My beloved Raptors are falling steadily into a meager class of the Eastern conference. I have trouble understanding how a 47 win team two years ago, with virtually the same core AND new, better, added pieces, can play so horribly. The Atlantic/Titanic was shit compared to where it is now and maybe there were more teams in the East to beat up on continuously. Nevertheless, I've narrowed down the perils to two key culprits:

1) Jose Calderon - This guy is a steady hand, but appears to have lost a lot of his first-step quickness - albeit, all on the offensive end - that had him blowing by PGs only a year or two ago. I know he's been hurting with a hamstring problem (is that still a lingering problem, though?) but I remember him beginning this drought in last year's playoffs vs. Dwight and Co. He is a liability on the defensive end every single night. He pretty much can't guard any starting PG in the league right now without getting beaten off the dribble and mercifully begging for help. When this happens, someone - if not more than one - leaves their man leaving someone open for an open look. The Raptors are totally inept at rotating their defenders to compensate for this constant breakdown. How many Raptors fans - who also catch an occasional dose of other NBA teams for some degree of objectivity - can attest to the notion that this team gets killed giving up open 3's? It makes me cringe to see the Raptors play so poorly on the defensive end. I believe much of the problem stems from Calderon's absolutely pathetic defensive capabilities.

2) SG/SF - The Raptors cannot rely on a starting duo of any combo of Moon, Parker, Kapono and expect to be near the middle of the pack of the East. Colangelo is out to lunch if he thought this would suffice. I particularly despise Moon's quick-trigger with little to no shooting ability (is it a wonder why guys leave him pretty wide open most of the time?). Parker is a solid contributer but in no means a starting SG on a good team and Kapono can't coneivably be relied upon to guard many of the league's starting premier SG/SF no matter how good he shoots the rock. These are very nice pieces to have on your bench, or maybe even one as a starter if you put him beside a compleneting stud. The Raptors are way too thin at this position to be competitive with many teams in the East.

I'm not quite sure what's wrong with Bosh - Olympic burnout, general disdain for the team's ineptness? I would need to see a few more games of this to get really concerned because it's hard to throw out the idea that he may just be going through a rough stretch along with the team.