Friday March 13 2009 - 11:50am Eastern (Toronto, ON)
The only number that truly matters is “23″. It’s been a disappointing season for the Raptors - stuck with just 23 wins with little more than 1 month to go in the season.
How did Toronto get to this nasty 23-win mark?
October/November: 8-8
December: 4-12
January: 7-9
February: 4-8
March: 0-5
So the Raps are 19 games below .500 as they get set to host the Detroit Pistons at the ACC tonight and I thought today we’d take a look at some of Toronto’s trends of late …
While some have dogged Chris Bosh for not getting down low this season and getting to the line, CB4 is in fact amongst the best in the league in free throw makes (right on the heels of Kobe Bryant believe it or not):
Free throws made this season:
LeBron James - 467
Dwyane Wade - 467
Devin Harris - 445
Dwight Howard - 406
Kobe Bryant - 402
Chris Bosh - 400
As a team, Toronto shoots the highest percentage in the league as well:
1. Toronto - 82.8%
2. Dallas - 82.1%
3. Indiana - 80.8%
4. New Orleans - 80.6%
5. Houston - 80.5%
6. Sacramento - 80.1%
And here’s how Bosh ranks in points and rebounds against other elite power forwards in the NBA:
Dirk Nowitzki - 25.5 PPG, 8.4 REB
Chris Bosh - 22.7 PPG, 9.4 REB
Antawn Jamison - 21.7 PPG, 9.1 REB
Amare Stoudemire - 21.4 PPG, 8.1 REB
Tim Duncan - 20.0 PPG, 10.7 REB
Plus, Bosh is in the Top 10 in many key categories in the NBA:
FTA/game - 8.2 (6th)
Rebounds - 9.4 (9th)
Points - 22.7 (9th)
Minutes - 37.9 (9th)
* Double doubles - 28 (11th)
Bosh had a rough night on Wednesday, scoring only 17 points on 6 of 16 from the floor. But Andrea Bargnani tried to pick up the slack. Bargs netted 21 points for the Raptors and in the process, for the first time in his career, the Italian has gone 4-straight games with 20 or more points:
Wed @ PHI - 21 points
Mar 8 vs UTH - 20 points
Mar 6 vs MIA - 23 points
Mar 3 @ HOU - 25 points
Again, a lot of these stats have to be taken with a grain of salt because the only numbers that truly matter are in the WIN-LOSS column - and 23-42 is nothing to write home about! But even during this current 6-game losing streak, the 1-2 punch of Bosh and Bargnani has continued to produce on the offensive end:
Bargnani - last 6 games: 21.3 PPG, 6.2 REB, 52.8 FG%
Bosh - last 6 games: 25.5 PPG, 8.0 REB, 48.2 FG%
Enjoy the game tonight folks. Remember … Jonesy and I are on the air with the tip of the Raps and Pistons at 7:00pm.
Detroit comes into this ball game having won both of the previous 2 meetins this season … and the Pistons are 36-12 all-time against the Raptors.
And with 8 assists this evening, Jose Calderon can move past Alvin Williams to take over the #1 spot on Toronto’s all-time assists list.
E. Smith
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Eric,
- Lanny from WhitbyHave to say “disappointing” is an understatement Disastrous would be more apropo! I think you’ve explained the #’s really well. But I have to call you on one thing, with the High % on FT% where do the place in FTA? But yes it shows how important CB is to the team, Where would the team be without him would be a better Q!?!
Good point Lanny
Bosh is 6th in the league in attempts.
But as a team, Toronto is 28th. 3rd last.
22.4/game
#1 is Denver at 30.4/game
- E. SmithThat has been the problem with the Raptors this season. They settle for too much jump shots inside/outside the ark. Watching a game with the Nets vs. Warriors Wednesday night I witness Corey Magette almost played the entire game without a field goal but manage to get a lot of his points from the free throw line. I think he was 18/22 until he got his only FG. That shows that getting to the line can help out a team. Why can anyone from the Raptors besides Bosh do that more often?!
- StevenLanny…without Bosh, the Raps would not be much worse.
Check out their record.
They couldn’t be much worse.
And his $13 million per year would certainly add another player(s) of value, obviously improving the team after his departure.
It’s doesn’t make sense to question a player’s value to a team when his team is so horrible.
You can only, justifiably, do so with stars on good teams.
- brentoIts sad to see that we wont be able to keep Bosh and add another star player next to him. As great as Bosh numbers are this year it hasnt produced any wins or made this team go past the first or even come close to first round victory.Sorry to say…. I wish him all the best on his future team…his time is up here in T.O
- RushSidenote- the Charlotte Bobcats have a better record than the Raps ….MUCH BETTER! Thats disgusting! Michael Jordan made better trades than BC did this year!
- RushThat’s because Rush that MJ knows more NBA talent than BC does. The only Colangelo I would prefer is his dad Jerry C. BC stays and keep making this Euro soft squad…Bosh will be gone for sure.
- StevenBrento I have to disagree with you in regards to Bosh not being a franchise player unless your saying Garnett is not a franchise player.
- David DawsonGarnett was never able to get to the playoffs unless he had at least 2 other players scoring 16 upto 20 pts per game, ever since Gugliotta & Marbury with help from Christian Laitner, Gugliotta (in his rookie years 95-99). He then got help from Terrell Brandon, Wally Szczerbiak (99-02) than added additions with Cassell & Sprewll when they reached the western conference finals. The Rap’s over-achieved in the 06-07 season Bosh avg 22 pts 10 rebs the closes to him was TJ Ford with 14 pts when they won 47 games, even now with Bosh at 22 pts & 9 rebs Bargnani is the closes again at 14 pts. If the other players around Bosh don’t produce, I don’t care how good Bosh is doing, if the team is not producing (the supporting cast) they will not go anywhere. Garnett had to leave to Boston with another producer in Pierce along with Ray Allan. All these guys received some level of success in there mid to late 20’s in age, but they to had all star players with them, Pierce had Antoine Walker in Boston, Allen had Cassells & Glen Robinson in Milwaukee. Besides Jose who is close to an all star player and Marion who is sort of in the declining years of his career, who does Bosh really have, Anthony Parker, Joey Graham?, finally Bargnani is showing his potential. All franchise players need a legitimate all star player(s) to compliment them, except if you are an absolute all around skill set players like Lebron & Wade you can play the point guard position strait to a 3 and sometimes 4 position. Bosh needs help, and firing Sam M. did not help, maybe after the season or even at the all star break, if they were out of the playoff race, which at the time the Raps were in the playoff.