Now that the dust has settled on what was a pretty mediocre, if not disappointing, preseason, it’s time to look forward and try to gain a little bit of perspective.

Despite the natural frustrations that accompany losing, I think we all knew that this team wasn’t going to come out of the gates hard. It takes time to integrate nine new players into a rotation, not to mention a plethora of new coaches that have to get to know each other too. Combine that with all with injuries and the strength of the schedule and you pretty much have a foregone conclusion: this team was destined to have a shitty preseason record, plain and simple.

As fans, it’s only natural to start freaking out when your team loses six of their first eight games (including one to the Wolves sans Jefferson or Love). It’s easy to start blaming Jose, Triano, Colangelo or whoever for the colossal failure that this team will inevitably become. It’s easy to drink the Kool Aid and pass a cup to anyone around you who will listen.

What’s hard is stepping back from the situation, taking a deep breath and telling yourself that you knew it was going to be this way, that the team will take time to gel and that it is way too early to make judgments on their future success (or lack thereof). While I can’t tell you that the Raps will be good this year, I can, without a shadow of a doubt, tell you that they will be considerably better than they are right now. It’s a long season and even if they stumble out of the gates, there is a lot of time to catch up.

The question is, when does one start judging this team?

November

If you’re on the brink of panic now, the month of November will almost definitely throw you over the edge. The Raps open their season on Wednesday at home against Bron and the Cavs. After a quick trip to Memphis on Friday, they come home to face the Magic at the ACC on Sunday. After Detroit the following Wednesday, the Raps hit the road for seven of their next eight including the Hornets, Mavs, Spurs, Suns, Nuggets and Jazz. In the six games left in November after the road trip, they face the Magic again, the Heat and the Celtics.

Honestly, I cringe at the thought of their record coming out of November and I fear for the general mental state of Raptors Nation. My only hope is that we aren't yet booing the home team but intuition tells me this is probably too much to ask.

At some point during this month, you'll probably start seeing what this team is capable of night in, night out. While subjective opinions can be formed, I really don't think its fair to judge this team on their record this early. Given the strength of schedule and their lack of chemistry, if they're hovering around .450 (7-9) at the end of the month, I think it should be viewed as a success.

December

If November is the fight, December will be the makeup sex. If you can stay patient for this long and manage to keep a level head, December will finally reward you. If you haven’t seen the schedule, give it a look for yourself. Every single one of these games is winnable so look for the Raps to string together a few wins here. I can easily see the Raps winning ten or more of those fifteen games and pushing themselves back over .500. With the seven wins from November, I think my expectations of the Raps in 2009 have been formed.

By mid-December, there should be no more excuses. The Raps will have had plenty of time to gel and they should be poised to make their push for the rest of the year. If they are at or above seventeen wins, I'll be happy. Anything less (barring any unforeseen injuries etc.) and I'll join in the panic.

Until then, patience.

Seb Beitel

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Mattybeers 2009-10-26 18:28:18 | Quote Expectations + Raptors= does not compute 0 0

khandor  - khandor's sports blog 2009-10-27 08:52:41 | Quote If the Raptors' W-L Record for the first 20 games of the season turns out to be in the neighbourhood of 7-13, and then 7-14 for the second set of 21 games, which takes them to the half-way point of the schedule, it should come as no surprise at all. The fact is ... there are a whole bunch of teams in the Eastern Conference this season just as good, if not better, than the Raptors. 0 0

Seb Beitel  - re: khandor's sports blog 2009-10-27 09:17:28 | Quote Mattybeers wrote: Expectations + Raptors= does not compute I don't know what that means. khandor wrote: there are a whole bunch of teams in the Eastern Conference this season just as good, if not better, than the Raptors. Like who? Obviously Boston, Cleveland and Orlando. Past that, Atlanta? Washington? Chicago? Philly? Miami? None of those teams are strong by any means. From 4 to 8 is pretty much anyone's to grab. The Raps ceiling, if they can put it together, is easily worthy of that 4th spot, probably more so than any other team in the East. Like I said above, it's easy to spout negative drivel and be the harbinger of bad news. Being realistic and admitting that this team is a total question mark is the only reasonable forecast. 0 0

Lu Galasso  - re: re: khandor's sports blog 2009-10-27 10:35:18 | Quote Seb Beitel wrote: Like who? Obviously Boston, Cleveland and Orlando. Past that, Atlanta? Washington? Chicago? Philly? Miami? None of those teams are strong by any means. From 4 to 8 is pretty much anyone's to grab. The Raps ceiling, if they can put it together, is easily worthy of that 4th spot, probably more so than any other team in the East. 4-10 in the East is going to be a big mess. That said, I think all of those teams are slightly better than the Raptors, save for Philly. I think Philly and the Raptors are pretty much even. Anyway, yeah, wait till December. That's the month where they face a whole bunch of teams they'll be competing with to make the playoffs. Need wins there. 0 0

Sudsy 2009-10-27 13:17:51 | Quote Agreed their sched is retarded out of the gate, If we are competitive throughout the first month, and in the east .500 is competitive, I will be on cloud 9 with this team, because I also expect the real team to show up sometime around the new year. The east being the east means we should be in the playoff hunt even when we are down, the second half and tail end of our sched is an absolute joke, just need to stay afloat until then. 2 1