Raptors Next GM

[Tim W.]

Where was this stated?

Ya, I recall him saying that. The guy IS something like 76 years old. I can't blame him one bit.

[smushmush]

Here's the problem with the comments I've seen so far in this thread.
(a) No one wants a rookie GM, which I'm fine with except that --
(b) Everyone digs up all the negatives of those available. Those who are available, are available because they screwed up at some point.

Otis Smith, Joe Dumars, Kevin Pritchard are all *EXCELLENT* choices. Each one of these guys looked like geniuses at some point in their career, and anyone looking for a GM would have wanted these guys 2 years prior to when things began to unravel.

Point of correction, the first two are not excellent choices imo. Pritchard, Kerr, Warkentien, some assistant GM from San Antonio Spurs, Oklahoma City Thunder or Portland Trailblazers (small market (like us) winning teams) are excellent choices imo.

[Maleko]

Where was this stated?

Sorry man would have to go back 5yrs.

[mcHAPPY]

Point of correction, the first two are not excellent choices imo. Pritchard, Kerr, Warkentien, some assistant GM from San Antonio Spurs, Oklahoma City Thunder or Portland Trailblazers (small market (like us) winning teams) are excellent choices imo.

Toronto is not a small market. It is the 4th largest market in North America. If you use the whole country as Raptors-ville it is the largest market.

I"m not trying to be a d!ck it is this is something that really irks me. Toronto might suffer from bias from a large percentage of US players, however, offer them money with a chance to win and that becomes a non-issue, in my opinion.

.

[LBF]

"They'll look to Colangelo's experience to devise a plan to keep Dwight Howard around"

I doubt they'll be looking to Colangelo after he gave up CB4 for nothing.

no, you see vince carter was given up for nothing...

cb4 wasn't given up, he was at the end of his contract and signed somewhere else.

[SuperRaptor]

I would take Keith Pritchard in a heart beat, its not his fault that Oden got injured that could happen to any GM, and I think the brandon roy pick and contract were the right thing to do for your franchise player.

[Tim W.]

Point of correction, the first two are not excellent choices imo. Pritchard, Kerr, Warkentien, some assistant GM from San Antonio Spurs, Oklahoma City Thunder or Portland Trailblazers (small market (like us) winning teams) are excellent choices imo.

Since Matt52 already took care of the other issue, one thing I have a problem with is people assuming that just because a guy worked for the Spurs, Thunder or Blazers means he would make a good choice for GM, as they are simply factories that manufacture good GMs and that it takes more than simply being around those that are good. Let's not forget that Danny Ferry was in the Spurs system and I thought he did a terrible job. For all we know, the next best GM might be a guy sitting at his computer typing in someplace like Vancouver who is just waiting for a phonecall from one of the teams. But the phone doesn't ring. And he just sits there. Waiting....

[Tim W.]

I would take Keith Pritchard in a heart beat, its not his fault that Oden got injured that could happen to any GM, and I think the brandon roy pick and contract were the right thing to do for your franchise player.

While it certainly wasn't Pritchard's fault, there was certainly a question of whether Oden would struggle constantly with injuries throughout his career. And he passed on Kevin Durant, who many felt was going to be the better player. But there are a lot more issues with Pritchard that have kept other teams from hiring him. A lot of stuff that happened behind the scenes that would make me think twice about hiring the guy.

[Employee]

I want Kevin Pritchard as GM. Shouldn't knock on the Oden thing, a lot of people thought the same way as he did. I just seem to have a lot memories of him making everyone look stupid on draft day. Considering all the injuries Blazers had over the years they still always had quality teams.
Werd.

[funkie]

does anyone remember when pritchard threatened to sue anyone who signed darius miles? he's a winner.

[golden]

While it certainly wasn't Pritchard's fault, there was certainly a question of whether Oden would struggle constantly with injuries throughout his career. And he passed on Kevin Durant, who many felt was going to be the better player. But there are a lot more issues with Pritchard that have kept other teams from hiring him. A lot of stuff that happened behind the scenes that would make me think twice about hiring the guy.

Oden was the consensus #1 pick. There's not even debatable, except as hindsight revisionism. Don't really know enough about the internal politics to comment one way or another on Pritchard. Do you have more info on that?

http://www.nba.com/features/draft2007_consensus.html

[Tim W.]

Oden was the consensus #1 pick. There's not even debatable, except as hindsight revisionism. Don't really know enough about the internal politics to comment one way or another on Pritchard. Do you have more info on that?

http://www.nba.com/features/draft2007_consensus.html

You're looking at predictions, not who people think SHOULD be the #1 pick. And look at the updates for May 24th. Kevin Durant moved up to #1, so it wasn't exactly clear cut the whole time. Obviously Portland settled on Oden, and that's what most people were basing their mock drafts on. I can tell you there was some debate on who should go first. It's the difference between predicting and saying who YOU think should be drafted first.

It's like when Bargnani was drafted #1. He was definitely the consensus #1 pick in the sense that most felt Toronto would pick Bargnani, but there was a large contingent who felt Aldridge should go #1.

As for Pritchard, I read a few articles that talked about the real reasons Pritchard was fired. They involved things like Pritchard asking other GMs what they made and complaining that he was underpaid, sullying Portland's reputation with the Darius Miles controversy, maneuvering behind people's backs in order to gain more power, and trying to buddy up too much with the players. He doesn't have a very good reputation out in the league, apparently, despite the good things he did involving personnel moves.

[666]

I dont like BC. I'd be in support of any new face over him.

Once Steve Nash retires he will become the Raptors GM. And I think that is going to happen either after next season or within the next three years. Till then the Raptors should hire an interim GM whose sole job is to draft prudently, free-up cap space, and create a cast of young, inexpensive, developing players.

If the team can only win 22 games with this roster, how much worse can it be after dumping salaries such as Calderon?

[yertu damkule]

if you have a GM who can 'draft prudently, free-up cap space, and create a cast of young, inexpensive, developing players,' why not just hire them (i.e. instead of hiring them as a stop-gap/interim guy until a 'real' GM can be found)? you make those things sound so easy...they're difficult to do in isolation; being able to pull off all three is a serious sign of GMing skill. if you have a guy who can do them, then keep him.

[mcHAPPY]

I dont like BC. I'd be in support of any new face over him.

Once Steve Nash retires he will become the Raptors GM. And I think that is going to happen either after next season or within the next three years. Till then the Raptors should hire an interim GM whose sole job is to draft prudently, free-up cap space, and create a cast of young, inexpensive, developing players.

If the team can only win 22 games with this roster, how much worse can it be after dumping salaries such as Calderon?

Draft prudently - check
free up cap space - check
create a cast of young, inexpensive, developing players - part marks

Based on the criteria, it sounds like the Raptors should just keep Colangelo.