Babcock fired

(UPDATES: Embry named interim GM; Peddie dangles club president out to be added to the next GM's portfolio; Babcock cites "philosophical differences" with ownership and Sam Mitchell, says he was surprised by the timing of the move).

Farewell, Rob Babcock. We hardly knew ya, and I mean that sincerely.

When the word first came down of a "major announcement" by MLSE president Richard Peddie, the early dough was on head coach Sam Mitchell, especially after the Raptors limped back from their recent western road trip, including giving up 81 to Kobe Bryant, following with a familiar defenceless effort at home against the Bulls on Wednesday.

Instead it's Babcock. How do you summarize his short tenure as general manager? The Vince Carter trade was the obvious cinder block around his neck. Rafael Araujo, who the Boy GM picked eighth in the 2004 draft within days of taking the post, has been awful and may well end up playing in the D League or Europe next year. Rafer Alston was his big first-year signing -- a year later, Babcock traded him away for Mike James. Donyell Marshall wasn't traded at the deadline last year, and instead the club got nothing for him when he left to sign with the Cavs as a free agent.

With Joey Graham vanishing of late and Jose Calderon struggling like most first-year point guards do -- only Charlie Villanueva has really excited, though only intermittently; sometimes he looks like a flashback to John Wallace, another product of a Big East country club -- it's not like any of his summertime moves are paying off. Then again, this is such a young team overall, and each of them has shown just enough to offer a stay of execution for the GM -- at least, that was the prevailing opinion around the club.

Those earplugs he'd wear at games always struck me as a metaphor for Babcock. He wasn't much of a communicator. He never seemed to give the impression that he was listening to what was going on around the league.

The only surprise here is the timing. Perhaps the midpoint of the season was enough to say enough. Perhaps Wednesday night's half-empty ACC house was the trigger. Or perhaps there's more to this story than meets the eye right now. What now? Wayne Embry seems the obvious to take over. The trade deadline is Feb. 23. That's fish-or-cut-bait time for whoever takes over as far as a player like James.

One thing seems assured: Sam Mitchell is a lucky guy. He's safe. For another day or two, anyway.

Oh, and this just in: MLSE hasn't got a clue. The only way to fix this situation is to hire a proven GM, pay him lots of money to do the job and leave him alone for three years to try and do it. This just proves that Peddie and his dysfunctional crew made the wrong call in going cheap and unproven 19 months ago.

Comments

[Pat Connors]

Unfortunately, only first and second year players are eligible for the D-League. Therefore, we're stuck with Araujo on our bench for another year; then he will go to Europe or Central America, never to be heard from again.

[Jade]

Finally, one step is better than none. But MLSE still has to get their act together. We need to clean house. I like our group of players but they need some direction. Too bad since I'm sure Peddie will stay cheap. We lost so many opportunities to get big name to help T.O. and lost many ballers too. I hope all is not lost for another decade. Go Raptors!

[Kevin Ferris]

It was not Rob Babcock's fault that he was not experienced as a GM. Richard Peddie made the decision to hire Babcock. Richard Peddie gave VC the impression that he was a assistant GM which was the cause of VC's departure. Fire Richard Peddie

[Chris Rugel]

Babcock was given the chance, it didn't work out. Fine. However, it is just like an arrogant organization to fail to hold everyone responsible for this fiasco. Unless Peddie gets the can, we are only going to see more of the same. And the price we as fans pay is that the Raptors lost several star-quality players leaving the Raps to suffer in mediocrity for the foreseeable future until somebody gets lucky and picks a McGrady or Carter again in a draft...because everyone knows nobody will decide to come to Toronto willingly. MLSE has shown they don't know how to win championships in basketball or hockey, despite having all the money in the world to do it.

[John]

Peddie hired an inexperienced GM who clearly was improving. Perhaps that improvement scared Peddie, since it seems like the time was drawing near to scapegoat for the current ill fortunes of the team. Oh well, this just makes the Raps organization look like a mess to the rest of the league, not at all helpful for pulling in free agents or keeping our own.

[Chris Milne]

This was an asinine move & frankly just puts Peddie's fingers back into the pot. If he'd left well enough alone they could have worked something out in the off-season with the swing vote going to what happens at the trade deadline & how the season finishes out. This has hamstrung Mitchell & basically taken the legs out from under the team. I will tell you right now that Jalen, Mo & maybe even Bosh are going to be getting commiseration phone calls from VC & the rest of the league as I write this - and you know what ? They're going to listen & who's to blame them ? This franchise is amateur hour from top to bottom.

[Erol Asim]

I agree with Kevin Ferris. Richard Peddie has to bare responsibility for hiring Babcock in the first place. Peddie should be fired! He doesn't fit what the Raptors require for expert management.

[D]

Why stop with Babcock? It's not like Mitchell has set the world on fire. It's been a year and a half that he's been coaching the same core group of players, and they still can't grasp elemental defence. And it's not like he has no players who can play defence - hello Eric and Aaron Williams warming the bench. Raptors should be a decent - not spectacular - centre away from making playoffs, which in my mind means that they should be pretty close right now. Are they? Obviously not. And whose fault is that? Not all on Babcock. I hope the new GM puts somebody in place that can get through to players, and that's not Mitchell. The greatest mistake by MLSE was to hire rookie GM and a rookie coach.

[Jason D.]

Babcock gets fired. Peddie contradicts himself at least 3 times during the conference. 1. Peddie hired Babcock for his experience in the league, yet feels he does not have the experience to lead this team. 2. Peddie feels that they have improved on their basketball IQ, yet they fire someone with 12 years experience evaluating players and feel they need to get a more experienced GM. 3. Peddie and the board agree with Babcock's rebuilding plan and decide it is good, yet they fire the architect of that plan.

This guy says that Babcock took the fall for his decisions, yet Peddie himself is not accountable for his decisions like hiring Babcock in the first place.

Richard Peddie is the guy that needs to go, not Babcock.

[Ed]

Fire Peddie!

The team was showing some promise, with Bosh wanting to stay, 3 decent rookies and a second rounder who burned up the D-league. Peddie just has to go and threaten our chance of resigning Bosh. He's just trying to save his own job. Just fire Peddie and get it over with.

[Gus Pergantis]

Enough already from people calling for Mitchell's head. The man has a solid understanding of basketball and is improving. I think that the team needs to surrond him with talented bench coaches to excel. I look around the league and see sidekicks such as Oneil, Gentry, Musslemen and Carlisimo as bench couches to other teams. Who do we have --- Jim Todd who was part of the Clippers record breaking futility mark. I think he is a good starting point.

[Ron]

Fire Peddie. Nothing good will happen to this team until he is fired.
Sadly, this ownership doesn't care about the team, or basketball in general.
The only team colours they see are blue, white, and green.
I especially dispise Peddie because he will do anything to keep his worthless self in power. He must have a lot of friends on the board to keep him this long.

Can someone bring that site back? We need another banner flown, and I want to sign the petition again.

[rappydappydoo]

I'm a Raptors fan in Beijing. Sorry for the late reply, but I was busy polling all 1.3 billion Chinese. The response is unanimous: Peddie's got to go.