Wednesday August 6 2008 - 5:45pm Eastern
In case you haven’t heard already, the Toronto Raptors released their 2008-09 schedule earlier today … so basketball freaks can start planning their road trips and picking dates on the calendar for heading down to the ACC.
Overall, it’s not a bad sked for the Raps … as long as they can get through a GRUELING first two months of the season. Toronto will play 18 of its 41 road games BEFORE the new year. If they can survive that stretch, the ‘09 portion of the season may be a lot easier with a ton of home games and very few long flights.
The most brutal chunk of games comes right around Christmas when the Raptors will play six straight games out West - broken up by a 2-day break for Xmas. Here’s what that trip looks like:
December 19 - at Oklahoma City
December 20 - at San Antonio
December 22 - at LA Clippers
December 26 - at Sacramento
December 27 - at Portland
December 29 - at Golden State
The Raps will then follow that up by hosting the Denver Nuggets in T.O. on New Year’s Eve.
Other key dates include:
October 29 - season opener in Philly
October 31 - home opener against Golden State
November 10 - in Boston; first of 4 games VS the Champs
November 23 - the Champs (Boston) in T.O.
November 30 - in LA to face Kobe and the Lakers
December 9 - in Cleveland against LeBron for the 1st of 3
December 10 - TJ Ford returns to Toronto
December 17 - Dirk Nowitzki and the Mavs in Toronto
January 2 - Yao, TMAC, and company at the ACC
January 14 - Chuck Swirsky’s first game back in T.O.
January 16 - Jermaine O’Neal goes back to Indy for the 1st time
January 18 - Steve Nash’s only appearance in Canada
February 4 - Kobe Bryant brings the Lakers to Toronto
February 18 - LeBron’s only game in Toronto this season
The Raptors will play 48 games in November (well, 2 in October as well), December and January but then play only 34 in the final 3 months. That’s pretty lopsided! But, again, it shows how important the first part of the season will be for T.O.
There’ll be 17 back-to-backs this season (the Raps had 20 last year), and the busiest day on the sked will be Friday (21 Friday games — 11 at home; 10 on the road). The busiest HOME day will be Sunday (16 games).
We’re about 7 weeks from Training Camp and roughly 10 weeks away from the tip-off of the 2008-09 season. Can’t wait!
E. Smith
Click here to subscribe to Smith's blog
I agree Eric, I want to get this thing going. The thing that jumps out at me is after March 15th it looks pretty nice for the Raptors.
- James BorbathIs there a reason why the raps play more home games on sunday than saturday?
- AdamThey’ve always played most of their games on Sunday. Plus, the Leafs play on Saturdays so that doesn’t leave much for the Raps
- E. SmithI just hope sam and his staff let it known that the raps have to come out of the gates like its already the 2nd half of the season.. if they don’t it won’t matter what they do in the 2nd half because they’ll already be behind. the team has faltered before with rough scheds in the beginning.. they better be ready this year.
- Aaron Mgreaaaaat (complete sarcasm) our first home game is on Halloween again. not a great move by the nba in my eyes. this is a day that children should spend out going door to door with their families, not at a basketball game or watching it. the nba should omit games for this day. unfortunately, raps fans get the short end again this year.
- Aaron MWhere do you rank the raps in terms of the East this year. I believe they are still a playoff team but with the improvements of Philly and the top 5 teams from the East last year staying relatively the same where does this leave the raps?
- Paul OHey Eric,
2 questions –
1/ About a week ago, the Chicago Sun-Times’ Jay Mariotti wrote an article about the free agent class of 2010 where he boldly states, “[Chris] Bosh will flee Toronto and look at Orlando and Western Conference teams.” It seems that Orlando will have significant cap space to sign him and produce a tandem of CB4 and Dwight Howard with the support of Rashard Lewis. Obviously this is all speculation by Mariotti but can you see this happening, do you think Chris will spurn the raptors and join another club for either more money, a better supporting cast, no income tax or a warmer climate, or do you think CB4 will remain loyal and want to be that franchise star here in T.O?
2/ Also any way you could comment on the Salary Cap as it exists in the NBA? I was wondering if the leagues cap is based on both national and individual markets. Basically what I’m getting at here is would a big market team like LAL or BOS have more local revenue to distribute throughout there cap than say a team like Atlanta, or Memphis? It this why certain teams continuously remain in the luxury tax threshold? Also where does Toronto stack up in terms of market size and shouldn’t we be able to distribute some of the revenue to allow for more flexibility?
- AdamPaul … I still think the Raps are a top 5 team. Philly has improved but if there are questions about Jermaine O’Neal, there should be questions about Elton Brand too.
It should be fun though … ’cause I expect Indy, Milwaukee, and Chicago to be better too.
- E. SmithAaron
1 - yes, they better be ready. if not, they could dig a big hole early
2 - there’s 40 more home games. i don’t think it’s a big deal. plus, when i was a kid, i’d rather be at a game then getting candy anyway
- E. SmithAdam
I think that column was garbage. Players want money … but they want to win too. Chicago isn’t exactly “warm” but plenty of players wanted to be there when the Bulls were winning (MJ). Ditto for NYC … Cleveland … and, heck, Boston. It’s about WINNING. Jay is way off base.
As for the cap, etc. some teams do make more money because their local TV deals are worth more. However, the cut that each club gets from ABC/ESPN and TNT is equal … and if my memory is right … it works out to be around $25-$30 million each year. So almost half of your payroll is taken care of before you’ve even sold a ticket or a jersey or cut a TV deal
- E. SmithRaptors are tied for first.
Raptors have all the potential.
Sam will have no excuses.
Jose will step up. We will have three all-stars. It is all in Sam’s court…
If Bosh stays the spokesman for the team I think he will stay here. Not that he talks that much but I think he likes being the voice and face of the franchise. He came here a child and became a man. I think that counts for something.
- Miles