April 30, 2008

COLANGELO SAYS HE WILL TRADE FORD AND COULD HAVE TRADED HIM LAST YEAR

It was certainly interesting to hear an obviously disappointed Bryan Colangelo talk about the changes needed to ensure that the losing ends now for his Raptor club and that the winning begins next season.  In his post season press conference Bryan essentially told us that TJ will be moved to fill obvious holes, and he essentially told us that if he wanted to he could have traded TJ after last season.  But everyone would have ripped him apart if he had made drastic changes to a contending club.  Now, after a season of loss he has the ability to solidify the team any way he sees fit. 

With Calderon having grown into a starting point guard in the NBA and with his obvious leadership skills and team focus the position is no longer up for grabs.  And to use TJ off the bench as a fill-in would be a terrible waste of his ability.  Bryan knows this and so does TJ.  A trade is the only way to satisfy both parties.  For Bryan he can look west and see several teams that view themselves as contenders and need a quick guard to compete with Chris Paul and Deron Williams.  One one thing that TJ brought by returning and occasionally playing at a high level was positive trade value.

Dallas is always a contender for players–Cuban thinks that if he has the most toys he will eventually win.  The Raptors could pry Josh Howard away.  Or the Clippers, after a dreadful injury plagued season, and a need to return to some form of prominence in a glitzy town might offer Corey Maggette.  It looks like Bryan is going to be able to acquire that second scorer this team so desperately needs.

Replacing TJ at the point won’t be that difficult.  You only need someone for about fifteen minutes a game–a guard with quickness to change the tempo after Jose leaves–and that may be where Damon Stoudamire comes in.  The Raptors are bringing highly thought of Euro-player Roko Ukic to camp next year to be the third guard, so they can fill TJ’s spot with depth.

Bryan also needs to add a veteran presence inside, and some toughness that his defense so desperately needs.  Rasho is a solid professional but is not vocal enough to be everything a veteran is forced to be when playing with a litany of young players.  He needs help.  The Raptors also need to add a couple of good young bodies to their front court.  One can be added through the draft and perhaps another can be acquired in a trade.  The Raptors have a lot of depth from which to deal.

Also, what is the old saying about being careful what you wish for–you might get it.  The Raptors wished for Orlando and got a heavy dose of Dwight Howard.  They thought the match-up was the easiest.  After all they didn’t want to play Lebron since the young bull can win games all by himself.  They didn’t want to play the experience and the tough defense that is the Piston way.  And they didn’t want to play Boston and the Big Three.  They thought they could beat Orlando.  But they didn’t think that Howard would be as dominant as he was in the series.  In the end the Raptors didn’t have a chance against any team.

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