In one year, the Raptors went from 1 all-star, and a deep bench (allegedly) to 2 all-star’s and a depleted lineup. They went from a run and gun offense (again, allegedly) to a half court one. They are maxed out, and still have holes in the armour…yea, that sounds about right. Uhm…13th player? Yea, that sounds about right too. I had a sick feeling the last next move by BryCo would be grabbing someone from Europe.
I wont hold my breath that Solomon will be Moon pt. II, I just hope he is more then Martin pt. I. With scoring/defense on a wing still an issue, we get a combo guard who will be used sparingly except for when he will be holding the gatorades for Calderon as he passes them around at half time. Maybe Moon can show him and Hassan Adams where the best spots for all-day breakfast and day old bread in the city is. Am I the only one who feels like he got his nuts kicked in by BryCo for the 73rd time this off-season?
So with Solomon, the roster looks like:
- Hassan Adams
- Andrea Bargnani
- Chris Bosh
- Jose Calderon
- Joey Graham
- Kris Humphries
- Nathan Jawai
- Jason Kapono
- Jamario Moon
- Jermaine O’Neal
- Anthony Parker
- Willie Solomon
- Roko Ukic
Eastern Conference Contenders? Atlantic Contenders? Lottery Contenders? My money is 6th in the east and 3rd in the Atlantic, but whatever. I really have nothing against Lil Willie, I hope he turns out to be a gem, just not holding my breath.
PS - I was searching for images of Willie to use in this post, and found one where Upper Deck had the audacity to put him on the same card as Jerry West…seriously, I almost missed because I was like “no, they wouldn’t do that.” … they did.
Technorati Tags: Andrea Bargnani, Anthony Parker, Bryan Colangelo, Chris Bosh, Darrick Martin, Hassan Adams, Jamario Moon, Jason Kapono, Jermaine O’Neal, Joey Graham, Jose Calderon, Kris Humphries, Nathan Jawai, Roko Ukic, Willie Solomon
July 29th, 2008 at 11:19 pm
Raptors = Faux Contenders
They’re not a true contender. Colangelo has failed to make the necessary “next move” after acquiring Jermaine. Jermaine in himself is an upgrade to the team but without upgrades elsewhere this squad isn’t a true contender.
I consider them the 6th best team in the East and the 3rd best team in the Atlantic also. Likely a first round victim in the playoffs. They’ve got a good chance of winning more games in the regular season and being higher than 6 (Cavs are a poor regular season team for one), but they’ll be in that 3-6 range so they’ll still have to play the same level of opposition … and right now I don’t favour them in that matchup. Likely loss.
__________________________________________________________________
As for Solomon. I know very little about the lad so nothing to add there.
I do agree though that this is likely the last move made by the Raptors. They look very close to the luxury tax line so it’s doubtful they make a further move of significance.
Still in that “confused and partially disappointed” phase because of the lack of further transactions following the Jermaine O Neal acquisition.
Daves last blog post..Rockets Acquire Ron Artest
July 29th, 2008 at 11:28 pm
Well, anybody who knows me knows my opinion.
I think they get the sixth spot if injuries are kept to a minimum. My only issue in thinking that:
- bosh in the olympics.
- calderon playing extended minutes.
I think everybody would agree we got off lucky last year in that Bosh had no issues with his feet. I think the extended season may bring back that issue.
Calderon looked gassed after the allstar break. If he looked like that with about 20 games of starter minutes under his belt, how will he look this year after adding on a summer of playing as well as what can only be believed to be extremely extended minutes. The drop off from Jose to Roko is about equivalent as the drop off between the number of times I’ve had sex with Pamela Anderson and the number of times Tommy Lee has.
I think it’s disgusting that we have a team that has NO money and not even a full roster. We barely had enough (thanks for giving some back, Jose) to get a perennial all star like Solomon. Listening to all the other yokels dream of Artest, etc. You want guys like that? Cool…get a GM who knows the game and how to make moves without daddy’s money.
This team will be fighting for a playoff spot.
July 30th, 2008 at 8:34 am
I guess rebuilding a team is an art rather then a science. So forgive me for wondering what would happen if the team is hit by injuries. Given the fact Bosh and JO are not known for staying healthy. Of course the first person to go will be the coach.
My guess is the team will win 44/45 games and be fighting for the 6/7 playoff spot. If Bosh or JO miss more then 15 games then I’m going for 39/40 and potentially a lottery pick. Of course if your going to end up in the 7/8 spot in the East, taking a chance on the lottery might not be a bad idea.
July 30th, 2008 at 10:37 am
hey John, same can be said for any team. how good does boston look if KG and Pierce go down?
having said that, there may be some truth to Bosh and calderon running out of gas next spring.
July 30th, 2008 at 10:40 am
I am going to say it once again, and expect the criticism to follow from those without the vision of Dave, Altraps, John, etc.:
* I am not an aficionado of Rob Babcock, but …
* The Raptors would have been better off today if they would have stuck with his long term time-line/plan for success, which included being a bottom rung team in the Eastern Conference for the last two years, accumulating Lottery Picks (plural) AND then trying to get better down-the-road, ala the Boston Celtics
* The Raptors would have been better off today if they would have brought in an individual like Michael Curry, as an Assistant GM, to be mentored by Wayne Embry who was willing to stay on as the FULL-TIME GM, in the aftermath of Babcock’s firing, IF the Raptors would have allowed him to do so AND bring an up-and-coming former player (NBA insider and a visible minority) along as his assistant to eventually take the entire operation over in the future
* The Raptors would have been better off today if they would have brought in an individual like Julius Erving, as their full-time GM, to run their basketball operation, as their Superstar player (Vince Carter) wanted, at that time … who might well have turned into the wreck that’s become Isiah Lord Thomas III (in New York) OR Jerry West/Joe Dumars
What the Raptors SHOULD NOT have done was hire the person who Richard Peddie wanted them to hire … at all costs!!! … regardless who it may have been.
Richard Peddie has NO BUSINESS making any type of decision associated with the running of the day-to-day operations of an NBA (or NHL) franchise.
There’s a huge difference having your team run by an individual like …
Wayne Embry
Michael Curry
Julius Erving
Isiah Lord Thomas III
Jerry West
Joe Dumars
or
Bryan Colangelo.
Absolutely huge.
khandors last blog post..The Art and Science of Hoops
July 30th, 2008 at 12:13 pm
Alot of the strategy in BC’s smaller transactions is picking up incomplete/inconsistant players and have the staff work with them to make their game more complete. Unfortunatly it creates a team like last year where you never know who’s going to go for 20 points in a night and whose going to go for 2 points, but the hope is progression. This year is about finding whose the most consistant and relying on them more than those who fill out the roster. One has to consider the amount of success BC has had with the Raps in minor transactions and signings. Really Fred Jones was the only one that didnt turn to gold and he turned Fred Jones into Juan Dixon into Primoz Brezec - all decent insurance/backup/character players. Bottom Line? Question the JO trade all you want but everything minor he does has proven to be golden.
July 30th, 2008 at 12:17 pm
Oh and i think Jamario is going to show vast improvement since his issues are mostly mental/habits and not lack of Bball IQ. Adams should also prove much better than advertised - especially when used properly.
July 30th, 2008 at 12:44 pm
I also am on record of thinking that Babcock long term would have turned out ok.
having said that- I love the JO move- and gotta give lots of love to BC for making it. Its what comes next that Im concerned about right now.
and good point edgar about BC and love of long term projects.
July 30th, 2008 at 1:23 pm
No doubt, one of the things BC has shown over his tenures in Phoenix and Toronto is that he can put a competitive team on the floor while coming in under budget and turning a healthy profit for the team’s owner(s).
Do you think these are really the prime motivators for men like Jerry West or Joe Dumars or Pat Riley (etc.)?
The Desire to Win the Championship is what drives the engine for the best organizations in pro sports … not churning out competitive teams that consistently make a profit.
BC is a solid, economically sound, GM in the NBA, with a positive history of making sound minor transactions. Nothing more and nothing less than that.
khandors last blog post..The Art and Science of Hoops
July 30th, 2008 at 1:28 pm
phdsteve,
However, without the 2nd shoe dropping, as well … i.e. filling out the rest of the roster in a similar way to what previous high calibre teams have done throughout the history of the NBA … you can’t really say that you ‘love’ the JO acquisition can you? (be completely honest)
khandors last blog post..The Art and Science of Hoops
July 30th, 2008 at 1:33 pm
Khandor why not mention names like Jeff Bower or other non-players? a little obsession maybe?
July 30th, 2008 at 1:56 pm
Edgar,
I would certainly agree that Jeff Bower has done a solid job operating the Hornets.
When Jeff wins an NBA title or two … I will gladly put him into a similar category as the others I mentioned before.
khandors last blog post..The Art and Science of Hoops
July 30th, 2008 at 1:58 pm
Edgar,
I would also put Gregg Popovich/RC Buford into the category with Joe D. and Jerry West and Pat Riley (etc.).
khandors last blog post..The Art and Science of Hoops
July 30th, 2008 at 2:02 pm
i agree with your thinking on GM’s Khandor, just not sure Babcock was the guy to lead the charge. at the time, i always contended that if Julius Erving was taken over babcock, this team would have been better off in the respect that vince wouldn’t have become the mess that he became. if he got his wish, he couldn’t have dogged it when he got it.
i understand what phdsteve is saying, in that he likes the o’neal trade, but is not sold on what happened after. i echoed that statement earlier when i said getting o’neal was like when boston got allen. he still needed to get his ‘garnett’. he got his brian scalabrine in adams, solomon. not quite the same thing.
not so sure about michael curry. i think my hatred for him was more to do for when he played for the raptors, and stank up the starting unit…man couldn’t hit a jumper for his life. i’m sure i will be proven wrong…
July 30th, 2008 at 2:07 pm
pop and buford definitely don’t get the pub they should. i would contend that they should be in held in a higher regard then even west/riley. the spurs have been a championship team for a decade. much longer and more consistent then say the lakers during the same period, in my estimation.
July 30th, 2008 at 2:54 pm
Raps Fan,
I’m using Curry, only as an example, because his name was used/linked at the time of one possibility Embry had in mind/considered as an Assistant GM if the Raptors had been interested in having him stay on as the full-time GM (to do the leg-work that Wayne could no longer do at his age).
It is going to be interesting to see how things work out for him now that he’s on the sidelines full-time working for the Pistons/Dumars.
=====================
By no means would it have been a guaranteed success if Julius Erving had been installed as the Raptors GM (after Rob Babcock) … but neither is it a foregone conclusion that he would not have been able to make better use long term of certain assets which were (in fact) in place with this franchise when Bryan Colangelo was hired instead …
e.g.
Vince Carter was here
Antonio Davis was here
Chris Bosh was here
Jose Calderon was here
Charlie Villanueva was here
Joey Graham was here
with the
2006 NBA Draft - Andrea Bargnani, LaMarcus Aldridge, Tyrus Thomas, Brandon Roy, Rudy Gay, etc.
2007 NBA Draft - Greg Oden, Kevin Durant, etc.
2008 NBA Draft - Michael Beasley, Derrick Rose, etc.
on the horizon …
and almost 3 full years later seem not to have born substantial fruit, in terms of bringing an NBA championship to Toronto anytime soon.
=====================
FWIW … here are a few other opinions I hold about the history of this franchise:
* Isiah Thomas should have been allowed to buy the team outright instead of the Peddie/Tanenbaum/Ontario Teachers Pension group
* Glen Grunwald should not been replaced as Raptors GM
* Rob Babcock should NOT have traded away Vince Carter
* Bryan Colangelo should not have been hired as Raptors GM
* Darrell Walker should not have replaced Brendan Malone as Raptors head coach
* Kevin O’Neill should not have been hired as Raptors head coach
Winning Pro Sports champhionships is a people-based business and without the right people running your franchise you have NO HOPE of ever making significant progress in this regard.
khandors last blog post..The Art and Science of Hoops
July 30th, 2008 at 3:01 pm
Too much debate here. No one can make a conclusive statement like we would’ve been better with Dr. J or Babcock, you have no ideas what trades or plans would have been made. Don’t forget that Babcock is the GM who drafted Araujo. BC has made only solid moves for this franchise, and has been solely responsible for bringing the Raptors back to respectability (finding AP, getting JO, etc.). He has also kept Raps fans excited about watching their team take the floor night in and night out. Babcock drafted Araujo, drafted Joey G, signed Rafer to a 5 year deal, and got basically nothing for Vince (which I don’t blame him for but I can’t see any GM getting a worse deal than he did, geez I could’ve pulled that trade off in my sleep). And you’re telling me we would be better off with him at the helm? Give me a break (p.s. the only positive thing he ever did was get Calderon out of left field, which I give him full credit for). Oh, how time does really make one forget.
July 30th, 2008 at 3:21 pm
Khandor seriouly your are one messed up dude.
Please stop talking about Babcock.
He drafted Arujo not late in the second round but a top 10 pick. Please Please stop!!!!!!!!
It all comes back to expectaions. Everyones got too high after BC’s first year.
All BC has done in 2 years is take a team that was a joke a laughing stock and made them into a playoff team (sure they have not won a round so have a lot of other teams (Washington/Houston/Denver)
Rob Babcock are you kidding me. Where would Bosh be? Not here!!! You know who we would have if Babcock was still here? Players who overachieved as a Raptor becuase our team was so bad like Mike James. Babcock would have signed Mike James to really long bad contract, we would be a lottery pick for the next 10 years. 10 years of Arujos!! That would be great.
Just stop with Rob Babcock
Stop
Shut the Fuck up about him
BC won executive of the year and turned this thing around. Is it perfect yet? Offcourse not. Is it a good team? Yes. Maybe a great one if one of our wings step up.
No please lets talk about real issues and not Babcok and BC that is just painful and crazy.
July 30th, 2008 at 3:21 pm
It’s interesting how certain people choose to ignore certain parts of what others have written on a particular subject, i.e. Rob Babcock.
Rob Babcock is NOT a top flight GM in the NBA.
(that’s in bold so you don’t miss it again)
Fact is, however, neither is Bryan Colangelo.
Reputation does not equal reality.
To claim that Rob Babcock may well have been able to put the Raptors in a better than Bryan Colangelo has them today … if Babcock had been allowed to follow his plan over the last 2 1/2 years … is NOT the same thing as claiming Rob Babcock IS a top flight GM in the NBA.
Please try to read carefully.
Please try to think logically.
Please try to keep an open mind, and think outside the box.
The Boston Celtics were bad for a good long while but they eventually hired Danny Ainge to be their GM, held onto the one STAR player they had, in Paul Pierce, accummulated a slew of top notch young talent and draft picks along the way, took a lot of public abuse, lost out on the Greg Oden/Kevin Durant Lottery … but then DID NOT MIS-FIRE WHEN IT CAME TIME TO ACQUIRE KEVIN GARNETT, RAY ALLEN + James Posey, Eddie House, PJ Brown & Sam Cassell in order to put a roster together that was good enough to win an NBA championship.
Jeez, louise.
khandors last blog post..The Art and Science of Hoops
July 30th, 2008 at 3:37 pm
Secondly …
re: Julius Erving
Who’s to say exactly what a man of his ilk would have been able to do with a storehouse of assets like this …
e.g.
Vince Carter was here
Antonio Davis was here
Chris Bosh was here
Jose Calderon was here
Charlie Villanueva was here
Joey Graham was here
with the
2006 NBA Draft - Andrea Bargnani, LaMarcus Aldridge, Tyrus Thomas, Brandon Roy, Rudy Gay, etc.
2007 NBA Draft - Greg Oden, Kevin Durant, etc.
2008 NBA Draft - Michael Beasley, Derrick Rose, etc.
on the horizon
… should he have been hired to run the Raptors franchise instead of Bryan Colangelo
AND/OR
Thirdly …
what exactly men like Wayne Embry & Michael Curry (for example) would have been able to accomplish since Feb/2006 if given the chance to operate this same franchise with those same assets in tow.
Would their teams have made the Playoffs in consecutive years?
Probably not.
But … they MIGHT still be BETTER OFF than where the Raptors sit today.
Regular season W’s and playoff appearances DO NOT necessarily equal an NBA Championship.
khandors last blog post..The Art and Science of Hoops
July 30th, 2008 at 7:20 pm
Khandor,
I’m fine with the Jermaine O Neal move because the necessary changes can be made. They haven’t been made by Colangelo and that ticks me off but he has the option to make them. He isn’t handcuffed here, he’s choosing not to make the play. The play is Andrea Bargnani and he can definitely bring in somebody who can upgrade this team out on the perimeter. The rest can be done slowly by role player changes in free agency.
Now if the Jermaine O Neal trade ruled out any possible moves it would be a failure from the first second it was made. But it doesn’t. Colangelo has options and he’s not taking them.
I would have preferred the team upgrade the perimeter and added an inside-outside combo with Bosh rather than another Big Man but it is what it is. Plus most of the wings the Raps were linked with (RJ, Gerald Wallace) would have added less than Jermaine can.
If Colangelo continues to refuse to make the follow up moves is it a failure? I don’t know if I like calling it that. It’s definitely a wasted opportunity and that’s how I see the Raptors upcoming season at the moment. It’s definitely a large negative on Colangelo’s resume but should the trade itself be considered a failure when the options were there? I don’t know. I don’t like picking on the trade in that scenario, I’ll pick on Colangelo and call the next non-move an utter failure but probably not the Jermaine trade itself.
If the follow up trade isn’t made and it certainly looks like it won’t ….. it still doesn’t change the Raptors future too much because Jermaine is only on the books for an extra 12 months and his contract expires in a summer with far more free agency options (although there’s a problem on the horizon here). In the meantime maybe Bargnani does learn a few things about how to play defense and rebound which would be a big plus so even in that middle-of-the-road land there could be progress of some kind. The only thing the club really lost is a first round pick and some time and they would have had to spend that time anyway if they didn’t make a large trade.
Daves last blog post..Bulls Keep Deng
July 30th, 2008 at 7:57 pm
Dave,
I agree with much of what you’ve written there.
At no point have I ever said that Bryan Colangelo is a bad GM. He is not.
Neither have I said that the trade for Jermaine O’Neal + Nathan Jawai in exchange for TJ Ford + Rasho Nesterovic + #17 was a terrible deal for Toronto.
Much along the lines of what you’ve said above … I see Colangelo’s entire tenure (thus far) in Toronto AND this specific trade as LOST OPPORTUNITIES for the Raptors to succeed in a major way by taking solid, important (madatory?) steps towards becoming a model franchise in the NBA with legitimate aspirations to lay claim to an NBA championship one day in the not-too-distant future.
In my book, having the options you’ve referred to above AND not exercising them repeatedly … is the equivalent of REFUSING to take the necessary steps to raise this franchise up to the required level to play with the Big Boys in this League, and … is worse IMO than not having the options to exercise at all.
If the Raptors are going to go down this road … i.e. with JO … you and I and, perhaps, countless others can see clearly what types of additional moves NEED to be made for this team to be transformed into Legit Contenda status … yet for some reason Bryan Colangelo has refused to take either the Phoenix Suns (before) or the Toronto Raptors (now) in that very direction.
I, for one, do not think for split second that this REFUSAL on his part is at all coincidental.
Do you?
If the Suns hold onto Joe Johnson instead of trading him to Atlanta for Boris Diaw … the last 3 years are completely different across in the NBA.
Going back further … if the Suns hold onto Jason Kidd instead of trading him to the New Jersey Nets for Stephon Marbury … the last 5 years are completely different across the NBA.
And finally, if the Suns hold onto Steve Nash instead of trading him to the Dallas Mavericks for Martin Muursapp (sp-?), et al. … the last 10 years are completely different across the NBA.
Bryan Colangelo had an array of assets in the Raptors’ cupboard Feb/2006 … in the midst of a season in which their team would eventually luck into the No. 1 (Overall) Draft Pick (2006)
as he had an array assets this off-season to substantially upgrade this team
and, IMO, to a large extent
both situations, thus far, have as yet failed to generate the type of moves which indicate to me that a NBA franchise he leads is capable of winning an NBA championship sometime down-the-road … which is a gigantic OPPORTUNITY LOST, as the pieces to the puzzle have defintely existed in Toronto during this time-frame.
khandors last blog post..Yao Ming or Andrew Bynum … You make the call
July 30th, 2008 at 8:38 pm
Khandor in his first year he won the executive of the year.
If Babcock was still here we would be on Oaklahoma or Las Vegas.
Stop hating on BC
His track record here is 2/2 with playoff aperances.
Any other Raptor GM does not match him on any level.
I am not saying he is the best GM ever or best GM now
But he is the Best GM we have ever had and brings a strong personality and a sense that this organization is a good one to play for, which we did not have with the past GM.
Think about that, If your team is looked upon like the Clippers then its a stigma that will not allow you to move forward.
Stop being so negative and enjoy the season enjoy it for what it will be.
Were a top team in the East. Where that will take us is now up to the players and the injuries gods.
Just Stop with that Babcock BS
We should never speak his name again.
You do make some good points but you seem to forget creditability
BC got it
Babcock had 0
Please don’t say his name again it really makes me suicidal and I am too young to die.
Give BC a chance dude. Give these wings a chance, Maybe Moon or Kapono comes up big this year and were a title contender.
July 30th, 2008 at 9:00 pm
RBS,
Did Danny Ainge have any credibility in your eyes PRIOR to last off-season and this past year? (after which he was named EOTY)
If you answer, “Yes”, then I would simply ask you to explain upon what basis you are making that claim?
If you answer, “No”, then I would ask you to explain what relevance you think being named a winner of the Executive Of The Year Award has towards a GM being able to lead his NBA franchise to a League championship (or not)?
Be aware that RC Buford/Gregg Popovich have yet to win this award … yet the Spurs have 4 NBA Championships to their credit under the direction of these men.
IMO, you need to read again what I’ve written here, re: Rob Babcock, cause you still don’t seem to understand the meaning of my words concerning him.
khandors last blog post..Yao Ming or Andrew Bynum … You make the call
July 30th, 2008 at 9:53 pm
and Damon Stoudamire won ROY his first year in Toronto. He turned that into an AllStar career, didn’t he?
Sam won COY and people were looking for his head less than 2 months into this season.
Wonder where BC ended up in voting this past season?
And, personally, I’d take Hoffa where he was selected rather than blowing a #1 pick on that dead horse BC selected.
Colangelo’s insane contract extensions and poor cap management has lead us to the situation we are in now….no money, no bench, no injury backups, no hope.
July 30th, 2008 at 10:08 pm
I don’t have any real issues with Colangelo’s management up until this summer.
As for GM’s and lost opportunities it’s a league wide problem. Make a list of contenders that are blowing their chances this summer, it’s a pretty big list. Everybody is victim to it.
Buford runs a very good front office down in San Antonio but there isn’t a doubt in my mind that the Spurs would have three-peated had they kept Stephen Jackson in town. Not only would they have three-peated but they’d still be the frontrunner for the title today. That’s 6 years of action he limited by not paying Jackson what he was worth and they’d probably be the frontrunner out West for another year or two after next season also. At this point I’ll roll comfortably into the Luis Scola trade …. and on and on. By the way, the Spurs are one of those teams on the list of wasted opportunities this summer.
Joe Dumars is a very good GM too but he has a long list of dirty laundry. As does Donnie Walsh and most others.
I like Colangelo. I think he’s one of the better GMs in the league today. I’m happy having him around.
Daves last blog post..Bulls Keep Deng
July 30th, 2008 at 10:19 pm
khandor: just out of curiosity…because i think that isiah wasn’t a bad gm for the raptors (he drafted like a champ, and made a couple shrewed moves). also, as far as his tenure with the knicks, i appreciated what he was doing with going for all that talent, he just picked the wrong GUY (making marubury the centerpiece was his the mistake imho).
so my question…
how much better do you honestly think the raptors would have been if he had bought them? at the time, i wasn’t a big fan of him getting axed, but after what happened in new york, my opinion has changed.
alt: i think it is a toss up between hoffa at 7 and bargnani at 1. i’ll tell you why:
hoffa showed nothing during his whole career, but bargnani shows that he can ball. selection of hoffa, if we held on to him instead of moving him to utah, would be that he would be off the books right now (i believe), translating into another asset bc could use (possibly not use and let walk losing out packaging him for more talent aka garbajosa).
July 30th, 2008 at 11:16 pm
Raps Fan,
When I would walk into the Raptors’ offices when the team was under the control of Zeke … there was no denying that the organization was committed to building an NBA championship team in Toronto.
You could disagree with certain things that happened on his watch but NOT his commitment to WINNING.
At the time there was a Mission Statement on the exterior office wall that read something like this:
(paraphrasing)
“It is the goal of this organization to win the NBA championship every year.”
That’s the mind-set of a former World Champion … at least, in my book.
That is clear-cut, straight-forward and doesn’t involve any type of corporate B.S./double-speak/profit-centered-motif/etc.
Do you think that Jerry West or Joe Dumars or Pat Riley or (even a fiscally responsible tandem like) RC Buford/Gregg Popovich share the same Mission Statement as MLSE/Bryan Colangelo?
I do not.
Zeke did a terrible job as the GM/head coach in New York … there’s no doubt about that.
However, if you read the comments of Jermaine O’Neal, re: Zeke and his experience playing under Isiah as the head coach of the Pacers, there seems to me to be a lot of respect there as well.
If Isiah Lord Thomas III had been installed as the owner of the Toronto Raptors … the position James Dolan has with the NY Knicks … there’s no doubt in my mind that the Raptors, as an organization, would be further along the continuum today which leads to an eventual NBA championship, in comparison to where they are under the ownership of MLSE.
Isiah Lord Thomas III is a winner.
He will rebound from his many setbacks … in part, because he has an unrelenting desire/need/commitment to win the NBA championship which few other individuals really truly have.
As does Julius Erving,
and Larry Bird (who will just keep building in Indiana).
As does Joe Dumars.
As did Pat Riley.
As did Jerry West.
As did Jack McCloskey.
As did Red Auerbach.
etc.
IMO, Zeke would eventually have been the owner of the team; Grunwald would have been the GM; and they would have tapped into their personal resources of contacts to find themselves a head coach who was capable of winning it all. It might have taken them a long to do it … but they would have eventually accomplished their goals in Toronto.
=====================
re: Hoffa
I share your feeling that the better long term move for the organization would have been to bite the bullet on him and NOT trade him to Utah for a player with the upside/downside of Kris Humphries, who Colangelo then choose to re-sign last season, AND then cut Hoffa loose at the end of his initial contract with the team in order to use that money as additional cap space.
Most NBA observers have no clue when it comes to understanding that having a player like Hoffa (quiet, hard-working, unassuming … and lousy) at the end of Utah’s bench two years ago was part (not the the whole reason!) the Jazz were able to turn their team around so effectively, in comparison to the previous year when they had a talented but rogue player like Kris Humphries (who I like a lot) sitting there mopping and being unhappy.
=====================
Building a championship organization does take time, so I have no real objection to the speed (slow or fast, depending on your specific perspective) the Raptors are moving at under their present Management Team … I just don’t see evidence of the type of coordinated individual moves being made that it takes to win an NBA championship down-the-road under the direction of MLSE.
khandors last blog post..Yao Ming or Andrew Bynum … You make the call
July 31st, 2008 at 12:04 pm
always so negative. am I the only raps fan out there that is optimistic? BC brought over Parker and Garbo and both those guys turned out great. they were big parts of the team that won the Atlantic and got the raps into the playoffs. too bad that Garbo got hurt and bought out, but Parker is a solid NBA player that at times this past season provided much needed secondary scoring. so if you had to grade BC’s track record with snatching guys from Europe I would give him an A-. it would be an A+ if Garbo wouldve stayed healthy and produced like he did in his rookie season.
I’m welcoming Soloman with open arms and applauding BC for bringing in a player with experience, instead of some head case North American player.
July 31st, 2008 at 1:33 pm
masterjuddi,
Always so positive … no matter what?
Do you know that John Wooden, the great UCLA coach, was observed to dole out 3 correctives (negatives?) of inter-active feedback for every 1 non-corrective (positive?) piece of information he conveyed to his players? (i.e. 3:1)
It’s always intriguing to see what others perceive to be ‘negative’ and what they perceive to be ‘positive’ information/feedback … especially in our society today which seems obsessed with being spoon-fed a steady diet of platitudes and (traditionally perceived) ‘positive’ affirmations as an effective means of motivation and/or an agent for change/improvement.
khandors last blog post..Yao Ming or Andrew Bynum … You make the call
August 1st, 2008 at 5:38 pm
hey khandor…I’m not always so positive. my opinions will be based on performance, but my general outlook on something I like (Raptors) will be positive until proven otherwise.
I dont know where you cut and pasted your last post from but I was pretty bored of it about 3 words in
go raps go
August 1st, 2008 at 9:21 pm
masterjuddi,
Information I learned many moons ago from original source material and then straight into the old cranium.
Not a stitch of cut & paste … which is not my style, btw … my friend.
Educational research I’m aware of also indicates that those inundated with positive affirmations have a shortened attentian span and are quickly bored.
khandors last blog post..Game Time: USA vs Turkey, Take I & II
August 3rd, 2008 at 12:24 am
i really dont c how BC is getting choped here, i mean a couple of years ago this guy was a godsend, and by getting 2 gaurds for the euro league(roko ukic, solomon) and getting jermaine i dont no y so many ppl r agaisnt him. and y r ppl saying we need perimeter defence we got parker he is one of the best wing defenders.
August 3rd, 2008 at 12:25 am
and some1 explain our “lost oppurtunites”
August 3rd, 2008 at 11:33 am
I do want to make a point about Andrea. Everybody has written him off, but everyone has a short memory his first year.
His first year he had a very good season and an excellent post season. Everybody, including myself thought he was good for 20-10 (more likely 20-5) for his second season.
So he had a stinker last year, he was asked to play center, he had issues with his breathing, and lastly he wasn’t hitting his shot….. If he played a quarter of his potential we would have been past the first round.
This year, is his year to prove everybody right or everybody wrong…… If Andrea plays like he did in the post season we’re off to the eastern conference - no questions asked……
And some say I’m overly positive - drinking the Raptor Kool Aide - And my response is damn right! It requires no intelligence to critisize, everybody can make excellent decision with the benefit of 20-20 insight -after the fact.
“I told you so” people live mariginal lives with no significant contributions to society. “I told you so people”, would ensure we live in the jungle swinging from trees. Because they didn’t want to take a chance and cut the trees down to build houses and eventually cities.
Negativity is the reason our water is tainted with anti-depressants. Try to focus on positives it ends up making people like you better and will improve your home life.
Smiles!
August 3rd, 2008 at 12:22 pm
raptors champ,
‘Treadmill’ teams rarely, if ever, make their way to the top of the NBA.
When Colangelo started in Feb/2006 … some believe the building blocks necessary to (eventually) create a championship team in Toronto have been there and despite 2 years of improved play in the regular season, in reality, the Raptors are no closer to ever winning an NBA championship than they were on that date (2 1/2 seasons ago) … and, in fact, may be further away, relative to the other legitimate contenders in today’s NBA (e.g. in terms of high end talent, depth of talent, available Cap Space, up-coming draft picks, coaching, etc.).
IMO, ‘Opportunities Lost’ refers to what might/SHOULD have been given the resources which have been/are available to the Raptors Basketball Club and if they’ve been MAXIMIZED (or not) to this point.
khandors last blog post..Game Time: USA vs Turkey, Take I & II
August 3rd, 2008 at 12:33 pm
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re: It requires no intelligence to critisize,
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I disagree. ‘Critical thought’ is the reason ‘progress’ is made in a society … not unwarranted ‘positives’.
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re: everybody can make excellent decision with the benefit of 20-20 insight -after the fact.
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I agree … which, in part, is the reason my critical thought occurs before an event occurs, in addition to a post-event evaluation of the eventual/actual outcome.
Accurate observation/feedback is the foundation for improvement, nothing more and nothing less.
khandors last blog post..Game Time: USA vs Turkey, Take I & II
August 7th, 2008 at 3:33 am
khandor ur crazy if u think we r farther of being than champs since 2 years ago, and i still dont think we lost any opportunituies other than some little work on our d we should be fine