Toronto Raptors Season Opener In 20Mins!

[Teddy Roosevelt]

Raptors and Lakers win, Celtics get their asses kicked. Today is a good day.

[PLANT]

Toronto is looking real good right now....After 3 games theyre ahead of Boston in the Atlantic haha hopefully we can keep it up!  Boston got tuned by the Pacers lastnight!

[PLANT]

Bargnani looked great in the win against the Warriors.  If he was on the Lakers NIK would be saying he is the next Dirk lol

for sure

[Antonio]

Bargnani didn't shot well, but he defended pretty well, if you ask me. He's def improving.

[Now_Im_Not_Banned]

LOL...2 donuts in 3 games...IDIOT.


Bargnani is not gunna be a starting quality player in this league, let alone lottery pick material, LET ALONE 1st overall material. That's called a B-U-S-T. I'd prefer Kwame over him.

[Antonio]

^ You are too negative with him, man. Be more rational, please. When people were dissing Kwame Brown cause he wasn't #1 draft pick material you were saying he was still a good defender and that even tho he wasn't "that good" like people expected him to be, it was still cool having him on our roster. Shit you was asking Lakers to sign him, this summer. To sign "a B-U-S-T"! So why can't you have the same approach with Andrea Bargnani? Ok, he's not #1 draft pick material (nobody is saying that, anyway). But he's still a very good shooter, he just turned 23, he's still 7-0, and he's starting to defend pretty well (2.5 blocks per game so far) and to hustle more. Stats doesn't tell the truth, sometimes. I dunno if you've seen Bargani's game against GSW, but he made a clutch 3pointer late in the 4th Quarter, and then he scored and blocked a shot in OT that basically closed the game. He ain't no Bosh, but he's still a quality power forward with a lot of room to improve. And i'd say the same about Bellinelli (GSW) and Gallinari (NYK).

[Now_Im_Not_Banned]

^ You are too negative with him, man. Be more rational, please. When people were dissing Kwame Brown cause he wasn't #1 draft pick material you were saying he was still a good defender and that even tho he wasn't "that good" like people expected him to be, it was still cool having him on our roster. Shit you was asking Lakers to sign him, this summer. To sign "a B-U-S-T"! So why can't you have the same approach with Andrea Bargnani? Ok, he's not #1 draft pick material (nobody is saying that, anyway). But he's still a very good shooter, he just turned 23, he's still 7-0, and he's starting to defend pretty well (2.5 blocks per game so far) and to hustle more. Stats doesn't tell the truth, sometimes. I dunno if you've seen Bargani's game against GSW, but he made a clutch 3pointer late in the 4th Quarter, and then he scored and blocked a shot in OT that basically closed the game. He ain't no Bosh, but he's still a quality power forward with a lot of room to improve. And i'd say the same about Bellinelli (GSW) and Galinari (NYK).

Kwame has his strengths, he's known for his tough defense and he's very consistent at it...Bargnani has strengths too, but he's extremely inconsistent and you can find a ton of players just like him overseas. I never denied that Kwame was a bust, he was just more solid for us than Bargnani is to Toronto, that's all. You bring up Belinelli, Gallinari, hell, even Jasikevicius...that's exactly the type of player he is. A European star who's game wont translate as well in the NBA...PeACe

[Antonio]

^ You are too negative with him, man. Be more rational, please. When people were dissing Kwame Brown cause he wasn't #1 draft pick material you were saying he was still a good defender and that even tho he wasn't "that good" like people expected him to be, it was still cool having him on our roster. Shit you was asking Lakers to sign him, this summer. To sign "a B-U-S-T"! So why can't you have the same approach with Andrea Bargnani? Ok, he's not #1 draft pick material (nobody is saying that, anyway). But he's still a very good shooter, he just turned 23, he's still 7-0, and he's starting to defend pretty well (2.5 blocks per game so far) and to hustle more. Stats doesn't tell the truth, sometimes. I dunno if you've seen Bargani's game against GSW, but he made a clutch 3pointer late in the 4th Quarter, and then he scored and blocked a shot in OT that basically closed the game. He ain't no Bosh, but he's still a quality power forward with a lot of room to improve. And i'd say the same about Bellinelli (GSW) and Galinari (NYK).

Kwame has his strengths, he's known for his tough defense and he's very consistent at it...Bargnani has strengths too, but he's extremely inconsistent and you can find a ton of players just like him overseas. I never denied that Kwame was a bust, he was just more solid for us than Bargnani is to Toronto, that's all. You bring up Belinelli, Gallinari, hell, even Jasikevicius...that's exactly the type of player he is. A European star who's game wont translate as well in the NBA...PeACe

Man Kwame Brown is a 7 years veteran. He had his chances, but he failed at high levels and he recycled himself as a pretty decent backup C. Bargani is just in his 3rd NBA season, he just turned 23, he comes from another continent, and he still has to understand well how the NBA works (it is pretty different from European basketball, you know). What i'm saying is that he still needs time to improve his game and to be more consistent. Give him some time, and he might be a very good backup/starting PF for the Raps. You act like he ain't good enought to be an NBA player, lol, but he is. Remember Sasha Vujacic? People were dissing him cause he was wack and he couldn't defend for shit, and now he's a pretty important role player for the Lakers. You gotta give those european players some time to change his game and to find a perfect role in their team.

[Lunatic]

very good points made by Antonio.

[Styles1]

good start... instead of 3 - 0 I was expecting something more like 0 - 3... keep it up. 

[Now_Im_Not_Banned]

very good points made by Antonio.

True...I still don't see Bargnani becoming a starting quality player in this league, but Antonio makes good points.

[S P I C E]

Antonio making good points? 
What else is new, the guy always drops great knowledge

[Antonio]

Naw, we're talking about an italian player, it's normal that i know him pretty well. The fact is that Andrea was selected by Toronto's vice-president and GM Maurizio Gherardini, who is 100% italian and who worked in Benetton Treviso before going to the NBA. And Andrea Bargnani played in Benetton Treviso. So Maurizio protected him since day-1, he's like a second father for Andrea, and Andrea probably relaxed too much knowing Gherardini likes him and he respects him. But last season, after the elimination from the Playoffs, Gherardini told Bargani that he wanted Andrea to play better, cause it wasn't enought. He criticized Andrea real hard, letting him know that the friendship wasn't enought to save him if he didn't start to play better. So Andrea worked real hard this summer and, like i said, he changed his personal trainer, he added 7-8 kg of muscles, and he started to work more under the basket and less on the perimeter, to play a better 360° basket and to be a better player overall. He worked on defence too (he clearly improved). So that's why i said we should give him some extra time. Cause this summer Andrea understood he has to work and to work hard. And he's starting to improve. If he's motivated and he continue to work this way he could have a very positive year.

There's a similiar situation in New York with Gallinari. Mike D'Antoni played here in Italy for a lot of years, and he was teammate with Gallinari's father. So Danilo knows the coach likes him, and he knows the coach respects him because of his friendship with his father. We will see how he will react to this fact. If he'll have the "fire" from day-1, or if he'll need 2-3 years like Bargani and D'Antoni menacing to trade him. Mike already started by saying that he wanted to send him to the D-League, so he started being "aggressive" from day-1. We will see. Anyway he's a very skilled player too: it's up to him.

[Antonio]

Bargnani against the Heat: 25 points, 4 rebounds, 1 assist, 2 blocks and just 1 turnover.
Bargnani against the Nets: 29 points, 10 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 block and just 1 turnover.

Told ya.. 

[PLANT]

Barg's is playin off the chain right now!  But man, Vince played unbelievable lastnight   Bosh still playin like an MVP with another 40 point performance....

But yea, Bargnani came ready to play this season, no doubt.  Hes looking like the player we thought we got with the #1 pick.