Linkage - April 30
If anyone had any doubts as to whether the Raptors could keep both Ford and Calderon next season, they were all but eliminated when each emerged from year-end exit meetings to face the media in the wake of Toronto’s opening-round playoff loss to the Orlando Magic.
Financially, it makes no sense to keep both around and now philosophically it makes absolutely no sense.
“See you guys next season,” Ford said after his grilling by reporters, his sly smile all but revealing that his time in Toronto is all but over.
For what it’s worth, Colangelo is going to allow the process to unfold, which in this case involves an opposing team to make an offer sheet for Calderon, who becomes a restricted free agent on July 1.
There will be plenty of suitors, beginning with the point guard-poor Miami Heat, who also could use Calderon’s Spanish heritage to spread the basketball gospel throughout south Florida.
Colangelo understands and applauds Ford’s desire to be No. 1, but at the same time Colangelo is going to do what’s best for the Raptors.
“At the end of the day it’s how can he and Jose co-exist,” Colangelo said. “If, in fact, that’s a possibility.”
Colangelo then added some very telling words.
“It’s a very safe assumption that Jose will be back in a Raptor uniform.”
“I want to win,” Calderon said. “I want to win a ring and a championship. I respect his (Ford’s) opinions.
“I feel I’m Jose. I want to be on a winning team. I want to be with players who are at least on the same level as you, where you fight for minutes.”
As long as Jorge Garbajosa is under contract with the Raptors, the Spaniard will not be able to represent his country at the Olympics this summer. Colangelo made that abundantly clear, at the same time acknowledging the huge void Garbajosa left in the Raptors lineup as a result of a left leg injury which he originally suffered on March 26, 2007.
The Raptors are doomed to years of Leafesque mediocrity unless general manager Bryan Colangelo makes a daring move or two in the off-season.
And one of those moves has to involve Andrea Bargnani.
The Raptors either have to trade the big Italian and get something valuable in return, which would be difficult given his rather mediocre season. Or they have to figure out a way, once and for all, to light a fire under his sedere and convince him that his game doesn’t begin and end with his jump shot.
Because as long as Bargnani continues to under- achieve, the Raptors, as a team, will continue to be a middle-of-the-road club.
But don’t count on Colangelo trading him. Dealing Bargnani at this point would be tantamount to admitting that he was the wrong pick in the 2006 draft. And quite frankly, the Raptors probably wouldn’t get a lot back.
The key for Colangelo and the Raptors is to figure out a way to get into Bargnani’s head and convince him that when the jump shots aren’t falling, he has to get his nose dirty and play with his back against the basket and rebound.
And no Big Man camp in Las Vegas or weeks spent with John Lucas this summer will turn Bargnani into a good rebounder or a tough guy. Only Bargnani can do that.
“With his talent level, he can definitely improve his game. It’s on him. It rests on his shoulders,” Bosh said. “If he puts the forth the effort, I think he can do great things.”
That’s the key — if he puts forth the effort.
“If he doesn’t work, it’s not going to happen,” Bosh admitted. “Some nights, if he doesn’t shoot the ball well, he’s not a factor. He has to develop the mentality to get down low. Because he’s seven-feet. Get down low, get some easy baskets, block some shots, get some rebounds — be a force in the game even if you’re not making shots.”
If Bargnani takes heed of all that, and develops into a Dirk Nowitzki-type player, the Raptors will become an elite team. If he doesn’t raise his game, just qualifying for the playoffs in the years ahead will become a problem for this team.
“We need to do a better job nurturing what we have, and not just Andrea Bargnani,” Colangelo said.
“I have absolutely no intention of making a coaching change at this time,” Colangelo said yesterday.
Take note of those last three words.
“Nobody should be looking at Sam Mitchell and saying it’s entirely his fault, or he’s facing a firing or a buyout,” Colangelo said.
“All of that is absolute speculation and it’s also storytelling, more than anything,” he added.
“Do any of us have the right to expect anything other than to be treated fairly?” Mitchell said. “If Pat Riley called tomorrow and said ‘I want to coach’, would Bryan Colangelo listen? I would hope so. I would think he would. It’s Pat Riley,” Mitchell added.
“I say this with a straight face. As a coach, all you can do is do your job to the best of your ability. I have no complaints, other than I wish we were still playing,” he said.
President and general manager Bryan Colangelo finds it “absolutely ludicrous” that there would be suggestions he’s going to fire Mitchell and replace him with Phoenix head coach Mike D’Antoni, who is still actually working for the Suns.
“Let’s suffice it to say, all things should be put to rest right now when I say that I have absolutely no intention to make a coaching change at this time,” Colangelo said after wrapping up an afternoon of exit interviews with the players.
“When you talk about the scenarios that have been brought up and the speculation on whether or not a first-round playoff loss would result in Sam’s ouster, all of that is absolute speculation and it’s also story-telling more than anything.”
“Nobody should be looking at Sam Mitchell and be saying it’s entirely his fault or he’s facing firing or a buyout. … He’s the coach of this basketball team and, as of (Monday) night, we just gave a pretty solid effort in five games against a pretty good (Orlando) basketball team.”
Calling the just-finished season “a disappointment,” the GM said the team’s needs are hardly a secret. The Raptors didn’t defend well enough, didn’t rebound well enough, weren’t athletic enough and didn’t have the necessary parts to ease the load on their best player.
“This is the sum of it all: we need to get some more help for Chris Bosh,” he said. “Whether it’s protecting him inside in the paint, getting a little bit more of a presence in there, to just getting him another scorer that’s going to shoulder some of that burden, it’s something that’s clear we have to get better.”
Calderon, who likewise said he was happy with his season personally, said he wants to return to Toronto, that he just wants to do whatever it takes to make the team a winner and that he doesn’t care if he starts or Ford starts, as long as the team wins.
“Now I feel I must do something big for this team,” he said, apparently fully expecting, as do others, that the Raptors will match whatever free-agent offers he receives and retain his services.
The strength of the tandem was their difference; Ford remains the quickest Raptor, able to break down defences and penetrate, but too often could lose control. Calderon could turn a corner, too, and is a better shooter from a distance, but can’t rival Ford’s speed or defence. That’s when Ford is in the mood, which wasn’t always.
If you remove one from the mix, though, who says the other necessarily advances?
Of all the moves he faces, this one might test Colangelo the most.
Now the picture’s complicated. Bosh remains the centrepiece, and he’s a good one. But Ford proved he cannot co-exist with Calderon this season unless Ford is the starter. And since the club has stated its intention to re-sign Calderon – and Calderon, who will be a restricted free agent this summer, has proven he’s worthy of starting in the league – it’s imperative Ford be moved.
As for Bargnani, the 22-year-old Roman already written off as a lost cause in impatient corners, we’ll find out soon enough how badly he wants to be a long-time NBAer. Judging from his typical facial expression, he’d rather be a cobbler in Calabria or a vintner in the Veneto, perhaps a weaver of baskets more than a shooter of them. And though the skeptics have been assured his passionless visage and pat phrases in Italian and English aren’t indicative of the fire that burns within, evidence has yet to appear.
Still, the excuses keep getting made. Yesterday, Sam Mitchell, the coddle-nobody coach, said he needs to bear some of the blame for the stalled career. Colangelo, in saying the club needs to do a better job “nurturing what we have here,” questioned the coach while calling speculation of a coaching change “ludicrous.” That’s probably true but for a special set of circumstances – say, Phoenix’s Mike D’Antoni becoming available and Mitchell finding quick employment elsewhere – because the only thing that is not speculation in the chatter is Mitchell’s buyout price, which is about $9.5 million.
And there are other concerns inside the lines. Bosh has laid out the weaknesses as concisely as anyone these past couple of days. Defence, rebounding, finding ways to score other than jump shots … only almost everything. In other words: Thanks for the $13 million, Mr. Colangelo. Is there anything left over for better teammates?”
The answer, aside from the real possibility of a bold trade using summertime assets such as the expiring-in-2009 contracts of Rasho Nesterovic, Jorge Garbajosa and Anthony Parker, is no. That’s why internal improvement will be key in carving out an identity. Seven months ago the Raptors were billing themselves as young and on the upswing. Now they might best be described as Bosh and the Talent Drop-Off. It’s up to Colangelo and Bargnani et al to bridge the chasm.
If you put your scrutiny on every coach in the league like you did Sam this year – substitution patterns, post-game comments (as if they have anything to do with anything), lineups – everyone’s going to come up short. A lot.
The fact is, they’ve been in the playoffs two years, the players play hard for him and he does – despite your opinions – know what he’s doing tactically. I’m pretty sure many of you missed the fact they did things like change coverages on pick and roll a couple of times a game to throw the Magic off (going under fo ra quarter or so, a hard shot for the next quarter or show, pre-rotating every now and then). That’s the kind of small thing that goes unnoticed too often.
Sit back and make an honest, honest assessment of the roster and tell me, as it turns out, that this was more than a .500 team no matter if Red Auerbach coached it.
There’ll be big changes in Dallas and Denver, I assume, Chicago has some major issues to deal with, I think Joe Dumars might realize this is the last run for Detroit and I imagine John Hammon in Milwaukee’s going to make some moves.
Could be a very cool summer.
How much do these guys get involved? I’d say lots. But when?
“The process began at the beginning of training camp and it’ll end probably some time in mid-July or sometime later,” was how Bryan put it yesterday.
The Raptors will have the so-called mid-level salary cap exception (likely about $5.6 million) to spend this summer on free agents. Here’s a look at some possibilities:
Restricted
(Teams can match any offer they get)
Josh Smith, Atlanta
Rony Turiaf, L.A. Lakers
Emeka Okafor, Charlotte
Luol Deng, Chicago
Ben Gordon, Chicago
Monta Ellis, Golden State
Craig Smith, Minnesota
Unrestricted
(Can sign anywhere)
Mickael Pietrus, Golden State
Bostjan Nachbar, New Jersey
Antawn Jamison, Washington
Roger Mason, Jr., Washington
DeSagana Diop, New Jersey
Eduardo Najera, Denver
Beno Udrih, Sacramento
Who do they get? Probably not an all-star but likely a viable piece.
You know who’s smart? Anthony Parker’s smart. Everyone knows that changes are coming and with his contract expiring at the end of next season and his steady production coveted by teams looking for a solid player and good citizen, it’s entirely possible he’s played his last game as a Raptor.
And when asked about it, he was forthright. And we appreciate it.
“It’s a business. It’s a business first. I love the organization here: The people that work in it, the team that I play for, and the coaching staff. I love coming here and it’s not something that I dread. I know a lot of situations aren’t like that. There are not a lot of situations like this in the NBA. But it’s a business. Like you said, maybe my situation might be attractive to somebody. Mr. Colangelo, if it makes the team better here in Toronto, I expect him to do his job.”
Classy dude.
“I don’t think we’re far at all [from being a top team in the conference]. We’ve just got to make a couple of moves, we have to get better as a team. If we keep a positive mind frame and just continue to think about getting better every day, it can bee soon as next year or the year after.”
“Sometimes, he struggled with his shot, and some nights when he doesn’t shoot the ball well, he’s not a factor,” Bosh said. “He has to develop the mentality to get down low, get some easy baskets, block some shots, get some rebounds. Be a force in the game if you’re not making shots. That’s how you have to be. You have to play defence, you have to rebound, you have to always be a factor. If your shot’s not falling, that doesn’t take away your success in the game.”
Jim Labumbard has run the Raptors media relations operation for about a decade I’m guessing, and I have never heard a reporter or any other media member say anything other than “Jim’s the best.” Finally the rest of the league figured it out and Jim was voted media relations executive of the year by the Basketball Writers Association, an announcement that came down yesterday.
downplays Toronto as a soft landing, writing: “There has also been whispers of D’Antoni’s taking over in Toronto, where Sam Mitchell’s coaching future is an ongoing discussion and where Bryan Colangelo, D’Antoni’s former boss in Phoenix and still a close friend, is calling the shots. But Toronto doesn’t seem as comfortable a fit for D’Antoni as Chicago or even New York. Don’t look for that to happen.”
A club president spends $24-million (U.S.) on Jason Kapono, only to see his coach forget about him for most of the second half of the season. When Kapono comes alive against the Magic and finishes the postseason as the team’s second most dangerous offensive threat, is Mitchell right to wonder where he was hiding all season, or is the president right to say, “On your bench?”
When Andrea Bargnani, the president’s No.1 pick in the 2006 draft, flounders and regresses as the season goes on, was the coach right to adopt a sink-or-swim approach to the 22-year-old’s development? Even Mitchell wonders about that. “Maybe I should have pulled back a little bit,” he said.
Which adds weight to the president’s doubts that tough love was the right brand of affection for an underachiever he staked his professional reputation on.
For Bargnani to develop, he’s going to have to stop being a momma’s boy - that description comes from several team insiders - and take responsibility for himself. And his coach is going to have to take some of that responsibility, too.
“We still feel very confident that Andrea is going to be the guy we think he can be … Maybe physically he wasn’t ready to play the centre spot. Maybe I should have brought him off the bench. I was a big advocate of throwing Andrea out there and letting him start and getting his feet wet. Maybe I should have pulled back a little bit, because I wanted it for him right now.”
One source said Tuesday, “Is Sam safe? Yes. But will things be run differently? Yes. If you buy in, you’ll be around. If not …”
The central question may be about developing the franchise’s most mysterious and promising asset. Colangelo still has faith in Bargnani, as do much of the front office and opposing scouts. But by season’s end, he resembled an NBA player only in silhouette.
Along with the T.J. Ford mini-drama, it was the central story of this long and draining season. It will occupy centre stage next season, too.
“My biggest disappointment is that we didn’t get better,” Toronto Raptors president and general manager Bryan Colangelo said. “The fans deserved more, the organization deserved more.”
“The goal is to take that next step. In order to do that, something is probably going to have to change as long as it makes the team better,” said Anthony Parker, owner of one of those expiring contracts. “If there’s an opportunity to try and make the team better, I’m sure Bryan will pull the trigger.”
National Post writers Bruce Arthur and Eric Koreen grade the 2007-08 edition of the Toronto Raptors:
Taken at face value, that actually would work out better for Walsh. Less competition for D’Antoni, who I feel is the better selection than Mitchell and could really give leading candidate Mark Jackson a run for his money.
However, Colangelo loves D’Antoni and made his statement before the Suns were ousted by the Spurs. So maybe this Knicks coaching search will get a little more interesting than listening to Patrick Ewing whine about not getting called for an interview. With all due respect, Patrick, you were never a leader as a player. Why would you be considered a leader as a coach?
There is an intriguing chessboard of coaching moves that could play out this spring. The wild card could be the ever-deteriorating relationship between Toronto Raptors GM Bryan Colangelo and his coach, Sam Mitchell. Multiple sources describe a season of constant confrontations, with Colangelo relentlessly challenging Mitchell’s strategies and preparation and harsh handling of 2007 No. 1 overall draft pick Andrea Bargnani.
After the Raptors went down 3-1 to Orlando on Saturday, sources said Colangelo flipped out over learning that Mitchell played a round of golf the following day. Mitchell was left to wonder who snitched, and on and on it goes. They are such different people, with different backgrounds and Mitchell’s belief system, rooted in old-school American basketball, never has meshed with the GM’s Euro philosophy.
Colangelo told reporters in Toronto on Tuesday that he didn’t plan on making a coaching change “at this time,” an endorsement. For now, the two years and guaranteed $9 million left on Mitchell’s deal make him tough to fire.
Colangelo tried to lowball Mitchell on a contract extension a year ago, but the threat of the NBA coach of the year leaving Toronto for Charlotte or Indiana eventually earned Mitchell his extension. Yet New York Knicks GM Donnie Walsh loves Mitchell, an old Pacer, and is closely monitoring circumstances in Toronto. Walsh has been leaning toward Mark Jackson throughout his search process, but suddenly a five-game loss to Orlando in the Eastern Conference playoffs and the crumbling relationship with Colangelo could make Mitchell a candidate for a Raiders-Buccaneers Gruden-esque trade with the Knicks.
“Sam is the perfect guy to kick (Eddy) Curry and (Zach) Randolph in the ass and get something out of them,” a rival Eastern Conference executive said. “Donnie loves tough guys, and that’s why he loves Sam.”
A year ago, Colangelo had his eye on Marc Iavaroni, the Suns assistant, but who would’ve thought that Mike D’Antoni could become available? Colangelo hired D’Antoni with the Suns and constructed that roster, and they see the game through the international basketball prism. If Toronto is available as a soft landing spot for D’Antoni, perhaps he beats the posse out of the desert this year instead of next.
Even though they lost to the Orlando Magic, the Toronto Raptors deserve praise for the way they competed every game — every minute — until the very end of their first-round series. No pouting, no throwing in the towel, no cheap trash-talking. That speaks to the character of the players on their roster and to their coach, who got his team to continue to play hard.
Chris Bosh, in particular, deserves to be commended. He is the biggest name on the Raptors’ roster, and he often got the assignment of trying to slow Dwight Howard, who he gave up at least an inch in height and probably close to 50 pounds to. He played well and didn’t let the difference in size between the two all-stars keep him from putting up big numbers and leading his team.
But most of all, when it was all over, he stood tall when he spoke to the media and gave refreshing postgame and day-after comments. He didn’t complain about the unfairness of it all or how he didn’t have enough help or accuse anyone of quitting — as we have seen some players do in the past. He praised the Magic for what they did well, and he talked matter-of-factly about what the Raptors will need to do to try to advance themselves next season.
“This year has been tough,” Bosh said Tuesday after cleaning out his locker. “We raised the bar for ourselves last year, and we kind of took a step back. That just shows we’re human, that just shows we always have to be on edge, we always have to have a chip on our shoulder and continue to work hard. We always want to elevate our game, we don’t want to take any steps back.”
And for the record, that is a concern for all teams — no matter how much improvement they show in a season or how deep they go in the playoffs. The changes that we are seeing since the end of the regular season alone show how vibrant of a league the NBA is and how the teams that did not perform as well in the Eastern Conference are taking steps now to try to make sure that someone else has to sit home next season during the playoffs. Teams and their players, no matter how successful, cannot become complacent.
If Sam Mitchell is ever going to be replaced as the Head Coach for the Toronto Raptors, under the watch of GM Bryan Colangelo, history indicates that such a move would most likely take place during the Regular Season … should their team be perceived to be under-achieving sometime after reaching the 20 games played mark.
The major thing to me is that both point guards need to improve on the defensive end of the floor. I honestly feel it is a major mistake to move Ford in the offseason. There is no rush to make this deal. Despite what you may read. You also read that Sam Mitchell was getting fired and that day may come but it is not coming soon. Same thing may apply to the trading of T.J Ford. No one knows what Roko Ukic is or will be. Till we have an understanding of that you can not risk trading Ford in my opinion. Ukic as well will not address the major concern for me at the point guard postion which is defence. He is tall and could develop into a good defender but in year one in the NBA will that happen? Seems very unlikely.
Who is to blame? Without a doubt I hold players responsible. Orlando is a better team than the Raptors, but there is no way the Raps should have taken a 4 to 1 beating, they way they did. But the people most responsible in my book are the ones making the decisions (Owners, GM, Upper Management). Going with the dream that they had acquired the next Dirk Nowitzki, was just that… a dream. The Raptor management always kill me with some of the trades and acquisitions they have made in the past, present and I’m sure their will be more in the future. With their track record, I’ll be looking for a Bosh for Mutumbo trade in the near future, unless of course they can bring Patrick Ewing out of retirement! LOL! Good Luck next season Toronto!
- What’s The Word On The Street
Apr 30th, 2008 at 4:34 pm
Maybe BC has learned that of our two point guards… Calderon needs to be retained and Ford is expendable if someone will take him. I think SOMEONE will.
Spudzs last blog post..Earth Hour | March 29th 8pm
Apr 30th, 2008 at 6:23 pm
I second that notion. Ford must go, and after a solid couple games in the playoffs I have no doubt that someone can be convinced to give him another chance. Clips could use a better PG (imagine if they would part with maggette? ok I’ll stop dreaming). There was also talk of interest from the Bulls (albeit from their media), and they suggested Nocioni, who is also a little overpaid, but could give our team some much needed toughness while still being able to shoot. And I had also heard a trade proposal with the knicks involving jeffries and balkman, although I imagine that’s dead now that Zeke is gone. Thoughts? Anybody heard anything else?
Apr 30th, 2008 at 6:40 pm
I think Colangelo did a nice job yesterday during his press conference.
I’ll let that sink in.
Man, I hope it isn’t this head cold messing with me.
Seriously, though, I appreciated seeing how he broke down the possibilities of trades/free agency and how he stated he would need to look long and hard at acquiring someone with a few years left on a current deal since it would affect our play in the 09/10 offseason and the deluge of FA at that time.
Of course,saying this,no real mention of this in the press today. Surprise surprise.
I also believe that BCs and Sams statements of how the current roster has to improve themselves and not expect a Paul Revere to arrive makes one wonder.
Taken at face (and God knows Colangelo has never lied before), I think they are setting us up for a same-as-we-are-now 2008/09 with maybe a plug-in expiring contract(s) and picks for TJ, Carlos, etc. and then assess the roster during the year next season and have a “master plan” together at that point.
This would tie in to Bosh’s FA, Mitchell’s end of contract, and Bargs next contract.
While I agree that the PG issue is the main current-roster concern this summer, I appreciate BCs openness (between the lines) and, if he sticks to the plan, it’s an idea I can support. Personally, though, I think it should have started last summer, but, as he correctly pointed out, if he messed around too much, media and customers alike would have been all over him.
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