Toronto Raptors

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Last July, the Raptors made a potentially franchise-altering trade that double as a statement on where management saw the team in it’s rebuilding path. Kyle Lowry in. A future first round pick gone. While Lowry was young-ish at 26, the sacrificing of a first round pick that was only top-three protected was a clear statement that the team expected to make the playoffs. Otherwise, why sacrifice a cost-controlled rookie asset (or potential trade chip) for what would then amount to one ‘meaningful’ year of Lowry, whose deal had just two seasons left at the time. It also signaled the end of Jose Calderon’s tenure as the franchise’s sometimes-starter, sometimes-challenged, never-defeated point guard. Calderon would later be moved as part of the three-team trade that brought Rudy Gay to Toronto, a move that seems unlikely without the Lowry acquisition. The Lowry deal also paved the way for another major move, as the Houston Rockets packaged that Raptor draft pick with other assets to pry James Harden from the Oklahoma City Thunder. Nearly a year late, we now know that the pick dealt for Lowry will be the 12th overall selection in the 2013 NBA Draft. That pick, depending on where you look, is pegged to be Kelly Olynyk, Dennis Schroeder or Steven Adams. Plenty will change between now and the draft at the end of June, but we at least know what the compensation was in these deals. So roughly 10 months later, I asked a Rockets and Thunder blogger to each update their take on the trade(s). My Raptors perspective follows. – The Deals Trade 1 Raptors trade Gary Forbes and 2013 #12 pick for Kyle Lowry. Trade 2 Rockets trade 2013 #12 pick (from TOR), 2013 #32 pick (from Cha, from OKC, from Bos), future top-20 protected 1st round pick (from Dal), Kevin Martin and Jeremy Lamb for James Harden, Cole Aldrich, Daequan Cook and Lazar Hayward. The Rockets Michael Pina, of Red 94, TrueHoop’s Houston Rockets blog: Trade 1: It’s understated how important this trade was for Houston. If the Rockets never acquire that lottery pick from Toronto (which looked a lot more appetizing when the deal was made), they aren’t able to compile a package juicy enough to pry James Harden from the comforts of Oklahoma City. Trade 2: Armchair quarterbacking a trade that occurred amidst so many questions, after many of those questions have been answered, can be obnoxious. But it’s just so tough to imagine the Thunder going through with this trade if they knew James Harden had top-10 talent, Serge Ibaka had a disappointing ceiling, the “lottery pick” from Toronto would actually be outside the top 10 in a shallow talent pool, and, getting extra snarky, Russell Westbrook would hurt his knee in the first round of the playoffs (which NEVER HAPPENS if the Thunder kept Harden, since it occurred against the very team Harden led to the playoffs). The Thunder Royce Young, of Daily Thunder, TrueHoop’s Oklahoma City Thunder blog. Obviously the Thunder were hoping for better than No. 12 when they dealt Harden. And while it certainly diminishes OKC’s return for a true star even more, it’s far too early to judge the trade completely. We don’t know what Jeremy Lamb will be, and we don’t know what the player OKC picks will be. Right now it doesn’t look like the Thunder got enough for Harden. But we all might feel differently about that three years from now. Fans and media aren’t normally that patient, but the Thunder organization is. – The Raptors The Raptors ended up dealing Gary Forbes and the 12th overall pick this year for Kyle Lowry. That is, unquestionably, a deal I’d make over and over again. Lowry had an up-and-down year and was quite polarizing for the fanbase, in part because of his tumultuous play and in part because he took the reigns from a man that would be sainted if Toronto were the Vatican. Calling Lowry’s season anything but a bit disappointing would be too cheery. He certainly wasn’t

We all heard from Tim Leiweke the other day about the possibility of “re-branding” the basketball part of the Maple Leaf Sport and Entertainment empire. Everything from colour scheme to uniform design to, presumably, name (although that was not specifically mentioned) seems to be on the table with an eye to what sounded like major change ahead of the 20th anniversary season a couple of years hence. Big deal? Not really. I don’t know that “brand” means anything more than the ability to sell shirts and jerseys and hats, and I guess that would be one of the primary goals of an organization in business to make money. But I don’t think anyone should think because the colours are different or the uniform changes or even the name gets altered that it will all of a sudden mean renewed respect around the league or be a way to attract players, coaches or executives. In all my years, outside of the first uniform with the pinstripes and the goofy dinosaur, I don’t recall anyone being all that bothered about any of the accoutrements that came along with the gig. Personally, I’m quite fine with the colour scheme, I kind of like the uniform with the subtle acknowledgement of Canada with the Maple Leaf on the back and I don’t know how much altering they can, or should, do. The name? Sure, Raptors is not perfect and I can live with a change there (Huskies? Towers? Rough Riders?) but to think that’s all of a sudden going to change the perception of the team is, frankly, ridiculous. It’s not like there’s some glorious past they can honour with a name and it’s not like “Raptors” has been hurting them at all. I guess one point to make is that if anyone wants to change the name – and this is just spit-balling, no one has said it out loud or officially – it’s not like they’d be changing from some long-standing tradition of greatness or success. Wouldn’t be a lot of championship banners to worry about, wouldn’t be a lot of tradition to throw away. It’d be a new start, I guess; asking long-suffering fans to get on board with something they can see as entirely new. And that’d be a good marketing ploy (think of all the stuff they could sell) but it’s going to take so long to pull off that even the “newness” of it will be old by the time it’s done. The only thing to come out of that rebrand stuff was the notion of a new practice facility, something fancy and unique and new, something they could use as a selling point with players that’s far more important to them than what the uniform looks like. Players want to be babied and live in comfort and if the Raptors do nail a new facility, that’s going to be the most significant part of the whole grandiose plan. And if they could build it somewhere near Casa Doug, that’d be even better. - Okay, time to brag on Super Son’s buddies. May 25, Cawthra choir. This song. This band. Oughta be good. - Hey, thanks for all the stuff on Cash Cab yesterday; I had seen one filmed in New York, which obviously was old. Still, it’s no Duck Dynasty but it’s good. The stuff we learn here is pretty good and wide-ranging, no? - So let me get this straight The bully councilor brother of Toronto’s Mayor supports and believes Toronto’s Mayor in the very serious situation while Toronto’s Mayor, elected by the people, has yet to stand at a podium or microphone and speak publicly about allegations he’s a drug user? Yeah, that makes entire sense to me. Hazelville rocks! (You know the only people who look good in this? Our city hall reporters and the Don Bosco board) - You know how nice it was to relax a little bit yesterday and not have to incessantly be either on the phone or worrying that something huge was going to happen? Was like a breath of fresh air, to tell you the truth. And that’s real fresh air, the kind that’s good for you. The only thing we need to learn – and as I type this we haven’t learned it – is whether or not t

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In the latest installment of RaptorBlog Radio, Drew, Oliver and I get together to discuss the “sort of” firing of Bryan Colangelo, the current state of the Raptors organization, who may replace Colangelo, and what might become of Dwane Casey. Listen to the podcast on the player below or download the MP3 here Check out RaptorBlog Radio on iTunes Subscribe to our RaptorBlog Radio RSS feed

I’ve been telling people for an awful long time that in the eons I’ve been around this basketball team that it’s almost always been a better story than a team. And here we go again. We all knew what was going to happen yesterday, the story had been out and reported for about 24 hours but, still, it was an odd, odd day. Kind of in keeping with the way the Raptors have operated consistently for years, a group that’s far more entertaining to talk about most seasons than to watch. The president stays but doesn’t have total basketball control, there is no general manager and no one’s quite sure who’s coming, the coach is basically in limbo, the rest of the front office is trying to do basic summer tasks not knowing if they’ll be employed in a month and the assistant coaches should probably be polishing resumes because there’s no guarantee any of them will be back. And fans? Fans are, I presume, alternating between scratching their heads and throwing their arms up in despair as the off-season unfolds. I’m seeing about a 70-30 split between “what the hell are they doing” to “this had to be done” and that’s not surprising either. Can it work? Who knows? It’s so unique that it just might. I honestly cannot think of a similar situation anywhere in sports – I presume there is one but my mind can’t recall it – and maybe because it’s so off-the-wall odd it might work. Maybe the new GM – and Masai Ujiri remains far and away the No. 1 choice but that’s not nearly a done deal yet – can operate with total autonomy and not feel at all threatened. Maybe the new CEO – who certainly talks tough about what might happen – can massage personalities and balance this thing and give the support that’s needed so that it works. Maybe. But here’s a point someone connected with the franchise made the other day that’s quite valid: Most of the heavy lifting as already been done. They were as far down as they could get two seasons ago, the building process is well on the path and there just needs to be some tinkering done rather than major reconstructive surgery. And maybe because they’re at that point, it’s not as hard as it would appear. Give ‘em credit, though. This might be the only organization in all of professional sports that can turn the possibility of management change into a head-scratching process that no one’s ever heard of before. Yep, better story than a team. - This works today, right? - I have no idea why this happened but one day recently I’m sitting on a stool somewhere in front of a bank of televisions (Hello, Jack Astor’s at Square One!) and was trying to see what was on that could have been marginally interesting. (Obviously there wasn’t a pucks fixture to catch my attention) And I’ve got to tell you, this Cash Cab thing looks pretty wacky. Now, I tend to hate reality TV with, as they say, the white-hot intensity of a thousand suns because as real as they try to make it, it’s edited and contrived and I’d rather watch some Criminal Minds or NCIS episode I’ve seen a few times. But here are two shows that could be recommended in that genre: Cash Cab Dude gives out money in some kind of rolling trivia game that covers the streets of New York. I have no idea why it caught the eye and what makes it intriguing but it does. Duck Dynasty You ever see that one? Highly recommended by people who know what they’re talking about, it’s a classic. The crazy hillbilly-esque clan with the beards? No idea why but once I heard about it, it was sort of fascinating, and hugely entertaining. Anyone agree? Now, there was time when the Amazing Race and – as we all recall – DWTS – would have been right at the top of the list but they’ve been supplanted; reality TV is still not destination viewing at even the slightest level but if I’m prone on the couch and clicking through the dial, I at least have a couple of choices that aren’t off-putting. - You folks a

This week on the Dr. Is in with phdsteve, my opposite, Tim W. drops by and get this…we actually agree on something! We give our immediate reactions to firing/promotion of Bryan Colangelo, talk briefly about who gets the job as the next GM of the Raps, and then from there it gets kind of silly. We talk about who really made the decision in the Melo to NYK trade and why the Oden over Durant draft choice was so controversial. Don’t worry, we tie it all back to the Raps and the Colangelo press conference and finish with some cold, hard facts about the Raptors that not even ping pong balls can solve. Grab the iTunes feed or the plain old feed. You can also download the file (40:28, 37 MB). Or just listen below:

The Raptors failed to “win” the lottery. They had a 2.5% chance of moving into the top three but FAILED (another in the long line of Colangelo failures, of course). As such, the 12th pick will be conveyed to Oklahoma City via Houston from the Kyle Lowry trade. The trade finishes as the #12 pick (currently projected to be Michael Carter-Williams, for reference) for Lowry. Not bad.