It's been a busy off-season for new Raptors GM Bryan Colangelo. (Frank Gunn/Canadian Press)
Q and A
Bryan Colangelo
The Raptors' boss discusses the off-season moves, Sam Mitchell's tenure and his role as the team's saviour
Last Updated Tues., Oct. 10, 2006
Paul Jay, CBC Sports
Since taking over as the general manager of the Toronto Raptors in February, Bryan Colangelo has made a dizzying array of moves, showing a decisiveness often lacking in his predecessor Rob Babcock. Before the summer was complete, Colangelo had made three trades, drafted the 20-year old Italian seven-footer Andrea Bargnani with the first overall pick and signed four new players, including three from Europe.
Whether the bold moves will translate into wins remains to be seen. CBC Sports Online spoke with the 2005 NBA Executive of the Year before the team began training camp in October.
There’s been a great deal of turnover with the roster. Can this team gel quickly enough to contend for a playoff spot?
I think we have the kind of group that’s going to come together quickly. Nine new faces would generally mean it's going to take a little time to come together. But I think in the case here with the professionals we have, and our emphasis to play a certain style, I think it’s conducive to getting everybody involved. You want wins. And I would certainly like to think we’re a playoff team. I will personally be disappointed any year we don’t make the playoffs.
Last year’s team was already one of the top scoring teams in the league but also one of the worst defensive teams. How do you address that deficiency?
You need to have a good combination of players who understand how to play defence. We are going to put more of an emphasis on it in the way we go about preparing for opponents. But at the end of the day, you still have to outscore your opponents, so offence is a huge part of what we’re going to do and I think our up-tempo offence is going to create opportunities for us defensively. Teams start playing a little erratically, they start running the floor with you and it starts to work to your advantage.
This team seems to have a lot of big men who can shoot and a lot of guards more comfortable driving to the basket. Is that the European style coming through?
Italian seven-footer Andrea Bargnani is a shooting big man. (Nick Wass/Associated Press)
In European style pretty much everybody can shoot the ball. I think guards and "bigs" are somewhat interchangeable. Most "bigs" over there can shoot the ball, and that is something Jorge Garbajosa, Chris Bosh and young Andrea Bargnani can do. But even when you bring a defender away from the basket, you have to have the up-tempo guards who can get in the seams and ultimately kick out to the shooters or be able to finish. I think we have a good combination of the two.
What do you want to see from head coach Sam Mitchell this year?
He did a very nice job with the team last year, always getting the team ready to play. But with limited resources and limited depth he really struggled to find ways to get them to learn how to win. I think with the group this year, we have a deeper team and he can turn to people and people can be fresher. I’d like to see overall good deployment of the players. Keep guys fresh, keep guys in tune and keep guys enthusiastic about what we’re doing — and that’s going to result in positive things for Sam and us.
Has there been any discussion about his contract, since it expires at the end of the year?
There’s been no talk internally about it, there’s only talk in the media. I said I’d address it at the appropriate time.
There’s been a lot of talk of buzz around this team since your arrival and a portrayal of you in the media as a saviour for this organization. What’s your reaction to that?
I think it’s a little overstated. Maybe a lot overstated. I did come to this franchise somewhat as a surprise to everyone, including myself. But it was the right situation, it was the right time. We have a great opportunity to turn this into a positive. I’ve been very quick to point out that I truly believe it's not about one person, it's about a group of people working together trying to do the right things. And I’m just trying to spearhead a lot of new points of emphasis and establish a winning tradition. And if that results in higher ticket sales, then that means we’re all doing our job.
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- Raptors hire Colangelo
- Feb. 28, 2006
The new-look Raptors
Off-season additions
Point guard T.J.
Ford (trade, Milwaukee Bucks); forward/centre Andrea
Bargnani (draft pick, Benetton Treviso); centre Rasho
Nesterovic (trade, San Antonio Spurs); shooting guard Fred
Jones (free agent, Indiana Pacers); guard/forward Anthony
Parker (free agent, Maccabi Tel Aviv); forward Jorge
Garbajosa (free agent, Unicaja Malaga); power forward Kris
Humphries (trade, Utah Jazz); guard/forward P.J.
Tucker (draft, University of Texas); forward/centre Uros
Slokar (draft, Benetton Treviso).
Off-season departures
Guard Mike
James (free agent, Minnesota Timberwolves); forward Charlie
Villanueva (trade, Milwaukee Bucks); forward Matt
Bonner (trade, San Antonio Spurs); centre Loren
Woods (free agent, Sacramento Kings); centre Rafael
Araujo (trade, Utah Jazz); forward Eric
Williams (trade, San Antonio Spurs); guard Alvin
Williams (released); centre James
Lang (free agent, Washington Wizards camp invitee); point guard Andre
Barrett (free agent, Chicago Bulls camp invitee).
Probable starting lineup:
TJ Ford
(PG)
Fred Jones
(SG)
Morris
Peterson (SF)
Chris
Bosh (PF)
Rasho
Nesterovic (C)
Bench depth chart:
Anthony
Parker (G/F)
Andrea
Bargnani (F/C)
Jorge
Garbajosa (F)
Jose Calderon
(PG)
Joey Graham
(SF)
