The Insider
4-20-05, 11:07 PM
Well, it's over, for the third consecutive season the Raps fall well short of a playoff berth. This season was probably the worst of all 3.
It started off with a whole bunch of contraversy with a new GM, new coach, a questionable first round draft pick and a disgruntled star who publically demanded out (I guess for anyone who expected nothing they got what they expected ;) ) Anyways come training camp there was some good news as players showed up and were working hard as Sam Mitchell implemented his system. And then the Raptors burst out of the gate winning 3 straight, ending with Vince Carter draining a late 3 pointer against Portland to win the game. So with the Raptors spirits high, they ventured out on a Western swing(and this was probably where things went straight to a downward spiral for the Raps) They then went 1-5 on the swing and came back with a below .500 record. At that point they began playing mediocre ball and numbers 15 and 5 began riding the pine as Lamond Murray and Matt Bonner started getting playing time late in games while Vinsanity and Jalen were fuming on the bench. Then with the surprise of the season... Vince Carter gets injured and has to sit out. After a few games of sitting out word broke one Friday afternoon that GM Babcock had finally pulled the trigger on a deal. Sure enough reports were confirmed and the face of the Raps who was accused of "dogging it" was finally shipped out of town. But rather then getting anything of value for the star, Babcock managed to trade Vince Carter for the two Williams(toted as hard working grinder players) and Mourning joined the roster along with 2 first rounders. Well, Mourning never played a game with the Raps and was eventually bought out for a small price of 10 million dollars :rolleyes: and the two Williams spend the rest of the season rarely seeing court time and not doing anything when out there. So come January the Raps had dug a huge hole for themselves and were now well out of the playoff picture. But after a strong January with the majority of games played at home, the Raptors pulled forward with a hope of the playoffs. But the Raptors still couldn't win on the road and fell back to the bottom of the Atlantic with Bosh doing everything he could to keep the team's hope up. Unfortunately it was not meant to be and the Raptors were done like dinner.
So for those of you who missed it here is the highlights and lowlights of the Raps season:
Season high 3 game win streak
11 road wins all season
Vince Carter traded for nothing
Jalen Rose whining about not starting
Numerous trade requests including those who came over for Carter
A buy out of 10 million dollars to a player who never played for the team
A point guard who constantly let his emotions get the better of him
A coach who started off optimistic and finished with his fingers massaging his forehead.
A young star buried in all the contraversy
Declining attendance
The media demanding a witch-hunt
Another season out of the playoffs
So with all this, the Raptors merry-go-round resets itself and will be already to spin again come draft day. Anyone else excited?
It started off with a whole bunch of contraversy with a new GM, new coach, a questionable first round draft pick and a disgruntled star who publically demanded out (I guess for anyone who expected nothing they got what they expected ;) ) Anyways come training camp there was some good news as players showed up and were working hard as Sam Mitchell implemented his system. And then the Raptors burst out of the gate winning 3 straight, ending with Vince Carter draining a late 3 pointer against Portland to win the game. So with the Raptors spirits high, they ventured out on a Western swing(and this was probably where things went straight to a downward spiral for the Raps) They then went 1-5 on the swing and came back with a below .500 record. At that point they began playing mediocre ball and numbers 15 and 5 began riding the pine as Lamond Murray and Matt Bonner started getting playing time late in games while Vinsanity and Jalen were fuming on the bench. Then with the surprise of the season... Vince Carter gets injured and has to sit out. After a few games of sitting out word broke one Friday afternoon that GM Babcock had finally pulled the trigger on a deal. Sure enough reports were confirmed and the face of the Raps who was accused of "dogging it" was finally shipped out of town. But rather then getting anything of value for the star, Babcock managed to trade Vince Carter for the two Williams(toted as hard working grinder players) and Mourning joined the roster along with 2 first rounders. Well, Mourning never played a game with the Raps and was eventually bought out for a small price of 10 million dollars :rolleyes: and the two Williams spend the rest of the season rarely seeing court time and not doing anything when out there. So come January the Raps had dug a huge hole for themselves and were now well out of the playoff picture. But after a strong January with the majority of games played at home, the Raptors pulled forward with a hope of the playoffs. But the Raptors still couldn't win on the road and fell back to the bottom of the Atlantic with Bosh doing everything he could to keep the team's hope up. Unfortunately it was not meant to be and the Raptors were done like dinner.
So for those of you who missed it here is the highlights and lowlights of the Raps season:
Season high 3 game win streak
11 road wins all season
Vince Carter traded for nothing
Jalen Rose whining about not starting
Numerous trade requests including those who came over for Carter
A buy out of 10 million dollars to a player who never played for the team
A point guard who constantly let his emotions get the better of him
A coach who started off optimistic and finished with his fingers massaging his forehead.
A young star buried in all the contraversy
Declining attendance
The media demanding a witch-hunt
Another season out of the playoffs
So with all this, the Raptors merry-go-round resets itself and will be already to spin again come draft day. Anyone else excited?