NBA Blog – NBA Basketball Blog
NBA Blog: The NBA basketball news blog section of Inside Hoops
Raptors blog – Toronto Raptors blog
The Toronto Raptors announced Sunday that following further evaluation and testing by team medical personnel, centre Rasho Nestervoic is expected to be sidelined for one to two weeks with a Grade 2 sprain of his right ankle.
Nesterovic sustained the injury at the six minute mark of the third quarter of Wednesday’s game versus Utah. He will not join the team on its upcoming road trip to Dallas (Tuesday) and Memphis (Wednesday).
NBA News: The top three vote-getters in last year’s Rookie of the Year balloting are acquitting themselves quite nicely during the early going of their sophomore campaigns.
Portland’s Brandon Roy, the 2006-07 Rookie of the Year, is pacing the Trail Blazers in scoring (20.7 ppg) and assists (6.0 apg).
Toronto’s Andrea Bargnani has converted 15 of 30 three-point attempts and is averaging 13.4 points to go along with 4.6 rebounds.
Memphis’ Rudy Gay is averaging a team-high 20.6 points, nearly doubling his rookie average (10.8 ppg).
Other notable second-year performers include, but are not limited to: Roy’s teammate LaMarcus Aldridge, who is averaging 19.2 points and 7.7 rebounds; Golden State’s Kelenna Azubuike, who is averaging 18.8 points and shooting .531 from the field; Utah’s Ronnie Brewer, who is shooting .580 from the field, .429 from beyond the arc and .828 from the line in averaging 15.3 points; Cleveland’s Daniel Gibson, who is shooting .528 from three-point land while averaging 12.4 points; and Gay’s teammate Kyle Lowry, who is averaging 10.8 points and 4.4 rebounds.
Toronto started the season positively, beating the 76ers and then destroying the Nets, but have since dropped three straight games, losing to the Celtics, Bucks and Orlando.
Now, a minor change is being made. The Toronto Star reports:
Yesterday’s move to replace Andrea Bargnani with Rasho Nesterovic in the team’s starting lineup – beginning tonight in Philadelphia – will give Toronto a look much like the one that led it to 47 wins a season ago.
Mitchell went to great lengths to explain it’s not an indictment of Bargnani but rather a chance for him to be better.
“It is not a reflection on how he has played,” Mitchell said of Bargnani, the second-year 7-footer who was given the starting centre’s job on the opening day of training camp. “It’s just … trying to get the most out of all our guys.
Toronto’s defense has been awful so far. Their opponents are shooting 47.8% from the field. They’re also being badly out-rebounded and slightly out-assisted.