Friday, December 14th, 2012 at 9:00 am  |  93 responses

Andrea Bargnani is ‘Depressed’ By Injuries and the Toronto Raptors


by Marcel Mutoni / @marcel_mutoni

Before things went completely sour, before the Toronto Raptors compiled a record of 4-19 (only topped by the incompetence in Washington), there was a sense of hope and promise.

Raptors head coach Dwane Casey talked about Andrea Bargnani possibly becoming an All-Star this season. Things haven’t quite worked out that way — the team has played an embarrassing brand of basketball, they’re riddled with nagging injuries, trade rumors are swirling, and the franchise player is depressed.

Andrea Bargnani, out indefinitely with a torn ligament in his right elbow and a strained right wrist, tells the Toronto Sun that he’s down in the dumps:

Andrea Bargnani has had the toughest start to a season of his NBA career. He’s not a happy camper these days, aware that he’ll have to miss weeks of action due to a torn ligament. The enigmatic Roman even used the word “depressed” to describe his current state of mind, though head coach Dwane Casey believed something might have been lost in translation.

Bargnani: “I’m very upset that it’s something very bad again (Bargnani missed most of the 2011-12 season due to injuries), kind of depressed,” Bargnani said before lightening up a bit. “It was a bad fall, could have been worse, could have broke some of my bones, my wrist, so I got lucky in certain ways, but it’s really bad. Bad moment, bad timing, everything.”

Casey said he would talk to Bargnani to make sure he isn’t actually depressed. “Down is OK, but depressed is pretty strong,” Casey said. “Nobody is happy about losing. I’m not happy. Fans are not happy. Players are not happy, but I’m not depressed. Depressed is when you’re looking at Christmas or whatever is coming up and you don’t have food for your kids and gifts for your kids. That’s depressed. We’re blessed.”

This is perhaps just a clumsy way for a very frustrated player to express himself – Bargnani has seen his numbers take a considerable dip across the board this season.

Toronto Raptors fans, though, likely aren’t exaggerating when they say that they’re depressed.

  • Add a Comment
  • Share
  • RSS

Tags: , ,

← Older Comments
  • zogsisdumbfuk

    no, actually you are right speedy. Never listen to Zogs, ever. He’s a dumb@ss.

  • DaRaptor

    Yes I’m defending him because he IS a good and unique player and if you do surround him with better talent he can be a huge offensive threat just like 2006-2008.

    I just hate how fans are using Bargnani as a scapegoat when the reason the Raptors are losing is because we don’t have a good team, at all.

  • speedy

    Cosign

  • Teddy-the-Bear

    Uhhh, wtf are you talking about? Depression IS a disease, and it does
    have a physical component to it. All psychological “disorders” have
    physiological causes for them. In the case of depression, it’s caused by an imbalance of neurotransmitters in the brain.
    Also, disease doesn’t imply
    contagiousness at all. Please dont make sh!t up about stuff thats actually kind of serious.

  • Teddy-the-Bear

    He is not a good player by any NBA starter standards. There are a hundred guys in the NBA who could average 20 ppg if they were the #1 option and allowed to shoot sub 45% from the field.
    And if he’s as unique as you say, it’s because he’s uniquely bad at rebounding and defending the paint for someone who started in this league at the center spot. His field goal percentage is also uniquely bad for someone whose specialty is supposed to be shooting.
    He was a scoring threat from 2006 to 2008? Here are his shooting percentages for those three seasons: 42.7%, 38.6%, and 45%. He is 7 feet tall has 2 seasons (counting this one) shooting below 40%! That is not the mark of a good player or an offensive threat whatsoever. I’m sorry… I’m sure he’ll be a lot better playing for a different team–I agree with you there.

  • DaRaptor

    No he is not a #1 option player and he should have never been expected to be but the Raptors had no choice after Bosh left.

    I didn’t say scoring threat, I said offensive threat. Teams have to adjust their defensive plans with Bargnani because of his perimeter game and this has and would make the Raptors better offensively if the Raptors had better players.

    Let’s make it clear than I’m not saying he’s a franchise player but he’s a great role player which is why I want him to stay.

  • Teddy-the-Bear

    How can he be an offensive threat if he can’t shoot the ball at an even marginally decent percentage? He’s not a great passer and he doesn’t catch any offensive boards–he literally does nothing else on offense. So, if he doesn’t score at an accurate clip, and if he never shot above 45% from the field during those years you mentioned, then how exactly is he an offensive threat?
    Keep in mind, he’s a 7 footer. Most 7 footers, role players and starters alike, are usually expected to shoot over 50% from the field. If you shun easy, high percentage shots for a more perimeter-oriented game, then you should at least knock your jumpers down at a reliable clip. There are also a hundred stretch 4′s who could spread the floor as well as Bargnani in today’s league.
    And the Raptors actually have do have decent young talent. I guarantee you the Raptors will win more ball games with Ed Davis as the starter. Bargnani is nowhere near their best player even with THIS roster, yet he still takes the most FG attempts. So if he isn’t the scapegoat, who is? Besides the coaching staff and management?

  • KR

    aids is!

  • DaRaptor

    Then let me rephrase myself by saying that when teams play against Bargnani they DO adjust their defense. I’m not making that up, I’ve seen a lot of coaches talk about it. By having a big play on Bargnani it opens up the post and creates many offensive options. Bargnani doesn’t have to do anything but his matchup is forced to play outside the post. This is a + for the Raptors. That’s what I meant by offensive threat.

    DeRozan takes the most shots actually and Bargnani only shoots 3 more shots than Lowry a game and Bargnani’s and Lowry’s field goal percentage are pretty much the same.

    I do think that the coaching staff is one reason why the Raptors are bad because I actually don’t think Casey knows how to run an offence when more than 50% of the Raptors possessions are settling for jump shots. DeRozan has already started to drive the ball more but everyone on the team seems to settle for jumpers mostly every game. The only players that are efficient for the Raptors are Davis and Valanciunas and they hardly take any jump shots.

  • KR

    so if a loved one came home one day and they said that they have been diagnosed with Incurable lung or colon cancer vs. the same person who came home and said….i’m depressed. BIG BIG Difference.

    as for making sh1t up. have a read…it’s best classified as a disorder!

    http://www.ehow.com/about_5087293_depression-disease.html

  • Mr. Goattree

    I’m glad you stopped talking (DaRaptor) because you really are embarassing the rest of us Raptors fans.
    Andrea is weak, and so is your knowledge of the game.

  • zogs19994

    IM NOT READING THAT PARAGRAPH DUMBAS$

  • Teddy-the-Bear

    Let’s see… Bargnani is out and the Raptors are about to beat the Mavs by 30 … I’m no expert on basketball, but something tells me there’s a correlation here.

  • Teddy-the-Bear

    Okay I just read the article lol. I’m gonna stop sh!tting on Bargnani cuz if he’s actually depressed, that’s no joke. I feel bad now…

  • http://www.facebook.com/rainman1991 Saleem Rainman

    oh the irony lol

  • KBM

    DaRaptor thinks he knows bball. Yet has said so many incredibly inaccurate statements regarding basketball in his previous comments that it’s embarassing. You type nonsense, if you believe it then that sucks.

  • KBM

    HAHA, I thought u were done a couple comments ago! You kept going, typing even more nonsense. Good grief you have put a lot of time into this today, so u must believe what u say. Bargnani is not good and I hope other posters take the time to show how utterly wrong u r with statistics. Failure.

  • DaRaptor

    Lol instead of telling me I’m wrong why don’t you tell me where I went wrong and back up your points. Btw how can I be wrong with statistics if they are statistics LOL.

  • Mack

    While I agree that he is worth keeping for a role player, he’s being payed over 10M dollars and is one of the team captains. He’s been in the NBA for 6 years yet if anything seems to be regressing. His rebounding effort is barely frontcourt capable; regardless of who is helping him on the boards and what the team numbers are, he plays the 4 and I would be expecting minimum 2 rebounds per quarter. I personally think it’s a matter of him being aggressive with the ball and not shooting so many long 2′s and three pointers (not too mention crashing the boards once in a while), but the main knock I have is that he’s just… not the kind of player this team needs anymore. He’s injury prone and even though he’s not playing for a winning franchise historically, he hasn’t shown any toughness to persevere through much of anything in his TO tenure.

  • RKJ92

    The only thing bust about Noel is his jumpshot and post skills other then that he’s soliddddd

  • Da-Meat-Hook

    Yeah KBM, point out where DaRaptor went wrong like Teddy and I did, and watch him try to defend his points with even more none sense. Hindsight is 20/20, which gives Colangelo a pass for the mistake that is/was Bargs. What’s your excuse for defending a “shooter” who’s shooting 39%, a “big man” who rebounds like a point guard, and a “role player” that is getting paid more than 10 million a year who’s been a disappointment for 6 years and counting?

  • Raptor1995

    DaRaptor makes more sense than any of you guys. He knows his basketball. Bargnani has game, but not #1 option game. He much more effective being a #2 option with a relaable #1. When Bosh left it was forced upon him and last year he was good before he got hurt. This season has been a struggle for him though. He does need to rebound better even if he is a perimeter player. I just want to see some toughness from him. Instead of being depressed get mad and put it out on the court. This team is built around him and Demar, but some of these pieces don’t fit or are too young right now to make a difference. And even if he did get 10 rebounds a game it wouldn’t make a huge difference in their wins…maybe plus 2 more wins but this team dosen’t give ANY effort night after night on the defensive end. AT ALL. You can’t win if you don’t play defense. You trade him to the right team and I bet he would do very well and Toronto would look like idiots to have traded him. And what would you get back…a superstar? Yea right…just more young players and we still won’t win. Jerry needs to make better moves and I don’t trust him getting the right pieces back for any trade for Andrea.

  • Raptors1995

    98% percent of you are horrible Raptor fans! Go Bargnani!

  • speedy

    You are rating different kinds of diseases??? Really?

    And you think Kristen Fowler ehow contributor is the one and only source you need to get an opinion ? In Kristen Fowlers opinion a disease is only a disease when it’s contagious so cancer wouldn’t be.

  • DaRaptor

    I think him settling for jump shots is also a result of Casey’s offensive play calling. I just think that Casey doesn’t really have a set offensive plan and just lets the players create for themselves too much which is why they settle for jump shots a lot.

    I agree that Bargnani needs to be aggressive. It annoys me when he takes more jump shots than driving to the rim because we all know that he is very capable of putting the ball on the floor and getting to the basket.

    The game that jumps out to me is the first Heat game in Toronto after Bosh left. Bargnani played amazing that game, and I just know he’s capable of doing that every night.

    It’s likely that Bargnani will get traded though, especially after the comments he made recently.

  • underdog

    How could Dwane Casey tell who’s depressed, and who’s not? Everybody can be deprssed / happy apart from his / her financial / family / career situation. Casey should take care of his team’s defense, instead of playing the team psychiatrist.

  • Da-Meat-Hook

    You think Bargs settling for jump shots is a result of Casey’s play calling?! The man’s settled for jump shots under Triano and Mitchell as well! This turning down drives to the rim in favor of a perimeter jump shot isn’t new, it’s what he’s been doing since day 1!

    You keep holding on to that 1 game in Miami 2 years ago, or that 1 week stretch in ’06, or that good month he had last year, and I’ll focus on the other 95% of his career. He’s proven time and time again that he can put up solid scoring numbers from time to time and nothing else. This is basketball, not 2-Ball . . .

  • DaRaptor

    It’s a combination of Casey’s offense or the Raptors offense in general, the absence of aggression from Bargnani, and also Bargnani’s attitude.

    It’s not just Bargnani settling it’s the whole team. Calderon, DeRozan, Kleiza, Lowry, and even freaking AMIR JOHNSON settle for too many jump shots. After Bosh left or even some of the time during Bosh’s time here, the Raptor’s identity has been that of a jump shooting team and it’s not working. It’s great to see DeRozan starting to drive more and Lowry’s already that type of player but they both still take more jump shots than they need to.

    Ed Davis and Valanciunas both are shooting above 50% and that’s because most of their shots take place in the post. Hopefully the rest of the players realize that and continue to improve their paint game.

  • Jimbo

    The Raptors have a solid team. Lowry, Derozan, Davis, Valanciunas, and Pietrus is a pretty good starting line up. We use Bargnani as the scapegoat because he is the symbol of stupid gambles Colangelo has made with Toronto. Bargnani has never bought into the new defensive concept that Casey is bringing with him, which is why he needs to get traded. Colangelo has ruined the organization with high risk-low reward gambles such as Turkoglu, O’Neal and others.

  • Jimbo

    To think we could have had Roy Hibbert….

  • SammyAns

    This is the damn highlight of this argument DaRaptor…read this over and over

  • Da-Meat-Hook

    Toronto will look like idiots for trading him? TORONTO LOOKED LIKE IDIOTS FOR DRAFTING HIM HIM FIRST OVERALL! TORONTO LOOKED LIKE IDIOTS FOR RESIGNING HIM TO A 50+ MILLION DOLLAR CONTRACT!!!

    Again, Bargs shouldn’t work to improve his atrocious rebounding and defence because the Raps would only have 2 more wins to show for it? That’s ridiculous! He’s their team captain! Captains lead by example! What kind of Franchise player/leader ignores defensive/rebounding assignments and admits that he couldn’t care less. “It’s called basketball, not rebound ball”…Do you remember that quote? “I do more complex things than play defence”…what about that gem?

  • pleasewinRaptors.

    Dear Andrea Bargnani.

    Please go ask Hakeem The Dream Olajuwon to teach you how to play in the post and play DEFENSE, REBOUND

  • Mike From Spain

    How are Kevin Love’s hops? Rebounding does not correlate with hops… I agree with you

  • Mike From Spain

    Ginobili had won everything there was to win in Europe before going to the Spurs. He was not ‘raw and unproven’, maybe not NBA proven, but not a real rookie, much as many players are today (Rubio, Shved, etc). Parker was more inexperienced than Ginobili, but I agree with Da-Meat_Hook, these two were additions to a team with Duncan as the cornerstone.

  • Mike From Spain

    If Bargnani did any kind of elite rebounding, he could be Kevin Love 2. But he’s not. Kevin Love’s elite rebounding makes his offense so much more efficient than it would be without it. Teams double team and foul Kevin Love even when he’s away from the ball, to avoid his rebounding. If that does not help the team…

  • Mike From Spain

    Excuse me sir, you said an ignorant thing.

  • Francis Harden

    Trade him to Washington

  • KR

    I never once mentioned that Depression wasn’t or isn’t serious. Just saying that I don’t think it is a “disease” that is better classified as a “disorder” and that there are worst things than being depressed…..like cancer or aids.

    I’d rather donate money or be part of a charity function that is trying to cure Breast Cancer or save kids versus someone who is depressed.

  • DaRaptor

    What I got from Da-Meat_Hook was that European style players won’t help win championships. Or that’s what I got when he said Euro-ball doesn’t turn into championships. And that’s clearly wrong.

    Although Duncan was the cornerstone, Spurs used European style players to surround Duncan to make them into a dynasty. Maybe not so much in 2003 but Parker and Ginobili were a huge part of the Spurs winning in 2005 and 2007. I don’t think the Spurs win in 2005 and 2007 without Parker and Ginobili.

  • DaRaptor

    Okay? If any big did any kind of elite rebounding then anyone could be Kevin Love 2? I don’t understand what you’re trying to say. And I don’t know why you’re trying to compare Bargnani to Kevin Love. Love is the best big in the league. Bargnani plays from the perimeter a lot more than in the post so the opportunity for offensive rebounds is almost null. And he’s not fast enough to crash the boards. Love plays from the post more than the perimeter and he’s light years better than Bargnani.

    Yes offensive rebounding can help a team win games i.e.Nuggets, Grizzlies, Timberwolves. But offensive rebounding isn’t necessary at all to win games ie. Heat, Knicks, Spurs, who are in your bottom 5 at offensive rebounding.

    Bargnani improving in rebounding won’t help the team because he’ll never in his career no matter how hard he works grab as many boards as Kevin Love and it will never get to a point where a team starts doubling him. So the most his rebounding can do is a few extra second chance points.

  • Da-Meat-Hook

    What’s up, Mike? That’s exactly my point! The Spurs had already won a championship without Manu and Tony. They were brought in to compliment the interior dominance of Duncan who was HANDS DOWN the face of the franchise and the leader of those teams.
    And just like you said, Manu had already proven himself on the international stage time and time again. Bargs showed flashes of promise at Bennetton averaging 15 and 7 but was widely criticized for his defense and rebounding even back then.

  • Da-Meat-Hook

    Yup! I didn’t mention guys like Love and Z-BO because I figured DaRaptor would bring up strength. He says “Bargs is a unique talent”, but you can even take a solid role player like Ryan Anderson, who’s fg% is +8, 3p% is +10, and is grabbing more than 3 more rebounds a game!
    Bargs’ just isn’t willing to fight for rebounds or put the effort in defensively. Period!

← Older Comments
Advertisement