Friday Thought

nevermind walker or cdr, i'm still thinking about how we could've had danny granger! bah!

Have to say I was surprised BC took another big with his pick, though Jawai may be something special...

Watch the underachievers over the next 5 games, they determine Toronto's future. Adams is a big disappointment, no-joey as opposed to bad-joey is not a bonus. The word's out, from various GOOD sources, Solomon will be replaced. the next few weeks will be interesting. Enjoy the day.

Interesting thought.

Bc has been pretty buletproof so far but the chink in the armour might be the draft. What about the point guard spot too? If roko or will i am cant cut it, wouldnt taking a backup pg have been a better and cheaper option? Chalmers might be a head case but hes played in some huge games and come up big.

This is a little to one sided and almost sounds like something Dave Feschuk would write. These guys may have good rookie seasons on bad teams, allowing them PT. But BC is building a team to go deep in the playoffs and needed insurance against the questions with JO(not the N Jawai would be his back-up but he needed five bigs). Now if that was the way BC was thinking don't you think he'd recall back to the first round and think about that Superman fellow and say to himself if I'm going to get past Dwight year in and year out I better have some bigs who can foul him six times a game not named CB4 or JO. Lastly, being fair to BC, he's been here 2 1/2 years and we're already calling his draft picks a bust. Let's talk in three more years and we'll see where these guys are.

I am a huge fan of BC as many of you know, but I have to agree with you here. I only started watching CDR in college because of your website. He is the exact type of player that we could have used. I would have even taken the Walker risk. Let's face it. Most second rounders aren't real game changers in the first place. Drafting another big when you are still very much in favour of continuing the Bargnani experiment doesn't seem to make a lot of sense. Even though I was heart broken that CDR was selected just before we were on the clock, who is to say that BC would have drafted him anyway. It is true that hindsight is 20/20. It just seems odd that we have to use this analogy on almost every BC pick since coming to T.O...just my thoughts!

I'm not so worried about his drafting. Especially in the 2nd round. There are many many options to be had for wing positions if you want to find them. Who is to say Walker and CDR won't be like our own Hassan Adams in a few years. I think the 2nd round is a place for you to take chances. If you want rotation players from the 2nd round you are better off looking in different places (NBDL, overseas)

So, I'm not too worried. All GM's have good, bad, great, and horrible draft picks. BC's 2 years have been ok. Think of some of the bad draft picks we have had with other GM's (We've also ahd some great ones too haha)

RICHARD SPACKMAN - what do you mean Solomon will be replaced in the near future? Trade? Released? Please advise! Thanks

I've been a long time reader of this site, and I've got to say this is the least insightful article I've seen here in a while. Two preseason games into the season and your lambasting Colangelo based mostly on the performance of two other second round picks that you wished Colangelo picked up (One of which wasn't even available at our pick). Why don't you just complain that we couldn't trade up to get Beasley or Rose? Keep in mind Jawai was picked for two or three years down the road and hasn't even played ONE GAME, not even a preseason one. This is something I would expect from a teenage RealGM poster, and I'm quite frankly dissapointed.

Scott, I thought maybe this is what RS is refering to, from doug smith's blog. But he's talking sampson not solomon.

"
A: Interesting? Solomon, yes. Sampson, no. If Jawai gets cleared to play (and there were whispers around the team he probably will but nothing’s official), Sampson is gone. If Jawai has to sit out for any extended period of time, I’m hearing they’ll look for some other young big to bring in on a minimum value contact because Sampson has been entirely underwhelming.

And Solomon is the No. 2 point guard right now and seeing how raw Ukic is, I can’t imagine that changing before opening night.
"

Hey Richard, where you hearing "The word's out, from various GOOD sources, Solomon will be replaced."?

Certainly agree that Walker would look great in a raps uniform, but I think BC probably has some cards up his sleeve. I think Moon, K-Hump and Kapono are all possibilites to be moved.

i would guess BC is really targeting the international angle and trying to stay away from US rookies who will bolt at the first oppurtunity. I would rather take a chance on bargs long term than any of the other players who came immediately behind and have them leave as soon as their contracts are up. same goes for Jawai

What's up all,

I wouldn't be too harsh on this article, valid points.

Remember Colangelo, as any GM probably does, would rely heavily on his scouting staff even though he himself is ultimately responsible for the pick.

We should be scouting and "courting"/building relationships with young teens around the globe, like the Blue Jays used to do in Dominican Republic, etc. I think they signed Tony Fernandez and George Bell when they were 16 years old or some crazy age like that.

Guess that might not be practical with NBA basketball's system of the Draft, but the relationship building could pay off.

Well, back to government call centre duties. I thought Gov. employees had it easy....oh yeah that's my bosses.

Peace.

money - I completely agree. BC's made a special effort to bring in players who are happy to play in "another country"

I just don't get the argument that BC was drafting Jawai in case JO got hurt. Was a late second rounder REALLY a legit option to replace an injured former All-Star? I'm 100 per cent sure that if injury had struck, Colangelo would have reached out to guys like Sampson etc first before thinking that playing Jawai in O'Neal's stead was the right plan.

However the international and "guys that want to be here" angle does make sense. Walker had a bit of a rep as a bad seed coming out of K State so perhaps BC didn't want to take a chance and mess with the chemistry.

That being said, Hassan Adams had some similar questions after coming out of Arizona so I guess it's all relative.

And yes, post was a bit on the whiny side, (love the Feschuk reference) so I'll try to clarify. It's not so much that I wanted Toronto to go after Walker and CDR in the draft, but I wanted players of that ilk. Both possess skill sets that Toronto has sought the past few seasons and Walker and CDR just happen to be my two favourites from that class, both of whom fell a lot lower than many expected.

And really, besides Bargs, there isn't a single pick of Colangelo's that has had an impact in the NBA yet. One is overseas (possibly for good), one is out of the league (while numerous other players selected around him from his class are thriving), and one now has some major health question marks. I think it's just some food for thought that people may chew on later this season.

And Ted C, I try not to think about Granger any more...

I think questioning his drafts is a valid point. So far you cannot say its been a success. Granted he has not had that many to play with. Bottom line is - it boils down to Bargnani. Lets watch how this season progresses.
This team became young rather quickly, BC traded away some picks because we did not need more youth.
Second round picks are a crap shoot, lets hope the gamble on Jawai(and thats what it is) pays off.
Good point made about CDR- although if he does turn out to be a player I'll say you guys called it last season. PJ Tucker had some good pre season games......

yeah I'm down with the HQ but this article is a one off.

no way you can question the colang yet on his picks yet.

tinman put it proper that bargs is it. he's the guy it all rests on. The colang. said it right off the bat that bargs was a 'work in progress' pick.

I'm not ready to question the logic yet. let's see what happens this year.

if bargs is a bust: then the flood gates will open. as they should.

but right now it's a waste of time to think otherwise.

This post is two years too early because we need more than we've got to get a handle on his drafting. Though to be fair, it hasn't been awesome - Roy or Gay instead of Bargnani and this team is freakish. There, see, I can make myself cry without saying 'Iguodala'.

Face it, all. Babcock could draft. Hoffa was a mistake of confidence in his staff as a GM who had been hired 3 weeks beforehand. He had wanted to draft Jameer Nelson, but went with the advisors. Once he got settled in, he plucked the runner up ROY, Charlie V., who became a tradeable asset and ass to Milwaukee. Sure, he should have taken Granger instead of Graham, but Granger fell on draft day because of his knee. That would have been sweet, as would have been Iggy. But he did grab Ukic later, and Slokar who BC brought over before shipping out. Not a bad return, really. He did get us Ford and cap room for BC to work with. They had a plan, and the right GM for that plan. it was the Leaf plan - let things get bad,clear out cap space and build through the draft. When Rose was scheduled to be gone, some of the picks should have been coming on and the space would have been there to get some proven free-agent talent.

But thankfully the Plan changed and we got a guy who the MLSE duds listen to. That`s the big BC advantage. Bargnani will develop, and Jawai is a good bet in the 2nd round. Good because he has potential upside. That`s what you do in the second round: draft crazy athletes who have not become great players yet, or bigs who can at least chew up some minutes banging and fouling while your good bigs rest. In Jawai, BC got both.

EaseMyPain - Well said. I totally agree that the biggest benefit of having BC at the helm is that he keeps the other MLSE suits away from the basketball business. I think that is in partly why he is so adamant not to go into the luxury tax. I dare say he has carte blanche to do whatever he wants so long as he stays within his budget.

That said, the facts are that he hasn't really done anything great in the draft yet. Even if Bargs turns around (which I think he will), he was a #1 overall pick, he is supposed to be good.

I don't think the Printezis pick was bad at all (drafted by San Antonio then traded to the Raps). As I mentioned in one of my posts from overseas this summer, Giorgos is a player who Olympiakos wants to build around. I watched him play and he has good skills; can shoot from three and is a very aggressive rebounder who has a knack for being at the right place on the court.

The issue I have with this pick is whether or not he will actually leave Olympiakos if they throw money at him. The lure of the NBA alone to most is motivation enough to forsake the big bucks for a shot at the big time. The problem with other Greek players who have tried their hand overseas in the past is that they love the lifestyle in Greece and end up jumping ship too early into their tenure (at least this is what they tell the media upon their return)…a bad case of homesickness I guess!

It may be early, but that doesn't make it wrong to have formed some thoughts on BryCo's drafting record.

Regarding 2006, if it was a weak draft year at the top, think of how hit and miss it must have been once you got all the way to the second round.

One (nonscientific) yardstick I use is how many "non-prototypical traits" the player's available have.
(ie undersized,wingman with max range of 15ft, not playing projected pro position, etc)

Fromlongrange:
I read a few sources which said this year in particular, the cost to move up was significant.
(see Suns trading up for Dragic, Heat trading for Chalmers)

Assistant GM:
Hindsight is 20/20 is a part of every pick in every draft.
Recall a good analogy used in a draft article, paraphrasing "The draft is a snapshot of the horse race"

Scott, Tinman: Agreed.

Well said yardly. This is especially true in the second round!

Franchise: If CDR was so great that BC should have drafted him, how come all 30 teams passed on an All American, on one of the best NCAA teams ???? Were they all as incompetent as you infer BC is for passing on him.

Lets take it easy, Franchise could certainly be right in saying that the Raps made an error in passing up on CDR.

Its happened many times before: Manu Ginobli, Gilbert Arenas, Mike Redd and many other superstars were picked in the 2nd round meaning 30 GMs made a huge mistake.

I for one agree with Franchise, I would have loved to see CDR in a Raps uniform...

John19 - No, you're right in the fact that all the NBA GM's passed on CDR the first time around. However like WTF said, that doesn't mean they made the right choice. The draft is a crap shoot so most of the time GM's get it wrong. My issue though is that you'd pick a player like Jawai over someone like CDR or Walker; both of whom have shown more talent and had better careers against superior competition than Jawai, and offer things that the Raptors need in terms of skill sets. I totally agree that the second round is for taking a gamble, but why not gamble on players who can give your team abilities that are lacking?

In any event, it's an interesting topic and one I'm sure we'll revisit this season. Looking forward to tomorrow's game.