Wednesday, April 14th, 2010 at 12:00 pm  |  63 responses

Too Many Euros on the Raptors?

It’s a question posed by a rather angry (and perhaps, crazy) Globe and Mail scribe: “So if we’re going to whisper things about Bosh – if we’re going to put that out on the table just in time for the New York Knicks to come to town for the Raptors’ season finale tonight – let’s talk about the Europeans. Or, as general manager Bryan Colangelo more properly calls them, ‘international players.’ C’mon, you know that’s been out there all year, right? Does this team have too many international players? Or maybe just one too many Canadian-born head coaches? Jose Calderon is not a starting point guard. Period. He is a walking mismatch. Andrea Bargnani seems happy being a complementary player who can disappear when it matters. And Hedo Turkoglu? I mean, really. So since we’re looking in all the closets and corners, I asked Colangelo five questions via e-mail about his team being too international. He received it on his BlackBerry while watching Bosh get his face rearranged in Cleveland last week. (Bosh, no doubt, deliberately took the elbow for cover – all the easier to shut it down mentally.) This is a serious matter for a GM, who in his words still gets ‘told by a few agents not to bother.’ Toronto’s long-term viability as an NBA franchise will depend on international players because international basketball players are a great deal like Latino baseball players: They’ve grown up with passports, so for them going through the Canadian border is not akin to an invitation to a night in Guantanamo Bay. The flip side is that people still wonder about communication and culture. Hell, old-time basketball guys still wonder whether a team with so many internationals gets less respect from NBA game officials. Colangelo wonders why Turkoglu doesn’t get more calls (‘Hedo, for whatever reason, has just struggled getting calls but it has nothing to do with him being an international player’) and Bargnani’s limited trips to the charity-stripe are due to his hovering on the perimeter by design. But with Bosh out, Colangelo agreed that, ‘Andrea does need to get more post-oriented and get to the line.’ Colangelo acknowledges his team has problems with defensive intensity but ‘that is not something limited to the international players.”’

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  • http://joeloholic.wordpress.com Joel O’s

    Word, Dacre.

  • http://joeloholic.wordpress.com Joel O’s

    @Teddy: I think people are talking about Delfino’s earlier stint with the Raps a few years back. Essentially, we let him go and went out to get Jason Kapono. So we gave up a relatively multi-faceted shooting forward, who rebounds well for a guy his position and actually attacks the basket… for who was then the world’s best spot up shooter.

  • http://thetroyblog.com Teddy-the-Bear

    Yeah, but Delfino was never that great for the Raptors anyways, in my opinion. And Kapono definitely was never the best spot up shooter in the league–he was just good at the 3 point contest during All-Star weekend.

  • http://thetroyblog.com Teddy-the-Bear

    Dacre, add Primoz Brezec to your list.

  • Ronald

    @Teddy: Seriously? the guy shot 50% and 48% from 3pt range in Toronto! Or were u being sarcastic? And I think people are using the term “euro” a bit loosely to describe peopole who played in the european leagues. But I think the whole thing that they have too many finesse players is correct but it doesn’t have anything to do with Calderon as from the games I’ve watched he doesn’t get too much burn.

  • Shem

    YES, Jack is a starting PG period. Calderon isn’t good on D but he’s an excellent back up guard IF he wasn’t payed 8 mill a year. Too many ballhandlers. No perimeter scoring other then Jack and occasionally Weems. Turk is a bust. BC better be going into this off season trying to pick up a scoring perimeter player JOE JOHNSON EHEM*

  • http://www.lkz.ch Darksaber

    Lord i loved these comments, fun read. To the person stating that “Euro League play is soft in general”, please take the time to watch a few games. Please. Frontcourt players get away with murder and guys like Diamantidis (who i loathe) will literally share your jersey just to defend you, thats how close he plays other guards, while knocking em about. And i like erich’s threat-comment: “come play me”. Nice one.

  • http://dsfjklf.com Jukai

    Delfino is South American? Really? I thought he was from Spain….

  • Beni

    I am actually quite offended by this, this is steotyping; as a European myself I feel compelled to go to that Canadian pr*ck’s house and show how tough us ‘eurotrash’ can be by kicking sh*t out of his nationalist ar*se.

  • http://www.boogiewilliams.com Boing Dynasty

    Argentina^

  • JoeMaMa

    European players aren’t soft; that’s a stereotype to help explain why their bigs are more skilled and thus, don’t have to hurt someone to get a rebound. Also, there have been some great European shooters come out, leading to the view that all they do is shoot, which is half true, as all Euro players are trained at all positions.
    Colangelo hired Gherardini because he was an influential player overseas, where there are quality, skilled ball players. Colangelo had a superstar in Bosh, and went for skilled complementary pieces. Bargnani was considered the next Dirk; Calerdon earned his time, as Toronto fans remember, by being the ultimate team guy and playing his role perfectly, though he’s been outed now as a defensive liability. Rasho was a role player; Garbo was a success until the injury; Turkoglu has been brutal.
    I’m not going to throw Colangelo under the bus. It’s been a rough ride this year, but he’s got a good basketball mind and team in place for years to come. Remember, Toronto: the fact that we got him is still a blessing after the mess we’d had in Babcocok.
    And lastly, a note on Triano. He wasn’t picked because he’s Canadian. It looks good, but in this billion dollar business, people don’t get hired because “Canadian coach coaching canadian team” has a nice ring to it. Triano is getting big respect with the US team and Colangelo made his decision on how well he could do.

  • tavoris

    @Dacre-props for the Detlef Shrempf reference…love that dude.

  • Lloyd

    As a Raps fan, I feel the need to sound off here. No bashing Colangelo. The past couple of seasons, we’ve had teams that are really good…on paper. There’s no way Colangelo can predict the end results of these educated experiments.

    Now Euro players can be great, but the Euros do have more of a focus on skill-building and fundamentals than North America, where it’s more about grinding it out and athleticism (speed/strength). They just focus on different aspects of the game. Toughness beats out finesse most of the time, because toughness gets to the rim for high percentage shots. Finesse leads to jump shots which are obviously harder to stick. When we do hit jump shots, it’s game over; lights out. But again, the chances of a shot going in from 16 ft is a lot lower than a shot going in from a couple inches away from the rim.

    On defense, these guys go up against teams who are more athletically oriented. This leads to one guy getting blown by, then everyone collapses in to help, leading to a kick out to the perimeter, couple of swing passes and then someone gets an open look, or an open lane to the basket. Or on the other hand, the initial penetration leads to an easier bucket to the lane. This had been the case most times for the Raps.

    I sense another couple of years of painful rebuilding coming for the franchise. As a Raps fan, I just have to grit my teeth and wait for a right formula for victory.

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