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National Post take on Colangelo situation

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  • National Post take on Colangelo situation

    These are strange times at Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment, as the organization exists in a profitable sort of limbo. The owners are just putting the finishing touches on the For Sale sign — the fine print says “Best Offers Only,” one suspects — and soon, they will find out whether anybody is interested enough to hand over $1.3-billion or so for two-thirds of the pie.

    It’s the kind of contest that will involve colossuses, either individual or corporate. It will re-make Toronto’s sporting scene, if an actual sale ever comes to pass. It will, quite obviously, be big.

    Which makes the fate of Bryan Colangelo seem a little small, even if the short — and potentially long-term future of the Toronto Raptors depends on it. His contract is up at the end of June; ownership has not yet seen fit to extend it. There is said to be resistance at the board level, thanks in part to Teachers Pension Plan representative Glen Silvestri, who believes it’s time to let Colangelo go. The general manager has his supporters, sure. But Teachers, until they sell, is in charge.

    “It’s unchanged,” Colangelo said Monday. “The status is unchanged. A week ago it was unchanged. Today it was unchanged. I cannot share with you more. It’s kind of pointless to speculate what I might be doing or where I might be. Right now I’m here and I’m focused on what needs to be done to make this place better.”

    And so, limbo. Colangelo continues to prepare for the draft and free agency, which may not actually happen until after a lockout rewrites many of the rules; ESPN’s highly respected basketball reporter, Marc Stein, wrote Wednesday that MLSE is ready to install the 74-year-old Wayne Embry in as a temporary measure, perhaps even before the draft, if need be.

    Embry, of course, is the wise man who foisted Jalen Rose off on New York in his brief but productive stage-setting turn before Colangelo got here in the first place. Whether he’s ready to run a draft, nobody knows; if he can, since a lockout may result in the NBA shutting its doors for rather a long time, maybe a temporary GM wouldn’t be the worst-case scenario. But as the Leafs demonstrated, when you enter a new ecosystem, you’d sure as hell better have the right man in charge.

    So there are two questions here: One, does Colangelo deserve another shot at rebuilding this team? And two, how much does that matter?

    First things first. You can argue over Colangelo’s tenure. His first year was a triumph; everything since then has been a decline that eventually forced him to utter the word “rebuilding.” He’s had bad luck — and the fact that the Raptors could be headed for a top-five pick in what looks like the worst draft since the one in which they selected Andrea Bargnani at No. 1 might qualify — but mistakes have been made. They’re rebuilding because he helped run the place down.

    If you’re defending Colangelo, you point to his draft record — most recently DeMar DeRozan at No. 9, and Ed Davis at No. 13. You accept that Bargnani is probably the fifth-best player from the 2006 draft (Rajon Rondo, LaMarcus Aldridge, Rudy Gay, Paul Millsap, with Brandon Roy’s knees forcing him from the conversation). You point out that he’s a driven competitor, a plugged-in operator, and that he nearly stole Tyson Chandler last summer. He makes creative trades, and he drafts well. That, in a new NBA environment, is probably going to be how success is achieved.

    If you’re Glen Silvestri, you point to his belief in the big Italian — saying “we know he can rebound, but he doesn’t focus on it” is not unlike me saying I know I can eat cat food, but I don’t focus on it. Really, you probably just say: “Jermaine O’Neal,” then “Hedo Turkoglu.” You point to Jose Calderon’s contract, and maybe Bargnani’s as well. You point to a lot of things.

    Not 22-60, necessarily. This season went about as well as possible, of course, even if that wasn’t what Colangelo had in mind. He only arrived at rebuilding late — “the reality called for us to rebuild this team,” as he put it — but he put the best face on it, shedding salary and panning for gold in guys like Jerryd Bayless and James Johnson. The team tried, but failed. Exactly as it should have been, aside from the draft being a scrap heap.

    But then we come to the second part of the equation: Does it matter if he deserves it? Teachers runs its businesses like businesses, and businesses generally don’t add long-term fiscal commitment to their books while those books are being compiled by Morgan Stanley in order to entice somebody to part with an awful lot of money. If you’re selling a house, you don’t add a waterslide before putting it on the market. If Colangelo had spent the last four years covering himself in glory, there would be no debate, and he’d be a slam dunk. He didn’t. He’s not.

    So yes, MLSE is doing damage to its reputation by letting a respected general manager flutter in the wind. Yes, they should make a decision one way or the other, since one little general manager shouldn’t do much damage to the sale price. And no, there is no consensus on Colangelo. He wants to stay. It’s hard to say for certain that’s the right thing, but it wouldn’t be the worst one.

    But this is Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment. There is business as usual, and there are strange times. It’s a bad time for both.
    http://sports.nationalpost.com/2011/...ht-not-matter/

  • #2
    This is getting more and more dysfunctional and I'm beginning to think it's unlikely BC will be reupped
    @sweatpantsjer

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    • #3
      I'm not sure whether to laugh or cry... go Raps! And we wonder why we have trouble attracting/keeping big name talent?!?!

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      • #4
        This really sucks, there is zero consideration for the fans. What do our young guys on the Raps think of this?

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        • #5
          Colangelo had the chance to state his case on Monday.

          Damage control will be out in full effect soon cause the response, particularly from the Board, is that Colangelo is replaceable, they have a strategy and that he shouldn't get too cozy cause he might not be here soon enough.

          I don't know what the future holds but I do know it's clear that he might not be given a contract extension (my preference) and if he is the leash will be considerably shorter than it's ever been for him, which should be the case for the GM and chief architect of a 60 loss team.

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          • #6
            Nick wrote: View Post
            This really sucks, there is zero consideration for the fans. What do our young guys on the Raps think of this?
            I'm not a huge fan of Doug Smith's but here was his take:

            Unless something hugely dramatic and unexpected happened between this morning and yesterday afternoon, don’t expect a lot of significant news out of Bryan’s little chat with the media this morning.

            There isn’t going to be anything on the GMs future, or the coach’s, according to the people I talk to; the Teachers people and the rest of the ownership continue to drag their feet on the most significant issue facing the franchise today.

            It sucks and I don’t know if there are other issues at play – maybe ownership’s going to change in time for the new guys to do something, no one’s saying that but it’s in the back of mind – but the more they drag their feet, the more ridiculous the franchise looks to others in the NBA.

            There must have been a dozen guys – coaches, executives, players – who came up to me here in Miami on Saturday and Sunday – wondering what was going on. Mostly, they wanted to know about Bryan’s fate, it was more a topic of conversation than Jay, and a lot of them just shook their heads when I told them that ownership – at least the majority owner that’s trying its hardest to get out of the business – is dragging its heels for some reason.

            It’s bad enough that the Raptors have to fight a perception they created with a 22-60 20-62 season; the fact they have what looks like dysfunctional ownership hurts even more.


            Now, as for what Bryan is likely to touch on today:

            They like the core group, can use more than a few upgrades, have a good draft pick coming, perhaps some money to spend (we’ll see what the new collective bargaining agreement will bring) and are okay with where they are.
            http://thestar.blogs.com/raptors/201...ews-today.html

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            • #7
              Everyone in the sports media is saying pretty much the same thing. It's an embarassment. I'm for bringing BC back, but either way, they need to make a freaking decision. This goes beyond hiring a GM -- OTPP needs to make a freaking decision on whether they are actually selling their share in MLSE or whether they are just checking the market. You say you're selling and then sit on your hands for months while the franchises that are part of MLSE wallow.

              The point is, a 1+ billion sale will not happen in a matter of days or likely even weeks when the For Sale sign formally goes up, and time is seriously wasting here while the basketball world -- other franchise management, players, etc. -- watches and laughs. Make no mistake, this nonsense is far more damaging to the Raptors' reputation around the league than anything any coach or GM has done in the past 15 years.... embarassing.
              Definition of Statistics: The science of producing unreliable facts from reliable figures.

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              • #8
                Colangelo is a genius

                ohh colangelo, thanks for bringing to us the superstars of the future
                Check out this vincane dunk by Julian Wright

                http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qzgjm...eature=related

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                • #9
                  when will this colangelo uncertainty come to an end???!

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                  • #10
                    HuskyRaptor wrote: View Post
                    when will this colangelo uncertainty come to an end???!
                    July 1st at the latest - haha, not much help, I know.

                    It is frustrating though. Some key dates appear to be the end of May when bids are supposedly due for MLSE purchase to OTPP, June 15 is Triano's option pick up deadline, June 23rd at the draft, and July 1st when the contract is officially over.

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