After easily impressing Raptors fans at the draft, the real pressure begins for Bryan Colangelo on July 1. Everything that BC does in the next couple of months will determine how much he wants his team to be a competitor next year, or how bad he wants to keep Chris Bosh.
Being a GM/President is one the hardest jobs in sports. Building that perfect team to win a championship is difficult, especially when you don’t have good pieces to offer to other teams. BC has come a long way this current Roster. Chris Bosh, Jose Calderon and Joey Graham are the only players still here from 05-06 season. Graham is an unrestricted free agent and could be gone next.
In the past 3 years that Colangelo has been in charge, the Raptors have been ‘contenders’ (I use the term loosely) and in the playoffs 2 out of the 3 seasons. However, there has been a decline, and I feel like this is BC’s last chance to prove something. What he does now will determine whether Chris Bosh stays beyond next season. It should also determine his job status beyond 2010.
Last year’s offseason acquisitions have been now graded as an ‘F’. Not only is everyone he acquired gone, they were gone before Trade deadline. I hope BC got the hint with Hassan ‘who?’ Adams and…. I can’t even remember other one… OH! Will ‘What?’ Solomon. As soon as they were traded, they were waived from their teams. I actually felt a little bad for them. Then there was Jermaine O’Neal, he was there in the beginning but stop showing up after awhile. Just like teenagers when they’re in high school.
The point is there is a better free agency class this year. Here are some of the guys who are Unrestricted and I think we should pursue:
- Ron Artest
- Von Wafer
- Trevor Ariza
- Lamar Odom
- Hedo Turkoglu (at a reasonable price)
The Restricted (aka Low chance of getting them):
- Marvin Williams
- Shannon Brown (for cheap)
- Leon Powe
Our Free agents:
- Joey Graham (R) (Update: The Raptors will not extend a Qualifying offer because he would be guaranteed 3.5 mil which he would quickly accept. It’s not worth it [via Doug Smith])
- Carlos Delfino (R) (Extended Qualifying Offer)
- Pops Mensah-Bonsu (R) (Update: Extended Qualifying Offer)
- Shawn Marion (UR)
- Anthony Parker (UR)
- Jake Voskuhl (UR)
There have been some murmurs that the Raptors would offer Turkoglu $50mil/5yrs. He is interested in resigning Marion. BC has also expressed his interest in bringing Delfino back.
2 comments:
I can't help but feel that BC is still good regardless what happens this off season. He's too good of a GM to be released for trying. I think it would be an entirely different matter if he hadn't made any moves to improve the team. The reality is that the moves had a rationale behind them. He brought in Solomon because we needed a back-up PG and the last guy we brought over from overseas worked out pretty good (AP). He rolled the dice on the JO deal and it didn't work out but the team had to address defence and rebounding after getting pasted by Dwight in the playoffs and they almost did.
I see your point with rolling the dice. I'll hand it BC for admitting he was wrong by trading away Solomon, Adams and O'neal. But If next season is bad too, I feel either he goes OR we start rebuilding. Last season there were injuries, coaching changes and trades and I hope that REALLY is the reason last season was was horrible. I just hope everything works out better
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