The Raptors got a glimpse of what life without Jose Calderon would be like and as expected it wasn’t good.
But to say that Calderon’s health alone is what will make or break the team is inaccurate. Let’s face it, this is a team that goes just seven deep right now. Other than the five starters only Jason Kapono and Andrea Bargnani are capable of logging more than 20 minutes in a game. You know for the most part what you will get from Bosh and O’Neal, and if Wednesday was sign of things to come the two big men are ready to dominate game in and game out. Add Bargnani to the mix and you have a nice three man rotation. The biggest problem lies with the wing players. If both Anthony Parker and Jamario Moon are having off nights, they’re in deep trouble, especially with only Kapono on the bench to back up.
The Raptors knew heading in that they weren’t as deep as last season and it’s already starting to show. As much as O’Neal adds to this team, they no longer have a NBA ready back up point guard and are also missing guys like Delfino and Nesterovic.
Here’s the biggest concern, though: This team is just about capped out so there’s not much Bryan Colangelo can do to improve it. To get a solid rotation player in a trade you’d likely have to give back Bargnani orParker, maybe both. Giving up two for one right now isn’t an option with the roster already too thin. This may very well be what they have to work with all season.
Considering Colangelo referred to this as the “most-talented team” he’s had here during camp, the onus now falls on Sam Mitchell to make it work and if he doesn’t, the only change we may see this season could be the guy drawing up the plays.