Comments on: Raptor Family Values Worth It?

By: Linkage - May 1 — The AltRaps Blog

Linkage - May 1 — The AltRaps Blog — Wed, 28 May 2008 04:56:28 +0000

[...] - Dino Nation Blog [...]

By: Caleb

Caleb — Mon, 05 May 2008 03:59:43 +0000

Ron Artest is hardly an over-rated player. Just ask Indiana how they’ve been doing since he left! His skill set is exactly everything Toronto lacks. There is very few other players in the league that could single handedly provide Toronto exactly what they need, but Ron would be closest to being it. We don’t need a jump shooter (Kapono, Calderon, Parker, Delfino, and even Bosh), we don’t need an All Star, what we need is defense, rebounds, and aggressiveness…a player who essentially could be listed as a 10 out of 10 in all of these categories is over rated???

That being said, as stated in this blog, I would agree Toronto has too much invested in having a moral obligation to their fans. Though this isn’t necessarily a bad thing (as one could claim a team like the Spurs also possesses a group of good guys, minus Bowen on occasion), I’m sure a winning team with a few bad apples would win more fans then a few good deeds…

By: khandor

khandor — Thu, 01 May 2008 20:36:47 +0000

Ron Artest is an over-rated player who destroys the chemistry of whatever team he’s with for whatever brief time he’s there.

Josh Howard is a different ball-game entirely.

Howard has the type of game that, should Dallas decide to move him, in the aftermath of his thoughts on smoking dope being published, there will be a host of teams lining up to bid on his services … in which case, Toronto desn’t have the array of assets needed to pull off a deal like that.

By: nicole

nicole — Thu, 01 May 2008 12:30:56 +0000

I think if we could, we would make a move for either Josh Howard or Ron Artest. Whether or not we have players that Dallas or Sacramento wants is a different story. But as much as I love having likeable players in Toronto, you’re right in that winning is much more important. With the way that the Raptors had to rebuild from a losing tradition two years ago though, I think it was important to get positive people. If we got people who get mad easily, they might get easily frustrated with the constant losing. But now that we’re back on the winning side of things, it’s time to build on that.

By: dinonationblog

dinonationblog — Thu, 01 May 2008 03:31:58 +0000

Thanks Mark great stuff. I am happy for you in getting a blog going and glad you will be adding you work here as well.

Mark runs largest facebook Raptor group for those who are unaware. It is a nut house and he some how keeps it some what sane. For that along he deserves respect.

By: dademon16

dademon16 — Thu, 01 May 2008 03:20:16 +0000

Good topic and questions.. I think teams always want to walk that tightrope between having a roster filled with responsible people as well as talented basketball players. In the end, this is what the business is about: winning basketball games. At the same time, if you expect integrity out of your doctor, your teacher and your lawyer, why shouldn’t you expect it from your basketball player?

If you’re looking at something harmless like smoking marijuana, that’s fine. If it’s a violent crime or D.U.I. like Carmelo Anthony was found doing recently, that’s different because it really affects others and can hurt them. If something doesn’t affect how you do your job, then it’s not important to an employer. With that said, I think both Ron Artest and Josh Howard could work here. Not that it would happen or should happen (although I think it should in both cases if possible), but I don’t think Artest is as bad as people make him out to be. He’s had some highly-publicized issues but at the same time, he’s been VERY calm during his time in Sacramento. Sam Mitchell is a good people’s person and would be able to relate with him.