Don’t get fooled by the numbers from this weekend-- Andrea Bargnani is still on a one-way trip to bustsville.

Like I said, don’t fall in love with Bargnani’s 27 points on Friday. Down the stretch when they needed him to score, he didn’t. He went 0-4 in the 4th quarter and 4-6 from the free throw line. For several of his misses he was wide open, it wasn’t like the defense was game planning to stop him. Plus, his ridiculous foul in overtime on Antawn Jamison, when Mitchell had told them not to foul, was inexcusable.

Also, if you’re a seven-foot player and your coach gives you 48 minutes of time, do you think you could man up a bit and get more than five freakin’ rebounds for the game?? He could have even out-rebounded the guy he was guarding: the physically imposing Darius Songaila. For anyone who doesn’t know (I would say that is about 100% of you), Songaila is about 4 inches shorter than Bargnani, looks like an extra from Trainspotting, and yet he got one more rebound than Bargnani playing 10 less minutes than him.

Then there was the debacle that was Sunday. It’s a good thing for Andrea that Seattle turned the ball over 21 times, and that they are still far too young to compete on the road on a consistent basis, otherwise all we would be talking about is Bargnani shooting 6-21 for the night.

The problems go far beyond the numbers. He is a below-average defender and is more passive than Yao Ming when it comes to getting rebounds. When he does score, it is rarely within the flow of the offense. He floats at the three point line, gets a pass, and then one of three different things happen:

(1) He quickly takes a shot knowing he may not touch the ball again;
(2) He takes two awkward steps at the basket, at which point he realizes he doesn’t have any semblance of a post game, so he either passes the ball or takes a tough jump shot; or,
(3) He waits and waits to decide whether or not to shoot and then usually takes an off-balance three with a hand in his face.

They don’t run any pick-and-roll with Bargnani; he is strictly a pick-and-pop guy. Why is this? I know he can (sometimes) shoot, but at what point are the Raptors going to expand his game? If Rasho can run the pick-and-roll, why not Bargnani? Is he not athletic enough? I need answers to these questions.

It will be interesting to watch his growth over the next month. The team seems committed to giving him 40+ minutes a game hoping he can learn on the job. I hope I’m wrong with my assessment. I hope this is a typical sports fan knee-jerk reaction. But, I have watched him closer than any other Toronto athlete since I can remember. And from what I have seen, the future does not look bright.

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