Chapter 7: Rush Warcraft

In the summer of 2007, the Raptors signed three-point gunner Jason Capono with a four-year, $24 million contract, and last season Cappono played for the Heat, averaging more than 10.9 points per game, and shooting 51.4% from three-point range! And he also defeated Dirk Nowitzki, Gilbert Arenas and many other three-pointers in the last All-Star Three-Point Contest to win the three-point championship trophy with a record 24 points! But Capono's shortcomings are also obvious, except for three points, nothing else, breaking through the cover, rebounding air, defensive scum, no ability to attack with the ball, relying heavily on the assists of teammates, and then again, at the speed of TJ Ford, Capono may not be able to keep up with running, except for being more handsome, everything else can be ignored, these shortcomings directly led to Capono being snatched up the starting position by an unknown little man at the beginning of the season.

Giammario Moon, nicknamed "Black Moon", he is a late bloomer, before the age of 27, he did not participate in any NBA draft, and at the same time did not play any decent results in the college league, of course, the university he attended is called Meridian Community College, the explanation of the Chinese model is a technical school, whether it is NCAA qualification is not known, Moon only played seven games and gave up, because he felt that the level of those players on the school team was too poor, so Moon went to various minor leagues, such as the NBDL, CBA (not China's CBA, but the continental basketball league, the overall level is not as good as NBDL) Moon was only 21 years old at that time, five years passed, until Moon was 26 years old, no NBA team noticed him, and then Moon's career ushered in an album a year later, when the Raptors had a scout named Jim, who found that Moon had a good defensive ability in a small three-day training camp organized by the Raptors, So he gave Moon a two-year completely unprotected contract with a try-and-see attitude, and finally through his own efforts, Moon converted this unprotected contract into a guaranteed contract, and finally gained a foothold in the league. Moon once had a very interesting joke, because there was very little information when he participated in the game, many old scouts who had been rooted in the NBA for many years did not know him, but in a game between the Raptors and the Cavaliers, the Cavaliers boss James singled Moon several times and was deflated, and after the game, James's agent Malik met the general manager of the Raptors Bryan at the door of the locker room, Malik asked Brian, where did this Moon come from? Brian Orchid pointed and said with a smile, Moon, he flew down from the moon to help us, he is our secret weapon, and he will destroy you on behalf of the moon (Moon's English name is Jamario Moon, so the name "Black Moon" began to be called).

Moon was supposed to be a base-paid player on the bench, but his outstanding performance made head coach Sam Mitchell pay extra attention, and finally, after 7 games, Moon squeezed out the original starting Jason Capono and became the team's outside defensive gate, averaging 8.5 points, 6.2 rebounds, 1.2 assists and 1.0 steals per game this season.

On June 16, 2007, the Raptors sent two second-round picks from 2009 and 2010 to the Pistons, and got the shooting guard Carlos Delfino with a wild style of play. Delfino played 82 games with the Raptors in the new season, and all of them came off the bench, averaging 9.0 points and 4.4 rebounds per game, which was an effective breakup on the Raptors' bench.

These three are the main players that the Raptors got this summer, it can be seen that these three players are also substitutes, or that sentence, big names don't like to come at all, Capono's contract worth $24 million is also a premium contract, otherwise it can't be won at all, and the geographical problem has always been a lingering nightmare on the Raptors.

Bosh has been consistent this season, Averaging 22.3 points, 8.7 rebounds and 2.6 assists per game, Anthony Parker was in full attendance in 82 games, averaging 12.5 points per game, which is already the second highest score of the Raptors, Bagnani played 53 starts in 78 games, averaging 10.2 points and 3.7 rebounds per game.

There was a tragedy in the Raptors this season, on December 20, 2007, the Raptors played against the Hawks, 1 minute and 32 seconds before the game, TJ Ford cut off the Hawks' pass, and rushed to the front court to prepare for a layup, and Horford, who was chasing after him, slapped Ford in the face, Ford turned over in the air, hit the back of his head, fell to the floor, and was unconscious on the spot. In Ford's rookie season, he had an illness, which led to Ford's second season of direct reimbursement, this serious injury caused Ford to miss the second half of the season, and he was not able to play until the start of the playoffs.

Ford was injured, Calderon stepped up, he averaged 11.2 points and 8.3 assists per game throughout the season, although the offense is not as good as Ford, but Calderon is obviously better in organizing the tandem team offense. The Raptors have won 41 games this season, which is only 11th in the West, but in the East, they are in sixth place, and their first round opponent in the playoffs is the Orlando Magic.

At that time, the Orlando Magic tactics were extremely simple, the Warcraft Howard sat on the inside, chiseled in one ball at a time, and threw it out if he couldn't get in, and the outside line Nelson, Lewis, Tekoglu, Dulin Bogans, Evans took turns to volley, and the opponent who drew could not find the north, the key to this set of tactics was in Howard, if Howard played well, he could make the opponent look at his head and lose as a matter of course. That was the case in the first game between the Raptors and the Magic.

If the Raptors want to win, they must find an interior player who can withstand Howard, Bosh is obviously not good, his body is too thin, although Joey Graham is strong, but his height is a hard injury, not to mention Bagnani, as soon as Howard comes, it would be good if Bagnani did not take the initiative to untie his clothes and raise his hips, so Nestrovis who is 213 cm tall and weighs 112 kg has become the hope of the Raptors.

In terms of height, Nesterovic did not suffer much from Howard, who was 211 cm tall and weighed 120 kilograms, but Nestrovis had a mediocre talent, Howard couldn't carry it, and he couldn't bear it when he rushed up to beat Nesterovich, in the first game, in order to deal with Howard, the Raptors let Nesterovich, who averaged only 20 minutes of playing time per game during the regular season, play a full 36 minutes, scoring 16 points and 8 rebounds on 8-of-15 shooting, This data is almost double the 7.8 points and 4.8 rebounds in the regular season, and its performance cannot be said to be bad, but as the saying goes, there is no comparison and no killing, Howard hit 25 points, 22 rebounds and 5 blocks, and single-handedly turned the Raptors' interior upside down, Magic's point guard Nelson scored 24 points and 7 assists, Magic's general manager Sido Turkoglu scored 21 points, 6 rebounds and 6 assists, Evans, Lewis and Durin also averaged double-doubles in points per game, on the other hand, the Raptors, Bosh scored 21 points, 6 rebounds and 3 steals, Calderon scored 9 points, 8 assists and 0 turnovers, Cappano's 18 points down was already a good performance, but he still couldn't beat the Magic and lost 100-114.

In the second game, the Raptors suddenly changed their routine, Nesterovich, who played well in the last game, showed his face in this game, and the main lineup was small, with Bosh against Howard, Bosh was thin and thin, but Howard, who shot accurately with one hand, could not find North, and Bosh scored 29 points, 10 rebounds, 6 assists and 2 steals in the whole game, but it is clear that Bosh can't prevent Howard, Howard has played a double 20+ performance in the last game, and this game once again contributed double 20+- 29 points and 20 rebounds, the rest of the Raptors players played extremely well in this game, Capono shot 20 points, Calderon scored 18 points, Delfino scored 16 points, and they also struggled with the Magic until the last minute, 23 seconds before the end, Bosh's mid-range shot was ruthlessly blocked by Howard, which put the Raptors in a disadvantageous situation, and finally the Raptors lost by only 1 point at 113:114.

The third game basically followed the tactics of the previous game, and the Raptors played extremely hard after returning to the home court, TJ Ford scored a team-high 21 points on 7-of-11 shooting, Bosh scored 15 points, 5 rebounds and 5 assists, Moon also had a double-double of 11 points and 10 rebounds, and the highest players in this game were Calderon and Capo, the former scored 18 points, 13 assists and 7 rebounds, and the latter shot 15 points off the bench. With 19 points and 12 rebounds, Turkoglu scored 26 points as the Raptors won Game 3 108-94.

In the fourth game, Bosh ushered in a big explosion, he scored 39 points and grabbed 15 rebounds in 16 of 26 shots, and played the data of Warcraft, while the genuine Warcraft is 19 points, 16 rebounds and 8 blocks of crazy data, the two can be said to be comparable, Bosh is good at attacking, accurate mid-range shooting is like an affectionate knife, killing the opponent invisibly, and Howard is good at defense, with his own inside meat grinder attributes, the final result of the game is that the Raptors lost to the Magic 94:106, the Raptors except Bosh, other players play average, Anthony Parker, T.J. Ford and Capono all scored 12 points and no other player scored in double figures, while the Magic scored 27 points, Nelson scored 19 points, Turkoglou scored 18 points, and Bogans scored 12 points, and the sluggish performance of the role players cost the Raptors this game.

The fifth game became the last game between the two sides, the Raptors were defeated by the Magic 92:102 and eliminated 1:4, and this game became Howard's show time, Howard scored 21 points, 21 rebounds and 3 blocks of crazy data, leading the Magic team to beat the Raptors with six double-doubles, although the Raptors also scored double-doubles with six players, but the highest was Bosh's 16 points, while the Magic's Nelson scored 19 points, and Lewis also scored 18 points.

This season, the Raptors failed to hit the second round again, but after this season, the Raptors poached Crongilo from the Suns as the team's general manager, this brother still has a set of player transactions, and then he was mixed in the American basketball world, and once sat in the position of the head of basketball of the United States national team, which shows that Cronjilo still has a certain ability, after he took office, the Raptors began to make drastic reforms!

First of all, the Raptors sent TJ Ford and Nesterovic with serious injury concerns to the Pacers, and got All-Star power forward Jermaine O'Neal, that is, O'Neal Jr., who played in the Trail Blazers Walkers for 12 years, was selected as an All-Star six times, and just the year before last he still had the ability to average 20+10 per game, both offensive and defensive, and the team sense is also very good, but O'Neal Jr., like TJ Ford, also has a very serious injury risk, and his two knees have undergone two major surgeries, This is a bad rhythm, reimbursement in minutes, so that the Raptors can't find a place to cry, but fortunately, although O'Neal Jr. was attacked by injuries in the new season, but it has not yet reached the point of season reimbursement, he only played 41 games in the new season, averaging 13.5 points and 7.0 rebounds per game, and Bosh and Baniani, who have been injured and stopped during the season, have no small spark of love at all, before the mid-season trade deadline, the Raptors sent O'Neal Jr. to the Heat along with the "Black Moon" Moon and got it"Hacker" Sean Marion.

Are you shocked, it turns out that Marion has also played with the Raptors, in fact, I don't know, I only know when I wrote this, in fact, Marion's Raptors career is only limited to this season, played 27 games, averaging 14.3 points and 8.3 rebounds per game, I looked back, after the end of the season, Marion is a contract year, Marion said, just our skills, the free market is less than 40 million, the Raptors said, as far as you are long, the season gave me a 15.4% three-point shooting rate, With 40 million left, the minutes rolled rough, and after the season, Marion was sent to the Dallas Mavericks.