Running Raptors? I think we've seen this before...

Sports pundits (yes, the same ones I regularly rail against in this space) seem to be admitting that perhaps the Raptors, who start their season tonight against that cunt Vince Carter and the Nets, won't totally stink this year. Some folks even have them finishing as high as 9th in the conference, basically saying they could challenge for a playoff spot. A lot of this has to do with the fact they play in an awful division, and so even a marginal improvement could catapult them in the standings, but I might be willing to go so far as to submit that they could do even better than that.

Why?

The dude who took over as GM (Bryan Colangelo) is the same guy that put together the Phoenix Suns, and took them from doormat to powerhouse with the re-addition of a matured Steve Nash, a young stud in the middle (Amaré Stoudemire) and some unselfish spare parts that Nash makes look good with his unselfish style. My belief is that Colangelo is trying to repeat history and has traded for the greased-lightening-fast T.J. Ford to play the role of Nash, while Chris Bosh could ably play the role of Amaré in this version of the run 'n gun offense.

"T.J. Ford is no Steve Nash!" you're probably saying... well, yes and no.... we have no idea how good T.J. might become, as he has been injured for most of his professional career, but the dude was a star at Texas, and led an otherwise unremarkable team to a Final Four appearance (if memory serves). The injury bug has not been kind, but it wasn't kind to Nash early in his career, either. I suspect with someone like CB4 to lean on, T.J. Ford can mature and become an elite point guard in the NBA.

The real wild card here is if any (or all?) or these European imports the Raptors have signed can live up to their billing. In the pre-season, they did pretty well, helping the team go 7-1, so I'm hopeful.

I guess we'll find out tonight.