Mindfreak: Andrea Bargnani

Criss Angel has nothing on this disappearing act.

Since being drafted 1st overall by the Toronto Raptors in 2006, Bargnani has been trying to find his niche in the Toronto Raptors frontcourt. Bargnani was drafted to pair with then Franchise PF Chris Bosh. Together, they were supposed to provide an intimidating force in the paint. However, it never really panned out, only reaching the playoffs twice in their 4 years together (2007: 3rd Seed, 2008: 6th Seed.) Once Bosh decided to take his talents to South Beach in 2010, following a bitter breakup with Toronto, Bargnani was given the reigns to the franchise.

Bargnani has yet been able to be the franchise player they were hoping he'd become, given new spotlight. This is not to say that he hasn't been working on it. Following Bosh's departure, Bargnani improved his PPG drastically, going from 17.2 ppg (2009) to 21.5 (2010) and 19.5 (2011.) On a lesser note, he did increase his APG from 1.2 (2009) to 1.8 (2010) and 2.0 (2011) and taking his FT shooting percentage from .75 (2009) to .85 (2011.)

However, he has steadily dropped in many key categories: Blocks, rebounds, Shooting% and 3pt%.

The issue with Bargnani is that he has yet to overcome the "John Wall" as my fellow blogger, Paul, has coined. He hasn't improved his game to franchise player levels. As a C/PF, he is too soft inside, only eclipsing 6 rebounds once in his career. In 2009 it seemed he turned the corner when he had averaged 1.4 blocks per game (with the lone season of 6.2 rebounds) but, he drastically dropped to .5 in 2011.

The player often compared to Dirk Nowitzki, a big man with a good stroke outside the perimeter, has become increasingly and frustratingly less dependable outside.

Bargnani can score. There's not doubt about it. Give him the ball, give him about 35min/game, he will get you about 20 points every outing. His lack of production in rebounding and lack of defensive presence inside, it hurting the Raptors immensely. I think the Raptors are fine with letting him gradually improve in those categories if he maintained his offensive production, but it seems he's regressing in efficiency. Is the increased playing time, and spotlight minimizing him as a player? I have no clue, but he played his best basketball next to Chris Bosh when there wasn't nearly as much expected out of him.

Bargnani is one of my favorite players. Ask anyone. At 7', he can tower over people in the backcourt and knock down threes left and right. He has a nasty fade away, too. I just don't know why his game hasn't rounded out.

I am curious to see if Lithuanian big man, Jonas Valanciunas can take some pressure off of Bargnani inside. Maybe his presence will allow Bargnani to roam outside the paint where he seems the most comfortable. The additions of Kyle Lowry, Landry Fields, and the hopefully improvements of Ed Davis and DeMar DeRozan (new franchise player?) will give Bargnani breathing room to be himself, instead of the franchise player role that was forced upon him after Chris Bosh left.