De Ja Vu Days And Boogie Nights

So the big announcement is in the rear view mirror. Pretty sure no one was thinking that right? I had some news of my own to share yesterday and forgot to mention it. I recently was asked to write for Hoops Doctors once in awhile. I accepted if no other reason than to have the cool tag of Dr. Dino. I did a write up about the Big Bosh News for them. I also wrote two other things on the hiring of Eddie Jordan with the Sixers and give my thoughts on a return of basketball to Vancouver. So I want to thank the guys at Hoop Doctors for the invite and hopefully I add something to the mix. So thanks to David and Adam and everyone else over at Hoops Doctors. I am always working hard and this is another place for me to do my thing. I write on occasion for T.O Sports, The Industry Magazine I write for that magazine that is Bi-monthly. The new issue of that magazine should be out soon. In addition to this I have done a weekly radio appearance on Off The Bench on CJLO. I even make the occasional appearance on Jacked In with Jessica on 1150 AM CKFR. This on top of doing the Dino Nation Blog and Live Blogging for the score. If you want to book the Dino Nation Blogger for birthday parties, weddings and other social events...well maybe not. But I do work hard at this and try my best to make it my living. So if you write a blog or a radio show somewhere hit me up if you would like and I would be happy to help out.

But enough about me. The first news of the off-season that I actually think I am happy about. Alvin Williams could be added to Raptors coaching staff. The former Raptor who was tough as nails is said to be in talks with the Raptors about becoming an assistant coach with the team. If there is anyone that can help this team get tougher and better on defense maybe it is Boogie Williams. Alvin is one guy that I have actually had a chance to meet. He is a low key guy but a very intense guy as well. It was a shame how is time with the Raptors came to an end. He in some senses may have been is worst enemy in being to tough for his own good. He would play through the injuries and sometimes would have been better served to sit down and get right. Bryan Colangelo talked about this team being to nice. He did not go as far as to say they were soft but that is where he was heading. Alvin Williams if he can translate his toughness as a player to coaching and pass it on to the current players in can only help.

That is my warm and fuzzy moment for today, which has been few and far between of late. Last year it was T.J Ford that was rumoured to be heading out of town and eventually that came to pass. Now a new summer and Chris Bosh is the guy that people think could be shown the door. There is differences in the two. As much as I am fan of T.J he is not on the same level of Bosh as a player. He did not come close to level of success or popularity of Bosh. However the situation is the same in the sense a dark cloud hangs over the future of Bosh heading into this summer just as it did for T.J. When is the day going to come when we as a fan base and to a lesser extent as a media stop pushing players out the door. I am not sure if you have ever checked out Bosh's fan page on Facebook. But you will see a list of folks who are fans of other teams daily hoping and praying that he will come to their team. Yet here in Toronto people are in fear that Bosh will leave and take off and have decided that you must deal Bosh and try to get something for him.

Sure if you want to be selfish you would have liked to have had Bosh's announcement to be that he wants to remain in Toronto as a Raptor. But that is not realistic. If you were in Bosh's spot would you really do that? I mean it makes no sense at all to do that. He wants to make money as I think we all would in his shoes or are own for that matter. If he declines an extension that is not him saying he wants out of Toronto. He just wants the best deal possible. The speculation that is south of the border only makes people in Toronto be more concerned. Bosh has never given any indication personally he is leaving. In fact in making a deal with Canadian company does that not speak to him maybe not in any rush to get out of town? Just a thought. However the way people try to justify Bosh being moved devalues what Bosh is. The guy gets 20 and 10 you are not finding that is this draft. I refuse to take away from what this guy has accomplished. I am not doing that.

Same thing happens when I have suggested the idea of Steve Nash and bringing him to the Raptors. He is to old and he is finished. I have heard it all. The ideas that I have come up with are about trying to save this thing and not go into total rebuild mode. Seems that people have very little patience these days. Miss a year of the playoffs, blow it up and start over. That is not going to win a championship if at the first sign of trouble you want to TNT the team and start over. It would be nice to read every once in awhile someone that has a plan to give Bosh a reason to stay instead of adding to the reasons that he should go or we should get rid of him.

People hate Vince Carter. They hate him for a variety of reasons. However at the end of the day when Vince Carter left town he was right about some things. He was unhappy with the constant change and lack of consistency in the organization. He felt that Rob Babcock was not the right man for the job. He had his own choice for G.M that the Raptors did not consider. Can I tell you that Julius Erving would have made a better G.M than Rob Babcock. Well no I really can't. But based on the evidence of what Babcock did in his time here it is hard to think he would do worse. I can tell you one thing. Dr. J was not letting Andre Iguodala was not getting left on the draft board.

Negative thinking leads to negative results. That sounded pretty Zen Masterish. But I just think if the Raptors indeed move Bosh in a rush it could lead to only bad things. I just am not in the mood to rebuild this thing just yet. Honestly the money from a Bosh contract off the books in that 2010 free agent period might be of more value. What will you get in a trade for a guy even if he is an all-star when he only has one year left on his deal. The answer is not as much as you expect to get. If things don't work out there is lots of time to rebuild. I am willing to hold out hope for one more year and give Colangelo one more chance to build a team around him.

A Season Lost In Raptorland

It has been a tough a painful season and it just keeps getting worse if that is possibly at this point. While other teams are stepping on the gas to get ready for the playoffs the Raptors are just getting stepped on at this point. It is clear that some major changes need to be made to this basketball team. However the one thing that you have to be careful of is not over reacting. That is something that in Toronto is never an easy thing to accomplish. People would like to blow up this team and start all over. I am not sure if you need to break out the TNT. The one thing that I think beyond people being believers in the J.O trade that people took for granted was Jose Calderon. He was at the start of this year called upon to be one of the leaders of this team. He was expected to mentor young Roko Ukic. Take on the starting role and become an all star point guard. He has failed to deliver and he has not been the guy that people expected and hoped for. I was one of the few that was not convinced the transition for Jose Calderon would be an easy one. I said it all summer and most just dismissed me as a bitter T.J Ford fan. Injuries have been part of the mix for Jose but part of why he was kept was because he was suppose to be the more durable point guard. Even in that regard he has failed. Maybe the writing should have been on the wall in the summer time when Ricky Rubio was stealing minutes from Jose in the Olympics. When Rubio hits the league Calderon may not even be the best point guard in the league from Spain. Jose has been pulled and benched from 2 games now. I mean given what is behind him on this roster that speaks loudly. Calderon got paid this offseason and with all those new dollars comes a lot more responsibility and he has failed to live up to that.

Chris Bosh was a leader of a Raptor team that won a Division Title a few years ago. He is now the leader of this group that is as far from a Division Title as you can get. Chris Bosh has he changed all that much? I don't think so. The team around him has to a degree. You hear a lot about team's tuning out on coaches. Can the same thing happen with a leader of a team? Bosh said in his post game remarks that they have talked about the issues over and over. He seems frustrated and rightfully so. Here is one thing that has changed for Chris is that he does not have Sam Mitchell backing him up as the head coach. The relationship between the two was special. Chris Bosh was pushed by Mitchell to get to new levels and he challenged him daily. Jay Triano as the assistant in that dynamic would work with Bosh and help him do the work that Mitchell pushed Chris to put in. When you take Sam out of the mix what is the impact on Bosh. It is a good question and not one that likely draws an answer if asked. But honestly the answer would be interesting. The leadership of this team has been turned upside down on this team around Bosh. He is the main leader but the people in the supporting roles have all changed I guess is the point. I still say that Bosh is not the issue as much as it is the team around him. The easy answer is what most are taking in saying trade the leader because he is going to walk away anyway in 2010. The simple answer is seldom the right one. I refer you back to the whole Ford and Jose thing and Raptors made the simple choice there and it has been awful. There is really two ways you can go with this in my view.

You can bring in someone that will be able to just take over as the leader of this team that even Bosh would be willing to follow. That would be a short list of guys. Perhaps a Canadian two time M.V.P? Maybe. That is the safe route. The non safe route is you bring in someone that is not afraid of the leader and doesn't care. A guy that is not afraid to say whatever he thinks and will challenge everyone that puts on a jersey. Ron Artest is a guy like that. Maybe you bring in both. Really turn this thing upside down. The one thing that is for sure beyond how you try to reconstruct this team is they must get it right in the draft. A lottery pick can not fail. Raptors need to take the guy that is most ready to contribute to the NBA now. They can not draft a project. They have enough of those already.

The Boston Celtics were at one of the more lower points in that franchise history not that long ago. They would turn that around in a hurry and have the ultimate success instantly. Basketball can change fast is the point. It has turned in the opposite way for the Raptors but as bad as it looks now that not mean it is doomed. It is very hard to have perspective in the midst of this losing season. However if this team is going to improve quickly ever move has to be perfect and come together. Things in life are never as bad as they appear or never has good. Reality is always somewhere in between all of that. If you honestly don't think Bryan Colangelo has been hard at work preparing for next season already than you just have not been paying attention.

A lot have lost faith in Bryan Colangelo this season. However when you come into a franchise deemed to be the saviour of it there really was no room for advancement. So Colangelo has fallen to earth in the minds of fans. It was going to happen at some point. However I have faith that Bryan is the real deal and will make this work. He has a gambling nature and with this season he gambled and lost. But a new poker game gets started this off-season and Colangelo will be back at the table looking to gamble again. I like that the Colangelo way of thinking is go big or go home. In other words he is always thinking towards a Championship not just making the playoffs. If he was interested in just making the playoffs he could have kept his roster in together from last season.

Maybe I am crazy to still have faith for the future. However I am much more confident in Bryan Colangelo than I ever was in Rob Babcock. I can not explaining to you the utter fear I lived in during the Babcock era. I had no faith or belief that he would do anything but run this team into the ground. Colangelo inspires a confidence in me that I never felt with Babcock. If it turns out that Bosh does in fact end up leaving you will see the difference from a Babcock to a Colangelo in the trade that Bryan will make for Bosh. He is not going to just give away Chris Bosh. Hopefully it never gets to that point but if it did I sleep easy knowing it is Bryan making that trade.