HoopsinHotlantaToronto Raptors Future
To most fans we are looking down a long tunnel with faint light pushing through on the other side. This off-season has left us with yet another superstar hanging up the Toronto jersey for the last time. It is not known whether we will get anything with Bosh via S&T, but even if we do it is not going to do much to ease the pain of losing the All-time Toronto scoring leader. What should the Raptors organization do... Mope around? I think this is an opportunity to completely start fresh and press the reset button. Colangelo is known to be able to put an entire different roster on the court that could contend next year (however, for the Toronto Raptors, we do not have many players who are going to be worth much in the trading market).
The first step that Colangelo has done in the "re-tooling" process as he likes to call it, was resigning Amir Johnson for a 5 year, 34 million dollar deal. Most people are not very happy about this deal and think this is a big waste of money. I dont disagree, this is a waste of money, but from Colangelo's perspective, this is all based on potential. Amir Johnson may be a 5 year vet, but he is also only 23 years old. He has not had an abundance of playing time (with the exception of last year) to prove himself as a legitimate NBA player. This deal may turn out to be a bargain for the Toronto Raptors. Amir could take huge strides in his development, when playing more. Also with this resigning it gives us a much better defensive presence at the 4 spot, than what Chris Bosh had ever given the Raptors. His offense is in need of improvement, but hes a young guy and I think he will be able to continually improve his offensive game. All in all, I dont think the resigning of him was a bad move by Bryan Colangelo.
The steps that need to be taken this off-season is trading Jose Calderon. With Jose Calderon not playing well last season and Jarrett Jack continually improving and showing much more emotion and leadership on the court, it is making the Toronto Raptors decision very easy on the point guard controversy. The NBA market for point guards is still very scarce and I think many teams would be willing to give up a solid player in return for Jose Calderon. Hopefully a big man like a Tyson Chandler or Emeka Okafor who may not be a perennial allstar, but is willing to do the dirty work and grab the boards (something Toronto is desperate need of). Even if the decide to keep Calderon because of his high salary (and no teams would buy into it), Jarrett Jacks marketability has increased quite a bit over the last season as well. Both point guards have said that they can co-exist together, but as an organization, they need to trade one of them and get the necessary pieces for this team to become a contender once again.
In regards to Hedo Turkoglu, I think that we need to keep him on our roster. Unless a team offers us an irrefusable deal, Hedo Turkoglu's marketability is much worse than it has ever been. Last season and the announcing his displeasure to the public, has pretty much made it impossible to trade him for someone worth value. Also, I think he was restricted in his play last year. Hedo Turkoglu is the type of player who likes to make plays himself and utilize the wing. With Chris Bosh in the lineup, it made Hedo Turkoglu morph is game around Bosh, and he could no longer play his style of game, which led to an abysmal season. Now Hedo has something to prove, and I think he is going to play pretty well in the upcoming season.
Bryan Colangelo is still a solid GM, everyone knows it. Toronto is growing impatient and expect to win the playoffs, and that is understandable. But the General Manger needs to stay in Toronto, unless we can find a better General manager. We cannot fire Bryan Colangelo and settle for a first year GM, or a guy who just needs a job again. If there is nothing better than him, we need to keep him. So all the Toronto fans who think they should fire BC, they should go and look at all the other candidates MLSE is looking at first.
Please respond to any of the content, if I'm missing anything let me know, thanks for reading
The first step that Colangelo has done in the "re-tooling" process as he likes to call it, was resigning Amir Johnson for a 5 year, 34 million dollar deal. Most people are not very happy about this deal and think this is a big waste of money. I dont disagree, this is a waste of money, but from Colangelo's perspective, this is all based on potential. Amir Johnson may be a 5 year vet, but he is also only 23 years old. He has not had an abundance of playing time (with the exception of last year) to prove himself as a legitimate NBA player. This deal may turn out to be a bargain for the Toronto Raptors. Amir could take huge strides in his development, when playing more. Also with this resigning it gives us a much better defensive presence at the 4 spot, than what Chris Bosh had ever given the Raptors. His offense is in need of improvement, but hes a young guy and I think he will be able to continually improve his offensive game. All in all, I dont think the resigning of him was a bad move by Bryan Colangelo.
The steps that need to be taken this off-season is trading Jose Calderon. With Jose Calderon not playing well last season and Jarrett Jack continually improving and showing much more emotion and leadership on the court, it is making the Toronto Raptors decision very easy on the point guard controversy. The NBA market for point guards is still very scarce and I think many teams would be willing to give up a solid player in return for Jose Calderon. Hopefully a big man like a Tyson Chandler or Emeka Okafor who may not be a perennial allstar, but is willing to do the dirty work and grab the boards (something Toronto is desperate need of). Even if the decide to keep Calderon because of his high salary (and no teams would buy into it), Jarrett Jacks marketability has increased quite a bit over the last season as well. Both point guards have said that they can co-exist together, but as an organization, they need to trade one of them and get the necessary pieces for this team to become a contender once again.
In regards to Hedo Turkoglu, I think that we need to keep him on our roster. Unless a team offers us an irrefusable deal, Hedo Turkoglu's marketability is much worse than it has ever been. Last season and the announcing his displeasure to the public, has pretty much made it impossible to trade him for someone worth value. Also, I think he was restricted in his play last year. Hedo Turkoglu is the type of player who likes to make plays himself and utilize the wing. With Chris Bosh in the lineup, it made Hedo Turkoglu morph is game around Bosh, and he could no longer play his style of game, which led to an abysmal season. Now Hedo has something to prove, and I think he is going to play pretty well in the upcoming season.
Bryan Colangelo is still a solid GM, everyone knows it. Toronto is growing impatient and expect to win the playoffs, and that is understandable. But the General Manger needs to stay in Toronto, unless we can find a better General manager. We cannot fire Bryan Colangelo and settle for a first year GM, or a guy who just needs a job again. If there is nothing better than him, we need to keep him. So all the Toronto fans who think they should fire BC, they should go and look at all the other candidates MLSE is looking at first.
Please respond to any of the content, if I'm missing anything let me know, thanks for reading
