talking to U.S national media when it comes to T.O

I used to love bosh, mainly because he was the main guy for the Raptors when I first started watching them. Can't stand the guy now, no idea why tsn hired him last year in the playoffs. Keep that goof out of here

[hoodlum]

VC played his last game yesterday

https://twitter.com/BleacherReport/s...o.com%2Fnba%2F

[G__Deane]

Can you still buy replica rings online? I'll mail one to JV.

I offered. He said screw the cheap Raptors

[G__Deane]

VC played his last game yesterday

https://twitter.com/BleacherReport/s...o.com%2Fnba%2F

-And dropped a meaningless totally uncontested three in a loss on a truly bad team. Fitting.
If this is really his last game, my *distaste* for him can finally drop exponentially as I'm just glad he never was given the option to resurface here.

RIP (Retire In Peace) VC

[chris]

zach on JV:

Valanciunas arrived in Toronto -- after the Cavs passed on him in the draft because he planned to play one more year in Europe -- as a fish way out of water. He spoke broken English, so he struggled calling out coverages on defense; the Raptors could not play sophisticated, zone-style schemes with him on the floor, coaches remember.

He had the precise sort of game -- slow, ground-bound, reliant on back-to-the-basket brutality -- that was about to approach extinction. Kyle Lowry was not shy pointing out his mistakes.

"Jonas would sometimes say, 'What can I do to get him to stop yelling at me?'" says Aaron Gray, who played parts of three seasons with the Raptors.

Toronto's guards found it frustrating that Valanciunas, though an eager and aggressive dive man on the pick-and-roll, was not explosive enough to leap for lobs, coaches say.

"We are family, and sometimes family are hard on each other," Valanciunas once told me of those early years. Lowry made sure to balance nitpicking with support.

Young Valanciunas ate poorly -- soda, sauces galore. David Gale, a former Raptors assistant, remembers dining at a Toronto steakhouse with a voracious young Valanciunas, and watching in astonishment as Valanciunas phoned the pizza place a few doors down to order two pizzas he could pick up on the way home -- a second dinner.

"He was like Andre the Giant," Gale says.

Even then, Valanciunas loved work. He devoured film. He asked questions about opponent tendencies. When Tim Duncan bewildered him with counters atop counters in the post, Valanciunas slunk to the bench and declared to Gray, "I don't know how anyone can stop this guy," Gray recalls.

At every practice over the next two weeks, Valanciunas demanded Gray and Ed Davis, another veteran big man, play one-on-one against him -- with Valanciunas playing only post defense, Gray says.

"Everything we worked on, he embraced 100%," says Bill Bayno, a former Raptors assistant -- now with the Pacers -- who worked closely with Valanciunas in Toronto.

Save for the occasional ultra-slow-motion 3-pointer, Valanciunas never evolved into a modern center. Instead, he became the best version of his true self.

That player has thrived in Memphis this season: 15 points per game (in only 26 minutes!) on a career-best 59% shooting, and the fattest rebounding numbers of his NBA life. Valanciunas ranks 11th in offensive rebounding rate and sixth on defense. Some of that is due to positioning; Taylor Jenkins has planted Valanciunas deep inside the paint. Valanciunas is closer to the basket on average when an opponent shot goes up than any other player in the league, per Second Spectrum tracking data.

Valanciunas compounds that territorial advantage with some of the league's nastiest boxouts.

Valanciunas does not offer much schematic flexibility on defense. He is not going to hound Damian Lillard types above the arc on the pick-and-roll; the Grizzlies depend on their guards staying hip-to-hip with such players around picks.

But Valanciunas has learned to play his style well enough. He's smarter reading angles and moving his feet. He uses his length well around the rim.

He is in much better condition than he was in his early 20s. That process started in the summer of 2014, when Masai Ujiri, Toronto's president of basketball operations, challenged Valanciunas to get into better shape. He spent the summer working out twice a day with Gale in Los Angeles. He ditched junk food.

Gale and Valanciunas remember celebrating a summer well spent at Nobu in Malibu. Sitting outside at sunset, Valanciunas declared he craved edamame. Valanciunas decided to treat himself: He would order a beer with each order of edamame. "I think we had five orders of edamame," Gale says, laughing. He remembers the bill being around $600.

Valanciunas had earned it. He has maintained a healthy diet and work ethic. On the right night, he can keep Memphis' offense afloat in the post. He isn't super-efficient against behemoths who can almost match his size. He's still below average as a passer when help comes, though he has improved.

But if you start an undersized center against him, Valanciunas can beast. Switch, and he smushes little guys. He can use his left hand some after working almost one-handed in the early part of his career.

It was easy to forget Valanciunas after Toronto traded him at last season's deadline. The Raptors, with Marc Gasol in Valanciunas' place, won the title. Valanciunas was miscast on a rebuilding team in a tiny market.

He fit in anyway. Big-man pairings featuring Valanciunas with one of Jaren Jackson Jr., Brandon Clarke, or Solomon Hill all proved workable. The Valanciunas/Clarke duo has been a big winner.

Memphis was one of the league's happiest stories before this horrible virus stalled the league. Most of the focus rightfully went to their young stars -- especially the fearless, charismatic Ja Morant. But Valanciunas was part of it. His old coaches and teammates have been watching, and smiling.

"He's like a son to me," Bayno once told me.

[G__Deane]

zach on jv:

g-i-v-e h-i-m a r-i-n-g

[The Great One]

I can't remember if it was The RInger or some other NBA podcast, but they talked about Vince Carter's career. Did you know that Vince's last all star appearance was in 2007? 13 years ago. That's crazy.

[Tmac2darak]

zach on JV:

This is awesome. Thx for sharing.

[golden]

g-i-v-e h-i-m a r-i-n-g

You know who else should get a ring? Greg Monroe. Yes... The Moose. I'm serious. Not only did he play for the Raptors during the championship run, regular season. Greg Monroe was the single biggest factor, outside of Kawhi, in allowing us to beat the Sixers in Game 7. Not sure why nobody's ever brought this up before.

[G__Deane]

I can't remember if it was The RInger or some other NBA podcast, but they talked about Vince Carter's career. Did you know that Vince's last all star appearance was in 2007? 13 years ago. That's crazy.

Yeah he should have retired years ago instead of milking contracts on bad teams

[LJ2]

Was just thinking on my drive into work this morning who was the better and more impactful player for the Raptors, DeMar or Bosh. DD had the benefit of being surrounded by better players, coaches and management, and he wanted to be here so is often talked about being the greatest Raptor of all time or ranked closely behind Lowry or Kawhi. Who do you think was the better player? I actually think it was Bosh.

[G__Deane]

Was just thinking on my drive into work this morning who was the better and more impactful player for the Raptors, DeMar or Bosh. DD had the benefit of being surrounded by better players, coaches and management, and he wanted to be here so is often talked about being the greatest Raptor of all time or ranked closely behind Lowry or Kawhi. Who do you think was the better player? I actually think it was Bosh.

Bosh disrespected Toronto from the moment he left, multiple times since and even recently. I don't care to think where he ranks as a Raptor player at the moment even without thinking of him as just another ring chaser who helped create the current super team issue.

I'll take DeMar

[planetmars]

Have to do a statistical breakdown of the two.

DeMar: 9 seasons, 4x all-star, 2x all-nba (2 & 3), 3x POTM, 10x POTW

19.7ppg, 4.1rpg, 3.1apg, 54.0 WS, 17.7 PER, 12.5 VORP


Chris: 7 seasons, 5x all-star, 1x all-nba (2), 1x all-rookie, 1x POTM, 7x POTW

20.2ppg, 9.4rpg, 2.2apg, 61.8 WS, 21.3 PER, 19.6 VORP


DeMar has better longevity stats and with more winning teams, but played 2 more years. Chris has better stats all around. He just never got to play with Lowry.

I'd take Chris as the better statistical player. But DeMar meant more because he was part of a winning organization and actually wanted to be here. That matters too.

[LJ2]

Have to do a statistical breakdown of the two.

DeMar: 9 seasons, 4x all-star, 2x all-nba (2 & 3), 3x POTM, 10x POTW

19.7ppg, 4.1rpg, 3.1apg, 54.0 WS, 17.7 PER, 12.5 VORP


Chris: 7 seasons, 5x all-star, 1x all-nba (2), 1x all-rookie, 1x POTM, 7x POTW

20.2ppg, 9.4rpg, 2.2apg, 61.8 WS, 21.3 PER, 19.6 VORP


DeMar has better longevity stats and with more winning teams, but played 2 more years. Chris has better stats all around. He just never got to play with Lowry.

I'd take Chris as the better statistical player. But DeMar meant more because he was part of a winning organization and actually wanted to be here. That matters too.

I give Bosh the win here in this head to head match because he was solid at both offense and defense. DeMar just could never contribute on the defensive end. Demar will always get the feel good vote for wanting to be here.