Nielsen on NBA: Full Court Press, Nov. 16

A tough start to the season for the Toronto Raptors, which has seen them open with a 2-6 record, got a little tougher on Thursday when it was announced that Alan Anderson would miss 3-6 weeks, Landry Fields would be out indefinitely and point guard Kyle Lowry would miss another week or two.

Sure, Lowry is the Raptors’ best player but the team has a capable point guard in Jose Calderon to steer the ship. The loss of Fields and Anderson means the Raptors are without Plan A and Plan B at small forward.

Plan C — Linas Kleiza — is also being bothered by a sprained ankle which forced him to miss practice on Thursday and make a limited appearance on Friday.

Linas Kleiza was limited in today’s practice with a sore ankle.

— Holly MacKenzie (@stackmack) November 16, 2012

Along with Kleiza, the Raptors’ options on the wing are now DeMar DeRozan and Dominic McGuire along with rookies Terrence Ross and Quincy Acy.

McGuire is in his sixth season with his fifth NBA team which seems to be enough to be able describe him as a journeyman. While that was the same term you could have used to describe Anderson, McGuire has not shown enough to make anyone believe he can hold down the fort.

Among the first-year players, Ross appears to be ready for some action but it should be noted that Acy is not ready for primetime as he has played a whole four minutes thus far into the season.

That leaves a whole lot of production to find along the wing.

The Raptors have looked into the possibility of trying Bargnani there, but that would be dangerous as he would have trouble guarding quicker players.

Raptors tried Bargnani at the three today and could try it in a game due to Fields, Anderson injuries but know he can’t guard true threes

— Ryan Wolstat (@WolstatSun) November 15, 2012

On Monday, Utah went big against the Raptors and experienced some success as noted by ESPN.com. Much like the Jazz, the Raptors would be playing with fire as they would be better on the offensive end than on the defensive end.

The rumours have also started to fly about moves the Raptors could make to fill the hole:

Injury-ravaged Raptors, I’m told, have pondered making fresh run at Mickael Pietrus but, w/15 guaranteed deals, lean toward staying course

— Marc Stein (@ESPNSteinLine) November 16, 2012

While Pietrus would be an upgrade over McGuire there is a reason why he is still available. I imagine this rumour was more likely to come out of the player’s camp rather than the Raptors front office.

It will be a couple of weeks before the Raptors find out how long it will be before Fields returns while Anderson is at least three weeks away, either Ross’ learning curve needs to bend upward quickly or this team is going to continue to be cellar dwellers.

What’s worse: to be left hanging by LBJ or listening to Kenny Smith describe it?

I feel pretty bad for the guy who was left hanging by LeBron James in this video.

Unfortunately it was displayed on national television and described in full detail by Kenny Smith, who I am certain knows exactly how it feels to roll up the program on occasion.

Knicks hot start: Carmelo Anthony has spent virtually the whole season playing power forward, allowing the New York Knicks to get their best lineup on the floor, which includes JR Smith according to Truehoop.

The Knicks have started the season with a perfect 6-0 record which includes wins over the San Antonio Spurs and Miami Heat.

Earlier today, someone asked me when their season would fall apart and my response was, “when Amare Stoudemire returns.”

After reading about Anthony having played 228 or 229 minutes at small forward I am even more certain that is the case.

Anthony will likely return to small forward at that point and will have to find ways to get Stoudemire involved in the offence.