BasketballRaptors, MLSE show some respect to Colangelo

Beginning of Story Content

Toronto Raptors general manager Bryan Colangelo looks on during the 2011 NBA Draft Lottery on Tuesday. (Jesse D. Garrabrant/NBAE via Getty Images)

At the risk of sounding melodramatic, two things seemed inevitably certain Tuesday. It was going to rain in Toronto for the next 200 days, and the Raptors weren't going to win the NBA draft lottery. To add insult to injury, they dropped from third in the order to fifth.

But before we revel in another T-dot pity party, let us thank Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment for realizing it would be idiotically unprofessional to trot out Bryan Colangelo at the NBA's TV studios halfway between Newark Liberty Airport and Manhattan if he wasn't going to be the man in charge of the Raptors next season.

I suppose we can owe this to MLSE's well-documented corporate culture; while competence on the ice/floor/field is not the organization's forte, they do have 'em some decorum.

While it really never was in doubt that Colangelo would be back -- he has more backers on the board than non-backers, and as we all know, there was nobody to replace him with -- the inaction of the past month smacked of unpreparedness. Colangelo, professional that he is, stuck to the company line Tuesday, pointing out that the job evaluation of sorts was standard company procedure. "I'm glad I'm not looking for a new house and a new school system," he said on a conference call after the lottery.

What of Jay Triano and Maurizio Gherardini?

"It's only the right thing for us as an organization to address this," Colangelo said.

As far as addressing the draft goes, the only thing the Raptors can do now is shuffle a bunch of players through town for workouts. In a two-man draft, picking fifth is a crapshoot, something Colangelo admitted. "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder there," he said. "If there was ever a year to (fall back), this is the year."

March Madness machine Kemba Walker, Kentucky point guard Brandon Knight, Colorado guard Alec Burks, San Diego State forward Kawhi Leonard, Lithuanian centre Jonas Valanciunas, Czech forward Jan Vesely and Congolese big man Bismack Biyombo are some of the guys potentially destined for short hotel stays in Toronto this coming month.

From a fan perspective my initial instinct was to consider Walker, but after sleeping on it, I'm not sure. As a score-first guy, there's no evidence he can play point guard in the NBA. And an undersized scoring combo guard -- likely his best-case scenario -- isn't really a priority on a rebuilding team. Keep an eye on Burks.

As for suggestions among some fans that the Raps draft Toronto native Tristan Thompson, it just doesn't make sense. For a start, he won't likely be the best available player at five. And while he's on the short side, Thompson has a power forward's game, which is the last thing the Raptors need right now. When added to the possible distractions of being the first Toronto-born-and-raised Raptor to play at home, the issue is a non-starter.

Comparing various mock drafts right now shows how wide open the field is. This will evolve as different players work out for different teams, but it's worth remembering as a cautionary tale that Nikoloz Tskitishvili once had a dynamite workout for the Denver Nuggets and was taken fifth in the 2002 draft.

The Cleveland Cavaliers meanwhile provided further ammunition to basketball's sizeable "the lottery is rigged" crowd. And to make things better, the Clippers' historical ineptitude continued by not lottery-protecting the pick they sent to Cleveland in February along with Baron Davis.

The Cavs' presence at the lottery Tuesday had all the subtlety of a Shannon Brown Twitter denial, and they even managed to one-up themselves from 2003 when they won the rights to draft LeBron James. This time, the guy they will draft -- Kyrie Irving -- was actually at the lottery.

The rigging talk was even bandied about by Timberwolves GM David Kahn. Upset no doubt with being faced with the fact of drafting Derrick Williams to go alongside fellow 'tween forward Michael Beasley, Kahn told the Associated Press "this league has a habit, and I am just going to say habit, of producing some pretty incredible story lines."

Thinly veiled allegations aside, you have to wonder about Minnesota's strategy here. Is a trade coming?

The month-long stretch between the lottery and the draft is always a guessing game.  And this year, it certainly is for every team other except Cleveland. Stay tuned.

End of Story Content

Back to accessibility links