By Andy Charles

Toronto’s undoubted talent has not really come to the party yet in pre-season, but not to worry quite yet because there are still a couple of weeks until the season opener when LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers come to town.

But there has been a deal of disappointment so far for the Raptors, not least in the 124-112 home defeat by a Houston side lacking almost all of its star talent and starting a team that would more than likely not even have a chance of starting for the Raptors. Not many NBA Predictions, suggested they would lose – that is for sure.

Although the Raptors shot well, going .500 from the floor, their three-point shooting was well off the pace and the defense was, well shall we say, seriously lacking.

The only real bright spots were 11 points from Sonny Weems, who appears to be getting back to fitness, and 10 from Amir Johnson, who fantasy freaks out there might like to have on their radars in really deep leagues for his blocks potential.

Houston was allowed to hit 13 shots from beyond the arc, with Shane Battier hitting eight of those on probably the hottest shooting night he has had in his career – star performances at Duke included.

And just to rub salt into the wounds, there was a 17-point, seven rebound, five block night from the one and only Pops Mensah-Bonsu, deemed surplus to requirements by Raptors management at the end of last season, just when he looked to be showing the talent off that he undoubtedly has.

Toronto’s loss looks to be Houston’s gain, although they will need it with Yao Ming already out for the season, Tracy McGrady unlikely to play anytime soon and Luis Scola also sidelined.

But that has to be a worry for Toronto, even if this was a pre-season matchup, and even more concerning is that Chris Bosh feels like the Raptors have to go back to the drawing board just a matter of days before the season starts and NBA Picks are assessed.

He said after the game: “It wasn’t our best output and we’re going to have to play a lot better on defense if we want to win a lot of basketball games. There can’t be any slippage. Some nights your shots are going to be off but you can always move your feet and be in the right spot. We have to get back to the drawing board a little bit.”

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