BC supporters/apologists give him credit for a lot of things that people in his line of work don't deserve.
Fixing his mistakes: Yes, it was nice that BC was able to flip Jermaine O'Neal and Hedo Turkoglu so relatively quickly after they bombed in Toronto but the blame for them being there in the first place falls directly at the feet of Colangelo too. The franchise certainly didn't come out ahead in any of these proceedings, nor did they endure any type of success because of them. They gave up a bunch of assets to acquire O'Neal, and then had to strap another first round pick to him just to get Miami to take him off their hands only a few months later. Turkoglu returned a 1.5 year rental of Barbosa for a bottom feeding team and eventually a second round draft pick in the 50's when LB was traded. The "biggest free agent acquisition in Raptors history" equalled the 57th pick overall or whatever when it was all said and done. In the end, they were large net losses for the team. When you describe an executives greatest strength as "fixing his own mistakes", then you're essentially just saying that they're good at taking one step forward and two steps back, which isn't a compliment at all.
Drafting Well: He's had a pick in the top 9 (including a #1) in four of the six drafts he's led in Toronto (which is really just a function of how bad the team has been since he got here and not any sort of accomplishment, but I digress) and has done a satisfactory job of finding NBA rotation players with those picks. He's avoided picking that mega bust of a player but hasn't found any all stars either. All in all, I'd say he's done an adequate job, nothing more or less. When you get a pick in the top ten you are expected to find a player who will crack your rotation... no need to fall over ourselves patting him on the back for basically just doing his job.
Good intentions: Colangelo is in the business of winning basketball games and he's done a miserable job of it. Obviously BC didn't see the Turkoglu/JO disasters coming but that doesn't remove him from responsibility either. No GM is going to willingly harm their team so the concept of giving him credit for good intentions is silly. They all have good intentions!
He's lacked organizational foresight during his entire time in Toronto and it goes beyond these two glaring mistakes.....
He was seemingly the only man in basketball who didn't realize that Bosh was leaving and let him walk for essentially nothing. He has constantly overhauled his roster while never really going anywhere different. He created a 'point guard controversy' with his roster tinkering that enveloped 5 different players over six years and always seemed to be a detriment to the club. He signed Fields to a $20 million dollar offer sheet to kneecap the Knicks chances of getting Nash... and then watched Nash end up in LA while Fields has eclipsed 10 points ONCE this season. He has preached the need to do a "proper rebuild" out of one side of his mouth since Bosh left while trading away lottery picks and going all in on Nash out of the other.
Even the Gay trade, which seems like a homerun in a vacuum, caps a 9 month span where Colangelo has A) used the #8 overall pick on a wing player (Ross) b) signed another wing (Fields) to a $20 million contract c) extended another wing (DD) for a $40 million dollar deal and d) used two of the team's biggest trade assets to acquire another wing (Gay) making $50+ million over the next two and a half years.
Where's the foresight and vision in any of that? He just makes it up as he goes along and then spins the media narrative in a direction that suits him at the time.
As it stands now, the team is going to fall short of the playoffs for the fifth straight season, will have no first round pick this summer and will be at the brink of the luxury tax for the two seasons after this. The Bargnani problem still hasn't been solved, and no, I don't think that turning him into one of the league's highest paid bench performers can be considered a successful solution. If it is, I'd bring up the whole "foresight" thing again and wonder how they're finally getting to that point now after almost seven seasons and a $50 million extension have been squandered on AB.
7 years is an ETERNITY in Colangelo's line of work for someone who has had such little success and so many notable failures. It's really time to move on.
Fixing his mistakes: Yes, it was nice that BC was able to flip Jermaine O'Neal and Hedo Turkoglu so relatively quickly after they bombed in Toronto but the blame for them being there in the first place falls directly at the feet of Colangelo too. The franchise certainly didn't come out ahead in any of these proceedings, nor did they endure any type of success because of them. They gave up a bunch of assets to acquire O'Neal, and then had to strap another first round pick to him just to get Miami to take him off their hands only a few months later. Turkoglu returned a 1.5 year rental of Barbosa for a bottom feeding team and eventually a second round draft pick in the 50's when LB was traded. The "biggest free agent acquisition in Raptors history" equalled the 57th pick overall or whatever when it was all said and done. In the end, they were large net losses for the team. When you describe an executives greatest strength as "fixing his own mistakes", then you're essentially just saying that they're good at taking one step forward and two steps back, which isn't a compliment at all.
Drafting Well: He's had a pick in the top 9 (including a #1) in four of the six drafts he's led in Toronto (which is really just a function of how bad the team has been since he got here and not any sort of accomplishment, but I digress) and has done a satisfactory job of finding NBA rotation players with those picks. He's avoided picking that mega bust of a player but hasn't found any all stars either. All in all, I'd say he's done an adequate job, nothing more or less. When you get a pick in the top ten you are expected to find a player who will crack your rotation... no need to fall over ourselves patting him on the back for basically just doing his job.
Good intentions: Colangelo is in the business of winning basketball games and he's done a miserable job of it. Obviously BC didn't see the Turkoglu/JO disasters coming but that doesn't remove him from responsibility either. No GM is going to willingly harm their team so the concept of giving him credit for good intentions is silly. They all have good intentions!
He's lacked organizational foresight during his entire time in Toronto and it goes beyond these two glaring mistakes.....
He was seemingly the only man in basketball who didn't realize that Bosh was leaving and let him walk for essentially nothing. He has constantly overhauled his roster while never really going anywhere different. He created a 'point guard controversy' with his roster tinkering that enveloped 5 different players over six years and always seemed to be a detriment to the club. He signed Fields to a $20 million dollar offer sheet to kneecap the Knicks chances of getting Nash... and then watched Nash end up in LA while Fields has eclipsed 10 points ONCE this season. He has preached the need to do a "proper rebuild" out of one side of his mouth since Bosh left while trading away lottery picks and going all in on Nash out of the other.
Even the Gay trade, which seems like a homerun in a vacuum, caps a 9 month span where Colangelo has A) used the #8 overall pick on a wing player (Ross) b) signed another wing (Fields) to a $20 million contract c) extended another wing (DD) for a $40 million dollar deal and d) used two of the team's biggest trade assets to acquire another wing (Gay) making $50+ million over the next two and a half years.
Where's the foresight and vision in any of that? He just makes it up as he goes along and then spins the media narrative in a direction that suits him at the time.
As it stands now, the team is going to fall short of the playoffs for the fifth straight season, will have no first round pick this summer and will be at the brink of the luxury tax for the two seasons after this. The Bargnani problem still hasn't been solved, and no, I don't think that turning him into one of the league's highest paid bench performers can be considered a successful solution. If it is, I'd bring up the whole "foresight" thing again and wonder how they're finally getting to that point now after almost seven seasons and a $50 million extension have been squandered on AB.
7 years is an ETERNITY in Colangelo's line of work for someone who has had such little success and so many notable failures. It's really time to move on.
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