The Greatest Toronto Raptors Roster Ever Assembled

As a Canadian, loving the Raps is like having a nerdy little sister, you're forced to love them. Of course, I've been a Spurs fan before the Raps were even born but you just grow to love the Raps, no matter how bad they stink. If you like basketball and you live in Canada...you're pretty much forced to be a Raptors fan. It's the only team you can get extensive coverage on and you can catch every game on TV. After watching the Raps lose another one last night, I was looking at through Wikipedia and the all-time Toronto Raptors roster. I was like "Damn, I never knew he was a Raptor" or "Wow, I forgot about that guy"

Well, if I could assemble one Toronto Raptors all-time greatest roster (past or present, that at one time in their playing career sported a Raps jersey), this would be it:

At point guard, Chauncey Billups
Chauncey had a brief stint with the Raps in '98 but if his prime was on the Raptors we'd have a killer team. He's been a NBA champ and an NBA Finals MVP and look at how well he's turning around the Denver Nuggets. Look at us now, we're dealing with Will Solomon and Roko Ukic at the point, Mr. Big Shot would be a blessing at this point.

At the shooting guard, Vincent Lamar Carter
The most hated man in Toronto. Arguably, he's the best player to ever play for the Raptors and whether you like him or hate him, he's taken the Raps deep into the playoffs and put the city of Toronto on the map. 8-time all-star, Olympic gold medalist and 2000 slam dunk champ (and probably one of the best dunkers to ever play in the league)

At small forward, Tracy McGrady
Sure he hasn't been passed the first round of the playoffs and he's always injured but this guy has turned into such a dominant scorer since his days in Toronto. The guy averaged 32.1 points in 02-03 with Orlando and is a 7 time all-star and 2 time scoring champ.

At power forward, Chris Bosh
What's not to like about this guy? He loves playing in Toronto, Olympic gold-medalist, he is a product of one the best draft classes in NBA history and he is currently the face of this franchise. He's only 24 and will only get better. He has set Raptor all-time records in rebounds, blocks and double doubles.

At centre, Marcus Camby
Camby was ok when he played with the Raps from 96-98 but after his stint with Toronto, he had developed into a defensive monster. He has always wore the "injury prone" label but in the past couple of seasons he has stepped up to be a premier defender, rebounder and shot blocker. He was the Defensive Player of the Year in the 2006-2007 season.

The Bench

Jermaine O'Neal
C'mon, the Raps aren't dishing out 20 mill for nothing, he is a 6-time all-star and a 20pt-10 reb with a couple blocks kind of player.

Matt Bonner
The Red Rocket is a baller. He's a Toronto fan favorite and is a three point threat when in the right system. Man, Matt Bonner is the guy who threw down KG! Probably one of the greatest Matt Bonner moments.

Jose Calderon
Jose has four Olympic medals including a gold one from the '06 Summer games. His international experience alone warrants a spot on this team.

Morris Peterson
MoPete is a fan favorite, Toronto loved him as a player. He's probably best known for nailing ridiculous shots.

Hakeem Olajuwon
Well, he may not have done much with the Raps but this guy has such an impressive resume. Former MVP & 2-time NBA champ and probably one of the greatest centres to ever play in the league.

Damon Stoudamire
But it would have to be the Toronto Damon Stoudamire, the Rookie of the Year that averaged 20 pts and 9 assists not the marijuana smoking "Jail Blazers" Stoudamire.

Coach
As far as the coach, Lenny Wilkens or Smitch. Probably Lenny with Smitch as the assistant, Lenny got the Raps to the conference semi finals.

What do you think, who would be on your roster?

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Happy Ne-new Year! Nene scores 21 in Nuggs New Years Eve win

Well at least it wasn't a 39 point loss and no head coach was fired. The Raps were without Jason Kapono (thigh injury) and Jermaine O'Neal (knee injury) in the starting lineup last night. Andrea Bargnani and Anthony Parker filled the gaps for the Raps who were playing their first home game after their 6-game Western road trip. Denver head coach, George Karl was going for his 900th career coaching win.

The tough part about coming home for the Raps was having to go against the Chauncey Billups and the Denver Nuggets shorthanded. Nene made his return to the Nuggets after missing their last game due to injury and came out strong. The Raps played a good first half against Nene's Nuggets and were only down three at halftime. In the third quarter, Jose Calderon hit a three to go up on the Nuggets by one and then hit another three later in the quarter to get up three. The third quarter remained tight until Denver made a push to go up by eight at the end of the third. Andrea Bargnani who has been up and down this season, performed well filling in for J.O at centre. He had 11 points in the first half and continued to hit shots in the second half. In the fourth quarter, Anthony Parker found Joey Graham for the open layup to get within two with only 4 minutes left. And then Chauncey Billups, Mr. Big Shot hit a big shot three to get up by six on the Raps. In the final seconds, Anthony Parker hit a three to get within four but the Raps couldn't get any closer as the Nuggets won 114-107.

Key Notes
Denver had 7 players in double figures
All of the Raptors starters were in double figures
Andrea Bargnani broke out with 26 pts, 6 boards and 5 blocks
Bosh had 24 pts and 11 boards
Nene led the Nuggets with 21 points and 7 rebounds

The Raps have another tough home matchup as they face the Houston Rockets Friday night.


Photo credit: (Photo by Ron Turenne/NBAE via Getty Images)

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That's A Rap......In The Third Quarter

Ugly.

I have a nephew that played Mini ball a few years ago. One of the rules was that if one team was running the other team off the floor, they just stopped scoring for the rest of the game. Tonight's game was one of those games. At the end of the 3rd, they should have just turned off the scoreboard. The Denver Nuggets had 100 points at the end of the third. The Denver Nuggets just walloped the Raps 132-93.

Chauncey Billups just buried the Raps. When he drove he scored, when he penetrated he dished off to Nene or Melo, when he felt like it, he hit big buckets. The Nuggets had no problems with the Raps at all. The Raps took a bunch of jumpers in the first and could not get it going from the start.

Jermaine O'Neal made his return and had 12 pts. Chris Bosh had 24 and 12.

As for the Nuggets, Chauncey and Melo led the way with 24pts and 23pts respectively.

On an off topic, I think the Denver Nuggets are the most tatted team in the NBA. (These are the things you notice when you watch a blowout)

This was just a straight up horrible game for the Raps from the beginning and the Nuggets had their way with them. Raps have to learn to play better D and try to keep teams to 25 pts/quarter. The Nuggets were able to shoot 60% vs. the Raps disappointing 37% from the floor. In all of the Raps wins, they held teams to under 100 points. The Nuggets scored 132 tonight.

Raps have a tough stretch of games still and Utah is up next (Friday) Let's hope this leads to a better result.....ugh.

Photo Credit: (Photo by Garrett W. Ellwood/NBAE via Getty Images)

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Raps Hope to Get Big Buckets Against The Nuggets

Tonight, the 8-8 Toronto Raptors take on the 12-6 Denver Nuggets. This is as tough of a matchup as the Lakers. Denver has been a hot team ever since the acquisition of Chauncey Billups. Here's a breakdown on the matchups:

Matchups:

Jose vs. Mr. Big Shot
The will be the big matchup of the night. The Nuggets have been 11-3 since Chauncey has joined them. The 3 losses have been against NBA powerhouses New Orleans, LA Lakers and Cleveland, all stellar teams. Jose will be able to use his speed against Chauncey but he has been playing some real good ball in Denver.

AP vs. Dahntay Jones
This will probably be more AP vs. JR Smith but AP has the edge here as long as he can hit those big threes.

Bargnani vs. Carmelo
According to the Denver Post, Carmelo may be dealing with a right elbow contusion but he is a go for tonight. Andrea has come into his own and may be able to take advantage of the injury riddled Melo.

Bosh vs. K-Mart
Bosh has a chance to bounce back with J.O. back in the lineup. He had a tough time on Sunday playing against the Lakers big men. The combo of big defenders, K-Mart and Nene may cause Bosh to face similar situations tonight.

J.O. vs Nene
According to the Toronto Star, it looks like Jermaine O’neal will start tonight. This will help relieve Chris Bosh on the defensive end against the Nuggets bigs. His return to the lineup should boost the Raps defensive intensity.

Toronto's Bench (Kapono, Graham, Moon) vs. Denver's Bench (Kleiza, Smith, Carter)
I say the Raps have a better bench but Denver has a highly offensive guard in JR Smith who can go off for 20-30 if he gets the hot hand. This could be a deciding factor.

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