Brand New Toronto Raptors

It's been another roller-coaster offseason in Raptors nation. There has been a series of trades and signings, all improving one aspect or another of the Raptors team. GM Bryan Colangelo really had his work cut out for him this offseason, but he sure did deliver a performance that reminded everyone why he won the Executive of the Year trophy twice now. He single-handedly orchestrated a 4 team deal that brought back one of the NBA's most clutch players, made a few key signings, and revamped the coaching staff by placing a Canadian at the Head Coach spot. There is no doubt all these transactions boosted the Raptors back into play-off talks, but how much better can they do compared the New Jersey, and Orlando series. Remember, the Raps didn't even make the play-offs last season....with a team we all though was at least "good". We had to improve the roster, take less chances with unproven players, make sure Bosh wanted to come back in 2010, and make sure fans weren't disappointed again. So how much better are we now that the off-season transactions have likely come to an end? Let's compare line-ups from the beginning of each respective season:

2008/09 <> 2009/10

G- Jose Calderon <> G- Jose Calderon
G- Anthony Parker <> G- Demar DeRozan
F- Jamario Moon <> F- Hedo Turkoglu
F- Chris Bosh <> F- Chris Bosh
C- Jermaine O'Neall <> C- Andrea Bargniani

G- Will Solomon <> G- Jarrett Jack
G- Jason Kapono <> G- Marco Belinelli
F- Jamario Moon <> F- Antoine Wright
F- Kris Humphris <> F- Reggie Evans
C- Andrea Bargniani <> C- Rasho Nesterovic

G- Roko Ukic <> G- Roko Ukic
G- Hassan Adams <> G- Marcus Banks
F- Joey Graham <> G- Quincy Douby
F- Nathan Jawai <> F- Pops Mensah-Bonsu
C- Jake Voskuhl <> C- Patrick O'Bryant

It looks to me like every line of players made an overall improvement, but the Raptors never really addressed their desperate need for very good defensive players, especially bigmen. Instead they settled for "alright" ones. Expect the Raptors to be in the top 5 in scoring however because we have talented shooters and slashers now, and a point guard that has no problem sharing the basketball. With CB4 bulking up this summer, and the addition of Evans as well as rediculously athletic guard DeRozan, rebounding should be one of the last of their problems. All around the Raptors have dramatically improved, and are now potentially one of the top 4 teams in the east. Let's just see if they can execute a successful season this time around. Thanks for reading!

-RaptorsGuy (mr.hunter)