Is It Okay to Question Now?

Funny how some sports execs in this city are given a long rope, others not so much.

J.P. Ricciardi, for example, was the boy genius when he arrived in 2001, and only now, with so much mediocrity behind him, is he being seriously questioned as the proper man to lead the Blue Jays.

John Ferguson Jr., on the other hand, was widely branded a dope from Day One of his brief tenure.

Which brings us once more to the sainted Bryan Colangelo, a sports suit so accomplished that MLSE simply believes it has to locate a "Colangelo of hockey" to turn around the tarnished Maple Leafs and all will be well.

Well, you sure about that?

Colangelo comes from a famous sports family, yes, and he is a stylish, athletic young man who speaks well.

Last season, his Raptors came up with 47 wins, followed by a mildly disappointing first round loss to the New Jersey Nets. Every move he made seemed to pay off.

Last night, the Raps bowed out meekly to Orlando in five games, ending a season that mirrored, in some ways, the season of the Ottawa Senators; strong start, lousy second half, early exit. This year, every move Colangelo made seemed to fizzle.

When I questioned Colangelo's supposed infallibility in mid-March - never suggested he should be fired, mind you, just wondered what the fuss was all about - the comments from readers poured in, many wondering how I had the nerve to even wonder aloud about the great man.

Well, is it okay to question now?

There are a variety of problems with the Raptors, of course. Some say its all Sam Mitchell's fault, others lament the decline of Andrea Bargnani and the disintegration of the point guard tag team, all about T.J. Ford's apparent determination to be designation the starter surely had something to do with it.

Last night's loss was like a replay of so many in the second half, with the Magic making the shots down the stretch and the Raptors not only missing theirs, but either making bad decisions or having players on the floor unwilling to take charge. When you look at how Atlanta is competing against mightly Boston, with that series tied 2-2, the lack of true competitiveness on the part of the Raps in the mediocre Eastern Conference really is brought into vivid relief.

So surely, even to his greatest supporters, the bloom is off the rose now for Colangelo. What matters now is how he fixes this team, how he makes it better.

He's never won an NBA championship or managed this Raptor team into the second round, yet MLSE has tried to dress him up as the genius of basketball and the model for a modern executive in any sport.

Maybe he is. Now would be a good time to show it.

Comments

[Dave Anthony]

DC, c'mon...BC is doing at least an acceptable job by any metric. The Raps shot themselves in the foot by overachieving last year; this year, they are a victim of their success. Nobody expected them to win 47 games last year. If they had won 41 games last year, that season would have still been a success. So, this season should not be judged against last season. It should be judged against the expectations prior to last year. This team is far enough ahead of any projections prior to last year. One thing that BC could have done better this year is to require Sam to focus on a strong 2nd half of the season, using the 1st half to gel as a team, which was part of their success last year. The Raps went into the playoffs off of a poor 2nd half instead. That said, does anyone feel that BC has not created an positive, professional and stable environment in the Raps organization? This current team is made up of solid characters, maybe lacking toughness and experience, while the worst that can be said about the weakest and most maligned 2 characters are that they are also really really young guys (TJF and AB). It's transformed into an enticing organizational environment in which they now have a chance now to attract higher caliber veteran players (compare that to before BC). Finally, he has taken a stand behind his man Sam, given him some room and time to operate, instead of the one-season-and-done fallacy coaching environments in other organizations. And compared to the highly touted "talent" previously running the show (Isiah, Wilkens) or the "others", BC has achieved something that none of them could: competency.

[Matt]

It's understandable to say this is a young team and after being ousted in the first round last year, you can blame lack of play off experience.

I hate to make comparisons between hockey and basketball, but if you look at the Penguins this year after an early exit last year, they are now 7-0. The Raps are nowhere close to that going into their second year.

You really can't say they even made a series out of this year's first round playoffs. Even if you look at the Washington Capitals, first year in the plays offs (with this team I mean) and they made it very interesting, forcing a game 7 down 3 games to 1.

I think all Damien is trying to say is that putting together a team that will go 2-8 in two first rounds of the playoffs isn't quite the answer the Leaf's are looking. If just making the post season is good enough then...

[Ryan]

Raptors are in a great position man,they got two guys,who stock never been higher in nestorvic, and kapono.this is what id like them too do.

Milwaukee seems to want to get rid of bogut,and i think they rather yi and charlie v. sooo trade for Bogut

Bogut for Rasho, Parker and a First
THeres ur tough rebounder, who plays with a chip on his shoulder.

second trade
Jamal Crawford from the knicks for Ford and Kapono
THeres ur athetlic shooting guard

So ur starting lineup: Bogut Bosh Moon Crawford Calderon
Bench: Bargnani, Garbojosa,Delfino,Humphries,Ukic(2nd round pick from Europe), Graham, and resign Brezec, or find another shooting guard, and point..

This is what I would like to see,comment if u agree or not

[Tim]

Its a cliche to say but I think a lot rests on Sam Mitchell's shoulders. Guiding a team through the latter half of the season - keeping a group of young, still playoff inexperienced guys focussed in March and April - is the coach's job. The Raps don't have enough playoff experience to coast through and start dominating like the Spurs, they don't have that extra gear yet. Mitchell was out-coached in the Orlando series and I think it's become clear that he is not the right guy to coach this team. I know he was coach of the year last year but he would be a great assistant, and old boy who kicks your ass in practice and shouts at you to hustle, but I think for this team to take it to the next level they need a professional coach. I could see D'Antoni here and I would be extremely excited, although I don't see how he helps Bargs progress. There wasn't a similar player on the Suns for comparison.

[Joe]

so BC takes a 25 win team and turns it into a 47 win team. makes the playoffs. the next year we lose several key players to injury and our starting pf for the entire season, and we still make the playoffs.

how in the world can cox compare BC to JFJ or Ricciardi who have both made their teams regress in each year of their tenure?

[Rob C]

JFJ was an absolute idiot - Ricciardi must have unflattering photos of Ted Rogers and/or Paul Godfrey. He has a worse record than Gord Ash and his best players have been Gord Ash acquisitions. He has had too much time to fix things. They haven't worked... Gas this loser now - But Colangelo has done wonders for this team considering he took over from a bigger idiot than JFJ - They were not a better than the Magic, why was the first round bow out a surprise? He signed Kopono and Sam Mitchell didn't play him - and he shot the lights out during the playoffs. So who's the problem, Colangelo? Nope.

[Bob Bobber]

Check out the latest Bill Simmons column on ESPN re. what's happened to the Suns. Some of what Colangelo did there was on Sarver's orders (stay under the cap), but he pullled off some horribly lamentable moves there as well.