3 In the Key – Toronto Raptors Game Day Preview vs. Knicks

Great preview VD, looking forward to the games. Should be an exciting match up: hopefully both teams play exciting, with the raptors playing more efficient.

It does sure seem that JT will be back. I agree that at times, it matters less who is the head coach. Especially when the team has players with good attitudes, and a strong staff overall. with regards to the players on the roster, while they have their warts, to a man they are solid individuals. This offseason, BC has an opprotunity to build on that, as well as invest in the coaching staff.
I'm not a huge fan of our assistants, and would welcome some turnover. The quality of individuals we can attract will really depend on what head coaching positions are out there. Iavroni would be great, but I doubt he's turning down a head coaching position to come. It would be great to assemble an all star coaching braintrust, with Triano posing as BC's consensus builder, with Messina and MI contributing their experise. The emphasis would be on the coaching staff, not the head coach.
Of course that is unlikely, but BC might be able to sell it as a valuable opprotunity for Messina to come and learn about the NBA on a one year deal. It would certainly be a great developmental opprotunity for each JT, MI and EM. Even if the later two are only here for a year, the organization would be better for the experience.

Good point about the potential affect of conditioning, some personnel moves as well as the coaching staff having more time with the team. This training camp has the possibility of being very beneficial for the team. (Especially If we assemble a coaching dream team to run the camp - worse come to worse, bring messina over as a consultant?)

VD mention how our rebounding has improved with the additions of Marion and PMB. I truly think that a solid talent infussion in thr right positions would make a world of difference to us. Really, we crasked the season with one NBA calibre PG, and one NBA calibre SG. Further, our SF rotation was a poisition of weakness.
We may be locked in with a PG rotaion of JC, RU, and MB. Though AP acquited himself well running the point while JC was injured: which just sucled cause he was our only NBA calibre SG, and just barely this year as it turned out.
Though BC may take a flyer on a PG with a later pick if available.

But SG and SF should not be an issue to shore up - though Marion has pretty much addressed the later. It does not appear we will be able to get a significantly above average SG - but just replacing junk with anything will be great. This season, it isn't even that we are playing poor SG's. If Parker is on the bench, you have JG or JK at the 2... WTF? This has been discussed, but your not really doing Roko any favors by throwing him out there in his rookie season, with guys that can't dribble.

That should read that sg and sf are not likely to be difficult to address.

Havent posted in a few days, just not sure what to make of this team.

Theyve looked like a playoff club for sure but not sure anymore if i want to blow things up or not.

Right now finances aside i keep:

pops
bosh
bargs
jose
marion
ap
graham
roko

Thats 8 right there so the question is, can you make it work for the right money and still get that other key piece?

A game against the Knicks is always hit or miss. There are the Knicks that we all know (who get blown out) or the Knicks that could be (that are on fire, hit their shots and score 120+ points.... but still don't play defense) This is a team that, when they are on, are real tough to beat.

I wouls also like to see Pops start to get a bit of a run again. He seems to be a bit of an after thought lately and I'm not sure why. Its not like he hasn't earned the time... maybe his knee is bothering him.... maybe they want to keep his exposure down so there aren't other teams willing to take a flyer on him and drive up his price. I will say if there is no reason I will be less than pleased with Triano.

Roko is another guy I would like to see get a little more time. I know Jose has been on lately... but Roko has shown alot of promise as the season has progressed. He can't seem to hit a shot to save his life (although neither could Jose in his rookie year) but he is a good defender and has really been going to the hole. I will say he is by no means a great PG... but I wouldn't say he is not NBA calibre.... atleast he shows promise that he can be.

TJ - Yeah, I'd love to see Messina come over as an assistant, but it doesn't sound like he has any interest in being an assistant when he came during pre-season. I think Ivaroni is doable, as I think his luster has worn off... Just look at some assistants around the league, such as Del Harris, Bernie Bickerstaff, and PJ Carlissimo; all good head coaches, but all assistants right now.

From BC's last interview, it sounds like it's 90 per cent certain that Triano will be back. I know that's going to cause some angst for many, but my question always is, "who else is out there?" I'd love to see Flip in charge but considering Mitchell is still on the books, I doubt MLSE wants to pay top dollar for another coach.

And I'm not sold on Messina. Not that I don't think he has a great track record, but that I'd prefer someone with NBA experience to take over this group, something that at least Triano has a good deal of.

As for tomorrow's game, I think the Raps are going to crush New York in a high-scoring affair...provided they don't hit the Big Apple too hard tonight...

"who else is out there?" is right man. Seems like anybody worth having could only be pried away with big $$$ Whereas Triano, if he works out, could be a really special situation and possibly even attract more players than sam or any of the other unemployed coaches would.

I'm still sick of coaching experiments, but I can get on board for this one.

I think BC will give JT a 2 year deal and hire Ivaroni as his #1 assistant. If things doesn't work out early in the 09/10 season I see him letting JT go and bringing in Ivaroni as an interm which is who he really wants as a head coach for the Raps but it would be hard to let Triano go considering the situation he was face with and the job he has done. The only thing is Triano is going to be coach of the year next year when he turned things around and the Raps win 50+ games. And I really believe that. The Raps and the Wizards are going to have major improvement next season. Washington will get Blake Griffin to go with their core players considering Agent Zero stays health and that will make them very good. BC should try and get Butler from Washington, last night watching the game with Washington vs Cavs Charles and the boys was very tough on the Washington GM saying Washington need to get rid of some of their core players and get some tougher players as the team as it is will not go anywhere. Wouldn't it be nice if BC could get Caron Butler in a Raps uniform....Raps4life.

Eddie Jordan and the Princeton Offence! :)

Me likey the RAPS....

Hopefully there will be less of the dreaded 'turbulence' for the foreseeable future; perhaps even a sunny day.

On a random note, Howland is on vacation next week and just told me that he ran into BC at the airport! I'll have to get full details upon his return but first me in the Grocery Store and then him at the Airport? I'm half expecting Vicious D to run into him at Shoppers Drug Mart next!

Raps4 life.
If their is one thing we have to learn from this year is that early season coaching changes are a mistake.
Actually one of my concerns about BC this season is his risk management.
He seems to like huge changes or very little change, He seems to be an all or nothing risk taker. The O'Neal trade, the choice of second point guard, the Sam firing. All high risk moves that failed.
I really think the Celtics overnight turnaround has made people believe that change is easy. The Celtics are an anomaly. Great teams play together for years under one coaching system. The only way this team is ever a winner is to forge a core and bring in easily changeable components around it.

fromlongrange - what will we get for anyone not on your list?
Resigning Marion, Parker, Pops, and Joey(can't remember if he's signed or not) there goes our cap space.

Hopefully no one is buying andything embarassing - hopefully VD isn't in the isle where you find things to treat VD's. (Though if BC is in that aisle, maybe VD's are cool now?)

NN - I'm not sure it was an ealry season firing so much as an "X time period" too late firing. BC mentioned things had been bubbling for a while: there had been talk that BC was not happy with the golf game during the playoffs; and I recall BC talking very flippantly towards Smitches 100 shats theory ("Sam just came up with that out of no where").

Also - recent comments with regards to Triano communicating the right way, in a sense, underline certain defficiencies that BC may have observed under the Smitchell regime.

Let's all have a nice VD free weekend, and I wish a speedy recovery from any VD's that may be already in the picture.
[/worst weekend wish ever]

can someone explain to me the point of signing quincy douby to yet another 10 day contract...seriously we just spent money on a guy to sit on the bench wearing a jersey for 10 days while he had courtside seats....what a joke..i know its pennies, but when your in a recession every dollar counts..i thought the first 10 day contract was bad enough...but now a second??..What did BC sit down with Triano and was like "look when I sign a guy to a 10 day contract you gotta give him some minutes, Im gonna give you another chance at this?"
Can we even use him? Anybody who cant cut it in Sacramento surely aint gonna be cut out for the rest of the league.
Correct me if im wrong but Im pretty sure he didnt see a single minute in his 10 days and now we can give him some more money to chill on the bench for 10 more days...ridiculous
HEck they can pay me x number of dollars to sit courtside and warmup with the team for 10 days..and i would bring some serious cheering power and energy on the sideline...in fact they wouldnt even have to pay me, We have all already played as many minutes as quincy douby in a raps uni anyways.

On Messina:
He has recently given his availability to coach the Italian national team, which would mean him not coming to the NBA. They are possibly NOT giving him the job for politics / fear he would cost too much and he has stated that just because he knows Maurizio Gherardini that does not translate into Toronto having made an offer. I do not personally see him coming over as an assistant to Triano. I am not sure he would take it and I am quite sure Triano would not want such a "big ticket" in his coaching staff. In relation to "NBA experience" I believe it is overrated; Most of coaching in the NBA is average and some of it is flat out laughable. In relation to managing NBA star player big egos, please do not try to solve problems that are not there: what primadonnas do we have? The only "consolidated star" is Bosh and he is not known to be a problematic guy, if Marion stays he will stay with a mid-level exception, not really the right pulpit for eccentric demands. Calderon and Bargnani (who by the way is the Raptors rising star, possibly also in terms of importance behind the scene) know him and respect him, so I am not sure there is a better environment for him to make the jump. Summarizing you would get immediately a coach, in the right environment, who would be, from day one, better than 80% of the coaches out there and by the end of the first season, at the very least, as good as anybody. So, if you are not sold on this guy, well, that tells more about you (knowledge) than about him.

I think in regards to Quincy, they just needed another body at the guard spot. If Roko or Jose went down, then he'd need to play. On paper it does look like wasted loot but with Jawai being reassigned to the D League yesterday, they need some other bodies.

Renato - Great update on Messina, that really puts things into perspective.

Also on the coaching front, ESPN.com has Triano's chances of staying put as "strong" in their coaching interim watch:

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/columns/story?columnist=sheridan_chris&page=InterimCoaches-090403

And interestingly, Messina is on ESPN Insider's top 10 available coaches list...

Losses by Charlotte and Indiana last night keeps things interesting for the Raps.

And finally, I'm going to be live-blogging the game via Twitter this afternoon so anyone who wants to join the discussion can at Twitter.com/raptorshq

Renalto - I'm not sure it is fair to say that Messina will be *atleast* better than *anybody* after his first year in the NBA. Nor is it to suggest that anyone that has reservations about him making the transition to the NBA necessarily lacks BBIQ.

I happen to think that he is likely to do just fine if he comes over - I just don't think those statements present a fair charactorization of the situation.

I also think some people are over estimating the extent to which EM would feel insulted by assistiing JT - as well as the extent that JT would feel threatened by EM assisting him.

While I fully recognize it is a situtaion that warrants some concerns, it is nothing that simple communication and ingetrity cannot address.

It does not appear likely that EM will be with us next year (just seems like a long shot), but if he did, I think both him and JT would approach the situation as a positive and enriching opprotunity - really, it is difficult to get to their level, in any line of work, without some healthy and adaptive ways of understanding their universe.

I think that avoiding such a collabrative and enriching opprotunity due to - likely - baseless concerns would be a maladaptive. They are something that should be spoken about, and I'm sure BC would sufficiently assure all parties.

TJ, Messina is not just another coach, three of the richest team in Europe are contending this guy, he has won it all everywhere he went.
On the "being insulted at being an assistant". It is not a matter of personal pride, but after you have been in charge a long time, your primary skill set is about managing team/risks/situations. Being an assistant coach prevents you from doing what you are best at and at the same time requires from you a skill set which you have not used in a long time: being a consultant who is trying to get the best somebody else's plan. Trust me, the two jobs are different and being good at one does not make you good at the other.

I have to agree with Renato.

I think Messina possesses great predigree; and certainly 'enough' to coach our team.

No disrespect to Triano at all by considering Messina.

At least we have the luxury of being a 'reasonable' destination for him.

NCAA: Wow! Michigan is schooling UConn.

Hey man, I still maintain it is entirely possible that he would consider a role with the team, even if it were not as head coach.

I'm just saying the notion shouldn't be dismissed out right, especially for reasons that basically amount to personal pettiness.

With regards to his capabilities to coach, while it is exceedingly likely that he would succeed - the possibility exists he won't. And one isn't necessairily mentally incapable if they have some concerns about the transition.