So, the Raps have made it official, Jay Triano will stay on as head coach following his “interim” stint, where he led the Raps to a 25-40 record.

I like Jay and I think he’s a decent coach, better than the record indicates. Obviously I love the fact that we have a Canadian-born coach coaching the only Canadian NBA team.

But I admit, I do feel a certain uneasiness about rewarding a coach with a 25-40 record (a record that was only boasted by a 9-4 stretch against some terrible competition in the last month of the season). Especially after that coach replaced a coach who was 8-9 after 17 games. I mean, isn’t it expected that the replacement at least do a better job than the guy who was fired?

On the other hand, we all know Bryan Colangelo’s options were limited. He still has to pay Mitchell this year (and next?). So he couldn’t afford to pay someone big bucks – Triano’s deal as a first-time coach with a poor record is likely dirt cheap (speculation is that the deal is between $1.6 and $2 million a year, three-years, with the third being a team option). And even though I doubt Bryan cares, you know MLSE loves the idea of having a Canadian coach.

Also, as I’ve said before, Mitchell should not have been fired 17 games into the season - he should have been fired after last season (or better yet, released following the 2006-2007 season). If Jay had been coach from the start of last training camp, I truly believe the season would have been better - not a LOT better, but I expect they would have been closer to .500 and in the playoffs in the weak east.

And I’m glad we didn’t just hire a retread who’s failed in five other places. The only “available” coach I liked was Flip Saunders; even though he never won a title, in 13 seasons as a head coach, he has 10 seasons over .500, seven 50-win seasons, and made the playoffs 11 times, reaching the conference finals four times. I believe he would have been great here, but the Wizards smartly grabbed him right away. But I didn’t want an Avery Johnson (whose players on a great Dallas team practically mutinied on him last year) or Eddie Jordan (whose talented Wizards teams were about as inconsistent as can be). Even Jeff Van Gundy couldn’t coax a playoff win out of a very deep, talented Houston team.

So, that meant the option was bringing in someone completely new – either an untried assistant or someone from Europe, like Etore Messina – or bringing back Triano. I personally would have been intrigued by the “new blood” approach - sometimes you need to take a gamble - but I just don’t think Colangelo and MLSE were willing to roll the dice with someone completely untested. Our impatient fanbase would likely have been very upset about hiring a no-name. So Triano was really the only choice. He’s not completely “untested,” the team showed SOME promise under him, he’s cheap, and he’s a Canadian so who can hate on that?

In many ways, he really was the only choice.

And, I will admit I am very curious to see what he does with a (hopefully) revamped roster, a (hopefully) new crop of assistants, and a full training camp. I see Doug Smith is saying one or two of Gord Herbert, Alex English or Mike Evans might be back, but I hope none of them are. No disprespect to them, but the team needs fresh voices. I don’t have a problem with Iavaroni staying on, I love the thought of Alvin Williams in some role, but for one or two other spots, I would like some new blood – preferably one veteran, someone like a Del Harris, who’s been around the block a few times, and one young whippersnapper with some fresh ideas. Doesn’t that make more sense than keeping any of the guys who have been here through the team’s last two incredibly disappointing seasons?

Anyway. I’m going on record as saying I believe Jay’s a better coach than the 25-40 record. But I agree with those that say coaches get too much blame for a team’s failure and too much credit for a team’s success, so I’m not going to predict what impact his hiring will have on next season - I believe that is really in the hands of Bryan Colangelo, and the players he brings in that make up the roster that Jay coaches. If it’s a solid, balanced roster with a full 15 players, I expect we’ll see a much improved record. If it’s another flawed, thin, 13-man group like last year? The record will be worse. But neither should fall on Jay’s shoulders - it’s all on Bryan’s.