The morning after the season before

I don’t know about the usual Three Pointers thing that we do here because, really, who cares?

So let’s do A Bunch of Pointers and see where it takes us.

Sound okay? Cool.

-

Bye, Rasho.

See ya, Patrick.

I can say with pretty much certainty that those are two fellows – both good guys who’ll be missed in the whole ‘hey, what’s happening’ conversational vein – who will have walked off the Air Canada Centre court last night for the last time as Raptors but it begs the question, who else is gone?

Of course, Chris Bosh is the big question and we all know there’ll be more than enough speculation about him for the next little while that it’s not worth getting into it today.

But how about a couple of others? As I watched Antoine Wright walk to the elevator on crutches after it was all over, I figure that might the last time I see him around the Raptors locker room because he’s a free agent and I’m not sure there’s room for him, as I’ve mentioned a few times before.

But what about Turk? Or one of the point guards? Or Reggie Evans?

Think they’ll all be back?

If I had to guess, and that’s all it is right now, I would think Bryan would want to give Turk another year to redeem himself but I do think he’ll move one of his point guards and I am pretty certain he’ll try hard to move Reggie sometime this summer.

So that’d make another five guys at least gone from the roster and if Bosh goes, that’ll make six. And let’s say they can’t find a contract number that suits Amir Johnson, also a free agent, and that promising young big moves, too.

That’s seven guys gone, almost half the roster, and here we go again with the blowing up.

-

Quite aside from the fact it’ll get some of you all riled up and that’s never a bad thing (I keed, I keed), I am going to say this:

They should not make a move on Jay.

I think he’s a good coach, an excellent guy at Xs and Os and deserves another year. No, he’s not fiery and he’s not the greatest quote in the world and sometimes he comes across as unwilling to publicly criticize his players, to the point where he mouths platitudes that aren’t exactly true.

But there’s some promise there and at some point, you have to let a guy grow into his job rather than pull the rug out from under him too quickly.

I don’t know about his assistants – maybe they need to find some grizzled old screamer to sit next to him – but I do feel that Jay deserves the chance to take another new group and see what he can do. That’s not popular opinion – it was even debated heatedly at our Annual Last Game Of The Year Grunt-o-rama after last night’s game – but it’s what I think.

As perhaps I’ve mentioned a time or two, I think coaches get too much credit when things are going good and too much blame when they’re going bad and to make a change here for little more than change’s sake doesn’t work.

Although, I think I’d find it hugely entertaining to see how long it would take some of you to turn on the new saviour they brought it.

-

One of the more telling things about Wednesday night?

Attendance: 18,333.

Last game of the regular season, kind of important in a ‘man, they better win’ kind of way, perhaps the last game for some players and still they can’t sell out?

That has to be troubling to the suits upstairs, doesn’t it?

And I found it kind of odd, after all the disappointments over the course of 41 games and the non-playoff end to the year that when the final buzzer went, the fans stood and applauded.

Good on them, actually. Odd, though. Quite.

-

So Toronto’s 40-42, Memphis is 40-42 and the No. 12 pick in June’s draft is far from a thing.

What happens now is the league – or someone who works for the league – flips a coin to see who’s No. 12 and who’s No. 13 going into the draft.

That’ll be exciting, won’t it?

-

What’s up now? Well, just to keep you up to speed, and to make sure you know what’s coming, here’s how the next few days will unfold.

After I get Super Dog all walked, watered and fed, it’s time to head down to the ACC for clean-up day. What they do is, after the players get their end-of-season physicals and have their exit meetings with Bryan and Jay, they parade select ones through the post-game interview room so we can grill them.

I’m pretty sure we’ll talk to Bosh, Turk, Jarrett, Jose, DeMar and perhaps even Andrea.

Oh, and Jay, too.

The whole process takes about three or four hours in a mind-numbingly boring day and then we figure out what the story is.

But getting words of wisdom and the state of the franchise opinion from Bryan will have to wait until at least Monday; he’s off at NBA board meetings today and can’t talk to us.

-

They’re dancing in the streets of Chicago now that the Bulls have made it. Or John Paxson and Vinny Del Negro are having a steel cage match.

I’m not sure.

But whatever it is, let’s make one final check with my boy K.C. and see what’s going on.

-

I will point you now in the direction of Rick down in Charlotte where we once again hear from Larry Brown, who I still quite like and respect.

-

Here’s a kind of verbatim conversation I had with a fellow before last night’s game. Him first.

“What about Bosh?”

“I think he’s gone but six week ago I thought he was staying so who knows.”

“Sign-and-trade?" “That’s what they want.”

“David Lee?”

“Sure, and something really good with him. That seems to be what the people want.”

“Makes sense.”

“Tell me about Lee.”

“If you put him out there with Bargnani and Turkoglu it might be the worst defensive front court in the history of basketball. But he’s a good guy.”

“Hmm. That might be enough.”

-

Oh, what’s up here?

Well, the plan is to have a little player-by-player look at the roster in this space tomorrow, maybe a GruntTV wrapup today if I’ve got time or tomorrow at the latest and we’ll keep doing our usual good stuff each morning.

And if you’ve got questions, you can click here and send ‘em because I’ll have some time Friday and Saturday to perhaps sit on a stool and answer them.

-

Comments

[Paul]

Disagree with you re Jay. He's not a good head coach. If he's a good x's and O's guy, then he'll make a good assistant coach again. As a head coach, he doesn't have the respect of the players, he doesn't know how to motivate, and he doesn't deliver consistent effort from the team.

Also, if they dont resign Amir, that would be a huge shame.

[Yama F]

Doug,
As far as CB is concerned, if we couldn't win with him, then why are so concerned that he might leave and then be heart broken when he does? We are not talking about winning the championchip, we are talking about making the playoffs. Why can't BC announce that we are open for a sign and trade tomorrow (if the rules allow)? For CB personally, I think the only destination that would make sense would be to go to Miami, Cleveland or another team that has a #1 because he is truly one of the best complimentary players in a long time but it would be a mistake for him to go to a team like NY to carry it.

I am not saying this because I am an upset (although I am upset), but I truely believe Toronto should move on instead of CB.

[AT]

The problem with what Colangelo did this year was he put together a team that had to be potential to be good or very good. Optimistically their top finish would have been 5 which meant they still go out in the first round. But even on paper, this team was ot good enough to compete with the eventual top 4 in the East (let alone the West.
And the other problem is Chris Bosh. He simply does not have the personal qualities to lead a team..At least we know that Colangelo has what it takes to re-build in a short period of time so it should be another interesting summer.

[JT]

I think it's pretty clear Andrea uses his full assortment of post-moves when he has a small defender on him or when the opponent doesn't have strong inside presence.
I know it's way too early to speculate but if Bosh does go in a sign and trade, I really hope BC is able to tag on Turk. So whoever wants Bosh needs to take on Turk as well. Time to get some legit and athletic wings. Joe Johnson please?

[robguy]

Hi Doug - thanks once again for the Blog - very entertaining and informative.

I was surprised to see so many people say the Bull's 'deserved' the playoff spot more than the Raptors - I guess they did as they finished with ONE more win and so be it. The reasoning had me puzzled when people talk about Noah and Rose as if if they were on the Lakers and forget what kind of a season they have had too. Raps win the season series even with their 'Euro' lineup - yes that is a dagger in the direction of some posters...The Bulls lost to New Jersey in a key game, won their last 2 games against disinterested competition and were as horrible for large parts of the year - hence their deserved losing record. You have to wonder what happens if the Cavs play LeBron in that game against the Bulls - interesting since there was a 1 game difference between the Raps and Bull's records and you could argue easily that the 1 game against the Cavs was the difference and that just makes the NBA look bad. I am with you that the Cavs should have played the same lineup against both teams.

Now their were many many games the Raps should look at as the difference in the season and they fully deserve their record.

Looking forward to whatever you have coming up in the playoffs and will be cheering on anybody against the Cavs. (Hope they get swept by the Bulls and the NBA can sweat the rest of the way - not happening but some of us can have unrealistic dreams!)

[Derek]

Hi Doug,
First off - thanks so much for the blog all year - you've kept it entertaining many times when the product on the floor was far from it.

I'm shocked that Bryan hasn't tried to get Amir to sign an extension some time during the course of this year. Given his age, and the upside/growth we've seen over the course of this year, I think its essential they try to retain him. He's probably the ONLY guy on our roster who I can honestly say gave 100% every time he stepped on the floor. By waiting this long, you're now competing with every other team in the league on his services and I'm sure there will be some aggressive suitors out there.

Interesting (and poignant) article by Mike Ulmer on the Raps website. I usually find Ulmer to be very "pro-Raps" in his writings, but his article from today takes some rather pointed (and fair) shots at the Raps players, stating that far too many of them seemed far too happy last night for a team that was just eliminated from the playoffs.

Hopefully Demar and Sonny commit to work as hard in the off-season as they apparently did throughout the season in practices, etc. - if they do, the two of them could be a real strength (and a treat to watch) next year.

I also agree heartily with Doug about Jay Triano - I think he deserves at least one more year. Was he perfect this year - absolutely not, but how many coaches are? Should he have been tougher with his players, benching guys more frequently (yes), or calling them out in public (maybe - that doesn't always have the desired effect). But it can be hard to do either one when your GM is telling the press that its the best team he's ever assembled, and the culprits who deserve benching are among the "best" players brought in by the GM.

Generally speaking - Triano is fantastic at drawing up plays (out of time out's, etc.) - far better than Smitch was. He and his staff also showed a great ability to game plan for some teams, setting a "trap" early in the game and springing a change in the 4th quarter that won us a few games.

The big thing I noticed is that in alot of cases, the plays Triano ran got players open looks and/or shots. In alot of cases, the players missed the open shots, or didn't take advantage of the open looks. That's on the player - not the coach. And when you miss an open look and give up easy transition baskets going the other way - again, that's on the player, not the coach.

Similarly, the biggest thing I kept hearing throughout the year (which I came to better understand) is that alot of times when it looks like a player got beat on defense, the truth is that the player "thought" he was funneling the offensive player to another help defender, but the other defender just wasn't there when they were supposed to be be. I haven't heard anyone claim that Jay runs a particularly complicated defensive scheme, so the fact that players routinely can't understand and complete their assignment is frustrating, troubling - and again, on the player, not the coach.

I guess my only critique (of the commentators and the writers) is that we often heard throughout the year that the help defender wasn't where they were supposed to be, or that the help defender allowed the offensive player to score easily - but its typically not pointed out "which player" was supposed to rotate over and didn't. From your perspective Doug - who were the biggest culprits for that this year (overall)? From what I could see, it often looked like Bargnani or Turk, but again, not sure.

[pn]

Am I the only one out here who thinks Bosh would be absolutely MENTAL to accept a sign-and-trade to New York? Even if they get Wade there as well, they would have to divest an already crappy team of their best players - making them even crappier and we all know that two good guys does NOT a winning team make.

Personally, I think Bosh is much smarter than that and I really hope he can get past the NY hype to see what really lies waiting there for him: another five years of sub-.500 crappy teams and no playoffs in the near future.

The Raptors, on the other hand, have proven that with a few tweaks here and there, they can seriously contend - not just for the playoffs, but for a top spot in the east. And the promise that young DeMar, Sonny and Amir showed last night makes the future strangely bright, imo.

[MC_Brad]

So after the game Sonny Weems was interviewed by the Score, asked point blank whats the feel in the locker room about bosh...Weems says somethign to the effect of the signs point to him staying...what do you think of that? Is this the first comment from someone in the locker room that gave an opinion either way? Do you get that the feeling is felt throughout the locker or just an isolated opinion?

[Dave]

Doug, we were solar systems apart on your call to put Jose back in the starting line-up, but I'm with you on Jay. With some number of new players and hopefully a stricter tone from the top, I give him until the all-star break at least. This annual coaching turnstile thing is ridiculous.

[MC_Brad]

oh and god i hope your wrong about david lee

[LeeZ]

The person you were talking to about the sign and trade: I take it you don't want to reveal his actual identity, but was it a fellow reporter? Someone connected to the Knick organization? (executive, assistant coach, etc.?)
Also, can the Raps pay Amir more than any other team (much the same as they can for Bosh), or do they have no edge over any other team in terms of signing him? And has Amir ever made any noise one way or other about wanting to stay? You know, I actually think it's more important to sign him than Bosh. Not because Bosh isn't a truly excellent player, but because Amir is young, has a good upside, gives his all and is improving his offensive game day by day, whereas Bosh has probably hit his ceiling, has suspect knees, clogs up the offence and would commmand a huge salary.

[Kevin]

Another postseason disappointment (or lack thereof) but it's pretty much what should have been expected. This team put themselves in a position to need a combination of results to make it. The last few months have definitely been one of the more spectacular self-destruct sequences I can remember a team displaying.

Have a great summer Doug, and thanks for all your hard work.

[Wilber]

Lots of chatter the past several weeks around these parts about whether better to just make or just miss the playoffs. I agree with you, Doug - just make is always better. Exhibit A: a young Chicago team makes the playoffs last year (and come close to shocking the world against the Celtics) and they get that taste, and learn why its important to be at the big dance and allows them to dig deep and go 10-4 down the stretch, including the last 3 tough games, to get in. That's why you want to make the playoffs. Full marks to a hungry Bulls team.

[Lola]

In your "grunt debate" thing, was your thinking on Jay popular or in the minority?

Blogger's note: About 50-50 actually

[Stavros]

Thanks for the laughs and insight, Doug. Have a super summer!

[BrianV]

It is my understanding that the playoff tie-breaker is head-to-head record, from checking NBA.com. I would think that same tie-breaker would be used for draft positions. Raps are 0-2 against Memphis, so Raps get the #12.

As for a CB S&T, NYK and Miami have nothing I would be interested in. My early fave partner would be Chicago.

Realizing, we will NOT get full value for CB in a S&T, I would be over the moon if we could get Taj Gibson or James Johnson and a 1st rd draft choice.

My early fave for our #12 pick, Stanley Robinson SF UCONN. Though I think he will be available later in the 1st. Maybe trade down for 2 1st rounders, grab Stanley and then a either a big or a PG with the second pick (Jose will be traded).

[Bles]

Hey Doug, good job this season. Love the blog. Long time no write... question: Why do you think one of the PGs might be moved? Isn't that a strength of the squad? I'm confused on that point.

Blogger's note: I think it is; I'm not sure people in the organization do

[Matt M]

Bargnani, Turk, Lee and Calderon might give up 200 points in a game. Now I'm completely excited that it might happen.

[Leonardo]

Hi Doug,
I do not understand why they have to confirm Triano and fire some of the assistants. The season going wrong is on the Players but also on the Coach. The Bulls game was the one that have shown the limits of Triano as NBA coach. Why they have not kept feeding Bargnani in the second half? He had already 16p in the first half. Why an almost Rookie had to take 22 shots? That was the most important game of the season and if your players are not doing what you tell them to do, you take them out! I cannot imagine what happened in other games during the season.
I like Jay but this year he made some crucial mistakes that have been fatal to get TO in the PO.
He is a 1st year NBA coach and when you hired him you knew that something like that could happen.
Now for the next season or you keep Jay and the coaching staff or you get rid of JAY and everybody (coaches) you think are responsible for what happened this year.
P.S.: Bargnani disappears in games because for stretches nobody shares the ball with him (here is coach that has to do something: taking him out or run more plays for him).

[greg]

Assuming Bosh leaves, hope they can keep amir, have him play starting PF/C. BY next year he should pick up his game enough to be even more consistent and stay out of foul trouble. I would prefer that than having No Dee Lee sitting up there with turk and andrea. I dont care if he can get 20 and 10, id rather having a Big who will be a deterrent to dribble penetrations , as evident from last night when our team scored 50 plus in the paint, this guy certainly isnt it. Who knows maybe we can convince Camby to finish his career in Toronto :) .... a guy can always dream right?

[doug]

a knee jerk reaction would be to dump jay, i go back and forth on it actually myself....he has strengths and is a excellent x's and O's type guy...hiring Iavaroni in hindsight was a mistake as he never to my knowledge under-mined Jay but to hand him the defensive reins is to say to Jay this is his baby you run the offense...well isn't Jay the head coach??..shouldn't he be running the whole team??...so I am of the school of thought to retain him, but if he is head coach then let him be, give him the position to succeed or fail with him running the show...not half the show, also some of the other assistants need to go as well as it also puts Jay in the position of having to delegate to them, be their boss when he was one of them a short time ago alongside English etc. ...and Jays personality isn't condusive to doing that I believe...so keep Jay and shake up assistants, lose iavaroni...as also we can't forget BC is just here for another year as it stands now and with more player changes of the magnitude we don't know as of yet, there needs to be some constants for him to deal with and also have a ear in Jay to discuss the moves going forward...

[Jason]

Have to admit, even though I occasionally grit my teeth with the whole curmudgeon schtick you got going, I still came back everyday.

I am onboard with Jay as well, and that makes me in the serious minority with my group of 40 year olds that play ball every week.

I am honestly at a loss - after 15 years of vehemntly supporting and following this organization, I feel oddly apathetic. The Sunday Chicago effort was a spirit killer, a punch to the fanatic gut and I just can't see an improvement next year with Bosh, without Bosh, staying the course, or by blowing the whole thing up again.

At least last fall there was some earnest optimism.

Next fall I don't think I fall for it again.

J.

[dribbles]

My biggest knock against Jay is that I don't think he was able to command the respect of the team or instill any team discipline. Hard to say with any precision how much of the defensive problems were his fault, but the answer has to be at least a bit, and they were absolutely terrible defensively.

Coaches have to hold players accountable, and Jay failed miserably there. Turk got free passes based on reputation and what he accomplished in the past. Bargs would get free passes based on his fragile ego. DD got minutes no matter what, etc. This leads to chemistry issues. Does anyone think Turk was even in decent shape by the last game? You can talk all you want about whether he was used properly (also a coaching issue), but it's unforgiveable that he was unable to play more than 5 minutes without being totally gassed.

If the franchise is serious about trying to attract and keep quality players, they should be serious about trying to get a tested, quality coach. How many good coaches has this team had in its history?

[Dallas]

Hey Doug,

Good work this season. I don't think he will, but in your grunt discussion did BC come up, and what was the sense on him? If not, that in terms of your own mind, how secure is BC's job? Most likely, a one year wait and see? I kind of doubt they bring in a new GM to handle the CB business, and draft.

[doug]

also i must add though i am at the end of my rope with these raptors....as a fan i am tired of medicre play, i am tired of waiting another year while the b-ball world goes on for another few more months....again we sit on the outside looking in, and on this blog and elsewhere it is the fans that have stuck thru this crap for so long, that are attacked for "booing" or "cheering for pizza" or being to passionate or vocal...come on the fans are the only right thing about this team....we actually care as this the posters in this blog show the fans are to be appreciated and applauded not maligned....the anger, venom etc. needs to be directed at the organization, the players, the coaches, the G.M accountability thru actions not words....all we want is a competitive team, this "wait until next year" line is getting old and stale....the players forget, organizations forget, you forget without fans there isn't a neccessity for the rest....look at the Grizz, the Sonics...etc....I am just tired and angry as a fan.....