From the nba.com website
Now here's the focus on this quote. The Toronto Raptors seem to be the rebuilding team that's not done the usual like other NBA teams, it has gone almost international. Colangelo of the former Phoenix Suns set up his previous team, Suns, to be a high flying up tempo style type of basketball with major inttl components in it, which i tihnk most Americans see as having an "intl" flavor in the NBA. What do you guys think of the Raptors having a radical building process (in the eyes I would assume to most avg americans out there) of going almost international. Will they succeed, if not immediaitely how long before the "Craptors" start to get some credit and have that success like the Phoenix Suns or at least improve onto becoming a descent team? I am quite curious to about this building process Colangelo is doing and would like to here your opinions on it. So start typing away guys, ladies.
Previewing the NBA: Issues In The East
by Tom Kertes
NEW YORK, September 25, 2006 -- The East was the Best in the 2005-06 NBA Season, thanks to the Miami Heat. But what changes and issues will the Knicks and the rest of the league have to look out for in 2006-07? NYKnicks.com previews the Ten Most Cutting-Edge Trends, Issues, And Situations in the Eastern Conference That'll Impact The NBA Races This Year:
EASTERN CONFERENCE
1. SMALL BALL
Customarily, and entirely understandably, the team that wins the NBA championship inspires a host of would-be imitators the following season.
But this year WILL be different: first of all, it's impossible to duplicate Bionic Man Shaq or even remotely reflect the delightfully two-way genius of Michael Jordan-esque Dwyane Wade. Secondly, the true, life-size, dominating low-post center is going the way of the dinosaur.
Thus watch more and more teams move towards the Phoenix Suns' high-flying, three-point gunning, run n' stun style, one that's liberally tinged by international play. Winning the Pacific Division with a 54-28 record and going to the Western Conference Finals -- without premiere big man Amare Stoudemire and playing onetime guard Boris Diaw(!) in the middle -- was trend-setting awesome. As Indiana Pacers President Donnie Walsh says: "Teams will want to see five playmakers, skilled guys who can move, pass, and shoot the ball, out on the floor at the same time."
10. NBA, EUROPEAN STYLE
Moving toward playing a more international style is one thing. But what they're doing in Toronto is downright revolutionary.
New GM Bryan Colangelo -- arriving from, no surprise, the Phoenix Suns organization -- hired Italian League stalwart Maurizio Gherardini as his top assistant then, not at all coincidentally, proceeded to select 7-foot Italian forward-center Andrea Bargnani as the top pick in the draft (a first for a European player).
Colangelo then signed 6-9 power source Jorge Garbajosa (Spain) and 6-10 swing forward Uros Slokar (Slovenia) who, along with Bargnani, both played for Gherardini's Benetton Treviso team. The Raptors then added Anthony Parker, a 6-6 swing-man who was Euroleague MVP with Maccabi Tel Aviv over the last two seasons. Toronto has also added 7-0 Rasho Nesterovic (Slovenia) to a team that already had talented Spanish point guard Jose Calderon (he averaged 7.1 ppg. and 6.2 apg. before suffering an Achilles injury last year) and Senegalese forward Pape Sow on the roster.
Given the direction the league is moving towards -- and if Bargnani is indeed the second coming of Dirk Nowitzki -- this could all turn out to be interesting in the extreme. However, it's worth to remember that it took some time even for devastating Dirk to get fully accustomed to the league.
by Tom Kertes
NEW YORK, September 25, 2006 -- The East was the Best in the 2005-06 NBA Season, thanks to the Miami Heat. But what changes and issues will the Knicks and the rest of the league have to look out for in 2006-07? NYKnicks.com previews the Ten Most Cutting-Edge Trends, Issues, And Situations in the Eastern Conference That'll Impact The NBA Races This Year:
EASTERN CONFERENCE
1. SMALL BALL
Customarily, and entirely understandably, the team that wins the NBA championship inspires a host of would-be imitators the following season.
But this year WILL be different: first of all, it's impossible to duplicate Bionic Man Shaq or even remotely reflect the delightfully two-way genius of Michael Jordan-esque Dwyane Wade. Secondly, the true, life-size, dominating low-post center is going the way of the dinosaur.
Thus watch more and more teams move towards the Phoenix Suns' high-flying, three-point gunning, run n' stun style, one that's liberally tinged by international play. Winning the Pacific Division with a 54-28 record and going to the Western Conference Finals -- without premiere big man Amare Stoudemire and playing onetime guard Boris Diaw(!) in the middle -- was trend-setting awesome. As Indiana Pacers President Donnie Walsh says: "Teams will want to see five playmakers, skilled guys who can move, pass, and shoot the ball, out on the floor at the same time."
10. NBA, EUROPEAN STYLE
Moving toward playing a more international style is one thing. But what they're doing in Toronto is downright revolutionary.
New GM Bryan Colangelo -- arriving from, no surprise, the Phoenix Suns organization -- hired Italian League stalwart Maurizio Gherardini as his top assistant then, not at all coincidentally, proceeded to select 7-foot Italian forward-center Andrea Bargnani as the top pick in the draft (a first for a European player).
Colangelo then signed 6-9 power source Jorge Garbajosa (Spain) and 6-10 swing forward Uros Slokar (Slovenia) who, along with Bargnani, both played for Gherardini's Benetton Treviso team. The Raptors then added Anthony Parker, a 6-6 swing-man who was Euroleague MVP with Maccabi Tel Aviv over the last two seasons. Toronto has also added 7-0 Rasho Nesterovic (Slovenia) to a team that already had talented Spanish point guard Jose Calderon (he averaged 7.1 ppg. and 6.2 apg. before suffering an Achilles injury last year) and Senegalese forward Pape Sow on the roster.
Given the direction the league is moving towards -- and if Bargnani is indeed the second coming of Dirk Nowitzki -- this could all turn out to be interesting in the extreme. However, it's worth to remember that it took some time even for devastating Dirk to get fully accustomed to the league.
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