The 09-10 Raps will go as far as this man carries them...

I’ve been following the Toronto Raptors since their inception into the NBA in 1995. Through the early Damon Stoudemire years, the Vince Carter years and brief playoff runs, and now the Colangelo/Bosh era. There’s little doubt that the most ‘exciting’ years to be a Raps fan were 1999-2002, when the team made the playoffs three seasons running, VC was posterizing defenders, and Antonio Davis and Charles Oakley were terrorizing opponents on the glass.

This year, though, there is renewed cause for excitement, if not full-on optimism. After a dismal 2008-09 campaign that saw starting PG Jose Calderon suffer through a season-long hamstring injury, All-Star PF Chris Bosh dealing with off-court family issues and possibly some US national team fatigue, and frustrated fans working through the ill-conceived expectations heaped on a team with very little true athleticism or depth, Bryan Colangelo has engineered one of the biggest off-season roster transitions ever seen.

The unprecedented shakeup happened something like this:

• Underperforming sharpshooter Jason Kapono traded to Philadelphia for hard-nosed PF Reggie Evans.
• Super-athletic SG/SF Demar Derozan, widely seen as the 2009 prospect with the most upside, picked 9th overall in the NBA Draft.
• The Big Sign-n-Trade: New starting SF Hedo Turkoglu brought in from Orlando, along with SF Devean George and SG Antoine Wright from Dallas, with Shawn Marion headed back to the Mavs with C Nathan Jawai and PF Kris Humphries.
• Starting SG Anthony Parker signed with Cleveland as a free agent.
• Pacers PG Jarret Jack signed as a free agent to back up Calderon.
• Devean George flipped to Golden State for promising young SG/SF Marco Belinelli.
• Rasho Nesterovic brought back into the fold as a free agent C.
• PG Roko Ukic sent to Milwaukee along with the rights to Carlos Delfino in exhange for PF Amir Johnson and SG Sonny Weems.

The result: 9 new faces, and 3 starters remaining from 2008-09.  While unfamiliarity could prove challenging, especially early in the season, the fact is that this team was so bad last year that things can only look better. When you look closer at the kinds of players that have been added to this squad, you also see that needs have indeed been addressed, and it will be fun to see what new coach Jay Triano can make of the unquestionably tougher, more athletic lineup.

The starting lineup on October 28th will likely see Andrea Bargnani at C, Bosh at PF, Turkoglu at SF, Derozan at SG, and Calderon at PG. Make no mistake: this will be a potent offensive group. The question is, will they defend and rebound well enough to improve on last year’s 21st place league-wide rank? It’s a good question.

... but this guy won't hurt...

For my part, I expect both Bargnani’s and Hedo’s rebounding numbers to improve a bit. Bargnani as a matter of course for a young player still improving, and Turkoglu because he is no longer sharing the court with the vacuum Dwight Howard. Bosh is reportedly aiming to bulk up by about 15 lbs to 250 this year, which should also help him deal with the bigger bodies in the post. Derozan will be relied upon to use his quicks to guard opposing SGs and SFs, and Calderon will hopefully be better off with his body healthy. But the real defensive improvement for this team will come from the revitalized and rebuilt bench.

All five likely second-stringers are expected to be an improvement over last year’s squad. Jack, Evans, Wright, and Rasho are all respected for their dedication on the defensive end, and while Belinelli is not generally known as a stopper, he is recognized by many in Golden State as that team’s best perimeter defender last year. Evans in particular should be a big addition from both a performance and an attitude standpoint; the man thrives on frustrating his opponents with physical, antagonizing play. Between Jack and Wright, the Raptors have two big, aggressive backcourt defenders, and Nesterovic, even at 33, is still one of the most fundamentally-sound big men in the NBA.

None of these guys have been historically known as big scorers, which is the 2nd main concern for this team — when the starters leave, can the bench score? It’s likely that, with the depth at his disposal, Triano will always keep a couple of scorers on the floor with the second stringers. But even so, Belinelli can flat-out score, and I expect will be given that role on the 2nd team — a chance to show his myriad skills in a way Don Nelson never allowed in Golden State. And with increased PT, Amir Johnson should also thrive after languishing on the Pistons bench. Remember, this kid came into the league as the last high-schooler allowed to skip the NCAA entirely, so he’s still very young and has a ton of upside. There’s a very good chance he could be the primary backup for Bosh by season’s end.

The starting 5 have the potential to be one exciting, entertaining group if they can gel quickly and everyone stays healthy. The pick-and-roll will be this team’s bread-and-butter, able to start with either Jose or Turkoglu at the top of the key and Bosh or Bargnani as the pick. Both Bosh and AB are deadly from 18 feet in, and both Jose and Hedo can shoot from 3. And with a young, high-flying Derozan on the wing, responsible for nothing except roaming the court looking for vicious offensive-rebound dunks. He says he wants to focus on defense, which would be a bonus to his already prodigious talents. If Derozan can become any sort of reliable perimeter defender, maybe grab a steal or two, and go for one highlight-reel dunk a night, he will be well worth his 20 or so minutes a game.

Whatever happens, the lead-up to this season has a lot more anticipation to it than others, with good reason. Not to be overly dramatic, but this season will determine the (short-term, at least) future of this franchise. Next summer, Chris Bosh will decide to either stay in Toronto for the long-term and fight for a championship on Canadian soil, or he will take his game and cyber-star aspirations elsewhere for a max contract.  The effects of that decision will be enormous.