Andrea Bargnani is finally here, ladies and gents. And no, I don’t mean here to cook our pasta, he’s finally starting to live up to his first overall pick status. People have always criticized Bargnani for being soft, a bad defender, a bad rebounder, a bust, and has even given the franchise a soft label,leading fans to assume that Jonas Valanciunas will be ‘just another soft European’.
This year is another story. Bargnani is slowly shutting up the critics, and has taken his game to another level.
Bargnani’s scoring has been phenomenal this season, and he has been nearly unguardable. However, the biggest improvement in his game has been his defense, and this defensive improvement could get him into his first all-star game if he maintains his level of play.
“”Confidence. He’s playing at an All-Star level. I’ve been around some all-star players, Shawn Kemp, Gary Payton, Kevin Garnett, Dirk Nowitzki he’s playing at a big time level. I’m totally impressed with his approach offensively and defensively.” said Coach Dwane Casey of Bargnani.
“He’s logging a lot of minutes (38 on Monday after 41 on Sunday) and I thought he was tired (but) he’s really giving it to us on the defensive end, coming over to tag, challenging shots.Not only is he giving it to us offensively, now it’s defensively and he has to maintain that stamina to do it both ends.”
Let’s take a look at Bargnani’s match-ups so far:
Antawn Jamison – 15/7/2 on 6-20 shooting
David West – 14/6/1 on 6-12 shooting
Dirk Nowitzki- 18/4/4 on 7-16 shooting
Ryan Anderson – 24/5/2 on 9-16 shooting
Josh Harellson – 2/5/0 on 3-8 shooting
Antawn Jamison – 19/6/0 on 8-19 shooting
Bargnani has not allowed his matchup to get above 10 rebounds once this season. He’s only improved his rebounding average from 5.2 to 6.0 per game, but with the lack of rebounds by the opposition proves his boxing out. The only game where he has allowed 20+ to a player was against the Magic’s leading scorer Ryan Anderson.
So what’s the magical change in Bargnani’s game? To start, coach Dwane Casey has Bargnani working extra hard on both ends of the court. Bargnani’s conditioning has improved immensely due to the fact that the team has him slotted at power forward rather than center, allowing him to lose a few pounds. The confidence that Bargnani is playing with is also remarkable; he’s taking big shots down the stretch, demanding for the ball, and executing his offense.
What so many people fail to realize is that Bargnani is nearly impossible to guard. His shooting ability along with his quickness allows him to blow by defenders that play him up tight, and his height allows him to shoot over defenders that sag off him.
Bargnani is actually more gifted offensively than ex-Raptor star Chris Bosh. Bosh never had all the tools Bargnani had offensively, and if Bargnani fulfils his potential he could end up being a better player than Bosh ever was.
Raptors fans are finally seeing the benefits of waiting for Bargnani to finally put it all together. His hard work in the offseason along with the help of a defensive mastermind of a coach has allowed Bargnani to take strides forward, and hopefully big enough strides to make him the player that all Raptors fans have always dreamt him to be.
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Buy Toronto Raptors Tickets | Buy Toronto Raptors Apparel[...] Bargnani has even shown some signs of effort on the defensive end for the first time in his career, another effect drawn directly from Casey who through some sort of sorcery has the whole of Toronto on the defensive, seemingly a lost cause for this group before this year. Andrea Bargnani is finally answering the call. [...]
I’d have to disagree with the assessment of Bargnani blossoming into a star. His numbers are definitely great scoring wise at 24 points per game, yet until he can start actually rebounding like a 7 footer should, he won’t ever reach star status.
What if he upped his rebounding similar to Dirk’s?
Would be better, still to be elite he needs it at 10 really.