Are the 2012-13 Toronto Raptors a playoff team? Lets be honest, thats the only question worth asking heading into this season. With training camp only two weeks away, youre going to hear all sorts of lip service paid to internal growth, to the defensive culture and to great additions brought in this summer. However, the Raptors are past the point where any of that stuff really matters. Theyve played that game. They played it for Chris Boshs last two seasons in Toronto and then they played it again for the two seasons since hes left. Theyve talked around the playoffs, theyve made excuses for not making it there, but at the end of the day the real season has to be seen as more than just a pipe dream. And so we route back around to the original question: Are these Toronto Raptors a playoff team? In their favour is one very important stat: Last season, every team in the top-13 in defensive efficiency went to the playoffs except one: Toronto. Historically, defensive efficiency is a great measure for teams to use in order to determine who is going to make it to the playoffs in April. Its not the only measure (clearly), but great defense is usually the mark of a consistent ball club and over the course of the long NBA season, good, consistent play is a great way to ensure your place in the postseason. The problem for Toronto - at least last season - was that their offense was so bad it completely negated their gains at the defensive end of the floor. It wasnt just scoring offense, either. It was passing. It was movement. It was getting to the free throw line. It was creating easy baskets with steals and blocked shots (despite their strong defense, they didnt create many turnovers). Thats why when the club went shopping this summer it wasnt for pure scorers; it was for guys that facilitate offense. Guys like Kyle Lowry, who can score, sure, but can also pass, get to the free throw line and create turnovers. Guys like Landry Fields, who move without the ball, create offense for others and get out into the open court. Guys like Jonas Valanciunas, who know how to set screens and roll to the basket. They needed players who could score, but more than that they needed players who could help other people score. Plus, they needed to do it with guys that wouldnt hurt their defensive standing because as important as an improved offense is, defense is going to remain their key to the postseason. Looking up and down the roster this may be the best construction job that Bryan Colangelo and his team have done in fielding a roster in Toronto since Colangelo arrived in 2006. They have balance, they have role definition and they have financial flexibility. They also have the right coach to lead this particular group of players, and a core that is young enough that if they click this season, they can expect even better years thereafter. However, for all that management has done this summer to construct a playoff-ready roster, they are gun shy about committing to the playoffs as a serious, end-of-season goal. Yes, management has been burned in the past promising the playoffs and not delivering, but no one is saying that they need to promise the playoffs to anyone. They just need to acknowledge that they are the desired endgame to this season. They need to acknowledge that if they fail to make the playoffs, then the season was a failure. They need to make it known that if the club doesnt make it to the playoffs, then on some level everyone failed, and they need to do that to start growing the hunger that that kind of pressure instills. Over the last couple of years, the organization has taken their foot so far off of the gas pedal that they are having trouble finding it again. There needs to be internal tension applied to everyone associated with the Raptors to start kicking this franchise into gear. No more being satisfied with slow and steady growth - growth now needs to yield something more tangible, something for fans to get really excited about. The standards need to be higher so that there is no way for a player, coach or general manager to hide from the ultimate goal of making the postseason. Everyone needs to start holding themselves to a higher standard because becoming a good team is hard, and the first step towards becoming a good team is demanding of everyone that they commit to doing what is necessary to become a good team. This Raptors squad is ready to start looking towards the playoffs. Whether they are good enough to make it there or not will be determined by how they play together over the course of the seasons 82 games. Regardless, thats the yardstick the club needs to start measuring itself by. They need to become singularly focused on becoming postseason staples, becoming a team that everyone expects to make it every season, and that starts with the organization demanding that level of performance from themselves. Will it be easy? No. If it was easy then the club wouldnt find themselves in the sorry state that theyre in seventeen years into their existence. Until they start expecting more from themselves, though, theyre going to be the same also-ran that theyve always been. This team can be a playoff team, but it starts with them taking on that responsibility and all of the demands that come with it. cheap jerseys from china . James is being kept out of Miamis final road game -- against the Cavaliers -- as the Heat get ready for the NBA playoffs by resting almost all of their top players. wholesale nfl jerseys . Theyre nine games under .500, have a losing record at home and trail first place Boston by 10 and-a-half games in a season thats not quite five weeks old. http://www.cheapchinajerseynfl.us.com/ . -- There were no late-game heroics for the Vancouver Whitecaps on Saturday. nfl jerseys china . -- Chris Pontius curled a shot off the left wing into the far right corner in the 82nd minute, his first goal of the season, as the D. jerseys from china . Forte sprained the medial collateral ligament in his right knee early in a loss to Kansas City on Dec. 4 and sat out the rest of the season.Got a question on rule clarification, comments on rule enforcements or some memorable NHL stories? Kerry wants to answer your emails at cmonref@tsn.ca! Hi Kerry, Its another day and here we are looking at another dubious hit to the head. In this case Blue Jackets forward Brandon Dubinsky elbowed Saku Koivu in the head about a second after he dished off the puck to a teammate, knocking him unconscious. This week we learned that there will be no supplementary discipline handed out to Dubinsky. This seems strange to me given that we are trying to get head shots out of the game, and John Scott has just been suspended indefinitely for a very similar type of play. Can you provide any insight on the thinking that goes on in deciding not to suspend Dubinsky in this case? It makes absolutely no sense to me. Thanks! Kevin Head Kevin: There was vast discrepancy in the reporting and analysis from one team broadcast feed to the other following Brandon Dubinskys hit on Saku Koivu. The Blue Jackets viewing audience would have believed that no penalty was warranted to Dubinsky on the play as their broadcasters analyzed multiple replays with comments such as, "Is the head targeted?; Thats a good hit; all Dubinsky did was brace before the hit because Koivu was going to him with (as) the aggressor; There was no elbow up - no targeting the head; That was a good hockey play; No targeting of the head whatsoever!" Analysis from the Anaheim broadcast team offered a totally different description and perception of the play. Duck fans probably anticipated a suspension would result to Brandon Dubinsky once they heard, "Oh boy that is a brutal elbow from Brandon Dubinsky, thats right on the jaw of Saku Koivu. You see the head of Saku Koivu snap back. Im sure the people in Toronto will be taking a look at that." While the vantage point the two broadcast teams shared in the press box is relatively close in proximity to one another, their respective analysis of this play could not be farther apart. Is this just a result of team loyalty and bias that we might expect in some measure or are we really this far apart on the subject of judging and eliminating contact to the head? Have we become too desensitized to violent hits or those where the head is the main point of contact hoping against all hope that the "physicality" of the game is not lost due to player suspensions? This illustration moves beyond the broadcast booth to all elements of the hockey world with varying opinions on determining illegal hits to the head; including those shared by the Player Safety Committee. The Hockey Operations Department and the Player Safety Committeee review every play that has the potential for player suspension.ddddddddddddI am the first to admit they have a very tough and thankless job. Kevin, part of the criteria used to determine an illegal check to the head is published in Rule 48 which the Player Safety Committee must adhere to when judging a potential suspension. In this case they would reference the following from rRule 48 to make their determination: i) Whether the player attempted to hit squarely through the opponents body and the head was not "picked (Brandon Dubinsky is square to Saku Koivu and therefore this is not a "head pick" by definition of the rule.) ii) Whether the opponent put himself in a vulnerable position by assuming a posture that made head contact on an otherwise full body check unavoidable. (Saku exposed himself somewhat for a square hit after making the pass but did attempt to bring his stick up to defend just prior to frontal impact from Dubinsky) The timing of the hit would be another element that the Player Safety Committee would examine. I have to say that although interference was ultimately assessed by the Refs on the ice the contact was not unusually late or even out of the ordinary for the finish of a check in terms of the standard we have seen for supplemental discipline. We may not like the end result, but that is the most probable answer to your question why Brandon Dubinsky was not suspended for his hit to Saku Koivu. The Player Safety Committee stayed within the language of the rule and the current guidelines that have been established. I understand the current parameters being utilized by the PSC but I am jumping into the broadcast booth down the hall to voice my differing opinion. For the sake of "player safety" the criteria must change in an effort to alter current and dangerous player tendencies that are causing the train to run off the rails. I for one want to see a player suspended every time he elevates his posture upward and makes the head of his opponent the main point of contact no matter if the attack angle is squarely through an opponents body or even if that player put himself in a vulnerable position. Brandon Dubinsky, as we see on most dangerous contact, elevated through the hit and continued to elevate with an upward extension of his elbow after contact was made to the head of Saku Koivu. Further evidence of this elevation is often seen when a players skate(s) leave the ice after contact which is often deemed a "good hockey play." My criteria would be "upward to the head" and "outward" for two games minimum! That of course, would depend on which side of the broadcast booth you are sitting in. cheap nfl jerseys ' ' '