Raptors, can they make the playoffs in the East?

Well we are almost 20 games into the season and my pessimistic view of the Craptors has become a lot less optimistic where I will now start calling them the Raptors again. At the beginning of the season I believed that the loss of Bosh would be detrimental to the team and the inability of us to close the deal on the Calderon trade added to the teams woes. However the emergence of the “one for all approach” on this team and their ability to still score is making a believer out of me.

Obviously when you are in the East every team has a legit shot at the playoffs. But the Raptors are starting to look a lot better than the team many people picked to finish last in the East. The deal for Barbosa is looking very good as this guy seems to be able to score at will. The Suns must feel like they were totally taken advantage of as Turkolu continues to suck. Calderon is becoming like the player he was two years ago and the young ones are getting better with each game. Not to mention Bargnani is growing in confidence and believes in himself as well as his teammates believe in him.

We were always going to be the team that had to rely on effort and hard work to win games but this team does have talent and a lot of depth which allows little drop off when we go to the bench. The addition of Bayless and Peja is a great trade on and off the court. Despite lack of PT for Peja he has shown he can still shoot and Bayless has done all you could ask in his role as backup PG.

Right now the Raps are in 8th spot and I think have a legit shot at grabbing that last spot. The only team that worries me that is currently below us in the standings are the Bucks. Cleveland, Charlotte, the other bottom feeders are teams I think we can outlast. But it will be a dog fight to the end and there remains a lot of ball to be played. Having said that yes we can make 8th and clinch a playoff spot, however this is December, check in later in the season to see if we are still Raptors and don’t become Craptors!!

Big shouts to Amir Johnson for that dutty crown off the loop from Jose yesterday, made Sefolosha (or whatever his name is) King for a day!!