The Toronto Raptors have only eight games left to play this season, and they are currently in the 8th spot in the Eastern Conference playoff picture.  The Chicago Bulls are right behind the Raptors, but with a 114-92 win over the Los Angeles Clippers on Wednesday night the Raptors are now 2 games ahead of the Bulls.  The upcoming schedule for the Raptors has five of their final eight games against teams with a sub .500 record.  That may seem like an easy finish, but I think otherwise.  First off, the other three teams that are above .500 are three of the top teams in the Eastern Conference.  They have to play the Cleveland Cavaliers April 6th on the road, then the Boston Celtics at home the very next night, and then they are in Atlanta against the Hawks two nights later.  Those three games will be tough to win, and they are all in a row, so the Raptors need to take care of business against the sub-par competition.  That is easier said than done.  Their next game is against the Philadelphia 76ers, and although it should be an easy win, the Sixers will be looking to play spoiler so the Raptors need to be ready.  After that they have the Golden State Warriors, and although the Warriors have a 21-53 record, they are a dangerous team.  They are an offensive minded Western Conference squad that averages over 108 points per game.  Following that game they have the three tough games against Cleveland, Boston, and Atlanta. They finish their season against the Detroit Pistons, followed by the New York Knicks.  Before those final two games, however, is perhaps the biggest game of their season.  On April 11th they are in Chicago playing against the Bulls, who are right at their heels for the final playoff spot.  That game could end up deciding the 8th seed in the Eastern Conference Playoffs.  If the Raptors put together a winning streak before that though, they won’t have to worry too much about it.

Forget all of the Chris Bosh trade rumors because he isn’t going anywhere. Especially with the Celtics starting to fade back in the standings. The most likely player to be moved by the Raptors will be SG/SF Antoine Wright. Wright has played in 38 games (2 starts) for the Raptors this season and he is averaging 17.3 minutes, 5.0 points, 2.5 rebounds and 1.0 assist per game. The reason it might be hard to move Wright is that he has not shot well from anywhere on the floor this season. He has hit 40.3% of his shots from the floor, 36.4% from the three point line and 64.5% from the free throw line this year. A contending team like the Grizzlies could use a player like Wright as their bench is pretty weak.

After helping the Orlando Magic make it to the NBA Finals last season, the Toronto Raptors signed the free-agent Hedo Turkoglu in the off-season in hopes that he could help take their team to the next level.  Well, Turkoglu has not looked very comfortable with the Raptors this season and his numbers are all down this year.  After averaging 19.5 points in 2007-’08 and 16.8 points last season with the Magic, Turkoglu is down to 12.5 points this season and is shooting only 40% from the field.  He is also averaging 4.5 rebounds and 4.5 assists while shooting 39% from three, so he is not having a horrible season for the Raptors.  Its just that they expected more from Turkoglu this year after signing him to a 5-year $50 million contract.  The Raptors have hovered around .500 this season and they will likely not make it out of the first round of the playoffs unless Turkoglu really steps it up and helps out Chris Bosh more with some of the scoring.

The Raptors will probably start cutting Marco Belinelli’s playing time if he doesn’t start shooting better. He has played in 34 games (0 starts) for the Raptors this season and he is averaging 19.2 minutes, 7.8 points, 1.5 rebounds and 1.5 assists per game. Belinelli is only shooting 38.3% from the floor this season. Belinelli is soft so he needs to be making shots to be on the floor.

Antoine Wright would fit right in with his old team (Nets) with the way he has played this season for the Raptors. Wright has played in 20 games (1 start) for the Raptors this season and he is averaging 17.4 minutes, 4.6 points, 2.2 rebounds and 1.1 assists per game. He is shooting an amazingly awful 32.4% from the floor and it is going to start earning him a lot more time on the bench unless he starts to turn things around soon.