Friday, October 26, 2012

The Raptors Turf: 2012-2013 Raptors season preview

       Today is the last preseason game for the Toronto Raptors as they will play the Memphis Grizzlies in Memphis, Tennessee. In this blog post, I will talk about my predictions and thoughts for Toronto Raptors 2012-2013 regular season.

2012-2013 Toronto Raptors Win/Loss record

       The Toronto Raptors have had a great preseason as so far, they've compiled a record of 5-1, one of the best records in this years NBA preseason. With the way that the Toronto Raptors have played, I expect the Toronto Raptors to carry that momentum into the regular season. If they continue that momentum, I expect the Toronto Raptors to have a record of at least 43-39 and make it to the playoffs as a 7th or 8th seed if Raptors key players remain healthy.

       Now, I don't know if you guys heard, but John Hollinger of ESPN predicts only 33 wins for the Toronto Raptors and many other media outlets expect between a range of 33-39 wins for the Raptors. Demar Derozan and Dwayne Casey fired back about Hollinger's thoughts as they felt that the team can win more than 33 games and I've post those videos to my Facebook page. It might be true that the Raptors might win only 33 games as these media outlets did their calculations and such. However, I, like many of the Toronto Raptors players and staff, feel that the Raptors can win more than 33 games if players remain healthy throughout the season and put in work. I also think that the Toronto Raptors can win more than 33 games because of the off-season moves that the team made and you can check them out on my earlier post in case you forgot what moves the Raptors made.

       It actually might be the year that the Raptors make the playoffs because TSN's blogger Jack Armstrong said that the last time time the Raptors made the playoffs were when they had winning records in preseason which was in 2006 and 2007. It just might happen with their current 5-1 record.

Line up for Toronto Raptors 2012-2013 (bold are the players that will be starting)

Kyle Lowry/ José Calderón/ John Lucas III
Demar DeRozan/ Terrence Ross/ Alan Anderson
Landry Fields/ Linas Kleiza/ Dominic McGuire
Andrea Bargnani/ Amir Johnson/ Ed Davis/ Quincy Acy
Aaron Gray/ Jonas Valančiūnas/ Jamal Magloire

       I think this is a pretty accurate line up that we can expect on opening night. I'm pretty sure that all you are thinking why would Valančiūnas back up Aaron Gray. I think this sounds reasonable and I'm pretty sure coach Casey would make this decision maybe for the first couple of months to get Valančiūnas accustomed to the NBA playing style. As the season progresses and if Jonas Valančiūnas plays well, I think coach Casey might put him into the starting line up. Also, this line up might even change because of injuries and any trades. 

2012-2013 Toronto Raptors Player statistics

       Below are my statistics for each Toronto Raptors player for the 2012-2013 season and that's if players remain healthy. (PPG= points per game, RPG= rebounds per game, APG= assists per game, BPG= blocks per game SPG= steals per game)

Starting line-up 

Kyle Lowry - 15.2 PPG, 5.5 RPG, 7.5 APG 1.9 SPG
Demar Derozan - 19.5 PPG, 4.2 RPG, 2.1 APG, 1.2 SPG
Landry Fields - 6.5 PPG, 4.5 RPG 3.2 APG
Andrea Bargnani - 21.5 PPG, 7.1 RPG, 1.5 APG, 0.7 BPG
Jonas Valančiūnas - 10.5 PPG, 10 RPG, 2.5 BPG

Bench

José Calderón - 12 PPG, 1.2 RPG, 7.2 APG
Aaron Gray- 6.0 PPG, 6.5 RPG, 1.5 APG
Terrence Ross - 10 PPG, 4.3 RPG, 1.2 APG, 1.1 SPG
Amir Johnson - 8 PPG, 7.0 RPG, 1.5 APG
Linas Kleiza -  3 PPG, 2 RPG, 0.5 APG
John Lucas III - 4.0 PPG, 2 RPG, 4.0 APG, 1.3 SPG
Alan Anderson - 3.5 PPG, 0.9 RPG, 0.4 APG

Other notes

- I think we can expect Andrea Bargnani to make it to the All-star game if he can remain healthy

- I expect Jonas Valančiūnas to be in the race for the Rookie of the Year

- I expect José Calderón to be traded as he is an expiring and might not be satisfied with being a back up

- I expect John Lucas III to give the team a much needed boost on the bench

- I expect Demar Derozan to attack the free throw line this season and get most of his points from there

- I could possibly see JLIII backing up to Kyle Lowry

- I expect Toronto Raptors offence to be improved than last season with the acquisition of Kyle Lowry running and making plays for the team, John Lucas III, Landry Fields and Terrence Ross

- Toronto Raptors play 16 games in November, 10 games away and six back to back games

       After tonight's game, the Toronto Raptors will open the regular season at the Air Canada Centre on Halloween against Indiana Pacers. Please feel free to comment on my post, talk about you're expectations on the Raptors season, who you guys think will start on opening night and whether or not you guys agree or disagree about what I wrote! I will have a new post next week on my thoughts about the Raptors first regular season game. Stay tuned!

You can also follow The Raptors Turf on Twitter and also like my Facebook page to stay in touch with me and also know the latest on the Toronto Raptors. Just click on icons above on the side. 

This is a video that will probably get you PUMPED for opening night. Take a look!

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