We have been hearing a lot of Belinelli detractors throughout the nation who do not believe he is a good piece/fit for the Raptors.

We respectfully disagree…maybe it is that 37 point outburst in his first ever summer league game that makes us a believer in Belinelli’s skill.

Now while no one is disputing that Belinelli is a skilled player, the knocks on Belinelli are his inability to crack Golden States rotation and his defensive ability…..or lack of it. Now while we do not dispute that there is no evidence to support that Belinelli is a NBA ready defender (he did play for Golden State after all), the knocks on him not being able to crack Golden States rotation are unfair. Nellie does not like to play rookies and is known to put his young players in the ‘dog-house’, add to that that the Warriors had a pretty stacked backcourt with B. Diddy, Monta Ellis and than Jamal Crawford and Anthony Morrow, C.J Watson and other Nellie favourites, Belinelli was fighting for minutes but still managed to average out at 20 minutes a game last season compared to 7 and half in his first season. Nellie has put talented players like B. Wright, A. Randolph and M. Belinelli in the ‘dog-house’ and not allowing them to display their talents to the NBA audience, which leads some who do not follow box scores to think that Belinelli is overrated.

Marco Belinelli against Atlanta last season had a career game when he scored 27 points on 52% shooting, 6 assists, 3 rebounds a 2 steals, all this while going only 3 for 10 from downtown. This game he displayed his full arsenal of moves including putting the ball on the floor and driving to the hoop.

Marco Belinelli is a talented NBA player and is Bryan Colangelo’s type of player. As I am sure many of you know Bryan Colangelo was actively pursuing a way to land a pick to draft Belinelli. And as for the knocks on his defensive prowess, Bryan Colangelo’s Phoneix Sun days should show all of us that he values offense over defense. What Bryan Colangelo has done for us with this move is shore up our Shooting Guard depth and given us another key piece, whether it is for a future trade or for the long-term development of the Raptors.

Marco Belinelli has the talent to start at Shooting Guard for the Raptors this season, and their
has quietly been some clamouring for DeMar DeRozan to be our 6th man/instant-offense off the bench so this remains a distinct possibility. However although it is felt that Belinelli has the talent to start and should get about 20 minutes a game, the last thing we want is Belinelli to start eating into DeMar DeRozan’s minutes, but early indications are that DeRozan will also see time at SF when Turkoglu is not in the game, so you can bet we will see them on the floor together this season.

In closing, it is felt that Marco Belinelli’s skill is undeniable but that with our current roster makeup he is best suited to come off the bench. However if we would have netted him last year when Bryan Colangelo was trying to deal for him he would have fit in nicely with our starting five before we landed Shawn Marion via trade. Marco Belinelli will not get a chance to really show us Raptor fans what he is made of this season, but should the unforeseen happen Belinelli could rack up major minutes at the 2 guard position

Raptors White – Ra

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