Toronto Raptors

Chicago Cubs reliever, Shawn Camp, has been retrospectively punished by the baseball gods for not admitting to an injury, after further damaging a toe sprain on Tuesday night against the Pirates. Camp was checked out on Sunday and given the all clear to pitch two days later, but in hindsight should have gone straight on the 15-day DL. He came in to replace James Russell in the sixth with Pittsburgh’s bases loaded, and although he forced one out, Camp could not stop Travis Snider slugging for a grand slam. Having heard Camp played through the pain on Tuesday, some fans betting MLB World Series blame the 37-year-old for the loss; he certainly lacked the velocity he usually packs and maybe that cost the team. Yet fans cannot blame the pitcher for wanting to play Tuesday, because Camp has not had the best of starts this season. For 20 games this season, he’s gone 1-1 with a 7.56 ERA and clearly had his mind on bettering that record rather than resting his big toe. If you have a poor record, you want to correct it fast, and so you jump at the chance to help the team when called upon in the sixth. Camp knew the strain he would put his toe under trying to see out the inning but did his job anyway. Saving the inning did not work and he’s suffered because of it, but MLB betting news pundits should not blame him for trying. Sadly, it seems we won’t see Camp for a while now. He’s down on the 15-day DL and is likely to return come early June, by which time the Cubs may have climbed closer to the NL Central’s runaway pack.

A bunch of topics to cover today, so let’s get started. Thank you, Mr. Leiweke Bryan Colangelo maintaining his role as president of the club does not, for a minute, take any joy away from his firing as the GM of the club.  The man was flat-out incompetent in his role as continually pointed out by this space since the last four years, and it took Tim Leiweke about five minutes to see through the roster, the “organic growth”, and the marketing material that the organization and media had bought into.  For that I am very thankful.  The interview is below, but here’s a couple great quotes: First and foremost, we have to figure out consistently and how to win long-term.  I guess I referred to it earlier today as being a Seven Eleven.  Good enough to maybe be in the 7th or 8th spot and maybe make the playoffs, but never good enough to win. I do like the fact that we’re going to have a GM with a fresh view of the world, with a fresh view of the world, with a fresh view of this roster, with a fresh view of what it is we need to do to be competitive long-term. This was the essence of building under Bryan Colangelo.  He might’ve even gotten us into the playoffs next year, but just like in 2008, it doesn’t mean anything because you’re stuck in doldrums. Obstruction for new GM Retaining the business-specific role in the organization is makes no matter, and can only benefit the Raptors.  The only negative I can potentially see coming from it is if the incoming GM is uncomfortable working with him.  It’s a distinct possibility, but given the clarity with which Leiweke has defined Colangelo’s new role and the explicit nature in which he’s stated the new GM’s authority puts me at ease.  Simply put, if the new GM feels Colangelo is hampering him, Colangelo will be fired from his new flimsy role as well.  Fear not.  Leiweke made no secret of saying that if he had to draw it up from scratch, this is not the ideal structure: This is based, in part, on timing, this is based, in part, on the option that he had. This is based, in part, that he’s here already…Is this the way I’d draw it up on a piece of paper if we’d started fresh? Probably not, but that’s not an option. Direction of Team As Leiweke has stated in the interview below, he wants the new GM to come in with a “fresh perspective” and evaluate this roster for what it is, not what it is sold to the fans as.  The salary situation, lack of a draft pick, and the questionable roster talent does not make this job easy, and the only course of action is to go there with an unbiased mind and do a keep or cull based on impartial analysis.  It’s Step 1.  Everything else comes after.  The good part about this situation is that this keeping/culling will be done by a man who, as Leiweke explicitly said in the interview below, does not hold players in high regard just because they’re the ones who brought them in. I have a bit of a disagreement on the current status of the organization and this roster. I guess I don’t think we’re right there. I don’t think we’re a piece away, I think we have work to do. I think in the last five years we’ve made mistakes. We’re a team knocking on the luxury tax that has zero draft picks this year, and we have to improve on this roster but we don’t have a lot of resources to do it. I find it ironic that people think that that, at the end of the day, would give me a high degree of comfort. That said, Bryan has a different opinion and I respect that opinion, but somebody had to make a decision and someone did. We got to find somebody that is extremely good and rational at looking at this roster and reaching the right conclusions about who’s going to work and who’s not going to work. Sometimes you got to find a new set of eyes and a new opinion in order to judge a roster and not be personal about a player because you chose him. Or you used the first pick in

Who would you like to see? Or maybe more appropriately, who do you think will be next GM? Click to vote and discuss who you’d like to see as the next GM of the Toronto Raptors.

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