Well the season is fast approaching. Tomorrow the Raptors hit the floor for their first pre-season game that they will play. Cleveland Cavs who finally have a point guard to play with Lebron James( At least they hope so) in Mo Williams. But tonight I am going to be holding a chat for you fans to hear what you want to talk about. So tell a friend time is 7:30 pm EDT. If you have questions or comments about the Toronto Raptors you can bring them and express them and share them with us.
I interview a lot of folks to get us all more information but I also want to hear what Raptor Fans think. Your opinions count to as far as Dino Nation Blog is concerned. I try my best to understand the fan base of the Toronto Raptors. It allows me to ask questions that you want answers to from the folks I get to talk with. I was told back in college there is no such thing as a stupid question and I think it is true if it helps you learn something you want to know. The worst question in the world is the one you never ask at all.
So I hope you will join us for our Raptor Chat and be a part of it. I do all of these things to make you all feel a part of what you read each day. The Chats, The Fantasy Leagues, Live blogging it is all done to make you feel a party of the Dino Nation and this blog. In a hockey mad nation it is important to find your basketball people that love basketball. I plan on looking to expand on these things and maybe have pre game chats and other things that will fit as part of the NBA Season. These things take time to do but I feel they are just as important as the time I put into gathering information for the blog. It also allows me to get to know you and for you to get to know me as well.
Raptors vs Knicks on Raps T.V
Raptors T.V will have all your home games (Edmonton included) will be broadcast. Matt Devlin will be joined by Sherman Hamilton of Raptors TV in the broadcast booth. When Season gets rolling Jack Armstrong will be found on TSN and Leo Rautins will be on the other networks. TSN will be covering the most games this year. Raptors T.V will not be broadcasting any games on their own. I would imagine that games that appear on TSN2 may end up on Raptors TV as well because TSN2 is not on a lot of cable systems yet. I will investigate and get a firm answer on this prior to the season starting.
High Expectations For Raptors
One of the major themes of our chat tonight I am guessing will be about the high expectations for this Raptor Basketball Team. There is always a big risk attached to that. I take you back to the season after the Toronto Raptors had made it to one Vince Carter shot away from the Conference Finals. The summer that followed saw the Raptors re-sign all of the main players of that team and the addition of Hakeem the Dream. The dream would become a nightmare for the Raptors. They would over pay for guys like Antonio Davis, Jerome Williams and Alvin Williams. An off-season of high expectation turned into a season that was not anything that looked like an Eastern Conference contender.
The Raptors our considered by even outsiders as a contender in the East this year. But the doom that happened the last time around should not happen again. The Raptors our not locked into long term deals with players that could blow up in their face. J.O if health or if not is only under contract till 2010. So if things to not work out the Raptors get a huge amount of cash to be used in what most NBA experts have said will be the key off-season in the NBA. It will have Lebron James, Chris Bosh and many other big names able to hit the free agent market. The fact the Raptors will have money for that time is something that you can feel safe about. So no matter what happens between now and than it will not have that same impact that it did back in the early 2000’s.
If you want to put it in stock market terms. Glen Grundwald took a high risk in the moves he made. Bryan Colangelo has taken a low risk that could hope lead to a high reward in the short term. Grundwald was forced by the team’s success to make long term contracts to players that in retrospect were not wise moves. It was all done in the hopes of keeping the Raptors biggest commodity Vince Carter. The same can be argued about the move to acquire J.O was made in part to give Chris Bosh reason to have faith in management of the Raptors. But the reality is this move does make a statement to no only Bosh but the entire league that the Raptors our indeed players in this NBA as far as doing what it takes to try to win.
But what all this means at the grass roots level of the average fan is that they expect results. So this is a pressure on everyone in the organization to produce results. But understand that what’s happens this season good or bad the Raptors are in a much stronger spot than they were back then. It was a risk worth taking for Bryan Colangelo. The person that is under the most under the gun if anyone is would be Sam Mitchell. This is a team that most reflects the type of team that is a “Sam Mitchell” type team. It will be important that same gets the most out of what Bryan Colangelo called ” The best team on paper since he has been here” so that means Sam needs to bring home results that match that statement.
The Topics
J.O , Jose, Andrea and everything else will be on the table for us to talk about. The choice is up to you what we talk about. I think there is a lot of things that our interesting about this upcoming season for the Toronto Raptors and I am ready to talk about all of it. So I hope you come into our chat room and take part in what I hope will be a great conversation about the Raptors, NBA and the Dino Nation Blog.
To be part of it Click on the link below or look on the right side on the main page for the chat link. To get to the main page you can just click on the logo at the top of the page.
Enter Dino Nation Blog Chat Room (Start time is 7:30)
Update 4:30
Tomorrow VS Cleveland ( How can You Get The Game)
Many people have been wondering how to get access to the Raptors vs Cavs game tomorrow well I went on Cavs.com and there is a Radio Station in Cleveland carrying the game. I will provide you with the link to the Station below:
Cleveland Radio Station carrying Raptors vs Cavs Tomorrow
( TURNS OUT YOU CAN NOT ACCESS THIS LINK FROM CANADA….GAME IS AVAILABLE FOR PEOPLE WITH AN ACCOUNT ON NBA.COM AS ALL PRE-SEASON AUDIO IS FREE WITH YOUR FREE MEMBERSHIP)
Tags: Bryan Colangelo, Chris Bosh, Dino Nation Blog Chat, Glen Grundwald, Jermaine O'Neal, Raps TV, Raptors Pre-Season
