March 1, 2006

RAPTORS MADE AN OFFER COLANGELO COULDN’T REFUSE 

      The timing was perfect—for both sides.  Bryan Colangelo had grown weary of the new ownership structure in Phoenix and the Toronto Raptors had grown weary of hiring inexperienced incompetent men to run their franchise.  With a little help from their friends in the NBA head office the two parties met, they negotiated, and finally they agreed.  And with that the Raptors, for the first time, have an established executive to head their basketball team. 

      We’ll commence this tale from the Raptors’ side.  In the beginning there was a mess.  The team had to play its initial seasons in the cavernous Sky dome while the political muckraking and financial dilly-dallying went on regarding the franchise’s new arena.  Where to build it?  Who would own it?  While this took place the club was dealing with its own chaos as part owner Isiah Thomas tried to wrest full control from majority owner and radio mogul Allan Slaight (who had wrested control of the franchise utilizing a shotgun clause in the original agreement to move original owner John Bitove out).   Fortunately, Thomas’ attempt at control failed.  (History now shows that Thomas likely would have driven the franchise into the ground or, at the very least, out of town.)  Thomas, having lost his bid for the franchise, resigned his position as General Manager.  Incumbent assistant Glen Grunwald assumed the mantle of basketball leader.  Soon after the Maple Leaf organization purchased the Raptors and ended any further ownership issues.

       For six years Grunwald steered the ship.  His first steps were successful; the club even made the playoffs three consecutive years—including one playoff series victory and a near miss at the buzzer of another.  Believing the club to be on the verge of greatness Grunwald signed all of the club’s free agents in the summer of 2001 to long-term mega million dollar contracts and, at the time, was lauded at having saved the franchise.  In retrospect, the moves did two things—gave the team, and its fans, a false sense of security, and it burdened the club with heavy salary cap constricting contracts that took years to remove. (This summer will be the first year since that time that the club has some financial flexibility).  As time went on it became apparent to all that Grunwald’s ship was sinking, the team was floundering in mediocrity, and he was fired before the end of the 2004 season.

       Coaches were also coming and going.  Brendan Malone had a fairly successful first season but he didn’t see eye to eye with Isiah on the philosophy of the club and was terminated.  Darrell Walker came in, ostensibly as Isiah’s puppet, and he was, by far, the worst coach this franchise will ever see.  When Walker walked the same plank as Isiah assistant coach Butch Carter was elevated to headman and he took a floundering club and molded it, along with Grunwald, into a playoff caliber team.  Then Carter had a mental meltdown and forced Grunwald to fire him.  With help from the NBA office Lenny Wilkens was signed as a replacement and that simply continued the roller coaster ride.  Lenny’s simplistic view of basketball enabled certain players, namely Alvin Williams, to flourish, but after a successful first season the league’s winningest coach’s tenure took a turn for the worst.  Wilkens was fired after three enigmatic years.

       The organization believed that Kevin O’Neill’s fiery attitude was just the tonic and the defensive-minded guru was brought in over the objections of the GM.  It was the beginning of the end for Grunwald.  At the end of the season both coach and GM were gone.   The organization began another search—this time for a GM—and seemed to settle on its fifth choice, Rob Babcock.  There is no need to go into detail about Babcock’s tenure but suffice it to say that the former GM was content to sit idly by and wait until the end of next season when financial flexibility would finally arrive.  The organization grew tired of his inactivity.  In two short months Wayne Embry created financial flexibility beginning next year and set the ship back on the right course.  But Embry made it blatantly clear that he was not the answer to the franchise’s problems, and so began another search.

      This time the Raptors were determined to do it right.  They were willing to pay for an established executive, and that was their preference.  They had two options—look for those with experience who were presently out of work or contact those already employed to see if they were interested in coming to Toronto.  They decided that the first step was to contact those already inside the industry and they contracted a headhunting firm to ferret out any interest.  The headhunters came back with one name—Bryan Colangelo.  The reigning executive of the year and present day GM in Phoenix was having issues with the Suns new ownership headed by Robert Sarver.  Colangelo’s interest in the Raptors was piqued and gave him the leverage he needed to finally set the situation right in Phoenix.  Sarver had no intention of meeting the Raptors offer—he wanted to install his own people and certainly didn’t want to triple his GM’s salary.  Sarver gave Colangelo an out, and it was taken.

       For Colangelo it was an opportunity to make his own mark.  He had been with the Suns for fifteen years, was the GM for eleven years and its president for seven, but as long as he stayed in Phoenix he would have to live under the enormous shadow of his father, the former owner and builder of the Suns franchise.  The Raptors offered the change he desired, offered a contract--and security--he could not get elsewhere, (certainly not in Phoenix) and offered a chance to head a franchise that for the first time in years looks like it’s headed in the right direction.  With long-time family friend Embry already in place the decision became an easy one. 

       By taking the job now Colangelo has the luxury of observing his team for the final 26 games of the season—watching the players, the coaches, and determining the needs of a team that appears to be on the cusp of being a perennial Eastern Conference playoff team.  He has the time line to properly set up his administration, to hire an assistant, to set up his scouting staff—both for North America and Internationally—and to scout the colleges and high schools in anticipation of a high draft choice.  He has the time needed to familiarize himself with Toronto and to get his family settled in time for the upcoming school year.   And the Raptors get an accomplished, and decorated, executive—highly thought of within NBA circles—and someone who will finally establish the credibility and the stability this franchise has desired, and been unable to locate, since its inception. 

      The timing was perfect—for both sides.