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I miss The Oak.Big it up for eastcoastrapsfan for stepping up and doing a great job covering what appeared to be two unwatchable games that were the lowest points of the season. I’d like to think it can’t get any worse but Charlie Villanueva has yet to explode against his old team and there couldn’t be a sweeter time to do it than Wednesday. There are two things that make this stretch the Raptors are in even more unbearable 1) These are very important games that shouldn’t be hard to get motivated for and instead of stepping up and playing at a higher level, the team has malfunctioned and has once again shown how flawed it is at its core and 2) The opposition isn’t exactly great.

Barring something unforeseen and entirely out-of-the-blue, this Raptors team is headed for a one and done in the post-season. If that is to be the case, I’m hoping it’s a very humiliating series where this team is ripped apart in every game starting from tipoff to final buzzer. There shouldn’t be any doubts or questions about what the flaws of this team are, what the talent level on it is, how hard working the players are, how bad the coaching is, how suspect the preparation is and how watered down the on-court product is. The last thing I want is a first-round exit where we win two or three games and give false hope to the fans and management that this group might be more than a .500 team in a weak East. That’s one school of thought. The other is that we somehow win a playoff round (facing Orlando or whoever) and build on it in the off-season replacing key components instead of blowing the whole thing up. Fine, this might be a legitimate roadmap and something that I still subscribe to but what the previous fortnight has shown me is that instead of requiring maybe a legit 3 and a rebounder, we need a legit 3, a real rebounder, a better shooting guard, a better coach, another decent 3 and maybe something else.

We’re a jump shooting team and Dave Feschuk correctly summarized the reason for the NJ loss in a single sentence:

“..their jump-shot-heavy offense couldn’t produce the preferable haul of long-range swishes”

We can talk about our defense for eons at a time but the heavy reliance of our offense on outside jumpers is too much. The always crucial Points in the Paint stat has always been against us and over the last three years there’s been nothing done to remedy that. Yeah we average 100.24 which is good for 13th in the league but what gets masqueraded is that we get into long stretches where we’re comfortable trading baskets with teams that know very well that when it comes down to it in the fourth quarter, they’ll be able to get a stop and we won’t. We lack a clutch performer, Chris Bosh is a power forward and that’s probably the last position player you want originating your offense in the clutch, it’s not a shock that the fourth quarter is usually his worst. I respect Chris Bosh for playing hard on both ends but his clutch game focuses on trying to get fouled rather than trying to score – not a good #1 strategy. In another Feschuk article, he’s absolving Sam Mitchell and blaming the fourth quarter blues on Bosh:

…if your $13 million all-star can’t stick an elbow in a smaller man’s eye and score at a game’s biggest moments, in a league in which the best player on the floor so often prevails, you’ve got bigger problems than the contents of the clipboard.

Harsh but warranted criticism. However, Sam Mitchell gets a big fat F on his coaching this season regardless of how well Bosh has done in the clutch. His failure to establish a consistent rotation, develop Bargnani (yes, he takes some blame for that), handle the TJ Ford situation and tighten up his X’s and O’s have no doubt proven that the Coach of the Year awards don’t mean shit. His post-game analysis of things has become mundane and it always boils down to making shots and just playing “better”. Sure, he doesn’t have much to work with but its not like he’s helped improve one area of this team from opening day. Even Sam Vincent’s ahead of Mitchell at this point.

As I’m typing this Kevin Durant just hit a deeeep bomb to tie the game in overtime at 135.

The question is how do the Raptors salvage the rest of the season and the playoffs. What can they do that might make this campaign a relative success and not a drastic reverse from last season? Winning a playoff round is looking more and more unlikely, the development of Andrea Bargnani (arguably our core piece) has been a huge disappointment, our successful PG combo from last year has been a source of more disruption than production, our bench has declined (especially defensively) and generally speaking there hasn’t been a single area where we’ve improved from last year. The answer of course I don’t have (maybe we need a hero?) But I know that even if we do somehow manage to fluke some playoff success by some sheer stroke of luck, it’s going to be a hollow victory because the knowing supporter is well aware of the problems that this team has.

We have five games left and even if we win all five, it won’t mean a damn thing aside from getting some soon to be squashed momentum on our side. I want Atlanta to catch us so we can drop to 8th and face Boston, at least Bosh will get an up-close look at greatness when he faces Kevin Garnett and take something away from the experience. If we face Detroit they’ll just put on a technical marvel of how to dismantle a team broken at the nucleus – if you think the Raptors have issues shooting the ball right now, wait till Billups, Wallace and Co. get done clamping down on Parker, Bosh and Forderon.

Let’s look past the technical issues, the thing to be most questioned about this team is its mental toughness and willingness to fight. There have been very few occasions where this team has played playoff intensity basketball or shown a determined grit and desire to make a consistent defensive stand. Never have we stood up for a teammate after a hard foul, rarely have we shown a willingness to win a game in the paint and play tenacious physical basketball in the trenches, almost never to be found is that deep confidence that even the hated Vince Carter displayed late in the fourth quarter. The swagger and killer instinct hasn’t been there all year and it’s left up to the smallest guys on the court to rev up a team whose heart seems to be missing.

There are times when one thinks back to Charles Oakley and even Antonio Davis (like him or hate him) and realizes that those types of players bought intangibles to a team that are almost a necessity to any rebuilding project. It’s that touch that we miss right now. Say what you will about Glen Grunwald but when he saw a problem, he tried to fix it. It may have gotten him in trouble once in a while but at least he acted and built a pretty damn good team at one point – it was Lenny that couldn’t figure his end out.

This summer is looming large for the Raptors, we need to take a long hard look at Andrea Bargnani and see what we have in him, if it’s just a continuation of status quo, we need to dump him right after bumping up his trade value. The TJ/Jose thing is a mess and someone needs to go (TJ has some great value, I sincerely believe that), summer signings and trades (note the plural) are almost a must if we plan on finishing anything above than 4th in the Atlantic. Our scouts (taking Final Four off) need to look at the draft and see if there are any sleepers that can help this team right now, we don’t need any more Joey Grahams or Jamario Moons, we need some players that can take the pressure off of Bosh. In other words, we have a lot of work to do and Bryan Colangelo and Maurizio Gherardini better not have any vacations planned.

One might even say that the summer has already started.

I have never seen a defender smash home an own goal the way Chris Leitch did into his own net. It was a great hit but to his defense (pardon the pun) Cunningham would’ve probably slotted it home if Leitch had let it go. Kenny S finally has a win under his belt, it was getting quite embarrassing for him and the whole team really. We hadn’t won a game since July 4th, that’s exactly three months ago! How crazy is that?

Caught portions of this game on the NY telecast and I’d take those two commentators over Forrest, Dobson or Reed any day. They were actually happy for us that we actually won a game.. Add in the fans (King Tut was awesome), the intense fog and slight drizzle and it looked like an English Championship side playing for a promotion. I have nothing negative to say, not even concerning Adam Braz. But let’s give props to Maurice Edu for scoring on a shot which would’ve made Thierry Henry proud.

So what does this win mean? Nothing obviously except we that we beat a pretty decent team in a pretty convincing fashion. Does this mean we’re good? No, Mo Johnston is looking for two forwards, two midfielders and two backs in the off-season, here are the two from each position he’s going to be keeping, or should be keeping:

• Forwards: Cunningham, Dichio
• Midfielders: Edu, Robinson
• Backs: Wynne, Brennan

How does that sound? I’d say those might be our six best players who actually would make it on any MLS roster? After these six guys we quickly drop to the likes of Lombardo, Boyens, Samuel, Braz etc. who would have issues when trying to say, make the roster for DC United. The other player that’s been surprisingly good has been Todd Dunivant who deserves to come back.

There’s an article in the Toronto Star by Cathal Kelly which encourages us to sign a designated player like Angel but he options he’s giving aren’t very attractive. Still worth a read.

Anwyays, enjoy the win, they don’t come often enough.

Grab the feed.

I don’t have much to say about the game itself, I just wanted the season to end on a positive note and it’s looking more and more like it’s not going to happen. Having a lead at the half was nice but after that things went downhill so fast that the 1-0 scoreline is nothing but a distant memory. Improvements have to made in all aspects of the game for Toronto FC, from top to bottom, from goalie to striker from east to west, from….you get the point. There’s no point in mentioning how individual players are coming up short on their responsibilities and in some cases, effort. The first season was one big tryout and at least at the end of it we’ll know who to take with us next year and who to waive goodbye to.

So let’s get to some of them:

• Kenny Stamatopoulos: He’s shown that he can be a good goalie in stretches, he doesn’t make too many fatal mistakes and tends to be in good position most of the time. His reaction time leaves something to be desired and his footing could be better. We need to find a better starting goalie but Kenny’s shown enough to warrant a fight for the backup spot.
  Andrew Boyens: He’s gone from good to bad to pathetic to decent to bad to ok to something nobody quite understands. Playing at the heart of the defense requires an awareness that Boyens doesn’t possess. He has the height but lacks the physical strength to match up with strikers with that low center of gravity. If Boyens is starting for Toronto FC next season, our defense will have issues.
• Adam Braz: He’s slow, he doesn’t have skill and gets caught trailing the play too often. You can respect his effort but don’t confuse that with talent, especially at a defensive position where he was caught trailing the play too many times. I don’t feel comfortable with him at the back and there are plenty of reasons and examples why.
• Maurice Edu: He’s probably our most skilled player but that hasn’t translated into goal scoring which I can live with. Edu’s dribbling skills have gotten better over the season and the improvement in him is evident. A talented player who can become the heart of this franchise if he’s not swept up by some European side.
• Jim Brennan: The captain was playing out of position for most of the season and despite that was a stellar part of the defense.
• Todd Dunivant: When he was acquired for Goldthwaite many questioned the move but his vision on the left is something to take into next season. He’s not a goal scorer but can supply the crosses, either we find him some real strikers or find a goal scoring right midfielder because he just isn’t one.
• Chris Pozniak: The most anonymous player on the team. Never contributed anything on offense and was a part of more than a few goals given up. You can’t pick one aspect of his game and say it’ll be something we could use.
• Tyrone Marshall: Great acquisition who plays with his heart on the sleeve, his skill is good and so is his emotion. An ideal player for us.
• Marvell Wynne: The experiment of him on the wing was a failure but he’s shown he can be a relialbe back who can occasionaly burst forward. His physical presence is much needed, he just needs to stay healthy.
• Collin Samuel: Has shown nothing except great effort, unfortunately for him that’s not enough to be on an MLS roster, especially as a striker.
• Carl Robinson: His performance tailed off considerably as the season went on, when we were playing well he was playing exceptionally well. Him and O’Brien are the engine of this team.

Grab the feed.

I really don’t know what kind of quality to expect of the MLS. There were times where both teams looked so horrible, it was almost unwatchable. Unbelievably bad passing, attempts to make plays that are completely uncalled for, weak clearances, fractured skill, untimely runs, you name it, it was there. The difference between the two teams was that Columbus had the resolve of overcoming the one goal deficit while Toronto FC for the most part wanted to sit on it, absorb the pressure and wait for time to run out. There are few things in this world more pathetic than Miguel Canizalez’s corner which ended up about 15 yards off the far post when we were desperate for a game-tying chance. The only other thing that might be more gruesome to watch might have been Collin Samuel’s attempted back-heel pass to Chris Pozniak which was stopped short by the ground. These are just two of many such plays Toronto FC made in their 2-1 defeat to the deserving Columbus Crew at BMO Field last night. But hey, we at least scored, that should count for something, right? Something? Anything?

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A man advantage for an hour against one of the worst teams in the league and we still can’t score. There’s no excuses to be made really, the moral victory of creating half-chances isn’t really cutting it anymore. Let’s get straight to the point: Collin Samuel is a disgrace for strikers everywhere. There’s no point analyzing all his mistakes, if we start doing that this post would reach the 10,000 word mark in no time. Suffice to say he doesn’t nearly test the goalie enough on any of the chances Dunivant or anyone else creates for him. If he thinks he can score from more than than 7 yards out he’s out of his mind because any shot he takes outside the area is either a) lacking velocity b) lacking accuracy c) lacking velocity and accuracy or d) isn’t even a shooting chance. Cunningham was half-healthy today and I’d rather see a one-legged polio-infested Cunningham than a healthy Collin Samuel any day.

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Due to a family emergency, I’ll be on hiatus till at least August 30th.

Just got back from a weekend wedding trip to Kansas City which forced me to miss Arsenal’s first slip of the season and Lehmann’s second fuck-up in as many Premiership games. Arsenal Clips has the highlights, there’s also a nice little pack by FootyTube. Really disappointing to see us drop two points so early in the season against a team we should handily beat. My hate for Lehmann right now is only surpassed by US Immigration at Toronto airport.

Also missed was the Toronto FC/Chivas clash which saw TFC go six straight games without scoring a goal. When I said ‘Season Over’ a few posts ago I got flamed on certain discussion boards. I’m not i-told-you-soing but I told you so.

Finally, coming back from Kansas City at Toronto airport I see a big tall black dude and he looks familiar, it’s Chris Bosh. All I said to him was “Hey, Chris” and he’s like: “Hey, what’s up man”. Judging by where he was picking up his luggage, he was coming from Las Vegas. I snapped a pic without security looking:

So you work hard on your blog to try to get people to read it, you beg Arseblog to link to you, you put up highlights etc etc. Turns out I’m wasting time because I just realized looking at the WordPress Dashboard that all I have to do is create a site and put up some Flickr porn and booyeah! you make it to the frontpage of WordPress.

I also worked up a new header for the blog. It’s a work in progress but at least on first glance it appears like a sports blog.

Later.

I just had to make a mini-post about this. We talk about Arsene Wenger signing “young” players, Man Utd just signed a 9 year old tot named Rhain Davis after his grandfather saw the chance to exploit his little grandson at the earliest of ages. Take a look at the YouTube and you can see what Ferguson saw in the kid. He’s obviously way above anyone else’s skill level.

Imagine running around in Grade 4 and telling all the girls you play for Manchester United. This kid’s getting laid as we speak.

David Beckham is not playing against Toronto FC. This is pretty shitty for anybody who paid $350 for a single ticket to watch Becks fire a few freekicks. Beckham didn’t even travel with the team to Dallas so if that happens again there goes any chance of seeing Posh in the stands here in Toronto. I’m just glad my bid to get tickets was unsuccessful.

A 1-0 victory over Saudi Arabia clinched the Asia Cup for Iraq. It’s ironic that they beat their free-spending Saudi neighbors in the final who leave no financial stone unturned when it comes to preparing for football tournaments. Add to it Saudi Arabia’s involvement in 911 which lead to the Iraq War and we see that this is the closest thing to revenge the Iraqis will ever taste.

After the victory you didn’t read the normal, “We’re so happy and lets get drunk” quotes, instead we get Iraqi captain, Younis Mahmoud, saying stuff like:

“I want America to go out. Today, tomorrow, or the day after tomorrow, but out. I wish the American people didn’t invade Iraq and, hopefully, it will be over soon.”

Fair enough I guess, in the only airtime the guy will probably ever receive he calls for political change. How often do you see that in America? You think if Terrell Owens wins the Super Bowl he’ll call for Medicare reform? If that wasn’t out of place, how about this:

“I don’t want the Iraqi people to be angry with me. If I go back with the team, anybody could kill me or try to hurt me.”

Now why anybody would want to kill the guy for winning Asia’s premier football tournament is beyond the scope of most people’s imagination. Maybe because he partook in a team which had both Shias and Sunis? The football team is probably a microcosm of what Iraq should be and this is probably one of those cases where politics can learn from sport. And to put things in perspective the victory came only a day after 30 Iraqis were killed in bomb attacks.

This is an Arsenal/TFC blog but I thought this deserved its own post.