Newf
12-04-2009, 11:43 PM
Paul Jones | December 4, 2009
sportsnet.ca
Washington D.C. -- Here is the latest news from Raptorland, folks.
When the team arrived at the Verizon Centre here in Washington D.C. Friday, they headed into the locker room and closed the doors to start a meeting that hopefully will address some of the issues that percolated to the surface following the 146-116 blowout loss to the Atlanta Hawks Wednesday.
When the team emerged to talk to the media some 45 minutes later, it seemed like the meeting set the foundation for better communication amongst team members.
The gist of it was that the players want to hold each other accountable but haven’t because of a lack of communication due to various "differences" throughout the team.
It sounds like it’s been cleared up.
Jarrett Jack, who was quite upset following the loss to the Hawks, continually referred to probing questions with one answer, "that’s team business," basically saying they’re going to keep that stuff in the locker room.
Antoine Wright, who has also voiced his opinion lately, was a bit more forthcoming when discussing parts of the meeting. It was a week ago that Wright first suggested the team needed a new attitude and added there were changes discussed around players being able to communicate with each other.
"Attitude as far as guys being able to talk to each other," was Wright’s response when asked about changes in team communication.
"We let the simple things, a guy being from Italy, make the decision on whether you want to talk to that guy, or the next guy," said Wright. "If we want to win, we got to talk to each other and I think we did a good job of addressing that."
Bosh, who has always maintained that he is done talking, is still in "prove it to me" mode, saying that things need to be done on the court.
The floor was open during the meeting for any player, coach, or member of the front office to step forward and have their say.
While he was not sharing personal information brought forward in the meeting, head coach Jay Triano did say on the basketball front, he is considering anywhere from zero to three changes to the starting lineup.
Of course, that would have a ripple effect on the rotation and there are all kinds of permutations and combinations that could occur should he decide to make a change. But the one caveat that Triano did issue was that it would not be a strategic change simply to meet the needs for Friday’s game versus Washington.
The implication being it would be more of a long-term move that would need some time to develop to see if the changes were indeed having an impact.
Alright arm-chair coaches, have at it and let the speculation begin.
Do you sit DeMar DeRozan and does Marco Belinelli start in his place?
Could Wright go from not playing in a blowout loss to the starting lineup if he is healthy enough to provide some defense?
Do you sit Andrea Bargnani and go with more of a traditional look with Rasho Nesterovic at centre, who happens to be a good communicator defensively?
Do you start Amir Johnson for energy and defensive purposes, knowing that he does pick up the occasional cheap foul and might have to sit for an extended time period?
What about Jarrett Jack? If he starts, then what happens to the point guard rotation if he is on the floor with Jose Calderon, instead of for Jose Calderon?
Or do you just see how the starting lineup and bench performs in roles that they have settled into, now that there has been meaningful discussion and the basis for communication has been set?
There are lots of questions.
We will get some answers beginning tonight and Saturday in Chicago before the team returns home and is finally able to practice before Tuesday’s game in Minnesota.
All I can say folks is stay tuned.
Knowing that Triano is a big proponent of sports psychology and has used the theory about the four stages of a group dynamics many times: forming, storming, norming and performing, I would say this team is at stage two.
Now, can they get to stage three and excel at stage four are the questions going forward.
sportsnet.ca
Washington D.C. -- Here is the latest news from Raptorland, folks.
When the team arrived at the Verizon Centre here in Washington D.C. Friday, they headed into the locker room and closed the doors to start a meeting that hopefully will address some of the issues that percolated to the surface following the 146-116 blowout loss to the Atlanta Hawks Wednesday.
When the team emerged to talk to the media some 45 minutes later, it seemed like the meeting set the foundation for better communication amongst team members.
The gist of it was that the players want to hold each other accountable but haven’t because of a lack of communication due to various "differences" throughout the team.
It sounds like it’s been cleared up.
Jarrett Jack, who was quite upset following the loss to the Hawks, continually referred to probing questions with one answer, "that’s team business," basically saying they’re going to keep that stuff in the locker room.
Antoine Wright, who has also voiced his opinion lately, was a bit more forthcoming when discussing parts of the meeting. It was a week ago that Wright first suggested the team needed a new attitude and added there were changes discussed around players being able to communicate with each other.
"Attitude as far as guys being able to talk to each other," was Wright’s response when asked about changes in team communication.
"We let the simple things, a guy being from Italy, make the decision on whether you want to talk to that guy, or the next guy," said Wright. "If we want to win, we got to talk to each other and I think we did a good job of addressing that."
Bosh, who has always maintained that he is done talking, is still in "prove it to me" mode, saying that things need to be done on the court.
The floor was open during the meeting for any player, coach, or member of the front office to step forward and have their say.
While he was not sharing personal information brought forward in the meeting, head coach Jay Triano did say on the basketball front, he is considering anywhere from zero to three changes to the starting lineup.
Of course, that would have a ripple effect on the rotation and there are all kinds of permutations and combinations that could occur should he decide to make a change. But the one caveat that Triano did issue was that it would not be a strategic change simply to meet the needs for Friday’s game versus Washington.
The implication being it would be more of a long-term move that would need some time to develop to see if the changes were indeed having an impact.
Alright arm-chair coaches, have at it and let the speculation begin.
Do you sit DeMar DeRozan and does Marco Belinelli start in his place?
Could Wright go from not playing in a blowout loss to the starting lineup if he is healthy enough to provide some defense?
Do you sit Andrea Bargnani and go with more of a traditional look with Rasho Nesterovic at centre, who happens to be a good communicator defensively?
Do you start Amir Johnson for energy and defensive purposes, knowing that he does pick up the occasional cheap foul and might have to sit for an extended time period?
What about Jarrett Jack? If he starts, then what happens to the point guard rotation if he is on the floor with Jose Calderon, instead of for Jose Calderon?
Or do you just see how the starting lineup and bench performs in roles that they have settled into, now that there has been meaningful discussion and the basis for communication has been set?
There are lots of questions.
We will get some answers beginning tonight and Saturday in Chicago before the team returns home and is finally able to practice before Tuesday’s game in Minnesota.
All I can say folks is stay tuned.
Knowing that Triano is a big proponent of sports psychology and has used the theory about the four stages of a group dynamics many times: forming, storming, norming and performing, I would say this team is at stage two.
Now, can they get to stage three and excel at stage four are the questions going forward.