Hollinger: No clue how Raps will perform

[LittleOzzy]

I wish I could get paid to have no ideas.

[Xcstacy]

The thing that always upset me was how we always seemed to give up leads in the 4th and the lack of not competing when it came down to crunch time.
This is where Hedo gives me hope, I hope he can rub off on everyone and make those big time shots.
I can say that I am very excited for this upcoming season, high hopes or not I haven't been this excited for a long time in Raptorland.

As Borat would say in his accent "I LIKE THIS"

[jrsmith]

What a pussy and absolute moron. Weak opinions and cannot hold on to them because even he doesnt believe in them. I love how he covers his ass after every word he says for future protection.

Yea I dont like this but hey its not my money.

Yea I dont like him, but hey he could become a great player.

Yea I dont like the team, but hey colangelo is a genius.

Just stfu. Thats why i almost never bother reading this garbage.

[ATLTimekeeper]

I hate when people use the total amount of the contract to make it seem like it's careless spending. Hollinger adds a second twist by combining Hedo and Bargs, so that the number ($100 mil) seems even greater. When you consider some of the money spent in years' past, the contracts handed out this off-season are all rather conservative.

And are we really going for a "floor spacing, sweet-shooting" team? Kapono is a better shooter than Belinelli. AP about the same as Turk, but a little better from downtown. Graham is a better shooter than Wright. Humphries is better than Evans. Marion shot a decent %. The only major upgrade is Jack over Roko, but even then I don't think Jack is a "sweet-shooter." I think instead we've diversified our offense with better passers and more ball-handlers to help facilitate more scoring in the paint.

And why would they want to convince Bosh this is Geneva? That's such a flat line it hurts to think about it.

[KingstonRaptors]

Hollinger needs to STFU.

If he doesn't understand that we have a better and complete (albeit with defense issues) team then last year's, he needs to stop doing anything related to basketball. Did he forget Bargs was one of the better centers for the last 3 or 4 months of the season? Did he forget Hedo was a key contributor to the Magic's great season? Did he forget Jose was only playing up to his standards after recovering from an injury? Did he forget our back up at the point last year was Ukic and not Jack? If so, he needs to check into a Alzheimer's clinic.

[dagger]

Bargnani's money doesn't even come into play this season, so it's particularly weak.

[timdunkit]

While I hope for brilliant success, why write this drivel and call it insider information?? I can't believe SS had to pay for this!!

Thanks for absolutely nothing Hollinger, instead of giving us a statistical breakdown of the team, where weaknesses were addressed and moves were made to make the team stronger, you spent the whole article spouting "EuroRap" BS. Does it matter? Does it matter who we have on the court? 4/5 of our starters would be welcome additions to any NBA team, irregardless of their nationality. DD is an unknown and that's fair enough.

His article was poorly written but can you statistically break down a team with 7 new faces? New coaching staff?

[supersub15]

This is not the only opinion in the entire piece. He divided the Eastern teams into groups:

Group I: The Entrees
Orlando, Cleveland, Boston

Group II: The Tasty Hors D'oeuvres
Atlanta, Chicago, Miami

Group III: The Mystery Meat
Toronto, Washington

Group IV: Can I Send This Back?
Detroit, Philadelphia, Charlotte, Indiana

Group V: Roadkill
Milwaukee, New Jersey, New York

[TiKusDom]

Triano is damn good at developing young talent and finding a niche for young players on his roster. I predict that Belinelli , DeRozan and maybe even AW will have outstanding years.

[DG88]

This is not the only opinion in the entire piece. He divided the Eastern teams into groups:

Group I: The Entrees
Orlando, Cleveland, Boston

Group II: The Tasty Hors D'oeuvres
Atlanta, Chicago, Miami

Group III: The Mystery Meat
Toronto, Washington

Group IV: Can I Send This Back?
Detroit, Philadelphia, Charlotte, Indiana

Group V: Roadkill
Milwaukee, New Jersey, New York

So we're the mystery "Euro" meat? . Hollinger should stick to stats not food critique.

[Raptolicism]

I don't really get why there can be no middle ground. To me, this team is deep enough such that I'd think the worst outcome is a .500ish performance. We clearly have enough depth and firepower, IMO, to achieve mediocrity as the worst outcome. I don't see how a team of this composition can add up to a "spectacular failure" unless something really wacky happens.

[supersub15]

So we're the mystery "Euro" meat? . Hollinger should stick to stats not food critique.

We're really a "mystery" team. I mean, yes, we do have firepower, but we have 3 below-average defenders and a rookie in the starting lineup. And the starting lineup as a whole is going to get killed on the boards. There are a ton of question marks for a team with 7 new faces.

Basically, there is no roster continuity to say for sure that we've improved or regressed.

[Tha Cynic]

I'm not sure why people are finding "Euroraps" so offensive, unless of course people find being European offensive, in which case you should be looking at yourself. In North America, when a team is made of a majority that aren't North American players, articles make note of this. Its not just in sports either. Regular news articles usually make note of a person's nationality.

It is always amusing how much people love anyone who gives the Raptors positive comments, and hate everyone who gives them negative. You don't need to be loved by everyone; this is just one guy's personal opinion. I would say the Raptors aren't going to be beating their all-time win record, but they will not be below .500 either.

[Zebsterama]

I'm convinced; this team goes as Andrea goes ... which goes back to the original sentiment of this thread.

It's a crapshoot.

I'm hoping it works, but really it's a crapshoot.

[nikeone]

In the future I would prefer people do not post articles with what I believe the contain racial slurs. It seems everytime this man writes an article about the Raptors he has to throw out a few jabs about the team having several european players as if its something that is funny or worthy of a joke.

What makes it funny for me is that the name Hollinger is German, perhaps Mr. Hollinger was raised under Hitler's book of morals.

[Brinbe]

Well this was basically Hollinger's way of giving us his tiers in the East, but wrapped in a meal theme for some reason (maybe he was hungry? They don't feed him well at ESPN?).

And after reading the entire thing (note that don't I agree with his direct analysis on us), I could see how he'd put us in his "mystery meat" 3rd tier along with Washington. Because with all these new pieces on-board, we still don't know how it'll go until we watch them play together for a couple weeks or even months. And while we may leap above other teams that Hollinger's ranked above us, such as Chicago/Miami, you can't say for sure just yet.

So I know we encountered a set of different circumstances last season and this team is undoubtedly better, but we should still retain some lessons from that horrible experience and not declare this team a brilliant success until it's proved it on the court.

[barrist]

i have no problem with the analysis, we are pretty unpredictable in terms of how we're gonna do. but the food analogies make this a lame article.

[Flashy_Lights]

Too many things may go wrong.

Cautiously optimistic is the word.

[Pchu]

I will say this, I like this year's team more than I liked last year. Usually, depth do count for something in the regular season.

The optimistic side of me thinks this team can win 50 if Bosh can have a monster year. Otherwise, I think it's 45-47 win team as it stands.

[vulture]

One thing is for certain this season, that was definitely not last year; when in crunch time and nursing a lead we now have the depth to give starters a rest and have players with a higher defensive b-ball IQ than a grapefruit.

Nice avatar, Yuri. Oldboy is a classic, can you believe hollywood will be remaking this classic?

As for the team, Rebounding and defence will likely be a problem, so I can understand where his "spectacular failure" comment is coming from.