First of all, a quick note: Now that the Raptors season is here this blog will be shifting more into full-on Raptors mode. I’ll still be making other posts about the usual crap, but not quite as many; and for these non-Raptors, non-NBA posts, I’ll just be putting excerpts up on the home page, with a link to the full post, leaving the home page Raptors-centric. OK? OK.

Now, on the good stuff… I picked up Fallout 3 on Wednesday.

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Toronto Raptors

One of the most dysfunctional franchises in recent NBA history comes to town tonight in the form of the Golden State Warriors.

You might remember Golden State as the team that ran the #1-seeded Dallas Mavericks off the court in the 2007 playoffs. But don’t equate one big upset with success; after all, this was a team that hadn’t made the playoffs for 12 years before that and didn’t make it last year (although I’ll note that’s more due to the West’s strong upper tier; the Warriors did win 48 games). And three of the key players from that 06-07 team aren’t there anymore - Jason Richardson, Baron Davis, and Matt Barnes are all gone.

Monta Ellis was also on that team, and he’s out for 30 games thanks to his moped joyride, which not only tore some ankle ligaments but also apparently fractured the front office. Al Harrington’s a four-position-player and a key contributor over the past two years, but he’s asked to be traded.

Basically, their entire fortunes rest on Stephen Jackson.

Now, we all know all about Stephen Jackson, his role in the brawl in Detroit, the strip club incident, etc. But you can’t forget, the guy is an absolute offensive force. He can score from anywhere, in a variety of ways. Given the injury to Ellis and the departure of Davis, they even have him initiating the offense this year. He might be crazy, but the guy can play.

Their off-season addition was Corey Maggette, who is also a great offensive player. The two of them fit perfectly in coach Don Nelson’s aggressive, attacking offensive style, as does Harrington. But has Harrington checked out? He had 13/7 in 42 minutes in Wednesday’s opener. (Wouldn’t it be great to see him on the Raptors? If only we had the players and cash to make a trade work!)

I’ve complained about the Raptors’ depth, but the Warriors may be even more shorthanded. They played 8 guys the other night - and CJ Watson only played 23 seconds so it was really only 7 - and Jackson played all 48. Maggette logged 39. Their bench is Ronny Turiaf and Kelenna Azubuike. I’m going to go out on a limb and suggest that, after that game and a cross-country trip, they’re gonna need something from Marcus Williams and Marco Bellinelli tonight, and they don’t exactly scare me. I have to give Toronto’s short bench the advantage here.

Still, they are a very athletic team and that could be a problem for the Raps. Other than 7-foot center Andris Biedrins, they aren’t big - but they’re strong and fast. Maggette and Jackson are both physical and both can hit the glass. They could give the Raps all kinds of problems. And they do get off to good starts, a contrast to the Raptors who traditionally suck in the first quarter. Don’t be surprised if the score is 35-24 for Golden State after one.

The matchup of Harrington on Bosh is a tough one for Bosh; Harrington is quick enough to give Bosh problems on both ends of the floor. If Bosh can mix things up as he did on Wednesday and get Harrington in some foul trouble, that’ll be a huge plus.

I give the Raps a big advantage in the center department, as O’Neal is light years ahead of Biedrins, and the point guard department, as Calderon can take anyone the Warriors have off the dribble.

The swingman spots obviously favour Golden State in a big way. The Raptors will need to limit transition opportunities for Golden State, meaning Bosh and O’Neal need to get some offensive boards and the guards need to be hustling back on every play. And Parker, Moon and Kapono need to funnel Jackson and Maggette to our big men, preferably on the baseline where the passing lanes are shortened.

A half-court game favours the Raptors. If they can keep the tempo down and let Calderon run the show, and if the rebounding is there, the Raps should take this one by 12.