Prediction #5

Posted on | October 18, 2009 | No Comments

THE RAPTORS WILL END UP BEING A HALF DECENT DEFENSIVE TEAM

Korver Afraid To Play DefenseYes, I’m talking about this years Raptors. Yes, I have actually watched them play in the preseason. And yes, I have seen the roster.

I’m well aware of the defensive shortcomings of the Raptors starting five, who are also the five guys who are going to play the majority of the minutes. The best defensive player in the starting five might be DeRozan, who is a rookie and has, at most, shown that he won’t be completely overwhelmed defensively. Most of the the time.

The entire bench, apart from Belinelli, is above average defensively, but it’s hard to defend from the bench. Not without a law degree (bad joke). The thing is, though, that the starting five is not as bad defensively as their reputation seems to make you think.

I know, Calderon was horrible defensively last season. I’ve already gotten into this, but he was injured with an injury that made playing good defense almost impossible. Two years ago, he wasn’t bad defensively. He’ll struggle against quicker PG’s, but that’s the case with most PG’s, especially with the present rules. Deron Williams has trouble defending quick guards, but I’m guessing Raptor fans wouldn’t complain if Colangelo traded for him- until he started playing, of course.

NBA Defense

Calderon knows where to funnel his man, and as long as the team defense is where it should be (more on that later), it’s doubtful that people will be calling for Calderon’s head by the time the team hits the All-Star break.

It’s hard to figure out how good DeRozan is going to be, but he’s athletic enough, and seems to have enough desire, that he won’t be bad. And he’ll probably end up playing the least minutes of all the starters. Weems seems to be pretty good defensively, and Belinelli is crafty, if nothing else.

Turkoglu is certainly not known for his defense, but Stan Van Gundy has said that it is underrated and Orlando was one of the top defensive teams in the league last year with him as a starter. That said, I think if anyone thinks Turkoglu is going to be a good defender is going to be disappointed, but I think he’ll defend well in certain circumstances, and it’s obvious he knows how to play team defense. Like Calderon, he’s going to have some trouble against quicker SF’s, but his length is going to help in Triano’s defensive system.

Bosh Defending At OlympicsA lot has been written about Bosh’s defense, but he has two things going for him. The first is that he actually has fairly good defensive instincts. He showed it when he came into the league and he showed it during the Olympics, two summers ago. He certainly has the ability to be an above average defender. Also, his added muscle is only going to help him on the defensive end. I’ve already noticed an increased confidence on defense in preseason.

Bosh knows he’s been criticized for his defense. And he also knows that the top players in the league are also some of the top defenders. LeBron was certainly not known for his defense until last season when he was on the NBA All Defensive 1st Team. Bosh needs to make a concerted effort, but he’s got the physical skills.

Now, when Bargnani came into the league, he was a better defender than I anticipated, although I wasn’t expecting much. Like Bosh, he’s got the ability to become an above average defender. He’s long, athletic, and has a better than advertised ability to bump in the post. His two biggest problems are that he turns his back on his man too much and seems to be a step slow most of the time with his help defense. He looks tentative on defense, half the time, which is probably why he is so inconsistent. Like on offense, when he becomes comfortable, I actually think he’ll be a pretty good defender. Rebounding, on the other hand, is a separate matter. He can play all the defense in the world, but if he can’t rebound the misses, that will be a problem.

Collapsing on RoseThe defensive system Coach Triano has set up is a solid one, and one that should take advantage of the Raptors strength (a tall front court) and cover their weaknesses, lack of rebounding and no big shotblocker. Unfortunately, it will take time for the team to get entirely comfortable with the defense. Those watching the preseason games closely have seen the defense work well in spurts, but they play it far too inconsistently, at this point. That’s expected. While much has been made of their offensive struggles due to the unfamiliarity with each other, defense requires even more familiarity with one another. In other words, expect the offense to start clicking well before the defense does.

I am confident, however, that it will start clicking. Probably sometime before the All-Star break. No one is going to confuse them with the Celtics, but I really do think the Raptors will be a better defensive team than most people will expect.

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Category: NBA, Raptors

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