The Raptors scouting department earns high grades for scouring the globe to find Andrea Bargnani and Jorge Garbajosa.  Foward Andrea Bargnani looks like he could be a future “Dirk Nowitzki-type” player for the Raptors in the future.  He’s a decent rebounder and an outstanding shooter.  He played in 65 games as a rookie and he averaged 11.6 points, 3.9 rebounds and 0.8 assists per game.  He shot 42.7% from the floor and 37.3% from behind the 3-point line.  F/C Jorge Garbajosa has a lot of the same skills as Bargnani, but he doesn’t have as high of a ceiling for the future.  He played in 67 games last season and he averaged 28.5 minutes, 8.5 points, 4.9 rebounds and 1.9 assists per game.  He shot 42% from the floor and 34.2% from 3-point range.  Forward Uros Slokar played in only 20 games and he averaged 3.6 minutes, 1.9 points, 0.7 rebounds and 0.1 assists per game.  He did shoot 53.8% from the floor, so he might make a decent reserve for the Raptors in the future.

The Toronto Raptors had a fantastic regular season as they finished 47-35.  They won the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference by six games over the New Jersey Nets who they will play in the first round of the NBA Playoffs.  The Raptors have been a really good home team this season as they were 30-11 at home.  They do need to learn how to play just a little better on the road as they were 17-24 this season.  The Raptors were 33-19 against the Eastern Conference and 11-5 against the Atlantic Division and that could bode well for them in the playoffs.  The Raptors averaged 99.5 points per game this season and they allowed 98.5 per game.  The Raptors are coming into the playoffs hot as they’ve won 7 of their last 10 games. 

The Raptors are going to give both Chris Bosh and Anthony Parker the night off on Tuesday and they will only make a token appearance on Wednesday.  The Raptors want to rest the two players that logged the most minutes for them this season to keep them fresh for the playoffs.  Kris Humphries and Morris Peterson are likely to pick up a lot of minutes the last two games of the season.  The Raptors are sitting at 47-33 on the season and they’ve been playing fantastic basketball as of late.  They have won 9 of their last 10 games and six in a row.  The Raptors are hot at the right time of the season.  The Raptors are probably hoping that the Wizards hang onto the #6 seed as they match up much better with them than the New Jersey Nets.

The Raptors need Ford and Peterson to pick up the place with the playoffs right around the corner.  T.J. Ford has played in 6 games this month and he has averaged 10.5 points, 2.2 rebounds and 7.7 assists per game.  He also is only shooting 33.8% from the floor and if that doesn’t improve soon, Jose Calderon will start taking some of his minutes away.  Peterson has really been pretty bad this month in his 6 games.  He’s only averaging 12.2 minutes, 3.7 points, 2.7 rebounds and 0.8 assists per game.  He’s only shooting 37.5% from the floor and he’s only hit 3 of his last 14 three-point shots. 

With all the injuries the Raptors have suffered lately they really needed someone to step up and Anthony Parker and Chris Bosh have answered the bell.  Bosh has been incredible his last 8 games as he’s averaged 23.4 points, 13.3 rebounds, 2.8 assists and 1.0 block per game.  Anthony Parker has been fantastic in those same 8 games.  In those games he’s averaged 17.4 points, 3.4 rebounds, 3.0 assists and 1.4 steals per game.  He also has nailed 25 of 55 (45%) of his three point shots, which is very good.