Part of the fun of combing the web every morning looking for Raptors related material for our Linkage posts is coming across differing opinions of the club, in all its aspects. Colangelo has gone from Golden Boy to Question Mark in some circles. Sam Mitchell has gone from a person who got the best out of what he had to a coach better suited for the local YMCA. The team started off as being labelled the deepest we have ever had to a squad scrambling looking for someone to be Bosh’s right hand man.
I took some heat when I called this team mediocre back in February, but more and more I see that label popping up and being applied to this team. Personally, I don’t see how you can argue otherwise when the team is playing .500 ball with a dozen games left in the season, never mind re-stating the preseason pundits thoughts of a 50 win season.
In our own AltRaps poll you see to the right of this article, only 20% of respondents are happy with the progress of this team. That is a pretty jarring response from a very expectant fan base. If this season is to be looked at as unsuccessful in moving this team further along the road to a championship, who needs to step up and admit fault?
Upper Management: To say I’ve been skeptical of Bryan Colangelo ever since his choice of Bargnani is an understatement. Even in the glowing success of last years regular season, I still felt something was off. My AltRaps brothers that were with me at the draft party at ACC heard me wail like a clubbed seal when his name was uttered by Stern. Still, with Gherardini on board, I was willing to cut BC some slack and allow him to steer the ship. Did we overachieve last year? Absolutely, but it was fun to do it. If the Cinderella season could get better, we would met our arch-nemesis in the playoffs. Sure enough, we did. If ever you could write the perfect play about this franchise, this would be it: new GM, cap space, #1 pick, some holes to fill and the power & ability to do so. Get your first division crown and face your ex-player in the playoffs in front of thousands of adoring (and hateful) fans. What better motivation could be asked for? Evidently it wasn’t enough as we were served some warm humble pie and sent on our way.Certain weaknesses were shown and with MoPete on the bubble, we had the opportunity to address some, if not all, of them. Like your typical Canadian, I’m willing to wait and see where the summers signings, extensions, and dismissals take us down the road, but in this past season, we have regressed as a club and no fixes were applied…nor could they be due to our desire as a club to stay away from the luxury tax. I firmly believe, however, that Gherardini taking over the personnel reigns would prove more successful moving forward. He has a proven history of producing winners, albeit not in the NBA, and my faith in him would be unwavering. BC’s style of play didn’t work out of the gate and it still has proven folly in his stay in Toronto.
Coaching: To this day, I still believe we are undermanned on the bench. I see teams come through Toronto with something resembling the size of a flag football team as a coaching staff. It’s apparent that we need a defensive specialist on this team. Triano is about as deep as it gets for us in that respect, and that is not saying much. Also, while I admire the idea of having the assistants be responsible for different opposing teams, I’m not sure that is playing to their strengths. Do I want Alex English, a Hall of Fame player, scouting Atlanta or working with AP and TJ on their jumpers and moves to the basket? I still think you hire 3-4 basketball minds and divide up the league between them. When we play their team, they sit behind the coaches during the game and keep pumping them with info on what to expect on the floor. Sam continually gets heat for substitution patterns and play calling, but unless he is a great actor, his reaction on the sidelines makes me think that some of those plays we see the team “run” aren’t in his playbook. Whether it’s guys forgetting the play called for them or the fact that you talk and talk and nobody executes, you can only play the hand you are dealt. If it’s a weak hand, the best way to counterattack is to know your enemy. To me, it appears that we know about 60-70% of what the opposition is bringing every night and the remaining 30% coupled with our lack of talent combines for exactly what we are: mediocre.
Players: As a club, and as fans, we have been really fortunate over the past few years. For any drawbacks we may bring up, we have been blessed with good character guys. Very little, if any, public fingerpointing, no real flare-ups, and a group of guys that seem to gel around their wounded. The ongoing verbal show of support of TJ by his teammates, especially when he’s had his on-court tantrums, has been nothing short of amazing. You almost get the feeling that some of these guys put on their PJs when on the road and hang-out in one big suite, order room service and watch Sleepless in Seattle. Seeing how they carry themselves out at team functions makes you feel like the actually care. That said, what happens in the fourth quarter stretch? What happens when their ships captain goes down to injury? Why are players forgetting plays? Why don’t they physically stand up for one another when one of their own is manhandled? Time and again we hear commentators and bloggers state that some of our players are just not doing the fundamentals like boxing out, driving the ball, helping out on the defensive end. These are professional ballplayers. Granted, you can’t be great at everything, but a strong effort goes a long way to making your teammates feel you are there for them. Taking games off early in the season is somewhat excusable as you get accustomed to where your guys will be on the floor and how you fit in, but not with 20 games left in a playoff race. Maybe some of our goodnatured players need to find some of their bad side and raise their voice from soft to loud from time to time and make sure their buddies know they should be in it to win it.
So, who do you blame? If the team makes it to the second round, is all of this forgotten? Is Sam a better coach, BC a better GM, TJ back to being a starter, Delfino still a steal? I, for one, don’t think so. What you do over the stretch of 82 games is much more important than what you do in 7, 14, 21, 28. Even given my belief that we won our first banner by playing on the misfortunes of others, I think we as fans, players, and management need to step back for a few minutes, look at that piece of cloth, and re-align our sights. We need to address our needs in the offseason, no matter the outcome of this years playoffs.
As an organization, we did a poor job of defending what we fought long and hard to get. We need to re-load for next year and fight to get another banner and make a run into the stomach of the NBA Playoffs.
Anything short of a complete bounceback from mediocrity should be reason to call for a complete overhaul of this franchise.
Related posts:
i agree that if the team achieves a second round appearance, that all should not be forgotten. we got into trouble with that last year when smitch stole coy. had he not won that award, that wretched useless award, we could have brought in a coach (doug collins, jvd, adelman, iavaroni, anyone else) that had the coaching ability to take a good team, and give them options on the offensive and/or defensive end.
without next seasons cap flexibility bc will have to earn his keep this summer, whatever that means. hopefully a 3 for 1 this summer, maintain the same salary cap, add a couple minimum contract guys to sit at the end of the bench on one year contracts, go 8 deep for 08-09, and bring in another marquee player, or a couple SOLID role players when there is the cap space next summer. just an idea.
Raps Fan’s last blog post..Sam Mitchell/George Karl – Raps/Nuggets – Mar. 23/08
man, I read “jvd” in your comment as “jyd” and thought you were pitching Jerome Williams for coach. I was going to say you lost it completely…
Thank God for typos.
Scott’s last blog post..Who Stands Up?
lol, i’m not that delusional bro.
Raps Fan’s last blog post..Sam Mitchell/George Karl – Raps/Nuggets – Mar. 23/08
Great post, Scott — you really went beyond scratching the surface here.
I take great pleasure in demolishing the trade fantasies of others, but here’s one that would work for the Raptors: one of the two PGs (it’s obvious which one I’d rather have) for Andres Nocioni. I guarantee that you’d never be wondering when someone’s going to stand up for his teammates again, for one. He’d be great on offense in Toronto’s system, too.
Of couse, that’d give the Bulls like 9 guards, but I can’t imagine any scenario in which Chris Duhon and one of Ben Gordon and Kirk Hinrich aren’t gone by July anyway.
Scott,
I’ve read a lot of your posts and blogs over the years, and this was one of the best. I agree with just about everything you say, but I’m not 100% sold on Gherardini. Do you think he knows the NBA game well enough to find diamonds in the rough here? Do you think he’ll re-focus our team on a European style of play (that will work)? I’m not convinced, but I’m willing to give him a shot.
GG,
Regarding your comment on Noc, I really like the guy. His contract is a bit pricey, but if it’s him for Ford I do this deal in a second (can it work with the BYC)? It seems he’s hit his boiling point in Chicago, and who can really blame him?
Spudz’s last blog post..Lolita | Vladimir Nabokov
GWG, it would be interesting to see if Nocioni would thrive in the European brotherhood here. I have to admit that if he carried himself well, he could become a fan favourite. Just don’t know if he has that aspect in him? He seems like a Kapono personality type…great on the floor, a bit of a hobbit off it.
Spudz, I’m truthfully torn on Maurizio in that, in many respects, he is already responsible for a lot of the talent on this team. That said, I’m assuming he didn’t sign TJ or Kris to their extensions or think that what we paid Maceo or Jason was fair market value. These moves are as much a concern as the rest. He has the pedigree of a champion and is considered to be someone that can build a team from the ground up. As Khandor has pointed out on his blog in much better ways than I can, the same can’t be said for BC….at least not yet.
Also, remember, Ford’s BYC disappears on July 1, so that leash will be taken off him.
I nodded a lot while I was reading this, but one comment Grange made today keeps going through my head: they are the youngest (experience-wise) team in the east. Young teams take more time to get their shit together — probably more time than the Raptor nation wants to give them.
Ellie,
I might agree with that, except for the fact that, pre-Primoz, this team wasn’t all that much different from trade deadline forward last year. Kapono is an experienced NBAer. Delfino has experience, granted not too much playing time. Jamario was a fresh one. Other than that, not much has changed.
Moon and Delfino had to get their footing, I’ll give you that, but both did so pretty quickly and played to their expectations and Moon exceeded his.
That said, everybody else has almost 2 seasons under their belt. How much more do you need?
In all fairness, whom on this team do you feel has the ability to play much better than they already are, on a consistent basis?
To me, maybe Andrea and Jamario. I think what we are getting out of AP and Rasho currently is about all they can give us. Kapono can do marginally better.
That is a question that may need some tough answers.
Ellie,
Also, it should be noted that, as of opening night, we were the 3rd oldest in the East in terms of age.
So I guess that means we have a bunch of inexperienced old guys.
They may be young but it’s not like anyone outside of Bargnani is wet behind the ears. Most are a couple of years shy of when your average NBA’er will peak, but you can see pretty clearly what they’ll be now.
Scott, re: Nocioni, he’s got one of the most mild-mannered off the court demeanors of any player I can remember. When he was told he was left off the rookie-sophomore squads midway through his freshman year, he laughed hysterically. I’d probably compare him to Garbo — they were both already men when they came into the league.
Re: the outburst, it’s clear nobody takes the coach seriously. I’m gonna guess that if Pat Riley or Jerry Sloan sits your ass down for a 20 minute stretch, you take it. When Jim Boylan does it, it’s just ridiculous. Putting in an interim coach was the worst possible thing Paxson could have done, and it’s done nothing but waste time for the last three months, when his eventual successor could have been evaluating talent ahead of this summer.
I just re-read my response above to you, GWG, and it is disjointed. What I meant to say was if he brought intensity on the floor and swagger off it, he could take this city by storm. I have seen enough of him on the court that I think he would fit in well and maybe contribute enough to pull out three or four extra wins a season, I just don’t know if he has that off-court swagger thing. I know I’m asking a lot, but this city thrives with guys they can relate to, which is one reason I think Kapono is having a rough go: he’s the type that comes off as just wanting to play and go home. “We” don’t like those types. We want them to play the game and then come to a club and dance with us later on.
Speaking of Garbo, I can’t wait to see what happens next season. I’m interested to see if his lack of minutes continues.
Scott,
Kudos for your detailed account re: the current situation with the Raptors.
That said, there are still a few individual points with which I disagree.
Will save the bulk of these for another time & place.
Know however that, at this point, I would not differentiate between Gherardini from Mitchell-Angelo.
What it takes to construct an NBA titleist is not the same thing as winning consistently in the Euro League.
—————————————–
GWG,
As a former PG, IMO, no way John Paxson would make the deal you’re proposing. Wishful thinking, yes, but not realistic.
IMO … Ford is now damaged goods in the eyes of a competent GM, in the NBA.
A potential trading partner might be someone like Kevin McHale/Minnesota, Rod Higgins/Charlotte or Danny Ferry/Cleveland.
—————————————–
sdp04,
Sincere thanks for the plug.
—————————————–
The ‘05-06 W-L record of this team was 27-55.
The ‘06-07 W-L record was 47-35, including a 1st Rd playoff exit.
The ‘07-08 W-L record was always going to be somewhere around the .500 mark … including an expectation that CB4 was probably going to incur an injury of some sort along the way.
The problems I see … however … are much more ingrained into the fabric of the franchise than that.
khandor’s last blog post..Round and round the Raptors go
Depends on what other deals are in the works and what the Raptors are willing to take back, quite honestly. And no, I’m not wishing Larry “Jesus Christ What The Hell Is This Guy Doing On My team” Hughes on you — I wouldn’t wish that on someone that broke into my house and took a crap in my refrigerator — but it’s not out of the realm of possibility. Unfortunately, the ONLY two guys I actually think are worth preserving in one form or another next season both play the same position — and I’m more comfortable with keeping Nocioni than even Deng at this point. Some of us had dreams of stardom for the latter, but after this year, I’m seeing something closer to Derrick McKey.
Fair enough, Khandor, and an argument I agree with. Success in one league does not beget success in another. Some may even question my desire to see Gherardini take control given the fact that he is responsible for many of the weak-links I have pointed to in the past.
All I can say is that I believe that Maurizio has a better eye for talent and the make up of a team than Colangelo. If we are going to be mired in 2-3 years of mediocrity, then let it be in the hands of a builder, not someone that has been dragged from his fathers bosom. Someone who talks out of the middle of his mouth, not from both sides.
Scott’s last blog post..Raptors Roll Call March 26 vs Pistons