State of the Franchise

Written by Lawrence Dushenski | 04 August 2010

The 2010 off-season has not been kind to the Toronto Raptors and their fans. All-time franchise scoring leader Chris Bosh took his talents to South Beach. One trade and one free-agent signing have fallen through for various reasons. So where does this leave Canada's team? General Manager Bryan Colangelo refuses to commit to a rebuild, as he continues to try to incrementally improve the team through various channels. But this could simply be an attempt to save his job, as Colangelo is entering the final year of his contract, and rumors have already begun to swirl about potential replacements.

One of the few bright spots of the off-season was the 2010 Draft, where the Raptors entered with just one pick, 13^th overall. But when all was said and done they ended up with power forward Ed Davis, who was rated in the top 10, and centre Solomon Alabi, who was seen to be a late first round talent. Davis, a sophomore out of the University of North Carolina, is an athletic, high-energy player who showed during the Las Vegas Summer League that he will be able to block shots and crash the boards as a rookie. Alabi, a native of Nigeria and a product of the Basketball Without Borders system, is a towering shot-blocking presence coming out of Florida State University. Both rookies will be able to help the Raptors interior presence immediately, as it was sorely lacking last season.

Once the dust settled on the Draft, it was time to deal with the free agency situation. It was well known that the chance of Chris Bosh returning to Toronto was rather slim, but that did not make it any easier when he announced that he would be heading to Miami. But the team had to move on and examine its other options. The Raptors routinely got abused on the inside last season, so it was determined that they needed to add some toughness in whatever way possible.

Colangelo has never been afraid to make moves, but people were still somewhat shocked when he signed Amir Johnson to a 5 year $34 million contract. Amir is a difficult player to evaluate, as he has never score more than 7 ppg, but on the same note he has never been given the opportunity to do so, as he has never played more than 20 minutes a game. He was the last high school player taken in the Draft, as the NBA imposed the one-and-done rule after the 2005 Draft. So while Amir has played five full seasons in the Association, he is just 23 years of age. He brings the attributes that the Raptors are trying to emphasize going forward, energy and athleticism, but he still lacks a polished offensive repertoire. Nevertheless, he will likely be given the chance to play 30+ minutes a game this season, and he could break out into the player that he was seen to be when he was drafted.

To go along with the general theme of the off-season, as well as the organizational affinity for international players, Colangelo then turned his attention to Linas Kleiza. The Lithuanian native, who played most recently for Olympiacos in the Greek League, was signed to an offer sheet for the full Mid-Level Exception, to the tune of 4 years and $18.8 million. Kleiza played for the Denver Nuggets from 2005-2009, so the Raptors were obligated to submit an offer sheet and give the Nuggets an opportunity to match it. When the Nuggets instead decided to sign Al Harrington to be their new small forward, the writing was on the wall for Kleiza to join Toronto. For those who don’t watch many Olympiacos games, Kleiza brings a toughness and energy that Hedo never did. While he is not the pure shooter that the Turkish sensation was, he is respectable from beyond the arc, with a career 34% rate from downtown.

But as we have all learnt during the reign of Colangelo atop Raptor Nation, is that he is never done looking to improve the team. So several days after the Kleiza offer sheet was extended, word broke that the Raptors were in serious discussions with the Bobcats and Suns. A three-way deal was rumoured to be finalized, which would have seen Hedo, Calderon and Reggie Evans leave town, and Leandro Barobosa, Boris Diaw and Tyson Chandler head north of the border. But it was not meant to be. Before the deal could be finalized, the Bobcats balked at the idea of having defensively inept Jose Calderon run the point for them. Word is that Michael Jordan took a minute away from the golf course and the craps table to realize what he was about to do.

Thankfully the Raptors were still able to salvage the Phoenix portion of the deal, as Turkoglu was sent to the desert in exchange for speedy Brazilian combo guard Leandro Barobosa. Hedo was brought in as the crown jewel of the 2009 free agency class, as the point-forward had helped the Orlando Magic make it all the way to the NBA Finals. But once he stepped down in Toronto, it was clear that it was not a match made in heaven. Turkoglu routinely took plays off, rarely played defence and to top it off was quite fond of the night life, even on nights that he sat games out due to illness. The Raptors were lucky to get rid of him and his contract, and they hope that Barbosa can stay healthy and bring some much needed energy off the bench.

So after failing to bring Diaw and Chandler in to further help the inside presence, Colangelo decided to turn his attention to acquiring another athletic wing player who could shut down star players. Matt Barnes, who had routinely signed short-term contracts with contending teams in an attempt to win a ring, agreed in principle to a 2 year $9 million contract with the Raptors. However, somewhere along the way Colangelo forgot that he didn’t actually have the money available to make such an offer to Barnes. He had used the entire MLE on Kleiza, and the roster was riddled with massive contracts. So after Barnes went to the extent of announcing on his Twitter page that he would be joining the Raptors, damage control took place and the Raptors struck out once again. Barnes ended up signing another one year, small money deal with a contender, this time the Lakers, and he could very well get his much sought after ring once and for all.

Aside from a minor move that the Raptors made to pick up veteran big man David Andersen from the Rockets, this was all she wrote for the Raptors this off season. It has yielded generally negative results, but some minor moves were made which could help the team this season. The depth chart is not pretty at this point as it looks something like this:

PG: Jose/Jack/Banks

SG: DeMar/Barbosa/Belinelli

SF: Kleiza/Weems

PF: Amir/Ed Davis/Reggie Evans

C: Bargnani/David Andersen

There is hope that the self-named “Young Gunz”, DeMar, Weems and Amir, will all be have breakout seasons, and this is very possible. Bargnani will likely be the go to man, and he will continue to show flashes of brilliance one night, and then disappoint the next. But if he can work with the kids, the season might be salvageable. There are clearly too many bodies, and too much money tied up at the guard positions, so it would be nice if Colangelo found someone to take Calderon off his hands. However that is unlikely at this point, so the Raptors faithful will have to endure at least another season of miserable defence from the Spanish point guard.

The likelihood of a mid-season trade for an elite player is rather high at this point, as the Raptors acquired a massive trade exception from the Heat as part of the Bosh sign-and-trade. The names that have been floated are Andre Iguodala and Luol Deng, to name a few. Somewhat overpaid players, but ones that are still able to compete at a high level on any given night, so more moves are sure to come. Colangelo also acquired a pair of first round picks from the Heat, so a modified rebuild will likely take place over the course of the next few seasons. It will likely resemble a roster overhaul, as Colangelo tends to do, rather than legitimately developing players.

But what about the man running the show? Bryan Colangelo is in the last year of his contract, and while he has never been shy about spending money and making moves, few of them have actually translated into success. Granted, he was fighting a losing battle much of the time while trying to build a winner around a player who had full intentions of skipping town once given the opportunity, but he also had his fair share of flubs at both the Draft and through free agency.

Former Blazers GM Kevin Pritchard has already been rumoured as a replacement for Colangelo, as he let go under bizarre circumstances on Draft night, but they allowed him to complete the selections for the day. He is similar to Colangelo in the sense that he has never been afraid to make a move, but they are also similar in the sense that he has not been able to translate the assets and talent into success on the court. So expect Colangelo to try to make as many moves as possible to salvage this season, as it currently has the potential to be a doomed “20-52” season. While some fans enjoy the hope for the future that is created when a team tanks, it will not do anything for the job security of Colangelo.

The possibility of an in house replacement remain slim, as both of Colangelo’s assistant GM’s, Maurizio Gheradini and Masai Ujiri have been rumoured to be contenders for other front office positions around the league, and they are unlikely to last another year.

Is there hope for the 2010-2011 season for the Toronto Raptors? I guess it depends what you hope for. Many of the young players will be given a chance to play big minutes, and they could grow into cornerstone players by the end of the season. But there is still no go to player that will be able to pour in 20+ on a given night. The roster is full of solid role players, and we will see who takes is upon themselves to step up.