25-43, and now I pick the time to drop my first post…what are you going to do right? This years Raptors have been the worst thing that have ever happened to me. Between Swirsky’s cheerleading, firing Babcock, hiring Colangelo, trading Jalen, Bosh an all-star, 1-15 to start, .500 since…I feel like I am getting my ass kicked. And true to having battered wife syndrome…I keep coming back for more. I disgust myself sometimes, but what can I do? I love this stupid team. Just a couple general thoughts:

• Contrary to what anyone says, I think this is a 25-43 team. I don’t care how well they are playing, what they have done, but to get to this point, they are a 25-43 team. If they weren’t playing so well lately, they would be a 15-53 team or something. So for everyone out there who says this team is better than their record, they aren’t.
• Could Colangelo have asked for a better starting situation than this one? I mean, he’s got Bosh, Villenueva, a couple decent players, a couple draft picks and $10mill this year. The only people who could mess this situation up would be Isaih Thomas and Babcock…Still Colangelo is a lucky son-a-bitch
• I still think we did a horrible job in the last two drafts. I will admit that I would not have taken Villenueva this year, but I would certainly have not taken Araujo over Iguadala, and would not have taken Graham over Salim Stoudemire, Danny Granger, Hakim Warrick, and a couple others I can’t think of right now.
• I am not sold on Larry Brown as a coach. I mean, he has more pieces than Sam Mitchell does, and he does less with it. Ok, he won a title with the Pistons, and made the finals in consecutive years. Big deal…I could have coached those Piston teams to what they accomplished, they are sick teams. Just seems like Larry Brown goes out of his way to cause drama, I don’t like that in a coach.
• Speaking of coaches, does Mitchell have any other plays except the high pick and roll? In fact, have the Raptors done anything in the last few years aside from pick and rolls, and one-on-ones?
• Which leads to me my most controversial thought of the night…drum roll please…I don’t think we should resign Mike James. Ok, so clearly he is putting up huge numbers. Career bests, but there are a lot of things about his game that alarm me, considering he is playing the point: 1) He takes 14.8 shots a game, and about 5.8 really bad shots a game 2) He gets 5.6 assists per game, but turns it over 2.7, for a stunning ratio of about 2:1 assists to turnovers…horrible for a point guard. I am just really concerned cause he is putting numbers in the range of $6 to $8 million, and we wouldn’t even be signing a real point guard. Which takes us back to the problem of not having a real point guard (Calderon isn’t cutting it at all, he is a third or fourth string point gaurd. He is a good pass first point guard, but he can’t play defense, or shoot).
• Paul Pierce is playing absolutely incredible. I sit back to that draft, and I still can’t believe he dropped to 10. I don’t care about anything, he should have been a top 5 pick. What a great draft year that was too by the way…wow!
• I really feel bad for Araujo. I think it is unfair to thrust someone into the hot seat, who clearly is not ready for the job. Say what you want about him, but if someone drafted you 8th, paid you $2.8mill a year, you would play as hard as you could, and try to make things happen. If he went 15-20th, then he would have been on a better team, playing behind quality forwards who could teach him something, and maybe…just maybe…he gets a second contract after his rookie one. But he got stuck on the Raptors, and when you are a # 8 pick, you have to get minutes, hence where our frustration comes from. If you don’t have it, you don’t have it. He just doesn’t have it, and that will be evident when he doesn’t get another contract (and if he does, for less money then his rookie contract). Nothing you can do about it. That being said, I can’t believe we took him over Iguadala…lol.
• For once in my life, I have no idea of what to do this off-season. However, in my humble opinion, this off-season will be the basis for the next 3-4 years, and I am really interested to see what Colangelo does.
• Speaking of Colangelo, is it just me, or does this team, all of a sudden, seem much more classier. The man rocks Georgio Armani/Canali suits; took the job for the challenge, not the millions of dollars they threw at him; and generally seems like he should be interviewed by Maria Bartrilomo from CNBC because his company raised $3bill in the stock market or something? I am glad the message he brought was one of vision, and not quality players. This blue collar image Babcock gave the Raptors was horrible.

I think that’s about it for today. I can’t ramble anymore, too tired and my dinner is catching up with me. Now that I have gotten this monkey off my back, and put together a little summin-summin, I will keep pumping out more product 3-5 times a day. Forgive me if I pollute this site with some personal musings…can’t separate the man from…the man I guess, lol…ok, I really have nothing left, peace.

Technorati Tags: Chuck Swirsky, Rob Babcock, Bryan Colangelo, Jalen Rose, Chris Bosh, Charlie Villanueva, Andre Iguadala, Joey Grham, Sam Mitchell, Jose Calderon