July 20, 2005

MY NAME IS ROB BABCOCK AND THIS IS HOW I WILL FIX THE RAPTORS

      Hello.  My name is Rob Babcock and I am the general manager of the Toronto Raptors.  Unfortunately, I cannot go back in time to reverse the supposedly bad (up to this point) drafting of Rafael Araujo, the questionable Vince Carter trade, and the inability to move Donyell Marshall at the trade deadline.  There isn’t anything I can do about those deals—I have to accept them, forget about them, and move on.  It may be difficult—in retrospect I should not have drafted Araujo, I should have traded Carter in the off-season after he started to whine about not getting Dr. J. to be the Raptor GM, and I should have moved Marshall for as little as a second round pick (if only somebody had offered it without a bad contract attached).  But, in order to maintain my sanity I have to look ahead—not back.

       This year has started out better than last year.  I received a bushel full of criticism for drafting Charlie Villanueva with our first pick, but when you look at the entire draft I believe we did extremely well.  Before the draft we were expecting to take an athletic, defensive minded perimeter player and a point guard with our two first round picks—and we ended up getting exactly who we wanted.  It just turned out that we got them at picks 16 and 41, and, as far as I’m concerned, we got an extra player in the draft, and that guy is nearly seven feet tall, very athletic and a great ball handler.  Once Roko Ukic is signed we will have added three players to our rotation from that one draft.  To me that’s unbelievable.  Yes, we will be young, but our team has been treading water for the past couple of years, and in order for us to get better we needed to add some size, some athleticism, and a young point guard.  In the draft we accomplished all three.

       The next step will be much more difficult.  We would like to use our mid-level veteran’s salary exception to sign a free agent, and we would like to make a trade to get rid of some dead weight.  Of course, both of those moves will require the assistance of others.  We wanted to sign Antonio Daniels to be our starting point guard since we would like to move Rafer Alston (oh boy, was that signing a mistake).  Alston is far too temperamental to be a leader, and with all the youth we are expecting to put on the court next year we are going to need a veteran to teach them the basics and keep them calm under pressure.  Unfortunately Daniels decided he wanted to go to a team that was further along, so we’ve turned our attention elsewhere.  There is another highly skilled European player that wants to join our team so maybe we can develop two youngsters at the same time. I’ve had several discussions with Rafer since the season ended. I hope to instill in him that he needs to be more even-tempered, be more of a playmaker than a shooter, and be more of a team leader.  At this point, since we have little interest in the remaining free agent point guards out there we are hoping that he can improve in those areas.  We are willing to give him another year to prove himself.  We don’t have much of a choice.

       Here’s where things get a little dicey.  I want to bring back both Matt Bonner and Pape Sow.  We’ve had much more luck with Sow—he will be back with the team, but Bonner’s agent thinks that Matt deserves Brian Scalabrine money (approximately $15 million over five years).  Matt’s a good player but one decent year does not qualify him for that kind of deal.  I’m thinking more in terms of a three-year deal for $7 million.  I’m sure we’ll find a way to work it out.

       I’m working on some deals as well—none of which are close to fruition.  Now, because I was so badly raked over the coals with the Carter trade I’m being very careful about making the next one.  I would like to add Jamaal Magloire—he has expressed considerable interest in joining our club—but right now New Orleans is asking for some of our young talent, and we are not in a position to trade them away.  Maybe if we were one player away from contention, but we have a ways to go before we get to that point.  I’m not saying that a Magloire trade is dead—I’d give them Eric Williams, a first round choice next year and some salary cap ballast like Lamond Murray, but so far the Hornets are not listening.  I might even be willing to part with Araujo, but I would need time to discuss an extension with Magloire before I included Araujo in the deal.

       I am also working on moving Jalen Rose’s contract—but of course that’s easier said than done.  The Knicks want to give me a bunch of crap to take Rose off my hands, but the more I think about it the more likely it is that we will keep Jalen for at least another year.  It might not be so bad since Jalen is a veteran and a leader, and is definitely our go to guy in crunch time.  He takes some of the pressure off Chris Bosh.

       We need to add another veteran front-court player.  Losing Donyell hurts but I think that Charlie and Matt will more than fill his role and his minutes.  We need a veteran center though so, if a trade does not go through, and as a last gasp possibility I could add either Earvin Johnson or Dale Davis.  I’m also trying to convince Clifford Ray to join us, at least on a part-time basis, to come in and teach our big men how to play their positions.  I think he would work wonders with Bosh, Villanueva, and Araujo.  I think it would be better for Araujo and Sow to go down to the developmental league for the year, and if we sign Bonner then we’ll have our twelve players.  I’m not comfortable with that roster.  We will open up a couple of spots by getting rid of Murray, either by trade or buyout, and moving either or both of Eric or Aaron Williams.  At that point we can add a veteran up front, and perhaps a veteran point guard like Brevin Knight or Tyronn Lue.  At this point my preference would be to make a trade to fill those spots.  I don’t think the free agent pool will be empty for quite some time yet so I’m anticipating having at least another month of seeking a deal before I have to look at the back of the free agent class. 

      Next year should be a moving year for us.  We had a slow team last season that couldn’t rebound, couldn’t get back to defend the fast break, and couldn’t slow penetrators as they continually broke down our defense.  This year we will take a step up in all areas.  I’m not saying that we will be a playoff club; I’m just saying that we will be a lot closer to it than we were last year. 

      I would also like to add that with the player or players we receive back if I can move either of the Williamses, with Joey Graham as one of our picks, and with still another first rounder to come next season the Carter trade may not be as bad as most think.

       Not that I’m looking back.