Dear Raptors Fans, its time for us to say we’re sorry and move on.
Rob, on behalf of the Raptors Nation, we’re sorry for getting you fired. Now before you get too excited, this is not a letter of forgiveness for drafting Arujio over Iggy, but it is a letter of admission that since that move, you did a lot of good that you never received credit for: i.e. you had the vision and foresight to sign Calderon, you drafted Charlie V, who when he decides to show up is a pretty nice player, and you unlike many other GM’s were able to recoup from a couple of early blunders.
You fired mistake Kevin O’Neil and replaced him with coach of the year Sam Mitchell, you were able to get out from the Rafer Alston disaster and replace him with a pretty decent shoot-first point guard in Mike James, and although the Carter deal at the time looked like you got hosed, since then, the buy-out of Mourning and movement of the small contracts of the Williams sisters allowed Colangelo to have some extra cash that he parlayed into his Euro-expansion in singing Garbo and AP a couple summers back.
But most of all we’re sorry because the public response to your firing and Colangelo’s hiring was that you were a moron who ruined our franchise and he was the savior who was going to fix everything. AND yet, here we are 2+ years later, having only won 3 playoff games, with a record last season UNDER .500 and only finding ourselves in the playoffs because we were in the Eastern Conference. Our #1 pick last year did not exist, our #1 pick from the year before looks like a bust, and the list of Colangelo’s genius signings now includes:
- Garbo
- Anthony Parker
- John Salmons (who walked away)
- Fred Jones
- Jason Kapono
- Maceo Baston
- Jamario Moon
Im sorry, but I don’t see a NBA quality starter anywhere on that list. Some nice pieces, but no-one capable of starting on a championship caliber team. The list of Colangelo’s additions by trade now include:
- Primo Brezec
- Carlos Delfino
- Juan Dixon
- Rasho Nesterovic
- TJ Ford
And other than Ford who is a quality player but appearing to be more trouble than he’s worth, the list of accomplishments is thin.
I know Colangelo won 2 executives of the year, but all of the best moves regarding this Toronto team WERE NOT MADE by him. As noted above:
-the coach and team’s 2nd best player were the brain moves of Rob Babcock
-the teams’ superstar was drafter but Glen Grunwald
-and all the teams cap flexibility is thanks to Wayne Embry’s trading of Jalen Rose and the much maligned Vince Carter deal.
I know Colangelo has a rep for being a great GM but I’m just not buying it right now. He didn’t do anything at the deadline when a TON of good players were available in a year when the east is totally open and when the Raps were simply not good enough to win 2 let alone 1 playoff round. And come on, Are you telling me that Memphis wouldn’t have made a deal for Gasol if Toronto would had offered a package built around “Il Mago.” Colangelo is too proud to admit he made the wrong choice and I fear that the Raps, much like the bulls who were once a team that was 1 player away from being a real contender, now might get much worse before they can get any better. For real, Gasol on this team with Calderon, and Bosh (man, it hurts me every time I think about it).
I know that people were down of Babcock, but is this team right now any better than the Mike James, Calderon, Charlie V, Bosh team that got Babcock fired?
I’ll tell you one thing- after the media bashing he took for drafting Aruaujo, Babcock would not have drafted a raw, 7ft, international centre with the 1st pick overall in the draft, he would have drafted by need, and at the time Roy best fit the needs of the team. I know hind sight is 20/20 but to pick a “project” with the #1 pick instead of the most NBA ready player is always dangerous and the list of projects who pan out (ie./ Dwight Howard instead of Emeka Okafor) is much shorter than the list of projects who don’t (everybody else can get in line behind Kwame Brown and Darko-who went #2)
And another thing- if you look at what superstars are going for on the open market- the Carter trade wasn’t actually as bad as it seemed at the time. Seriously, the cost of trading a superstar in the NBA now is a couple of #1s and cap relief.
One more summer. That’s all Colangelo’s got. Because if this team doesn’t make it to the conference finals by next spring and there aren’t some serious upgrades in the rebounding, secondary scoring, at the 2 guard, and interior defense components- I wont be the only one thinking about leaving the Raptor Nation….Bosh will taking off too when he can opt out after the 2010 season.
So Rob, I know its too late to have you come back and to start again, but I do want to say, we’re sorry. And Raps fans, its time to open your eyes to the “genius” who’s just not getting it done. Maybe its time to start to ask the question “what has he done for me lately?”
—end of letter—
Its a big summer Bryan, please, prove me wrong.
Standing in the key, I’m the Dr., I’ve got my feet planted, and Im planning on taking a charge.
Phdsteve.
Technorati Tags: Alonzo Mourning, Andre Iguadala, Andrea Bargnani, Anthony Parker, Bryan Colangelo, Carlos Delfino, Charlie V, Chris Bosh, Darko Milicic, Dwight Howard, Emeka Okafor, Fred Jones, Glen Grunwald, Jalen Rose, Jamario Moon, Jason Kapono, John Salmons, Jose Calderon, Juan Dixon, Kevin O’Neil, Kwame Brown, Maceo Baston, Mike James, Pau Gasol, Primo Brezec, Rafael Araujo, Rafer Alston, Rasho Nesterovic, Rob Babcock, TJ Ford, Vince Carter, Wayne Embry
May 14th, 2008 at 9:18 pm
welcome aboard bro….
gotta tell you…the only thing babock did right was sign calderon. imho, the vc trade was bad. he could have easily got talent and/or cap relief (without the need to buy out alonzo fucking morning) by moving one of the best scorers in the game, at the time.
he did however act as the in-between guy from bad to good, which someone had to do.
the rafer singing was probably his second worse move. if you remember, rafer had that run with the raptors two seasons before, and he never meshed with vince. that was one of the reasons grunwald didn’t sign him. babcock rolls in and signs the guy to a massive contract….
that, coupled with his lack of communication with vc when he first came on board alienated the pussy and that was that.
May 14th, 2008 at 10:15 pm
Live Blogging for the 2nd Half of tonight’s Game 5 between Boston @ Cleveland.
Would welcome your participation!
khandors last blog post..Live Blogging Event: Cleveland @ Boston, Game 5
May 14th, 2008 at 11:18 pm
Was finding Calderon skill or luck? You take a flyer on some kid late in the draft and most times it does not work out. I think they got lucky.
I am also pretty sure the Vince trade was total panic and total garbage.
I am enjoying the open letters guys, I know it is slim pickings this time of year for Raps news so they fill a void.
cuzzys last blog post..Cuzoogle is busy hosting
May 15th, 2008 at 10:25 am
Hey Cuzzy,
Calderon was a straight out signing. He wasnt drafted. Instead Babcock scouted and then signed him (because he was well past the drat age for Euros when he was signed)when he wasnt even on the radar of any other team. So, you have to give him his props for that.
May 15th, 2008 at 10:30 am
Hey Raps Fan,
2 things:
1) I know the VC trade still hurts, especially when you think of how Mourning now has a ring (urr) but the reality is, that since then the value of trading superstars has gone WAY DONE. Babcock was just the first of many moves that followed and brought very little back- AI for picks and pieces, Artest for Peja, Garnett for scraps and Jefferson, Gasol for a bag of pucks, etc. The Raps did get 2 #1s and cap relief in that deal. AND the practice of buying guys out who are part of a deal was uncommon when Babcock dealt VC but now are considered the norm. So, if we look at this deal in the context of all the deals since, its actually not that bad (its not great, but it could have been worse- see Gasol for Kwame Brown)
2) nobody who ever deals with Rod Thorn gets a bargain, just ask Mark Cuban how he’s feeling about the J. Kidd deal.
May 15th, 2008 at 11:15 am
Agree with everything except the Carter trade, he did get hosed there. There’s no sense justifying it in retrospect. He could’ve played his cards better and waited till the off-season, its not like the Raptors were making the playoffs that year anyway. At least wait till the trading deadline to see if there are teams willing to bite.
He blew the Vince deal, no question.
Arsenalists last blog post..Jamario Moon gets to launch 20 footers for another year
May 15th, 2008 at 11:21 am
1) the thing is that 1 of the #1 picks turned out to be joey graham, the other got packaged with rose to the knicks (who turned out to be renaldo balkman). not very valuable as the knicks would probably haved traded for rose anyways.
as for other superstars who got traded: jefferson is a stud, kwame is useless but they got marc gasol who is supposed to be a future stud and cap relief without having to buy anyone out, iverson landed the 76ers miller and almost a 1st round upset of the pistons, peja got artest and vica versa (both are still quality players).
i’m not disputing the savings we saw, just that we could have got young talent that could have helped us then and now, better picks, or cap space without the need to buy out a liverless son-of-a-bitch who didn’t deserve to be paid $10mill for not showing up.
also, you don’t trade a perennial all-star within the save division so you can see him 4 times a year. in his exit inerview, he said that was the best trade available. i have a very hard time believing that.
2) yup, cuban got fleeced big time on that one. i hate the mavs anyways. i feel bad for kidd, but whatev…he had his time.
May 15th, 2008 at 1:05 pm
Raps Fan,
Ok, ture, but draft picks are all about choices. Lets look at this a little closer:
We got 2 picks from NJ in the VC deal:
PICK #1) Althought Joey Graham was a bust, look who was picked in the 14 spots after him in the first round- so its not that NJs trading this pick to the Raps was bad- it was just a bad pick at the time by Babcock.
17 Indiana- Danny Granger
18 Boston- Gerald Green
19 Memphis- Hakim Warrick
20 Denver- Julius Hodge
21 Phoenix-(from Chicago)Nate Robinson
22 Denver- Jarrett Jack
23 Sacramento- Francisco Garcia
24 Houston- Luther Head
25 Seattle- Johan Petro
26 Detroit-Jason Maxiell
27 Portland- (from Dallas via Utah)-Linas Kleiza
28 San Antonio- Ian Mahinmi
29 Miami-Wayne Simien
30 New York (from Phoenix via San Antonio)-David Lee
PICK #2) First off lets be clear, Babcock DID NOT trade this pick to NY, Wayne Embry did in the Jalen Rose deal. So you cant fault Babcock for dealing this pick away. Instead, just take a look at who got picked after this pick. (and for the record, I believe the direct quote of Stephen H. Smith on draft day when Isiah drafted Renaldo Balkman was “ who the *^$&^$ is Renaldo Balkman.?”) and to quote ESPN draft guru Chad Ford on draft day:
“Renaldo Balkman? He plays with great energy and is a great athlete, but he averaged fewer than 10 points per game at South Carolina. No other team would’ve taken him in the first round. He has no skills other than running the floor — think of a poor man’s Darius Miles. He would’ve been a decent second round pick — a guy who might have made a roster. Wow.”
21 Phoenix (Traded to Boston) Rajon Rondo
22 New Jersey (via Clippers) Marcus Williams
23 New Jersey Josh Boone
24 Memphis Kyle Lowry
25 Cleveland Shannon Brown
26 LA Lakers (via Heat) Jordan Farmar
27 Phoenix (Traded to Portland) Sergio Rodriguez
28 Dallas Maurice Ager
29 New York (via Spurs) Mardy Collins
30 Portland (via Pistons) Joel Freeland
So, both those picks could have landed TO some good young players (like Rondo and David Lee for example).
As far as the VC trade, I simply want to say this:
1) Andre Miller had an excellent year this year, but he was on the trading block for the first year + after he got to Philly and it was only when Stepahn..ski took over in November of 2007 that Philly decided they were going to keep him. He simply is an example of some trade -filler that worked out (imagine Eric Williams had become a starter for us). And Iverson was and still is a better player than Carter (Scoring champ, MVP, led his team of chumps to the finals). He should fetch more in a trade than Carter.
2) Al Jefferson is NOT a stud. He may become a good or even a great player, but only time will tell. On a BAD T-Wolves team his numbers were good but lets not forget how good Damon Stoudamire or Doug Christie’s numbers looked on some of our bad teams. Someone has to score the points (even on a bad team). NOT to mention, that KG is significantly better than Carter (2007-08 Defensive player of the year, former MVP, 10 time all star, etc) so there should have been more coming back in the trade- but come on, is this really fair value for KG: Al Jefferson and Theo Ratliff (bought out), Gerald Green, Sebastian Telfair, Ryan Gomes to Minnesota, a future first-round draft pick and the return of a first-rounder the Wolves surrendered in the Wally Szczerbiak-Ricky Davis trade in January 2006?
3) Marc Gasol? Nope, Im sorry. There is no justification by which the Pau Gasol trade ever, and I repeat ever can be viewed as a trade of fair and equal value.
So, although we didn’t win the Carter trade, it is not the worst trade made for a superstar…not even close.
May 15th, 2008 at 1:50 pm
agreed on the pics, but 14 and 20-something aren’t going to land you very much in terms of a quality player. you have to get lucky. and, with the 14 pick, he passes on granger, who was slated to be a top 8 pick that year. we could have used a granger, that’s all…
the vc situation was a mess because babcock, seemingly to me anyways, didn’t handle him well from the 1st day. once aboard, he didn’t sit and talk to him for a few weeks. he signed someone carter hated, he didn’t trade carter in the summer when vc first said he didnt want to play (if you remember, ray allen was available and said he would come to toronto, salaries match…u do the math). there were rumours that could have seen a vc trade land, peja, wilcox, and others who would be better then the box of donuts….but we got what you said, the williams sisters a buyout of a cock sucker and a couple picks. at least if the pics were top 10, that would have been something.
eric williams was a starter for us…that didn’t last very long. even if alonzo decided to stay, it was still bad.
jefferson is a stud, he’s a beast, took it bosh pretty nice this season if i remember. he bangs in the low post, in the west, with the best power forwards in the league, and puts up massive numbers. i understand it is a shitty team, but when you are facing guys like amare, duncan, k-mart, boozer, odom on a daily basis, it does say something about how good he is.
i have to disagree, the vc trade is one of the worst trades for a superstar ever. if embry didn’t pull off that rose trade, this team would not be anywhere as good/bad as they have been the last two seasons.
May 15th, 2008 at 10:36 pm
I blame all of the Raptors problems on Antonio Davis…goon.
May 16th, 2008 at 9:29 am
another nice open letter.. i think someday im gonna hire you to make an open letter for me… LOL.. joke… anyway i think we can still see this summer on how colangelo would uograde this roster… so its more about how he will perform this summer… btw the jalen rose trade happened thanks to isiah thomas!
Melvins last blog post..What is it like for D’Antoni going from Nash to Marbury?
May 16th, 2008 at 2:06 pm
yes it did…and it was all due to that 31 point game he had against them at MSG! gotta love big game players like that…rose hooked us up big time.
May 17th, 2008 at 6:56 pm
There is no magic move coming from Bryan Colangelo this summer to improve the Raptors’ player roster.
Hopefully he does a good job in the 2008 NBA Draft and adds another solid player to the team.
Hopefully he trades TJ Ford and not Jose Calderon (which Colangelo’s history indicates he might just do) without getting severely undersold, based on Ford’s relatively low market value right now.
Hopefully he creates an ‘Environment of Excellence’ which Calderon can respect and is willing to re-up with, as a PG who can tell the difference between a GM who wants to Win a championship, one day in the not-too-distant future, and one who wants to put a competitive team on the floor every year while turning a profit for the ownership group.
If he does these things … and Andrea Bargnani improves this summer, while attending Pete Newell’s annual ‘Big Man Camp’ and training individually with John Lucas … and Jose Calderon is the new starting PG … the Raptors will be in the playoff hunt once again next season, probably in the 5-8 positions, and the arena will be (almost) full on a night-to-night basis … which is the real long term goal of this team.
It’s only people like me who will disappointed with the Raptors, since we were under the (mistaken?) impression that the ultimate goal for a ‘pro sports team’ is to actually win the championship.
khandors last blog post..Hard, physical championship basketball
May 18th, 2008 at 1:28 pm
you can add me to that list of disappointed fans if the goal is just to make money and not compete for a championship khandor.
May 18th, 2008 at 3:23 pm
me too.
Ive got a column coming out later in the week about this topic as well and why there wont be much action from the raps in the free agent market.
June 1st, 2008 at 2:12 pm
this dude feekls so sad cause bc pimped da raps out
July 1st, 2008 at 2:29 pm
Wow We are sorry Babcock?
This is just painful to read. 2 years under BC= playoffs. The problem with you so called fans is that once we were a 3 seed 2 years ago everyones expectaions went through the roof including mine but were sorry Rob Babcock are you fucking kidding me? Everyne says we should have drafted Roy, yeah no shit but he did not go 2nd or 3rd no one knows how these kids will turn out you can say that about every draft, there is always busts and mid first rounders who turn out to be superstars but were sorry Rob Babcock get the fuck out of here!!!!!!!!!!!
Arujo was the worst pick of all time he is a bad player in Europe right now. Were sorry Rob Babbock? WOW!!!! People slow down with the I hate BC talk. If Babcock was still here we would have no playoffs no hope and NO good prospect of any good free agent ever signing here. I am sorry Rob Babcock?????????? I am actually at a cross between angry and sick. As for draft history Calderon he got lucky with in 2nd round (every 2nd round pick whop turns out is lucky we all know that) Graham Charlie and Arujo is not good folks. Vince Carter deal no good folks. I am sorry Rob Babcok?? WOW. Check out Raps next season in playoffs and I don’t think we will be saying sorry Rob we will be saying Thnaks BC.