Colangelo's Biggest Mistake?

Legend has it that in April of 2006 Bryan Colangelo made an innocuous call to Milwaukee Bucks' general manager Larry Harris about the availability of Maurice Williams, when Harris responded with the question, "How do you feel about T.J. Ford?" By March 1, Colangelo agreed to send Charlie Villanueva to the Bucks for Ford and cash.

Although the deal was debated at the time, largely because Villanueva was a fan-favourite simply for looking like Shrek, Ford was a young, true point guard who would bring stability to the position that apeshit Mike James and batshit Rafer Alston occupied the two previous seasons. To this day, based on the play and ceiling of both Villanueva and Ford, I think that Colangelo fleeced Harris.

However, on Tuesday, October 31, 2006, the Raptors signed Ford to a four-year, $33-million deal (the fourth year being a player option) without ever seeing him in uniform. That Tuesday was the last chance they had to sign Ford before the end of the season. Had they not, he would have made $2.93 million in '06-'07, the final year on his rookie contract, before becoming a RESTRICTED free agent. What had he done to warrant $8.25 million annually, apart from being born in the same state as Chris Bosh? He averaged 9.9 points, 6.5 assists, 1.2 steals in 127 games with the Milwaukee Bucks. This, Raptors friends, is the worst move that Colangelo has made with the Toronto Raptors.

[His worst move ever? At the 1998 draft, Colangelo traded Steve Nash to Dallas for Martin Muursepp and Bubba Wells. This move would have landed him in Babcock territory had he not reacquired Nash six years later after dumping the human albatross, Stephon Marbury, on the Knicks, where he remains eternally.]

There's nothing wrong with using money to generate confidence, which, I'm sure Colangelo was trying to do with Ford, but T.J. had a history of neck and spine injuries, not the least of which is a congenital narrowing of the openings of the vertebra housing the spine, known as spinal stenosis. Michael Grange does a great job summarizing the history of Ford's spine here, including Ford's removal from hoops for a year-and-a-half after colliding with Mark Madsen in his rookie season.

But, ultimately, it's the success of Jose Calderon that makes the Ford deal even more pitiful. Calderon is averaging 12.3 PPG and 8.6 APG this season, while shooting over 50% from the field and on pace to break the NBA's assist/turnover ratio record. No Raptor since Damon Stoudamire (see below) in 1996-97 has averaged more than eight assists per game over a season. Calderon is a restricted free agent at the end of this year and he'll certainly command more than the MLE from the Raps, not to mention the possibility of losing him outright.

Can the Raptors afford to pay two point guards a total of $15 million per season, considering that Ford's injury history has rendered him untradeable and unable to even take a charge? Not when you consider the liability of Ford's health.

With Juan Dixon playing exactly like an out-of-position point guard (see a talentless Mike James) and the back of Darrick Martin's neck looking exceedingly more like a pack of hot dogs, Colangelo has said that he's looking for a third-string PG. But who are the candidates?

Ex-Raptor Stoudamire who was just bought out by the Grizzlies? He would be nice insurance for the Raps at the veteran's minimum, but given the choice between Phoenix, Boston and Toronto, who would you sign with?

Luke Ridnour who has three years left on his $6.5 million per season contract? Untenable.

Jason fucking "White Chocolate" Williams who's in the last year of a contract that will pay him a shade under $9 million and who can barely even walk?

Roko Ukic will be arriving next year, who some Raps fans believe is a conflation of John Stockton and "Pistol Pete." He isn't, but he does make the need for a back-up more ephemereal without dulling its urgency.

Judging by the way he made up for his Nash boner in Phoenix, it's unclear how many rabbits Colangelo has up his ass, but now would be a good time to pull something out, even if it was just a foetal bunny covered in placenta.

Cool It!

Confronted with the “Bargnani Situation” a Raps blogger gains a morbid appreciation of what paid journalists face every day. This story is filthy after weeks of being dragged through the mud by the Raptors trolley. A trolley full of disheartened Leafs fans and 16-year-old boys who like Moon’s hang time and the occasional audible Sam Mitchell swear. Yeah, Bargnani’s playing poorly. And, yeah, we could’ve had Brandon Roy, but so could Minnesota who, apparently, liked Randy Foye better.

Anyone who’s followed sports for more than five years knows that all professional franchises are full of “could have beens.” We could have had Andre Iguodala (who thinks he’s worth more than $12 million a season despite leading his team to a 16-26 record)! We should have gotten more for Vince Carter (whose equivalent is now Zach Randolph)! We could have held on to TMac (who just can’t stay healthy and hasn’t won a playoff series in his career)! Didn’t happen. Mop the floor and play on.

I’m not a Bargnani apologist, but I am an advocate of patience. Here’s What We Know Part I: Bargnani began the season nicely, scoring 21 points on 7-11 shooting in the opener. Then things went tepid, his performance could be illustrated by a clichéd high school line graph with peaks and valleys. Then things went ghastly. In eight games since dropping 25 points on the Pistons (which followed a 17-point game against the Hornets) Bargnani is averaging 17.5 MPG, 4.1 PPG, 2.8 RPG, 0.1 BPG, 26 FG% (12-46), 14 3P% (2-14).

Here’s What We Know Part II: Bargnani’s 22 years old. He averaged 11.6 PPG in a very raw rookie year. He was arguably our second-best player in last year’s playoff series. His shot is indisputably gorgeous. He’s better than Adam Morrison. He didn’t play centre professionally before this season, and the Raps have finally conceded that he might need some special attention to ease his transition to the five.

The kid has skills. And although I’ve never especially bought the idea that Il Mago and CB4 can coexist, I still believe that a good coach (paging Sam Mitchell) can figure something out. Bargnani will, at the very least, be an above-average asset to a team and if Toronto traded him now for a matching salary Raps fans would eventually add another chapter to the “could have beens.”

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EDIT: In the Raps’ WIN over the Celtics tonight Bargnani scored 20 points on 7-14 shooting, adding seven dimes and seven boards (and a block).

Zero for Three: The Anniversary

Today marks the twelfth anniversary of the Raptors’ 92-91 loss to the Charlotte Hornets. Significant because the Raptors missed all THREE free throws they took that game. Not to be outdone, the Hornets went 24-41 at the line. In this light, 15-24 last game against the Cavs doesn’t look so bad.

A Culture of Losing

"I think if you look at our position in the East right now and how we've been playing, we're just decent right now. We have a lot of room to improve. I think we can be a lot better team (sic) ... It's better than being under .500. I'm not satisfied with our position and that's a good thing. Not to say that I'm disappointed or anything, I'm content with the way things are going but I think we can improve."

Just what, exactly, does Chris Bosh mean by that? When I opened a gift from my sister this Christmas and saw an oversized golf ball filled with cheap scotch I didn’t complain, even though I’ve drank scotch as many times as I’ve played golf (three) and abhorred them all equally. But if Bosh were me, based on his above quote, he might have said something like this: “I don’t really plan on using this and I don’t particularly like this, but I’m not disappointed. I mean, obviously you could have done better, but it’s great. I’m happy with it. Thanks.”

For perspective consider that the Raptors are currently 17-15. Based solely on winning percentage Toronto would be ninth in the West, good enough for a regular-season participation trophy, but not enough to keep the Irish Spring Dance Pack employed into May for the NBA playoffs.

TJ Ford, Chris Bosh and Andrea Bargnani have missed 15, five and four games respectively with injuries. Throughout all of which the team has been talking about pulling up their socks, taking it on the chin, etc. before adding a final pitiful whimper to evoke pathos in fans and reporters. The media spoke lengthily on the Raps’ tough western swing and how games against Phoenix and San Antonio were forgone conclusions. Well, they won one of them. How did they manage that, Sherm?

In fact, the pervading attitude of the Raptors this season is a confusing non-committal tagline, preferably uttered by Coach Mitchell himself: “We’re not making excuses, but we’ve got a few excuses.”

A good example of this is more nonsense from Mitchell, this time peering through his rifle scope at the stands of the ACC:

"People just assume because you're at home, you're supposed to win and that's just not the case. You still have to play well, you've still got to out-work a team and play better. The fans just need to realize, you're not going to come out and be up 25-10 every game at home. We've got the type of team where we're not going to stop playing. We're going to play 48 minutes and sometimes you're not going to play well for 48 minutes so their support is important."

When, in the history of this franchise, which was named after a dinosaur briefly made popular in a blockbuster film, which used to wear purple pajamas as uniforms, which once employed Vincent Lamar Carter and which, for years, played their home games in a baseball stadium, have the fans NOT been supportive? Did Mitchell somehow coach game five of the Raptors-Nets series with his hands over his eyes?

And the response from Toronto’s critical, fastidious fourth estate: “What’d ya think of Sam’s suggestion that fans may be a bit quick to get disgruntled at home games? All legit points, I think.” Quote courtesy of Doug Smith’s blog.

Meanwhile, a Portland Trail Blazers team that, before the season even began, lost their first overall draft pick - who some have called the second coming of Bill Russell – to a knee injury, are sitting at 19-13 on the year. They had a 13-game winning streak snapped on Dec. 30 before winning the very next game. What's their excuse?