‘a squad that just finished driving its franchise player out of town’

That d-bag was giving anything he wanted from parking spots for his mom to Hakeem…. and then he quit when his very request, demands and expectations started to tear the team apart. I don’t get this nostalgic Wince revisioinist history. The dude quit on the fans before the fans quit on him.

Please stop pretending like the team or the fans had anything to do with Vince. Alvin Williams gave up his career for a playoff run. Antonio Davis put himself and his rep. on the line for the team. JYD gave his heart and soul to the team and to the fans. Vince decided he didn’t need to dunk anymore and layups (which turned out to be random jumpshots) were just as good. I quote… ‘I dogged it’.

Maybe I’m reading too much into a minor statement and its old news now…. but it boggles my mind that as time goes by more and more people look back at that part of Raps history and pretend that something could have been done with Vince. The rest of his career has shown exactly what he is.

Hedo would be the last card in a royal flush of the smelly kind. I find it hard to comment on the overall situation that Colangelo is in because I don’t understand all the stuff about the cap however I think that for the Raps to be competitive, they would need to spend the type of money that the top teams spend and that’s not going to happen.
The winning teams are spending about 20 mill more a year and it’s paying off in terms of wins. You can fool yourself and think that coaching or some intangable can make up for the lack of spending but it aint goin to happen. So, Colangelo will pull off a few neat trades but in the end, come October, they will be a long shot to make the playoffs. It’s all about how many chips you throw in the pot.

CB had 7 good years here. He did his part but never had the right mix of players, either lacking in skillset or character.

As we found out this year with Cleveland, it takes more than one great player to be a successful playoff team.

I am ready to move on with CB. I just think the stank of failure over the last few years has created a negative mindset with him.

I like the position we are in right now.

Last year this time, we were hopelessly stuck with no caproom and a roster that no one could possibly interest any teams in any trade scenarios.

Somehow, BC was able to pulloff some moves that I thought were impossible.

As it turns out, the moves did not work out as planned.

I said at the start of last season, no matter how things turn out, I would not blame BC if the season was a failure.

He did his part. It was up to the players.

This off-season presents so many opportunities for change that we did not have a year ago.

We have pieces that have value to other teams, either as role players or expiring contracts along with CB and Hedo(nt). Players that can contribute to already competitive teams.

I feel, and I am sure I am in the minority, that the best thing that could happens would be if CB did not return. Too much water under the bridge.

The best case scenario with CB, would be having him sign with Chicago or Houston. Both these teams have young players that have potential to become solid NBAers (ie. Aaron Brooks, Taj Gibson, James Johnson, to name a few).

Bynum from the Lakers would be a huge mistake. His soon to be arthritic knees would be an albatross for this franchise.

Hedo’s douche-baginess has provided us with an out to having the softest frontcourt in the league.

We have Reggie, Belli, Jose, Banks and even Antoine (in a S&T) to offer up for players and picks. A much better situation than last year this time.

Then, we have pick #13 and the chance to pickup another 1st rounder using the aforementioned players as trade fodder.

I am LOVING this years draft prospects. There will be players available to us at #13 and later in the first round that will make this a better team over the next couple seasons.

My personal favorite is SF Paul George. 5 years from now, he will be one of the top 3 players in this draft. Time will tell if it is just the crack talking, but that is what I believe.

There are also some bigs available that can help this team in Udoh, Aldrich, Sanders, Davis.

Some SF’s we can get later with a second 1st rounder are Stanley Robinson and Damion James.

All these players I have mentioned play DEFENSE.

With Bargs in our frontcourt, the 2 remaining frontcourt players MUST be above-average defensive players to compensate.

Without 2 above-average frontcourt players, this will NEVER be an above average defensive team, and therefore, not a team that can be successful in the playoffs.

I am very excited about the opportunities we have n front of us.

With the changes available to us and the core of Derozan, Weems, Johnson and Jack, we have a great opportunity.

BC has done more with less in the past. I have little doubt he realizes that defense is this teams Achilles Heel.

He must acquire only players who are not defensive liabilities to move this franchise forward.

I cannot wait to see how this off-season unfolds.

21 and 6 with 7 blocks against the Celtics:)

I forgot to mention on 1 leg !!!!

One other way that your metaphor rings true is that in poker you can make a lot of well calculated moves and still lose if your card doesn’t turn up. Not to say Colangelo’s tenure has been without mistakes, but any number of things that are totally out of his control could have gone differently and the team might be looking great right now (for example: Garbajosa never gets injured, Bargnani or DeRozan turn out to be instant studs, Oden/Durant are draft elligible the year TO has #1 pick, Bosh not injured this year and Raps make playoffs, etc, etc, etc….)

Since the money will not be forth coming to buy a playoff team, then perhaps it would be best to make what ever moves possible to get good young talent. Try to duplicate to some extent what the Thunder have done this year. Add to the core of Jack, Derozen, Weems, Bargnani and Johnson with the best big man available at 13, then add some young players who can defend. Try to get an affordable scorer like Rip Hamilton from Detroit or Jamal Crawford from Atlanta and ask them to become the number one option. Then let the cards fall where they may.

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I’m leaning towards a new season, and potential opportunities.
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Hedo – The pizza muncher will move on. His final year will get tossed aside – Hedo will forgo the player option in a trade, meaning 31.8 million and 3 years will be left. With Orlando going down, I think Turk’s value rose from the dead. Someone will bite – the thinking being … "it’s Toronto. No wonder he played like shit".
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Bosh – CB will be the "top free agent" transferring teams. Something tells me LeBron will stay; Wade as well; leaving Chris to garner his MAX contract. However, until James commits, the rest of the dominos will stay standing.
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Jose – Our beloved PG will travel somewhere, either before the season starts, or before the trade deadline.
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That leaves a lot of holes to fill. I get the sense that BC is hoping for not such a drastic reboot, although (potentially) losing 36 million in Big Salary guys, implies a big change for any team. That doesn’t include another 9.3 million in ending salaries (Amir, Wright, POB, and Rasho). Banks & Evans are tradable commodities. Either now, or before the trade deadline.
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Maybe a reboot is in order.

vey tough situation

many rumors circulating the mills apparently raptors are inquiring about the number 2 pick
from philly and they are demanding demar derozan and our first pick and some other pieces

I think if Bosh leaves, Colangelo needs to start again. He’s had some bad luck and some bad decisions, but remember, Bond lost badly the first time. As long as you learn from your mistakes…

makes me wanna go play some cards after reading this post lol but yesterday someone posted up a trade scenrio involveing mo williams coming here for jose calderon..even doug smith on his blog mentioned today that rumor is going around, should bc do that trade if its possible?

No offense but I just do not see the poker analogy being accurate here because stranger things have happened. Personally I think if you are going to use the poker analogy then you have believe that we are still on the turn with a 1% chance that something comes on the river that will give us the win (call it the suck-out factor). Even in the real world weird things happen all the time that just completely confuse you and make you question everything you know about things. Even though there seems to be no interest in Turkoglu right now, come draft night things can change. I have very little faith in the teams management right now but I have even less faith in some other teams in the NBA’s management as well. Sometimes truth is stranger than fiction.

Other than his first year in Raps land, the rest of his big moves are pretty bad. I’m beginning to think BC is was overrated coming to the Raps, that Steve Nash made just about everyone look better than they were ie. past/current coaches, players etc. Collangelo’s ability to see the big picture is proving to be less than stellar. He says this team is close, I would disagree immensely. He’s great at wheeling and dealing, but for all his efforts, the Raps are mediocre at best. They lack heart and soul, not even close to being a consistent winner capable of enforcing their will on the best teams. I’d give him one more year to decide if he stays or goes. The Jays waited 8 years before they turfed Riccardi’s ass out the door, had they not done this, they’d still be playing like losers without hope. ….if Bosh truly had confidence in BCs long term ability, wouldn’t he stick around??

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