Alright guys since Mo Pete is gone, we all expect Joey Graham to step it up and become a player that is consistent and gives you around 12ppg and 5rpg. Now the big question is this do you think he's going to step up with some playing time this year.
I believe this is last chance to prove himself if he doesn't perform I believe he won't be in a Raptors uniform in the 2008-2009 season. He's been in the league two years now and he's shown that he can score and play well but he's not consistent, now this year he'll be given bigger role, lets see if he can step up.
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Theres no way he will average more than 8 pts next season. Babcock did a horrible job passing up on Danny Granger, Hakim Warrick, Gerald Green, Monta Ellis, David Lee the list goes on.
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Ellis was a 2nd round draft and Lee was booed, those are not 2 good examples they were pretty much off anybody's radar as for Green, his table cheered when we passed on him twice, it wouldn't have been a good idea to pick him. Warrick and Granger I don't know, I remember reading that the concerns around Granger was that he is injury prone. Isn't warrick a PF? Drafting him after CV would of probably made Stephen A to slit his wrist live in the studio.
Lebron is such a joke. He saw how much everyone loved Dwight and Nate's routine in the dunk contest and had to horn in on it and announce 364 days early how he would participate and get the spotlight on him. Then he wips it all up in a frenzy and backs out like a chump. I've been getting tired of LeBron's junk for a while now. This is just another reason to see this guy as a chump. Great ballplayer, insane talent, total chick.
We already know that Babcock is an idiot and he made some stupid moves during the draft, and we could of gotten way better then Hoffa and Graham, but that's not the point of the topic, I know you said that you don't think he'll average more then eight points, but do you think he's going to get some playing time, or he's going to ride the pine this year again and be in Mitchell's dog house, do you think he's a starter during the first game of the year? I would like to know what you guys think what we'll see from him next year?
Ellis was known has a great high school player, he was a scorer, he should of never been a second round pick. Also Lee had four good years in Florida, so did Graham, but I believe Lee had a better college career then Graham. I still say we should of picked Green, I know we needed experience, but he had so much potential, and he's now developing into a solid player in the NBA, and he's younger then Graham.
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In retrospect, Bab is the one who brought Calderon over and to a certain extent got CV, the runner up for ROY. Sure he made a bad choice with Haffa, but he was brought in how long before the draft? Plus there was Wince crybaby Carter on his back AND MLSE. In retrospect, there was rumors that he didn't want Haffa but was forced to. If that is the case, the only thing you can have against him is that he didn't trade the pick to get Haffa lower.
A draft is a draft and you never know how players pan out, what about julius hodge? Garcia? Head? Petro? Kleiza? Simien? These were all players drafted after him in the second round, it's like a crapshoot, you get lucky or you don't. CV panned out great... just not Graham.
Don't get me wrong, looking through that list is painful, we could of had Jarett Jack, CV, and Jose Calderon, but hey. wtv.
Lebron is such a joke. He saw how much everyone loved Dwight and Nate's routine in the dunk contest and had to horn in on it and announce 364 days early how he would participate and get the spotlight on him. Then he wips it all up in a frenzy and backs out like a chump. I've been getting tired of LeBron's junk for a while now. This is just another reason to see this guy as a chump. Great ballplayer, insane talent, total chick.
I expect Joey to be solid next year, starting at times, coming off the bench at others. He really started playing well after Garbo went down but I like Garbo and Joey playing together. With Joey, a little more ballhandling ability would go a long way. Cory Maggette improved his and with it was able to power all the way to the hoop with regularity - hopefully this is a step Joey can also take.
Joey is going to have to really blow away the competition in training camp to even have a chance at decent PT.
Parker, Kapono, Delfino will get most of the wing minutes. If Joey gets over 8 mpg I will be surprised. He has no room for error. Its obvious Sam and BC have no faith in him.
Plus with Hump, Baston and maybe Moon to play PF or a little SF off the bench Joey is buried deep. Probably traded soon while he has some value.
hey, you might be right. just remember that joey is Sam's pet project. he's brought his this far: don't you think he'll want to bring him just a little bit farther?
delf is a talent, make no mistake. still, joey's going to earn his.
man, sam's going to have some interesting rotation decisions to make next year. he has too many capable players.
i think joey's going to round into a great bench x-factor this year. and yes, that might only be for 14 mpg.
I will not be surprised if Graham and Dixon gets traded in the next few weeks. According to the stuff written about Jamario Moon, the guy seems to have the exact same skill set as Joey Graham. There are probably some teams that will be interested in Graham, perhaps a team like the Blazers or Heat that are in need of SF.
the heat are in need of everything of course but what can they afford to give up that we'd want? ? ?
i think that's the root of the thing here. there are teams out there that could use joey but who'd actually give us something that WE can use. draft picks become the primary currency for many such players.
maybe that's what we should expect? but when do you actually see it happening? it's certainly not now, when GMs have their sight set on free agents and rookies and their players already under contract.
i think we've got to continue building value in joey. his work increases the value of our asset and i think joey's a worker. the guy can play ball already and with Mitchell as his mentor i think he'll make it to the next level. he's learning to use his tools on every play; it's just taking some time.
As for Jamario Moon, he sounds like a more fluid athlete than Joey. Anyone that compares themself to Scottie Pippen has to be a striding athlete, which Joey is not. Joey's closer to Karl Malone than he is Pippen.
So I think Sam finds him minutes. It's good for his ego and it's good for the team.
I'm starting to think that the Raptor minutes are going to be some of the most distributed in the league.
Sam found minutes for Joey in his first two seasons and I think Joey will earn a couple more.
Joey is going to have to really blow away the competition in training camp to even have a chance at decent PT.
Parker, Kapono, Delfino will get most of the wing minutes. If Joey gets over 8 mpg I will be surprised. He has no room for error. Its obvious Sam and BC have no faith in him.
Plus with Hump, Baston and maybe Moon to play PF or a little SF off the bench Joey is buried deep. Probably traded soon while he has some value.
I agree totally. To be honest the guy was given ample opportunity in the past two seasons, and wasn't able to put together a consistent stretch of good games.
If joey was still only 21-22, like many of the players in his draft class, I'd still be optimistic. But he was an old senior coming out of college and was suppose to play right away.
I've written him off and shifted my focus to seeing AP improve this season, and watching Kapono and Delfino develop into solid NBA roll players heading into the prime of their careers.
Theres no way he will average more than 8 pts next season. Babcock did a horrible job passing up on Danny Granger, Hakim Warrick, Gerald Green, Monta Ellis, David Lee the list goes on.
To be fair, Babcock did a pretty good job that draft. CV is an amazing pick, and Graham was the best guy available at the time. Granger would be sick now, but at the time almost every GM was questioning his durability due to chronic knee and back problems (the reason he dropped so much). GG would have also been great, but he publicly stated he didn't want to play for T-dot. Ellis and Lee were sleepers, nobody knew they were going to do as well as they did (although I've always been a big David Lee fan from his gator days). Most mock drafts had Joey going in the lottery, so I'd say Babs did a great job that draft. It's easy to say it was a bad move in hindsight.
If Joey gets time, there's no way he's NOT putting up at least 8 PPG. Last year he averaged 6.4 in 16.7 MPG shooting 49.5% from the field. I don't see why he can't get 8 if given a starting job.
I will say that I expect Delfino to break out before Joey. When Joey's on a roll he's great, but otherwise he gives me the worst ****ing headache. If only he used his size and athleticism to his advantage
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Joey never gets mentioned in interviews with Raps brass. Not just the last one I posted with BC. There will be so much more competition for minutes this year with Delfino & Kapono. Delfino will get more time than Mo got, and Kapono will get the minutes Joey got + some time that Garbo got at the 3. This is why I figure Joey is leaving in a deal. He is coming to the end of his rookie deal and still has that aura of potential mixed with athleticism. Someone will want him for one or both reasons.
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