FanHouse BryanColangelo

I like what Raptors general manager Bryan Colangelo has done this offseason. It hasn't been as noisy as Boston, Cleveland or Orlando, but Toronto isn't in that threesome's class anyway.

So while Colangelo might not have turned the 33-win Raptors into a conference champion in one summer, he has given them an intriguing identity and put them smack dab in the middle of the Eastern Conference playoff picture.

He's also put the ball in Chris Bosh's court.

As teams get eliminated from the 2009 NBA playoff picture, Fork 'Em figures out what went wrong.

"If the whole human race lay in one grave, the epitaph on its headstone might well be: 'It seemed a good idea at the time.'" -Rebecca West

Bryan Colangelo either laughs or weeps at this quote after the Raptors 2008-2009 season.

I mean, it DID seem like a good idea at the time, right? You're a playoff team, on the verge of contention. You have a legit superstar in Chris Bosh. You have an up and coming point guard in Jose Calderon, a core of veterans alongside sharpshooter Jason Kapono, and a young stud in Jamario Moon. All they needed was to jettison that black hole, T.J. Ford and minimize that bust Andrea Bargnani. And if they could do all that and upgrade their frontcourt with some muscle, that would be idea.

Enter Jermaine O'Neal. Enter the meltdown.

The wild weekend has begun: ESPN reports that Toronto has (finally) sent Jermaine O'Neal and Jamario Moon to Miami for Shawn Marion and Marcus Banks. This ends the Heat's participation in those Amare Stoudemire rumors. (It also decreases the Brad Miller market by 100%.)

Stephen A. Smith sent folks into a tizzy with the spurious rumor that Chris Bosh has told the Raptors he will not re-sign in 2010, with that leading to Bosh being put on the trade block.

Needless to say, Bosh has emphatically denied the entire matter.

Elie Seckbach, the Embedded Correspondent, brings his exclusive video reporting to FanHouse. Check back regularly for more videos.

Nathan Jawai of the Raptors is the first indigenous Australian player in the NBA. His story is unique, having grown up playing rugby, not basketball, he is very quick on his feet for a big man. In this video he talks to us about dangerous encounters he experienced in the Australian Outback, including swimming nose-to-nose with a crocodile, one of nature's most vicious killers. We also hear from Anthony Parker, Nathan's teammate.

Check out the video after the jump.

Michael Grange of the Globe and Mail penned a solid profile of Raptors interim coach Jay Triano, illustrating just how excited folks in Canada are for one of their own to take over their country's lone NBA team.

It's a good piece, but what struck me was how even the recently deposed Sam Mitchell had good things to say about the man who replaced him. As Mitchell told Grange, though, he harbors no ill-will over Bryan Colangelo's decision:

"Fans, calls, e-mails, everyone's been great," he said. "I've enjoyed every minute working for the Toronto Raptors and I've enjoyed every minute of living in this city, I have no regrets and no complaints and everyone at MSLE, the owners, board of directors, Bryan, has treated me better than anyone deserves to be treated. You just have to move on."

I agree that the Raptors probably had to make a change, and while the timing seemed early, it's better than pulling the trigger too late. That said, I'd love to see Mitchell get another chance, or at least an invitation to move into the broadcast booth.

When discussing Sam Mitchell's firing yesterday, my colleague Tom Ziller cited Toronto's dismal defense as a likely contributing factor -- last year the Raptors' defense ranked slightly above average; this year, it's one of the worst in the league.

Such a decline put Mitchell in an awkward position, especially since his entire coaching philosophy of rebounding and defense was somewhat at odds with Bryan Colangelo's preference to run-and-gun -- if a defensive coach can't coach defense, what use is he?

Mitchell was already in place when Colangelo took the job, and after Mitchell led the team to their first division title and was named Coach of the Year two seasons ago, Colangelo faced pressure to sign him to an extension. After hearing his comments at yesterday's press conference, I'm convinced Colangelo has given interim head coach Jay Triano (pictured), who's coached Steve Nash for Canada's national team, a mandate to run. From the Toronto Star:

"As of last week, I believe, we were 29th in the league in fast-break points. That was concerning to all of us," said Colangelo last night. "There was talk about running, but it's something that I'm not sure we ever really thought about or practised or discussed to the extent it appeared on the floor with any kind of habit."

Fortunately, the tools are in place for the Raptors to become an up-tempo team. Jermaine O'Neal won't be winning any footraces, but he can trigger the fast-break with his rebounding, and his frontcourt mates Chris Bosh and Jamario Moon are both extremely athletic. Plus, no one in the league finds the open man (9.5 assists per game) while protecting the ball (4.9 A/TO) as well as Jose Calderon.

It's safe to call Toronto's start a disappointment: Canucks were thinking conference championship, not below .500 ball into December. As such, impeccably dressed Sam Mitchell has seen the end of his Raptors tenure. The team has named assistant Jay Triano (a former captain and coach of Canada's national team) as the interim man in charge.

Doug Smith of the Toronto Star reports that the lack of effort shown by the team in Tuesday's 132-93 disaster against Denver set Bryan Colangelo's mind. If anything, the game highlighted what has become an abysmal Toronto defense, ranked 26th in the league in opponents points per possession. Last season, Toronto's D was slightly above average. You'd think adding Jermaine O'Neal, one of this era's elite post defenders, would help. It has not.

If you took a time machine to 2005 when Colangelo took Toronto's reigns, and you said Smitch -- the antithesis of the prototypical Colangelo coach -- would be around until December 2008, we would have all called you crazy. (I mean, you have a time machine and you're worried about the Toronto Raptors coaching job? Weirdo.) Mitchell stuck around longer than he had any business to, and he'll get another job. Hopefully his next gig will have a team that better fits his persona/philosophy (smashmouth, defensive basketball).

Triano becomes the league's first Canadian-born head coach. I have a hunch he's also the first NBA head coach who saw Rent on Broadway more than 10 times and whose favo(u)rite musician is Sarah McLachlan.

Team USA needs no confidence boost heading into tomorrow morning's gold medal game against Spain: the Americans have whooped all comers, including the Spaniards. By 37. But the United States gets another chip on its stack nonetheless, as Spain's starting point guard Jose Calderon will apparently not play due to injury. ESPN's Chris Sheridan confirmed the news with Raptors boss Bryan Colangelo ... who has a bit of a history with the Spanish basketball federation. Something tells me Calderon (who just signed a weighty contract with Toronto) won't be pressing the Raps on this.

For Spain, this might put wunderkind jumblebum RIcky Rubio into the starting five. Raul Lopez got the nod to open the semifinal game against Lithuania, but was ineffective. Rubio started the second half. He was also ineffective, though he did a spritely job of frustrating craggly Sarunas Jasikevicius.

Lopez and Rubio are both, at this point, significantly inferior to Calderon and vastly inferior to the American opponents ... even Jason Kidd. (!) Spain needed close to a perfect storm to beat the United States to begin with. Without their top PG, Spain needs a miracle.

Team USA needs no confidence boost heading into tomorrow morning's gold medal game against Spain: the Americans have whooped all comers, including the Spaniards. By 37. But the United States gets another chip on its stack nonetheless, as Spain's starting point guard Jose Calderon will apparently not play due to injury. ESPN's Chris Sheridan confirmed the news with Raptors boss Bryan Colangelo ... who has a bit of a history with the Spanish basketball federation. Something tells me Calderon (who just signed a weighty contract with Toronto) won't be pressing the Raps on this.

For Spain, this might put wunderkind jumblebum RIcky Rubio into the starting five. Raul Lopez got the nod to open the semifinal game against Lithuania, but was ineffective. Rubio started the second half. He was also ineffective, though he did a spritely job of frustrating craggly Sarunas Jasikevicius.

Lopez and Rubio are both, at this point, significantly inferior to Calderon and vastly inferior to the American opponents ... even Jason Kidd. (!) Spain needed close to a perfect storm to beat the United States to begin with. Without their top PG, Spain needs a miracle.