Well, the hits just keep on coming. After last week’s monster moves, Colangelo continued working on the weekend, signing Jarrett Jack to an offer sheet. The Raptors also lost one of their all-time good guys when free agent Anthony Parker officially signed with the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Now, the Jarrett Jack “signing” is only an offer sheet - since he is a restricted free agent, Indiana has until next week to match the offer and retain him. However, it’s presumed they won’t because doing so would put them over (or at least near) the tax level. No firm details of the offer have been released, but it’s believed to be in the four years, $20 million range.

I’ve liked Jack since he first came into the league; in fact, I was hoping the Raptors would find a way to draft him in 2005. He’s big for a PG at 6′3″ and 200 pounds, and he can play the two as well. He’s a solid defender, a decent shooter at 45%, he’s shown he’s comfortable starting or coming off the bench, and he’s coming off a career year (highs in points, rebounds, assists and 3-pt FG%). He’s a versatile player who should fit perfectly on this newly-constructed Raptors team.

Nevertheless… one could argue that $20 million over four years is a little much for a sixth- or seventh-man. Especially since, as far as I can tell, there were no bidding wars going on for his services. I can’t help but think a three-year deal for $12 or $14 million might have made a little more sense…

Still, we all know Bryan Colangelo is a guy that simply goes after what he wants. He wants Jack - and he intends to get him.

Unfortunately for us in the blogosphere, we now have to wait for Indiana to either renounce Jack or simply wait for the seven days to pass without matching the offer. They’ll surely do the latter. Which means the Raptors won’t make any other moves in that time frame, including signing Carlos Delfino or Rasho Nesterovic, because they need to know for sure where there finances stand. So it should be an uneventful week.

But one event can’t pass by without some acknowledgement. The Cavaliers officially unveiled their newest acquisition yesterday, free agent Anthony Parker. The multiple-Euroleague-MVP award winner joined the Raptors in Colangelo’s first summer on the job, and was a huge contributor in the Raptors 47-35, Atlantic Champion 2006-2007 season. Over the past three years he hit a number of clutch shots (I remember a falling, lunging banked-in three pointer from the top to seal a win against Detroit late in the 06-07 season, and who could forget the tip-toe-corner three he nailed to tie the game against New Jersey last year - one play before Vince Carter won it on the dunk at the buzzer?) and provided steady, generally mistake-free basketball. He was a deadly three-point shooter from the corners and had a penchant for making that incredibly difficult fade-away jumpers.

Unfortunately, he lost a step in the last year, and it showed; he was our best perimeter defender for two years but last year, was just another pylon in our porous defense. He also had a habit of going 1-2 at the line in clutch FT situations. But he was asked to do more than he should have been for a completely undermanned and underwhelming team last year.

In Cleveland, where he can settle into a role as a shooter and big guard alongside LeBron James, he should have a great year. I expect his role in terms of actual stats will go down, but he’ll play a big role in the overall complexion of that team, in terms of providing relief for James, clutch shooting, steady ball-handling, and as a bigger guard to match up with Orlando and Boston (as opposed to the under-sized West-Williams backcourt).

I wish him luck and look forward to Raptors fans giving him a big round of applause when he returns.

Wow. It’s done. According to Doug Smith, the league has approved the deal, with one small change - Nate Jawai is now going to Dallas, and Memphis gets a second round Raptors pick in 2016. Quincy Douby will stay here for now.

Hedo Turkoglu will officially be announced as a Raptor at 4pm this afternoon, at which time I’m sure BC will deliver the rest of the details. But as it now stands, it looks like the Raps roster fills out like so…

1. Chris Bosh
2. Andrea Bargnani
3. Jose Calderon
4. Hedo Turkoglu
5. DeMar DeRozan
6. Reggie Evans
7. Antoine Wright
8. Devean George
9. Roko Ukic
10. Quincy Douby
11. Patrick O’Bryant
12. Marcus Banks

Still in flux are Joey Graham and Carlos Delfino; as far as I know, they have not been “renounced” and can still be resigned with their bird rights by the Raptors.

Anthony Parker has not been renounced, but appears to be on the verge of signing in Cleveland.

I’m not sure of the status of Pops Mensah-Bonsu, but I think he is renounced, as is Jake Voskuhl.

As you can see, the Raps have a 12-man roster and, thanks to this deal, can re-sign Graham or Delfino, can add a free agent via the mid-level exception, and can add a second free-agent via the bi-annual exception. They can also add as many veterans-minimum deals as they need.

My initial research indicates that this 12-man Raptor squad comprises just over $57 million - in other words, pretty much right in line with the salary cap.

But what that really means is they are $12 million below the tax threshold - and as they’ve shown, they’re not afraid to use that money.

Let’s say they sign Carlos Delfino for $5 million a year over four years. They can use the some or all of mid-level exception ($5.9 million) on a second player (Matt Barnes? Ramon Sessions?) and the rest, or the bi-annual exception, on another (Rasho?). Bingo, you’re up to 15 players. Of course, they may stick with 14, and try and save a little coin for next year. But the flexibility this deal provides is amazing.

It also provides some small flexibility for next year, since Wright and George will be FAs.

Basically, this sets the Raps up in great shape for this upcoming season, provided that Colangelo uses the remaining money on valuable players. If he gets a 2-3 and a backup 5, this might be the best, most balanced Raptors roster ever assembled. I can’t wait to see what further moves come down the pipeline.

More as it happens…

Quick Update: At Hedo’s presser, BC confirmed there were “more roster moves on the horizon.” Can’t wait…

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.

Well, we’ve got another tilt in this seemingly never-ending Raptors season tonight, where our boys look to drop their seventh in a row to the Pistons…and fall 20 games below .500..

20 games. That’s a sobering number. I mean, obviously, this team is underachieving, but that really puts it into perspective. That number shocked me. Let’s take a look at it, historically, for the Raptors.

In 2005-2006, they finished 27-55, although they may well have avoided the 20-games-under stat had Chris Bosh not gotten hurt. They had the brutal 1-15 start, but then played around .500 ball the next couple months; but when Bosh went down, it was over, they lost 12 of the final 13 games, finally hitting the -20 mark at 26-46 on March 31.

That was a funny season in that expectations were, in a way, abnormally low; after all, Rob Babcock said before the season that the team would probably win less than the previous year (when they only won 33). So I don’t think you can call that record at all disappointing - it was expected.

In 2002-2003, the Raps went 24-58 in what I call “the lost season.” Everyone seems to have forgotten this season, not surprisingly; it was over quickly (-20 on January 10, when they were 8-28) and not much memorable happened. But it was a disappointing season in that, coming off three straight playoff appearances, we all expected a bounce-back season. But Vince Carter couldn’t stay on the floor, and even when he did play, he had lost the ability to put the team on his back. Antonio Davis, Jerome and Alvin Williams battled injuries, missing a combined 45 games, and the Raptors struggled just to fill the roster; they didn’t dress 12 players a single time. MoPete was the only Rap to appear in 80 games.

Going back, 1997-1998 was the low point in Raptors history; they didn’t even make it out of December before falling to -20. An unbearable 17-game losing streak had them at 2-22 on December 17th! The previous two years weren’t much better, as they hit -20 in March of 1997 and February of 1996. Those can be forgiven, as expansion years, of course, but the point I’m trying to make here, is that the current season now matches up with the worst seasons in this team’s short history.

What’s sad is that, unlike those years, there is no excuse this year. We’re not an expansion team. We didn’t lose a record number of games to injury. We didn’t start with a brand-new coach or GM and our GM didn’t lower expectations before the year started. We didn’t have a sad-sack roster without an all-star. In fact, we had, according to Bryan Colangelo, the best Raptors team ever assembled - one bona-fide all-star (Bosh), another former six-time all-star (JO), one guy on the cusp (Jose), and a number-one draft pick (Bargnani). We were expected - in fact, I think you can say we were ASSUMED - to be in the playoffs.

But we’re not. We’re about to go 20 games under .500. And given those expectations, and lack of excuses, I’m prepared to say that this might be the worst Raptors season ever.

Is there any chance the Raps can stave it off? They’ve got some easier opponents coming up, and Detroit’s not the same old Detroit, right? Well, they’re not, but that doesn’t make a difference. They’re still better than us at every position, unless Rasheed Wallace doesn’t play; even then, I think Jason Maxiell and Antonio McDyess will have no problem guarding Bosh and Bargnani. If they can take our two best players out of the game, what else do we have? As we’ve shown all year, not much.

I don’t want to say it’s hopeless, since as I indicated, the Pistons aren’t the same old Pistons (only 32-31), Rasheed is banged up, and Allen Iverson is on the shelf too (although I’d argue they’re better without him). But given the lack of interest the Raps have shown lately, and given that the Pistons, a team with some actual passion, are still fighting hard for playoff positioning (they’re in 6th, 2.5 back of Miami , and you better believe they want that #5 seed so they can avoid the Cavs, Celts and Magic in round one) I don’t see the Raps putting up much of a fight. Pistons by 17.

Incidentally, I just want to say, again, for the record, I will not be calling for Bryan Colangelo’s head in this space; yes, he’s made some bad moves, yes, this team has gotten worse the past two years. But if you seriously believe there is someone else out there available who could do better, please, let me know. In fact, if you think it’s all doom and gloom, I’m going to mention this:

In the past 10 years, including this one, the Raptors have been to the playoffs five times. Take a look at the rest of the league:

Cleveland: 4, including this year.
Boston: 6, including this year.
Orlando: 6, including this year.
Atlanta: 2, including this year.
Miami: 7, including this year.
Detroit: 9, including this year.
Philly: 7, including this year.
Milwaukee: 6, including this year.
Chicago: 3
New Jersey: 6
Charlotte: 0, in 5 seasons
Indiana: 7
New York: 3
Washington: 4

LA Lakers: 9, including this year.
San Antonio: 10, including this year.
Houston: 5, including this year.
Utah: 7, including this year.
New Orleans/Charlotte: 7, including this year.
Portland: 5, including this year.
Denver: 6, including this year.
Dallas: 9, including this year.
Phoenix: 7
Golden State: 1
Minnesota: 5
Seattle/OKC: 3
Memphis: 3
LA Clippers: 1
Sacramento: 7

The Raptors are tied for 16th in playoff appearances in the past 10 years. So middle of the pack. Is that good enough? Of course not. The fact that four of them were first-round exits hurts, a lot. But it could be worse - much, much worse. Reading some of the crap out there makes it sound like this is the end of the world or that Colangelo should be fired or the entire roster traded or whatever. You know what? Building a successful NBA team is not easy. It just isn’t. And, it takes time. Those “consistently good” teams are rare. Only one team has made the playoffs every year in the past 10: San Antonio. 3 more have 9 appearances. The next highest is seven. All that should tell you one thing: in a 30-team league, with a salary cap and free agency, it’s hard to maintain that high level of play. When the entire system is DESIGNED to keep teams “on an even ground,” those that have success are the exception, not the norm.

And you know what? We have a GM who’s still respected around the league (and has past success - unlike players, most GMs don’t get worse with age), we have a great arena, we have an ownership that has been willing to do everything except spend the luxury tax (which I think is reasonable). And we have the most passionate fans around. Would you rather we were just shaving salary without regards to wins, like Memphis (or even Phoenix)? Would you rather we had owners and GMs who don’t care/are incompetent, like the Clippers or T-Wolves? Would you rather our fans didn’t give a crap, like New Jersey or Atlanta?

I’m not saying that we, or the team, should be satisfied with what we’ve got. I’m not - I want more, absolutely. But when things get rough like this season has been, you can’t just focus on the negative. Looking at the bigger picture - which you simply must do when the smaller picture (this season) is so ugly - you can see this team still has things going for it, and that things could, in fact, be a lot worse.

Well, it’s official, the summer of 2008 has gone down as one of the worst in Raptors history. Every player BC acquired (Adams, Solomon, O’Neal) is now gone. Didn’t even last a season. Unlike Ukic, a Babcock draftee signed this year, remains). As I was saying the other day, when BC makes a mistake, he cuts the cord, damn quick. Well, as long as that mistake’s name isn’t Andrea Bargnani.

When you consider that Jason Kapono has also been a complete bust, is it now fair to say that every move Toronto has made since the end of the ‘06-07 season has made the team worse? Obviously, the summer of 2006 was a winner - our step up - but the last two? Duds, our two steps back.

Let’s take a look at the moves, and also note, this is just a list of transactions, and doesn’t include the most ridiculous thing the Raps did in the summer of 2007: Allowing Jorge Garbajosa to play on a broken leg for the Spanish national team in an Olympic qualifying tournament (even though Spain had already qualified for the Olympics). Argh.

• Bad: Re-signed Sam Mitchell. Should have brought in his own guy when he had the chance.
• Bad: Let MoPete walk away
• Good: Traded for Delfino, but bad because he couldn’t be re-signed
• Bad: Signed Kapono
• Good: Signed Jamario, good, only because of the size of the contract - they absolutely got their money’s worth. It’s not Jamario’s fault that a CBA cast-off was the best option the team had at SF and he was forced to play 35 minutes a night.
• Meh: Picked up option on AB
• Meh: Picked up option at Joey, although we could have used that $2.5 million last summer
• Meh: Signed Hump. Not a bad deal for an 8th man
• Meh: Dixon-for-Brezec
• Bad: Bought out and released Garbo and his expiring contract. Bad. Awful. Terrible. Worst move he’s made.
• Bad: Traded Rasho, TJ, Baston and pick for O’Neal; not a bad deal at the time, but this grade is based on final results, and the results are a 21-34 record during O’Neal’s tenure. Very bad.
• Meh: Drafted Jawai; don’t expect much from second-rounders.
• Good: Signed Jose, although if he can’t stay healthy, this’ll change.
• Bad: Signed Adams; as a result of O’Neal’s fat deal, this is what they were limited to. But Adams couldn’t even play.
• Bad: Signed Solomon; but he was terrible and cost them at least two games single-handedly.
• Good: Signed Roko Ukic. Couple mil for a promising young PG, can’t go wrong.
• Bad: Fired Sam Mitchell. About a year and half too late, and this just made it obvious Sam was never his guy, so… why re-sign him?
• Meh: Signed Jake Voskuhl
• Meh: Dumped Adams
• TBD: Traded O’Neal, Moon and a pick for Marion and Banks.
• Meh: Dumped Solomon for O’Bryant.

So in the final analysis, he’s made about 21 moves; I think it’s safe to count about 8 of them as the “non-impact” type moves that teams make all the time (like signing Hump to an extension): the “Meh” moves, that neither hurt nor help the team.

As for the others? Some may have seemed good at the time, but in the end, there’s only four that I count as good moves - and two of those are no longer with the team. (Not only that, but Delfino and Jamario both got bad raps - Delfino never got consistent PT and had his minutes jerked around, and Moon had to play so far over his head, he ended up hurting the team as much as helping it.)

Four moves, out of 21, that made the team better. Eight that had no impact. And eight that made them worse. Oh, and one TBD (the Marion trade).

Now, obviously, no GM has a perfect record and I don’t expect BC to have one either - not every move is going to work out. Some will fail, that’s the nature of this thing. And of course his record in his first year was pretty good. But still… you wanna be batting at least .500, don’t you? This is not good, folks.

Again, I’m not calling for Colangelo to be fired or Bosh to be traded or any of that crazy crap. I just consider it a slump, albeit an extended one; I have confidence that he will break out of it and start making some solid moves. And enough with the “we don’t have anything to make moves with!” Look at the Knicks, one year after Isiah left - a completely different team and who the hell wanted anyone from that crap pile? It can be done. It will be done. That’s what this summer is all about. In the meantime…

Well, in the meantime, we’ve got 26 games remaining in this here season. Each loss puts the playoffs further and further out of reach, and even though, technically, the Raps are still only five-and-a-half games back, realistically… there’s no chance. Look at the next 10 games:

@New York
New York
Minnesota
@Phoenix
@ Dallas
@ Houston
Miami
Utah
@ Philly
Detroit

Sure, the Knicks are struggling and the T-Wolves are not very good, so three straight wins isn’t impossible - although I think a split with New York is more likely.

But then it’s seven straight against +.500 teams. Yikes. Sure, the final 16 are a little easier - only 3 against +.500 teams - but still… that’s tough. I’d say the Raptors need to beat NY twice, Minny, Houston, Miami, Philly and Detroit to have a chance. That’s right, they need to go 7-3.

Yeah, that’s not happening. Throw in the fact that the Bulls and Knicks - both currently ahead of the Raps - improved their teams on deadline day, and Milwaukee and New Jersey are chugging along at slow-but-still-better-than-the-Raptors paces…

I can see Charlotte and Indiana falling back behind us, but the rest? That is one tough, uphill climb.

Anyway, enough about all that. Back to the action! It will be nice to finally see Marion play, and to see the Raps with their full lineup, and to see, well, the game - it’s on regular TSN! Hallelujah!

First meeting between these teams this year, and the Knicks, although they only have one more win than the Raptors, are a feel good story because no one expected them to win much at all (whereas the Raps are a huge disappointment). Donny Walsh has done a good job of acquiring players that fit D’Antoni’s system, much the same way that Colangelo did in Phoenix (conversely, since we have no system here, it’s harder to find the right kinds of players!). They run, they score, they’re aggressive in transition, and well, those are things that the Raptors are weak at. Could be a long night!

I just have to hope that the injection of Marion, and the Knicks’ lack of defense, can keep the Raptors in this one. But in the end, it’ll be the Knicks. By 9.

From my earlier post it may seem like I think Sam Mitchell is the only reason this team has struggled so far this year, but I want to assure you, that’s not the case.

I think Bryan Colangelo needs to bear a chunk of the blame, and of course, the players do too.

Here’s how I break it down: Mitchell: 40%; Colangelo: 35%; Players: 25%.

I covered Mitchell’s part earlier: Team wasn’t prepared for games, no offensive creativity, bad/no playcalling down the stretch, odd substitution patterns, team appeared to be tuning him out.

The players deserve blame, of course, because clearly, they did not come to play every night. And you can lay some of that on Mitchell, for not preparing them, but at some point, as Mitchell said the other day, guys just need to come and play hard without being told to - that’s part of being a professional. And on top of that, you have players not answering their roles on offense (Calderon not turning the corner on screen and roll, Kapono not shooting threes, Moon not driving, O’Neal shooting too many fadeaways) and making dumb mistakes (Solomon leaving his feet to pass, Hump and his running one handers, etc.). They gotta accept responsibility too.

As for the rest, well, that’s gotta be on Colangelo. I talked about it a while ago, how this thin roster was not constructed with enough flexibility to make any moves, so if it stunk, we were essentially stuck with it. Also a problem that in today’s NBA, where the bigger bodies and advanced medical analysis mean more missed games, that it was considered a good idea to run with a 12-man roster.

And it’s been borne out, obviously, that there is a serious deficiency at the wing positions and that there is no one on the bench to help and no moves to be made to bring help in.

Here’s where I think BC’s biggest mistakes came:

1) First of all, letting Carlos Delfino walk away.

Now, I know they couldn’t re-sign him without going over the tax and you can absolutely argue that he’s not enough to go over the tax for. And of course hindsight is 20/20. But comparing him to the other wing players: He slashes more than Moon, Parker and Kapono combined, and although his overall shooting percentage was low (40%), he shot 38% from three and I guarantee that with regular, consistent minutes, he wouldn’t force as many shots.

Furthermore, he can play backup point guard. You could have brought in Roko, left Solomon to rot in Europe, and had Delfino as your third guard. And, he can rebound - 4.4 per game in 23 minutes is an excellent number.

Most important, he was a better defender than Kapono and equal to Moon and Parker last year. And since both of those guys have taken a step back on defense (which couldn’t be predicted, I know) Delfino surely would have been a better option right now.

Most important… he was the only guy on the team last year other than TJ Ford capable of his creating his own shot. Again, not always good shots, but again, with consistent playing time…

Either way, the Raptors now don’t have a single soul who can create, no one who can defend, a crappy backup PG, and a three point shooter who won’t shoot threes. Delfino could have helped out in every case. (The Raptors still hold Delfino’s rights, but by all accounts, his contract is 3 years/$12 million dollars without any out clauses. Meaning he’d have to negotiate a buyout to get out of his deal before 2011. Doesn’t seem likely.)

2) The other mistake, a much larger mistake, was buying out Jorge Garbajosa’s contract.

This was huge for two reasons. Number one, if - and I admit it was a big if - Garbajosa was able to get healthy and play, he could have provided the physical perimeter defender they sorely need. He’s also, as we all know, an incredibly smart basketball player, a good hustle and energy guy, who provides a lot of the “intangibles” the Raps are missing. Again, I don’t know if he’d ever be healthy enough to contribute (I note he’s averaging 9 points and 4 boards in Russia, but that’s a little different from NBA competition) but why not keep him around to see? And surely, another veteran presence around the locker room couldn’t hurt, could it?

But just as important (more important maybe?), he had a $4.3 million expiring contract. Even if he couldn’t play a minute, as we all know in today’s NBA, expiring contacts are like gold at the trading deadline, and having small contracts (relatively speaking) to trade gives you even more flexibility advantages. This is exactly the type of asset we don’t have to trade! Any team looking to dump salary would have looked right here, with $11 million in Garbo, Graham and Parker available, plus Hump and his two years. And you don’t think taking back an expiring or two would make a longer contract like Kapono’s more attractive in a package?

Why in the world Colangelo thought it’d be a good idea to buy out an expiring contract, instead of trying to trade it, is beyond me. Maybe it was outta respect for Garbo, but come on. This is a business. And this was a bad, bad GM move. I mean, seriously. This was like a Rob Babcock move. The Raptors got absolutely nothing out of this, except what, a savings of about a million dollars? Chump change. I’d rather have a trade asset.

So, those two mistakes were huge contributors to the problems the Raptors are having:

• They have no perimeter D - which both could have helped with;
• The bench is too thin - obviously, a couple of veterans never hurts;
• They have minimal trade assets - Garbo’s contract, if not Garbo himself, would be of value;
• The roster is at the minimum, so they can’t do a 2-for-1 trade - again, more bodies, more tradeable assets, means a trade is more likely.

Now, another factor was drafting Nathan Jawai in round 2; I know second round players are absolute crapshoots, but it might have been nice had they chosen a guy who could at least attempt to play. Sigh.

If he’d kept Delfino, kept Garbo, left Will Solomon under whatever rock he was under, drafted a raw 7-footer whose only job would need to be “hack Dwight Howard,” we’d have a 14-man roster with better perimeter defenders, more fouls to give, and some bargaining chips. And BC still could have brought on Hassan Adams to play cheerleader!

Instead we’ve got three good bigs plus Hump, five mediocre swingmen, a good PG backed up by a rookie and a guy who would struggle to make the D-league. Oh, and a 7-footer who hasn’t dressed once.

And next-to-no bargaining power to make a trade.

That, my friends, is all on Colangelo.

Should the roster be producing more wins? It looks like it - it looks like some playcalling and offensive creativity, combined with sustained effort, should have won at least two more games already this year (and avoided struggling in the close games they almost blew). So yes, I do believe - at this point - that a coaching will help.

But if this team continues to flounder under Jay Triano, if Triano puts in some new sets but they still struggle or appear listless, then it’ll be clear - it’s not the coaching, it’s the roster. And BC is going to have a hard time fixing it, because he’s left himself so few options.

Well, yesterday was a big day. Big day for the Raptors. Sam Mitchell was fired after an 8-9 start - and let’s be honest, given the poor effort and blown leads, it’s a bad 8-9 start.

Was the timing right? From a PR standpoint, you can’t do much better than firing the coach after one of the worst losses in franchise history, on the west coast, to boot.

In addition, you have to figure that at 8-9, they’re still in the playoff chase - if they can survive this brutal stretch of the schedule - so if you’re going to make a coaching change, better to make it now then when you’re 12-20 and out of the race.

I simply can’t understand the people (Doug Smith, I’m looking at you) that keep saying “it’s too early.” It’s not - the season is slipping away. When does too early become “just right” and not “too late”? It’s a fine line, obviously, but I’d rather make the move too early than too late.

No, 8-9 isn’t bad on paper but look at the games - the blown leads, the poor effort, the lack of execution down the stretch.

Is it all on the coach? Of course not, but it starts there - the coach is the leader and if he can’t get the players to even play hard, then he’s gotta take some blame.

We all know Mitchell is not a great X’s and O’s guy, but it’s always been said that he’s a good motivator, the players respect him and play hard for him, etc.. But that no longer appeared to be the case, at least not this season, am I wrong? I count three zero-effort games: The first Hawks game, the second Celtics game, and Denver. I count two listless games where a few threes kept it respectable: The Lakers game and the second Sixers game. I count three blown leads where the team simply got lazy in the second half: Orlando, Boston, and New Jersey (which was at home, and featured the still-unbelievable twice-botched inbounds play). Then you’ve got the second Miami game that they very nearly blew after leading by 17, and the first Charlotte game that they slept through the entire first half and got down 16 before Bosh single-handedly brought them back to win. And in the second Atlanta game, they played great almost the entire game until the final two minutes when they almost blew a 9-point lead and it took the poor decision making of the Hawks to seal it.

So by my tally, that’s five games with entirely poor efforts, three games where they didn’t play hard for 48 and lost, and two games where they didn’t play hard for 48 and still managed to win, plus one they won despite not executing down the stretch. They’ve only won one game against a +.500 opponent (Atlanta) and aren’t putting even bad teams away with any authority. Also consider the 13-20 finish to last year and the 1-4 playoff run, and that’s a pretty bad stretch, no?

So I don’t think you can you say that Mitchell has them playing hard anymore. And if they’re not playing hard for him, and he’s not going to help them win with X’s and O’s… then what is he bringing to the table? Some fine suits and a lot of excuses, that’s what.

Now. I like Sam, don’t get me wrong, and I am going to miss him. A lot. He was entertaining, enjoyable, a good person and someone who never gave less than his best. He did improve as a coach, greatly, over the years, not just on the floor but also in his management of the team, changing the attitude of the team, dealing with the media, everything. And, up until recently, the Raptors always played hard. Always - just like Sam did.

But something obviously changed and they aren’t playing hard right now.

Going forward, do I really think getting rid of Sam is going to make a big difference? Probably not. As has been said many times many places, even a great coach like Phil Jackson would have trouble teaching Calderon how to stay in front of his man or Moon to stay on his feet on pump fakes. But I think we all feel Sam’s weak X’s and O’s meant the team struggled as much on offense as it did on defense.

If Jay Triano brings a few more plays to the playbook and manages to mix things up a little, the Raptors should, at the very least, manage to score a little more easily. And if you’re not using up all your energy on offense, maybe you’ve got a little more left for defense, no? That’s the hope that I have, at least.

Whether it’s more transition hoops, whether it’s plays that get Kapono, Parker or Calderon more open looks, whether it’s more post-ups for Bargnani when he’s playing smaller 3s… a team with Chris Bosh and Jermaine O’Neal and so many shooters on it should not struggle to get open shots. I hope Triano has something up his sleeve to solve that.

I also hope he gives the guys consistent minutes on a consistent basis. Time to stop judging guys on one missed shot or turnover. Either let them play through a good chuck and determine if they can learn from these mistakes or if they’re just bad players.

In my opinion, and in the opinion of many, Sam was never Bryan Colangelo’s guy. The two never saw eye-to-eye; they have distinctly different styles and philosophies, and Bryan, well, I gather Bryan has a bit of an ego and a “I know more basketball than you” air about him, so he probably wanted to bring his own guy in from day one.

But, it didn’t make sense to fire Sam right off the bat, in the last year of his contract, and have to swallow the cash - after all, no one expected the team to be any good in Bryan’s first year. But, it was - good enough to win 47 games and give Sam the Coach of the year Award.

And that, folks, was the worst possible thing that could have happened.

I think Bryan was expected maybe 38 wins and was simply going to let Sam walk at the end of the 2006-2007 season. Thanks for a good year, you did good enough to land another job, we’re going a different route, blah blah blah.. But he simply had to bring Sam back - you can’t let the coach of the year walk away.

And that set Bryan’s plan back. I think he was hoping to bring someone in that offseason - maybe Iavaroni, maybe Messina - but he’d lose face letting the coach of the year walk away. And maybe, like me, he thought Sam would continue to improve and that there was value in the continuity of having one voice.

But, obviously, that improvement never came and it looks like the voice was getting tuned out. The timing, unfortunately for Sam, is right. I applaud this move at this time - it was, I believe, 100 per cent necessary.

I wish Sam the best of luck. I really will miss him. It’s been four years plus a couple months we’ve had Sam as our coach. That’s a long time - longest tenure, and winningest, in Raptors history. He and Chris Bosh were the only remnants from the “old days” - the only people left on the team that coached/played with Vince Carter. And I won’t forget the 47 wins and the division title or the playoff series against the Nets, and I won’t forget being there to see him win coach of the year, and the way he brought all the players out to the court with him. Great moment. All the best to you, Sam, really.

And Jay, well, best of luck to you too! I hope you succeed because it will be great for Canada, but mostly, I hope you succeed so that we can see our beloved Raptors get back on the winning track.