What is it that comes after panic mode? Acceptance? I guess that’s it. I’ve kind of accepted that this Raptors team, regardless of who’s coaching it, just doesn’t have it this year. The roster is simply missing too many ingredients and there’s no way to add them to the mix. The playoffs seem like a pipe dream and I’m just hoping for some entertainment the rest of the way.

At least I got that yesterday; it was a very enjoyable game to watch. Both teams made runs, both teams had double digit leads, both teams hit big shots. There were blocked shots, hustling for loose balls, even a bloodied Chris Bosh. It was a hard-fought game all the way.

Naturally, the Raptors’ Achilles heels were exposed at the end of the game, and Portland fired their arrows right in there. Rebounding and point guard defense killed the Raps’ on Portland’s final possession, and then on the final play, not having a wing player who can create offense proved to be the final nail in the coffin.

Amazingly enough, Achilles Heel #4 - wing defense - wasn’t apparent in yesterday’s loss. Yes, Brandon Roy hit a big jumper late, but he was really a non-factor all game, scoring 15 on 6-16 and not really being a factor. Kudos to Anthony Parker for the job he did on Roy.

I still can’t get over that final play. Why would Bosh get the ball 30 feet from the rim? And if that was a busted play, as Triano hinted, you’d think Jose Calderon would sprint to Bosh and take over. But if you watched the play, you saw that Calderon did not move an inch from his spot in the far corner. Seriously, watch it. His feet never move.

Calderon is the only guy who even has a hint of ability to take a guy off the dribble (well, maybe Joey Graham does, but we’re not putting the ball in his hands, obviously). The pick and roll, amazingly enough, had been working all game - Calderon went to the rim for the first time in about three weeks, and he did it more than once. Why not go back to that? Was having Chris Bosh create off the bounce from beyond the three-point-line the best idea? I think not.

(Also not impressed with Triano’s “explanation” - “I’m not gonna tell you what was supposed to happen as we want to use it again sometime.” First of all, you wanna use that AGAIN? Yikes. And second, that sounds an awful lot like an excuse. I mean all he had to say was “we wanted to do this,” you didn’t have to explain the intricacies of it. So it makes me wonder just what it was they wanted to do, if he couldn’t even put it into words? Fishy.)

Of course, it should never have come to that; the Raps should have corralled the rebound on the previous play, or on Oden’s missed foul shot, or about a dozen other times. Say what you will about Oden - that he looks slow, that he travels every time he catches the ball (Seriously, watch his feet. He picks up his dribble, THEN hop-steps, then shoots. But since he looks like a 12-year vet, he gets 12-year vet calls. That’s the only way I can explain it), that he had about 14 three-second violations that weren’t called… but, the man knows how to box out. Even when he didn’t get boards, our guys simply couldn’t get around him.

A -17 on the rebounds, and outrebounded 18-4 on the offensive end. Ugh. Combined 17 boards from Bosh, O’Neal and Bargnani in 96 minutes. Woeful.

So, it’s a four-game skid, with a trip to red-hot Cleveland tomorrow night. It’s not good folks. They’re last in their division, and on the outside looking in at the playoff picture.

But, if you wanna look at the bright side, here’s some thoughts…

They were 7-12 two years ago, and would go to 7-14, before going 40-21 the rest of the way.

They’re only a half-game out of a playoff spot

As the TV crew pointed out yesterday about 1,173 times, the Raptors had the second-toughest early-season schedule in the NBA.

We appear to be healthy (yep, I’m reaching here).

Joey Graham is opening some eyes (really reaching).

We almost won without our star Kris Humphries! (OK, I’m done).

I gather people think yesterday was something to build on but to me, it was more of the same. Outrebounded again. Another blown lead. Another opposing PG comes up big against us. The usual roster holes exposed. Unable to execute down the stretch.

Just another day in Raptorland.

If you wanted an entertaining game, you got that, and that’s an improvement over the last week. But at this point, I wouldn’t expect much else from these Raptors.

Well, it was another disheartening loss for the Raptors in the coaching debut of Jay Triano, a 114-87 drubbing at the hands of the Utah Jazz.

I really though they’d be inspired and play with energy, and the energy would carry them to a win. Instead they looked like they didn’t care.

Offensively, we saw some new things and while they missed a lot of shots, they got some good shots - open shots - they hadn’t been getting before. Hopefully as everyone gets comfortable in the offense those shots will drop.

Defensively, unfortunately, it was the same old garbage. Terrible rotations. Non-existent weakside help. Matodor defense. Getting burned by the same things over and over and over. Really, watching that game, you felt like the Jazz could do whatever the heck they wanted, when they wanted.

Can coaching change that? I really don’t know. I hope so. But it better happen fast.

One extremely disappointing thing to note, Chris Bosh was manhandled by Paul Millsap. Why the heck wasn’t Bosh on Okur and O’Neal on Millsap? And why didn’t Bosh use his quickness on Millsap, instead of settling for fadeaway jumpers? He was the least aggressive Raptor on the floor last night.

Overall, just incredibly disappointed in this Raptors team for not playing with more energy and aggression for the new coach. Bosh said the other day, “we’re still 8-9,” implying the season is far from over. But as I’ve been saying all along, if you don’t correct the things that aren’t working, quickly, then 8-9 becomes 8-12, and 12-22, and 22-40, and so on. Take a look at the schedule, Chris. This season is slipping away and you better start playing with some urgency if you want that to change.

So, it’s the NBA’s newest coach against the NBA’s longest serving coach tonight in Utah. Um, who do you think might have the advantage? Jay’s going for his first win - well, second, if you count the fill-in job he did last year - while Jerry Sloan is going for win #1,102.

This is a tough preview to write, because I really don’t know what to expect in this game. From the Raptors standpoint, we can’t expect too much to change - after all, Triano’s only had a day and a half on the job and roster is what it is.

What’s impossible to predict is the emotional effect that a new voice can bring; sometimes, just having that different guy on the bench produces an energy level the team hasn’t seen before. So while they may not do anything drastically different, the Raptors may be inspired to actually play harder and execute better on the floor.

As for the Jazz, well, it appears Carlos Boozer won’t play; Andrei Kirilenko and Matt Harpring are questionable; and Deron Williams is having a tough time recovering from ankle problems (I would know, he’s on my fantasy team).

Nevertheless, when you’re a struggling point guard, playing Jose Calderon and his patented Matador Defense is the cure-all, isn’t it?

Sigh.

Anyway, without knowing who’s gonna play, it’s tough to predict how the Jazz will do. They’re 8-3 at home - it’s always tough for road teams in Utah, and the Raps haven’t won there since 2004 - but oddly enough, just 2-7 against the Eastern conference this year.

Regardless of who plays, you can be sure the Jazz will execute their plays and give 100 per cent on defense. They’re kind of the anti-Raptors in that respect. It’s amazing how disciplined Sloan’s teams are.

Ronnie Brewer is having a solid year - 13/3/3 on 48% shooting - and if our perimeter defense is as bad as it’s been lately, he and Kyle Korver will likely have field days. Mehmet Okur is usually a tough matchup, but with our versatile big men (I would assume either Bosh or Bargnani would guard Okur, with O’Neal on the much more physical Paul Millsap) we should be able to hold him in check.

The Jazz have been starting CJ Miles at small forward, and while he doesn’t feature much in their offense, he could be a tough matchup for the Raptors (assuming Triano sticks with the big three frontline of Bosh, Bargnani and O’Neal). With O’Neal on Millsap, that leaves Bosh and Bargnani to handle Okur and Miles. Smaller, quicker threes are a tough guard for Bargnani or Bosh, and you just know a coach like Sloan will be able to take advantage.

The key, then, will be how - or if? - the Raptors exploit it on the other end. One recurring problem under Sam Mitchell was that the Raptors rarely, if ever, took advantage of the mismatches that having Bargnani on the floor provides. (Some people are blaming this on Jose Calderon, but as Michael Grange reported yesterday, Sam was calling plays every time down the floor… and the play was Horns Up - high pick and roll - 70% of the time.)

I know it can be tough to think of Bargnani as a top option with Bosh and JO out there, but honestly… if 6′6″ Miles is guarding him, if they don’t go to Bargnani in the post early and often, I’m going to be extremely disappointed in Triano. That’s his first real test, in my mind.

Besides, given how assertive Bargnani has been on offense, and given JO’s struggles shooting the ball, I’d say Bargnani probably should be the second offensive option on any given play. And if he’s got a 6′6″ height advantage, he’s gotta get the rock.

The Raptors will really catch a break if both Boozer and Kirilenko are out, and it’s gonna be up to Triano to ensure the team takes advantage - the Raptors will have a serious edge in size and they’ve got to hit the glass, get out and run, and when things slow down, use that height to score some points on post-ups.

Assuming both of those guys are out, I think the Raptors will be up to the task and will win by 10 - I really think the emotional impact of the coaching change will carry them through.

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.