The time has come for something to happen

Happy Draft Day everyone.

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One of my big mantras is that I don’t think teams should ever make moves simply to make moves and shuffle the deck chairs. Doesn’t seem to make a whole lot of sense, does it? Well, maybe today’s different around this neck of the woods.

Maybe today Bryan Colangelo has to do something – anything – to show that he’s being proactive in trying to make improvements to his roster and set the stage for what I feel is the inevitable departure of both Chris Bosh and Hedo Turkoglu.

Maybe he has to deal one of his point guards, maybe he has to get another first-round pick somehow, maybe he needs to package his pick with some contracts and make some kind of big splash.

There is no question that the next month or so will be the defining period of Colangelo’s tenure as the Raptors general manager. He’s got a star to make something of in a sign-and-trade transaction, he’s got Turkoglu who still has value around the league whether you believe it or not. He’s got bits and pieces and a team that was not successful at all and the fans, and even some people in the organization, think he has to start making moves right away.

We’ve heard for weeks about the willingness to buy a pick or make a move or acquire some piece for the future.

The talk is cheap, it’s time for action. I’m not proposing some significant giveaway of talent but if this day ends with Toronto simply making the 13th pick in a so-so draft, people will feel it’s been a failure.

Me included.

I know, from talking to all kinds of people here and there, that the Raptors are working hard to get something done so there is no question that the effort is there.

But it needs to be turned in concrete action or we wake up tomorrow thinking, here we go again.

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Here’s one of the things about rumours and leaks and stuff that gets out in the day or two leading up to the draft.

Most of it’s true – but only at some level. There was one making the rounds last night about the No. 13 pick to Portland for No. 22 and Rudy Fernandez. Got wind of the report too late to check with the people I check with to find out its truthfulness.

But here’s the thing. In about five minutes this morning, I was able to deduce from sources that No. 22 and Rudy are being shopped all over the league – Portland wants to move up – and, yes, Toronto is one of a handful of teams the Blazers have checked with.

It’s not Raptors-specific, it’s not just Houston and them, which is also out there on the internets. It’s a handful of teams being asked about the possibility and it doesn’t mean anything’s close to being done.

Now if last night’s story had said: The Blazers are pushing their pick and Rudy Fernandez to anyone with a higher pick who’ll listen, it wouldn’t have caused nearly as much a stir but it would have been far more accurate.

And that’s the trouble with this time of year, and it’s going to be the trouble with the free agency period: Just because one snippet of information gets out doesn’t mean that’s all there is to a story.

Frustrating at this end? No doubt.

Fun for you? I hope so.

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An earthquake? How about that?

And then a tornado touches down up in Midland north of here?

I blame G20 for what has to be the wildest weather day in some time.

Casa Doug was unaffected by either but, as I was prone on the couch getting ready to watch the beloved Black Stars, something did stir me.

It wasn’t until Super Son called from the bowling alley (yeah, Grade 8 kids sure have it tough at the end of the school year) to report the quake did I know what was going on.

Yeah, I’m the alert type.

Only other really minor quake I’ve ever felt was at the Nagano Olympics and I recall that one being way more cool.

There you have it, today’s meteorological update.

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Remember last week when it was mentioned that perhaps Dwyane Wade was driving the whole free agent thing because he could actually recruit a guy to join him rather than, say, convince someone to go somewhere in tandem, like LeBron would have to do?

Well, Wade got a spiffy new car yesterday it seems and now he’s really driving.

The Heat swapping Daequan Cook at the No. 18 pick to Oklahoma City for No. 32 clears up something in the neighbourhood of $3 million more in cap space for Miami.

It should give them enough to sign a player to a maximum-value contract and still have something like $10 million left and the presence of Wade.

The Heat are now officially the biggest players. Forget the Knicks, who are a crappy team, and the Bulls, who aren’t bad but not as wealthy as the Heat. Miami’s in charge.

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I have a feeling the in-box will be full of “why did they draft that guy?” and “how could they have not made a trade?” queries in the morning but if you’ve got something you want to get off your chest now, just click here and send it along.

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I don’t want to say it’s the greatest lede to a sports story ever written but it might be the most memorable.

And as soon as I heard it would be Germany-England in the round of 16 at the World Cup it came racing back to mind.

So apropos of nothing, this is how British journalist Frank McGhee set up the 1966 World Cup final between the sides.

“If, on the morrow, the Germans beat us at our national game, we’d do well to remember that, twice this century, we have beaten that at theirs.”

Cold.

But memorable and certainly not something you could write with seriousness today.

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There were a couple of questions Wednesday about what Thursday would be like for a guy who covers a team and who tries to at least keep tabs on what else is going on around the league.

Well, it’s pretty much the same, only longer.

You put out the calls and e-mails and texts to the people you talk to on a regular basis, trying to figure what’s up. Some will return them, some will ignore them, some will dutifully report that there are “things” happening but nothing too serious or nothing firm enough that would warrant reporting.

And you wait. Maybe you put in another e-mail or phone call just to check but, believe me, there isn’t a lot of information – true information – being offered. Seldom is.

At least on a day like today, you can find a comfortable spot for coffee, a bagel and the Azzurri. And it’s got wireless, too. Just in case.

But here’s the real pain for us: Because there is so much stuff going on, we’re not likely to get a media session with Bryan until the entire draft is over, which is change because in the past he’s come out after the first round to give us some time.

So it’s going to be a long, long night.

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Comments

[Mike kovacs]

with so much anticipation for today the boredom is killing me...

[J]

Derek:
"If they lose Bosh, wouldn't they have the amount that they're currently paying him (which is substantial) to pay another free agent?"

When you're over the cap, any salary you lose can't always be replaced dollar for dollar. As it stands, actually, if they renounce all their FAs (incl. Bosh and Amir's Bird rights), they will have about 9-10 mil to work with (no MLE). Otherwise, they will be considered over the cap due to cap holds and will only have the MLE to work with.

Young James:
"Why cant he blow it up and make trades that get us another one or two superstars plus signing Bosh?"

Boston, if you recall, had built a good young core to deal from. It took a #5 pick (Jeff Green) to steal Allen, and a group of youngsters centered around Al Jefferson to steal Garnett. Toronto has a mediocre #13 pick and doesn't really have anything to deal from (at least compared to other teams). Also, do you see anyone of Garnett's or Allen's caliber near the end of their careers and still playing for a bad team?

BrianV:
"You are the only person I have heard refer to this as a 'so-so draft'."

Nobody really knows until 5 years later, but expectations in this draft were a lot higher at the beginning of the process. If you noticed, this was supposed to be the year of the big man: Favors, Cousins, Udoh, Patterson, Davis, Monroe, Aldrich, Whiteside, Orton, Sanders, Alabi, Seraphin, Brackins, Lawal, etc. Then teams started doing their research and none of the bigs looked as sure as before. They just seem good because there's barely any PGs (the top true point is probably Greivis Vasquez, and he's slated for the 2nd round), and the wings aren't that much better either. The draft is still strong in the top 5 picks, and looks to have more depth than previous years, but after those 5, what you really have is a lot of rotation players.

[J]

Evan:

WP48 isn't an exact science. It's still an arbitrary set of weights applied to statistics and then arbitrarily normalized. If all players can only play one position each, and all play that position the same way but to varying effect, then sure, WP48 would be immensely useful. However, let's say this past year Toronto decided to run with Bargnani, Bosh and Nesterovic all in the starting lineup, with Bargnani listed at the 3. Team defense would probably have suffered even more -- he'd probably be terrible defending other 3s -- and yet, his WP48 would skyrocket due to the way it's normalized. Bargnani aside, you can see that WP48 is heavily biased for rebounding big men, even after normalization.

[Lorie]

Hey Doug,
So, as blissfully unaware of yesterday's earthquake as you apparently were, I'll bet it was a different story for poor Super Dog. Tell me, how traumatized was your wee pup by Wednesday's unusual seismic/meteorlogical events? Has she even begun to recover yet?

Blogger's note: I don't believe she raised her head off the couch.

[The J]

Okay I've given it some thought as to the third option that can save this team. Here is what we are going to do. First, we're going to build a time machine. Then we are going to travel back to 2000 and talk to a young Tracey McGrady. We'll tell him not to leave the team because we are going to trade Vince and the team will be his. The next season we make that trade, but it's to LA for a straight Kobe for Vince trade (it was rumoured to be on the table back then because Kobe couldn't co-exist with Shaq and Vince's potential seemed equal to Kobe's. It's funny how things look in the rearview). Now we will have two superstar guards, so we trade T-mac straight-up for someone like Tim Duncan or a young Nowitzki. Then, under the table, we pay Duncan/Dirk and Kobe to fake injuries in the 02-03 season so we can tank and be apart of the great Draft of 03. Here's where we pick someone like LBJ, Melo, or get CB4 again, and we now have a pretty solid core to work with. The next few years we make smart moves or draft picks based on knowing the future and who are the gems and unexpected surprises (so definetly no Fred Jones's or Araujo's). We fill in that roster all the while playing through a dynasty with our year 2000 coach, Butch Carter. Okay, now we have a plan. Let's get to work. Does anyone have a flux capacitor?

[Mike D.]

"A gay man tried to poison his lesbian neighbours by putting slug pellets into their curry after he was accused of kidnapping their three-legged cat"

I remember seeing one in the Star years back that was something like "Lion mauls accordion-playing male stripper", which I think is probably comparable. The actual story was disappointing by comparison, however, because the victim wasn't actually stripping or playing the accordion at the time of the attack....he just stuck his hand out of an open car window.

Please, BC, do a deal soon so we can return to talking about basketball.

[gdr]

Doug, your response to my question yesterday was 5-95.
("what are the chances nothing happens before/on draft night and the Raps just go about their business and select a player at #13 and that's it?")

Does that answer remain the same this afternoon?

Blogger's note: At 2:40 p.m. here it does

[Adrian]

Benefit of the doubt? I don't hate Colangelo but he deserves nobody's benefit of the doubt at this point. It would serve no purpose. The team as he constructed it is on the rails- he should be on probation. SHOW ME.

He could very well be doing something right now. In fact, I'm sure he's doing something. But I don't care. SHOW ME. It does the fans no good to trust this man anymore. His talk is so cheap, it's unbelievable. All we've seen is talk- the action is zero. Nobody should give him the idea that we're okay with this. It's a risk to take this man's words at face value right now. SHOW ME. He should feel the pressure. He owes it to the Raptors and the fans. His results have been squat, he's had enough time and financial help to get his ducks in a row, any other team would have had his head on a stake months ago, it's time for action. And I won't believe it until I see it. I don't care what he's doing or how hard he's supposedly working behind the scenes. SHOW ME.

In my world, his credibility is shot. We owe him nothing. It's up to him to win it back. Fans and media need to stop backing off because he just uses that to his advantage. If we had put a proper 'gun to his head' before, I can almost guarantee you we wouldn't be faced with the same pathetic predicament. He would have felt the urgency a lot earlier, when it would've been more useful. Now is absolutely not the time for benefit of the doubt. That is a courtesy that, quite frankly, he does not deserve.

[Boko]

Revision of my earlier prediction ... Raptors will take SG Xavier Henry, unless BC pulls off a trade or two ...

[j]

3:00 and not one bit of Raps news. I'm prepared for disappointment. A 13th overall pick that probably won't help much, and bunch of excuses about how they tried to make things happen, but nobody was biting.

Did you notice Bosh's made a comment about the importance of coaching in his decision during interview with ESPN? Hmmmph..

[J]

Kelsie:
"He took a chance with JO and then with the Miami trade has now given them the financial muscle to improve their team by leaps and bounds [...]"

Not true at all. I'm sorry but that is a falsity perpetuated by unthinking fans. He gave Miami nothing; Miami was planning on this summer all along, with or without O'Neal. It's not like they were about to go out and sign someone to a big long deal just because Marion's deal ended one year too early. That's just silly. The only real difference we made was taking on Banks, but if we didn't, it would have been Banks and not Cook being sent with the #18 pick for OKC's 2nd rounder, and Cook could still be easily dumped if they wanted to.

[J]

The J:

Haha, good idea, but wouldn't it be easier just to go back and draft Redd, Gerald Wallace, Parker, Arenas, Prince, Boozer, Josh Howard, David Lee, Rajon Rondo, etc, and trade each one of them away for more draft picks each time they gain value? Of course, you'd have to do a bit of going back and forth to make sure the draft pick you get back in return stays high, but it'd be a lot easier than getting a bunch of elite players to fake injuries. ;)

[Matty-Pix]

Well that didn't take long in Dallas either ... Appears they're trying to push Marion on anyone who'll take him (no big surprise I guess).

http://www.nbadaily.net/wiretaps.cfm?id=296

2009 must have been one of the worst uses of cap space in recent history: Turk, Marion, Gordon/Charlie V ... yuck.

[Soon to be Ex Raps Fan]

Wow !!!

What an absolute shocker !!! At a time when Bryan HAS to make a move prior to July 1st if there is any hope of retaining Bosh, NOTHING !!!!!

Alas, three hours prior to the draft, and nothing, absolutely nothing from BC, not even hints of anything other than Fernandez for the 13th and the 22nd in return.

BC has been useless as a GM, and he continues to prove this over and over. Think about it, he has had about 60 days to do SOMETHING, and has done absolutely nothing.

A with the draft about to start, I can not envision us doing anything other than drafting Avery Bradley, and thats all folks.Done. What a fantastic strategy !!! It only took a whole season to formulate it. Truly ridiculous !!!!!!!!

Quite a stunning rebuilding plan by BC. This franshise needs a new GM, one with some stones like a Buford or Presti. BC has failed 3 seasons in a row to do anything CORRECT, not significant.

[Chris]

I guess nobody here has heard the cliche "It takes two to tango".

Has it every occured to any of you that BC has actually been busting his butt trying to work something, but that all of the other GM's are sitting back saying "Actually, I'm waiting for July 1st when I can pursue the big three, or at least see what shakes out with sign-and-trades".

I'm not here to defend BC, he's made some decisions that are very poor in hindsight (although most of them were welcomed by fans at the time). *cough* Turk *cough*.

I just find the hate and impatience a tad pathetic. There's always two sides to every story, and it's just possible that BC's hands are totally tied by interference regs (can't do anything about Bosh until July 1st) and other GM's.

Just think about it for a second before you unleash, eh?

[Mike D.]

The J:

If the time travel doesn't work, we could take another page from the mad scientist handbook and do some brain transplants. Trading for Joey Graham and transplanting Jorge Garbajosa's toughness and overall feel for the game into Joey's body, for example, would give us a dominating player at a bargain price. Not sure what we would do with the guy with Garbo's body and Joey's brain.....I guess he could still be a pilot if he could fit into the cockpit.

[sam]

Soon to be Ex Raps Fan - You're not a fan of the Raps at all you're a fan of winning - Patience is required!

@ Adrian -
BC doesn't need to Show you anything -
The Drum you have been beating since the season ended makes little sense in the world of business. Do you not for a moment think that Chris Bosh is eating this all up and having the time of his life. He's the centre of attention - and when it gets quiet - he sends a little tweet out to remind folks he hasn't made up his mind yet.

It has been suggested over and over this is Bosh's Decision - and if you believe that BC and the Raptors have accepted Bosh is gone and haven't tried to convince him to stay - you would be fooling yourself.

[www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=612860564]

@ Soon to be Ex Raps Fan

Take a chill pill. You might have a miscarriage.

@ Kelsey

Spot on with Jim Kelly. He needs to go. I thought BC should have brought in his own people from the get go. Oh well.

I'm still a loyal Raps fan through thick and thin.

Enjoy draft night!

[LeeZ]

Wow. If ESPN is to be believed (any confirmation of this from your sources, Doug?), Da Bulls are trading -- well, actually, GIVING -- Heinrich and 17 to the Wiz. For nothing. Apparently, this will allow them to sign two max deals. Holy crapola, Batman! That's gonna be one crazy good team. Backcourt of LBJ and Derrick Rose, frontcourt of Deng, Noah and Bosh. If this deal actually takes place, Chicago has themselves a dynasty. And since Lebron and Wade would not be an ideal combo, to me it's almost a lock for LBJ and CB4 to partner up in the Windy City. I mean, a total no-brainer.

[Aditya]

damn, bosh got a haircut..............finally

[The J]

I still have this wish that all players stay put and leave teams like Chi and NY with a lot of cap space but no stars, no hope and no fans. I know it wont happen but it would be exciting. In fact, lets have the only player to make a switch be Miami, since they will have basically only two players left on their roster. And we thought nine players changing in a year was extreme.

[LeeZ]

Doug, I'm sorry, but my mind continues to boggle. Maybe Chicago could get all three! Two of them will sign there for sure, outright. And one could come in a sign and trade for, I dunno, Deng and Gibson. So then you'd have Rose and Wade in the backcourt (oh my FREAKING GOD) and Bosh and Noah and...hell, why not Doug Smith in the frontcourt!!!! Doug, at long last you'll be able to get your NBA championship ring!

[Mike]

Lee - Your "reported" trade is not possible. CHI would have to take a comparible salary back as well in a deal like that.. Will get them further under the cap but to say they are giving away anything is not accurate at all

[Eddy]

I think "Soon to be Ex Raps Fan" represents a lot of people in this city. The Raptors may be well on their way to the state the Blue Jays are in, no interest. If the NBA is serious about expanding beyond the US I don't see how stripping foreign teams of their assets will help. At the very least if all the teams in the league are to become nothing but feeder systems for the two or three teams the stars are willing to pay for, there should be some form of compensation for outposts like Toronto, like a first round draft choice or something.
.
If Bosh leaves and we get nothing but a stiff back in return I could care less if this sport survives in Canada too.

[Adrian]

Uhh Sam and Chris... you missed the point (as all devil's advocates do around here) - have I considered that he might be working on something? I DON'T CARE. If you're going to assume anything in this process, the only thing that makes sense (given Colangelo's track record) is that nothing is done until it's done. I'm not going to sit around- nor should you- trusting this man and whatever he is/is not working on behind the scenes when the only thing he's proven is that he's willing to talk, talk, talk, not follow up and hope it's still good enough. If you don't call him on it, he'll do it again.

I'm CERTAIN he's working on something. But I'm complaining proactively here. I don't want him to get the wrong idea- I'm not going to sit around nodding my head and patting him on the back anymore, "You must be working on something terrific." He has made this team into a laughingstock again, they're a mid-lotto team on the brink of losing their only player worth his weight in gold, and they're effectively capped out regardless. That's nothing to celebrate and I won't. Feeding Colangelo positive reinforcement evidently doesn't work- he turns complacent- so I'm trying the alternative.

He could very well be putting together a package of Banks for Chris Paul right now. But I'll believe it when I see it. That's the point. I suggest you do the same. Colangelo as your GM has been an unmitigated failure in Toronto- excuse me if I'm not going to take him at his word anymore. Talk is cheap- SHOW ME. Until you do, I'm left to grade you on your results- which have been poor.

I can't believe devil's advocates have survived as long as you have. You just punish yourselves. You know you're allowed to be disappointed, right?

Blogger's note: Please, find another horse to ride. No self-serving GM is going to SHOW you anything.