khandor’s sports blog

Q. How good can the New York Knicks become, if they get 100% healthy?

A. With the addition of a solid, good-sized, PG like Jeremy Lin, and a full line-up that looks like this:

OWNER – James Dolan

GENERAL MANAGER – Glen Grunwald

HEAD COACH – Mike D’Antoni

STARTERS

PG, Jeremy Lin [acquired December 27, 2012]
OG, Landry Fields
SF, Carmelo Anthony
PF, Amare Stoudemire
C, Tyson Chandler

KEY SUBS

PG, Baron Davis
OG, Iman Shumpert
SF, Bill Walker
PF, Jared Jeffries
C, Steve Novak

RESERVES/EXTRAS/OUTS

PG, Toney Douglas
PG, Mike Bibby
PF, Renaldo Balkman
PF/C, Josh Harrellson
C, Jerome Jordan

New York should be good enough to qualify for the playoffs and, perhaps, advance to the EC semi-finals.

apparently, is none other than:

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Grunwald got Lin to Knicks

On Dec. 24, Jeremy Lin hit Grunwald’s greaseboard after he was cut by the Rockets. D’Antoni and Grunwald discussed Lin’s impressive pre-draft workout in Greenburgh on June 7, 2010, his penetration ability and knack for the pick and roll.

Grunwald had recommended bringing Lin in for training camp last season and earlier in December, but Golden State and Houston had gotten in the way.

“I remember Glen saying after Lin got waived, ‘He can run the pick and roll and be a playmaker better than anybody we had,’ ’’ D’Antoni recalled.

But the Knicks had enough point guards on the roster by then. In the season opener on Christmas Day, rookie Iman Shumpert sprained his knee and went out for at least two weeks.

The decision was made the next day when Grunwald told D’Antoni this was the Knicks’ chance to claim Lin — at least as a stopgap because his $788,000 contract wasn’t guaranteed. After 16 teams passed in waivers, Grunwald sprang.

“Lin and [Steve] Novak, they were both Glen’s calls,’’ said a person familiar with Grunwald’s daily waiver talks with D’Antoni.

Earlier that month, D’Antoni was more impressed by his new boss during the hectic period when the franchise did mathematical cartwheels — a series of maneuvers that began with Chauncey Billups’ amnesty waiver — to open enough salary cap space to sign center Tyson Chandler.

“Trying to get Tyson in those few days, his demeanor to deliver under enormous pressure was terrific,’’ D’Antoni said. “The way he went about it: calm, cool, collected through the whole thing.’’

=========================

a former GM of the Toronto Raptors who, during his tenure with the team, is fondly remembered, by yours truly, as a man of high integrity with a solid degree of basketball acumen.

In fact …

The day Glen Grunwald was relieved of his duties with the Raptors coincides with the team’s current slide into irrelevant mediocrity.

When a columnist of Dave Feschuk’s stature writes 715 words on a specific topic in the world of professional team sports and not a single one of them includes the following collection of letters:

c, h, a, m, p, i, o, n, s, h, i, p,

it should tell you everything you need to know concerning the day-to-day M.O. of that franchise.

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Won’t take much for Raptors to keep Colangelo

Quote 1: “I will make a recommendation to the board (on Colangelo’s future) at some point during the season. I’m not going to leave Bryan hanging out. He’s got kids in school here.”

Quote 2: “We still really believe in Bryan Colangelo.”

Quote 3: “Politicians don’t get paid much. They pay me well to do this.”

Quote 4: “Of the 14 clubs I’ve been around, I really like the attitude and culture of this club the best. There are no egos. They’ve very engaged. They’re enthusiastic as hell. But we’re young, very young. . . . I want to see them play hard and be active and be better defensively. And we’ll see where it goes.”

Quote 5: “I’ll just watch, and if I like where I think it’s going, we’ll re-up Bryan.”

————————— 

When the specific person responsible for overseeing the overall operation of that pro sports franchise … within the environment of a business consortium … is quoted extensively in the piece and, over the course of his 123 words, declines the opportunity to include a single one which includes these same letters in combination with one another:

i.e. c, h, a, m, p, i, o, n, s, h, i, p,

it’s enough to make one nauseous, as a long-time follower of the team.

After reading nonsense of this type from an MLSE executive, die-hard fans of this team should ask themselves the following two questions today:

Q1. “What”, exactly, is the “this” Richard Peddie is “well paid” to do?

Q2. “Where”, exactly, is it that Richard Peddie thinks ”it” is going?

The sad reality is that, in today’s environment in the NBA, this specific franchise … with its current collection of players and coaches [and executives] … is not one step closer to eventually being able to win a NBA championship, anytime in the foreseeable future, than it was a decade ago … and, in fact, is further away from ever achieving this goal than it has been for the last several years.

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P.S. If it walks like a duck, talks like a duck, looks like a duck, feels like a duck and smells like a duck; then, in all likelihood, IT IS a duck.

When the GM of your NBA team does an ‘about face’ like this …

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Sorry, Bosh is as good as gone

In this season of unreason, this silly and powerful hurricane, the safe bet remains this: Chris Bosh is leaving. Even the team thinks so.

“I think it’s likely that he will leave,” Raptors general manager Bryan Colangelo told The Fan 590’s Prime Time Sports on Monday. “It’s the perfect storm for Chris Bosh to leave.”

Other Raptor sources, contacted on Monday, believe the same thing. “My gut tells me he’s leaving,” said one.

A source close to Bosh yesterday was asked if Bosh had made a final decision on where to play next year, and the source said, “He hasn’t.” The source, however, conceded that Bosh is tired of being the centrepiece of a team that has yet to escape the first round of the playoffs during his career.

“It’s like if you went to work every day and you worked hard, and you never got a promotion,” the source said. “You want a chance to get ahead.”

———————

as the ‘witching hour’ approaches, after consistently espousing a different view for the better part of the last 12+ months, then …

what does it really say about the overall quality of the organization which he represents?

Listen to the entire radio segment for yourself …

———————

Prime Time Sports, FAN590, Mon June 28 2010

[from the start until the 18:00 mark]

———————

and then plausibly try to suggest that what was written in this space, in the aftermath of Toronto selecting Ed Davis [PF] and Solomon Alabi [C] in last week’s 2010 NBA Draft was in some way incorrect, regarding [i] the chief reason these two players were selected over others and [ii] how the Raptors now view the likelihood of Chris Bosh re-signing with them this summer.

The fact is …

What’s been written in this space … largely, in advance … about the nature of the goings-on with the Raptors franchise over the course of the last 3+ years has been highly/substantially accurate, concerning such things as:

1. The chief reason why Chris Bosh will leave this team, if he decides that he longer wishes to be an employee of the Raptors, i.e. he will have lost faith in the GM and owners’ ability to ever build a championship-winning franchise around him, based on what he has seen occur, since February 2006, a period of 4+ years;

and,

2. The actual source of THE problem which exits within the Raptors’ organization, and can be traced back up the chain-of-command from the players to the head coach and staff, the GM, the CEO/President and, ultimately, to the team’s principal owners [i.e. MLSE] … who also own the equally inept Toronto Maple Leafs [and Toronto Football Club/TFC] … and are primarily focused on achieving THE WRONG OBJECTIVE, as owners of a franchise in the NBA - i.e. making a consistent profit for its joint shareholders, as opposed to trying their very best to win the league championship – while perpetually deluding its own fanbase.

3. The Raptors being little more than a ‘Treadmill Team’ … i.e. continually spinning their wheels, and making no serious headway up the Eastern Conference Standings … and effectively wasting the plethora of resources which have been at their disposal for the last several seasons [in fact, going all the way back to 1997-1998 when Glen Grunwald was first elevated to the position of GM and the team was brought under the full control of MLSE].

Yesterday, it was suggested by Henry Abbott that THE MOST IMPORTANT element in play when determining which free agents actually sign with which organizations in the NBA is, in fact, the perceived strength and competency of the respective owners within the league.

The question which was then asked here was:

“Where do you suppose Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment Limited [MLSE] is ranked [amongst the list of 30 principal owners in the NBA], according to TrueHoop?“

[actually, this question was also asked here ... albeit, in a slightly different form, i.e. Worst Owner in major North American pro sport ... more than 1 year ago, as well]

Unfortunately, until the owners of this team are perceived to be fully committed to the notion of building an authentic championship-winning organization in Toronto … which encompasses a number of different areas within the pro game, including [but not limited to] the following:

* Acquiring the best management team possible with championship-winning experience and a sound Basketball Philosophy

* Acquiring the best coaching staff possible with championship-winning experience and a sound Basketball Philosophy

* Acquiring the best collection of players possible with elite level basketball ability, including the right mix of [i] star players [plural], [ii] support players [plentiful], and [iii] highly effective role players throughout the roster

* Committing the financial resources required to get the job done right, by building gradually over an extended number of years within the framework of an integrated and comprehensive Plan of Attack

there will be no REAL substantive improvement … at least, over the long haul … in the fortunes of the Raptors franchise, relative to the other elite level outfits in the NBA.

A perfect storm?

When you wasted huge chunks of time … e.g. like the last 12 months … building the foundation of your house, essentially, on quick-sand, i.e. Could a Bargnani trade benefit the Raptors?, then …

You bet, it most definitely is. 

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Related:

Raptors boss: Chris Bosh ‘likely’ to leave Toronto

After “whiffing” yesterday … Dave Feschuk returns to form and goes yard with his column today, featuring the rambled musings of none other than “The Oakster”, himself:

Feschuk: The Oakley show rolls back into town
“You ain’t going nowhere with 7-footers shooting three-pointers. You can’t put four or five scorers on the floor at one time. You can, but you ain’t going nowhere. You got four or five scorers on the floor, ain’t enough shots in a game, in a quarter, for everybody to be consistent. You need your two scorers, outside threat and a post-up threat. You need your sixth man who can score. You need another guy that can just be an all-around energy guy, and you need another guy who can just, you know, play basketball.”

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Do yourself a favour and read the whole thing.

In each and every instance, what Charles has to say is 100% accurate.

The next time yours truly gets asked the following question:

“Who do you think would succeed as the next GM for the Toronto Raptors?”

The first name they will now receive has been clearly identified.

If former NBA players like Mitch Kupchak, Danny Ainge, Otis Smith, Kevin Pritchard, Geoff Petrie, Ernie Grunfeld, Jim Paxson, Danny Ferry, etc., can succeed as executives in this league … then, why, oh, why, can’t someone like Mr. Charles Oakley.

Here is this year’s direct quote from the Raptors’ President/GM:

Raptors makeover will work: Bryan Colangelo
“The scope of the makeover definitely changed from what we originally thought but it wasn’t because we didn’t feel like we should do some of those things,” the president and general manager explained. “It was because we were limited in what we thought we had available to us.”

That all changed after a bold four-team, double sign-and-trade transaction centred on Hedo Turkoglu and Shawn Marion which gave Colangelo the resources to complete a rather remarkable makeover that will be fully unveiled at the team’s annual media day today.

“We’re much better off for it,” said Colangelo. “With all the new faces it’s going to be a challenge … but we really did want to make some changes.

“We’ve accomplished it on paper and now we have to put it all together.”

There’s the rub.

Yes, on paper the Raptors seem vastly improved over the squad that finished last season 33-49.

They have five backups who have been NBA starters and a big starting lineup seemingly more talented than it’s been in years.

But paper isn’t reality; no one can tell what is actually going to transpire during the course of a season.

———————————————

There’s the rub?

Here is what he had to say last season, at this exact same time:

On paper … the best team the raptors have had
“On paper, in terms of just pure talent, I would say, yes, this is the best team we’ve had,” the Raptor president and general manager said Monday afternoon.

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On paper?

On paper … means absolutely squat, in the NBA environment.

How a team’s players and coaches fit together, or not, whether they can create individual mismatches which their squad can then take full advantage of, and/or whether they can combine to minimize the match-up advantages which their opponents have based on their respective strengths and weaknesses, etc., are not things which can be assertained with accuracy from looking at a collection of statistical data accounting for “seasonal/career averages” in a plethora of categories ranging from simple to advanced.

Regardless of what the “stats gurus” will try to tell you about “How the game works”, the team that will eventually win the 2009-2010 NBA Championship will not be determined by:

A. How it happens to look on paper;

B. How it happens to perform in a NBA video game;

C. How its players may happen to rank in a NBA Fantasy Hoops contest;

D. etc.

There are 5 teams with a legitimate shot at winning the title this year:

1 LA Lakers [the reigning champions, 65 wins last season]
2 Boston Celtics [the 2007-2008 champions, 62 wins last season]
3 San Antonio Spurs [the 2006-2007 champions, 54 wins last season]
4 Orlando Magic [the reigning finalists, 59 wins last season]
5 Cleveland Cavaliers [the 2006-2007 finalists, 66 wins last season]

based upon:

1 The overall strength of their organization, from top to bottom;
2 The Quality Depth on their roster, specifically designed to create and minimize individual match-up advantages for themselves and their opponents, respectively;
3 Their team’s ability to Rebound & Defend, in general … and, specifically, on certain crucial possessions which decide the final outcome of playoff games;
4 Their collective ability to play Shared Team Offense;
5 Their star players’ abilities to make crucial plays, where necessary, in all three main phases of the game, i.e. Defense, Offense and Rebounding;
6 The quality of their coaching; and,
7 The quality of their GMing.

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Unfortunately, what is now painfully obvious for the Raptors is the lack of an over-riding plan for this organization to ever win a NBA championship while operating under the ownership of MLSE.

Since April 2004, when Glen Grunwald was fired from his position, as GM for the team, the Raptors have been in almost constant state of flux:

2003-2004, Grunwald-O’Neill
33-49/.402, 10th place, missed the playoffs

2004-2005, Babcock-Mitchell
33-49/.402, 11th place, missed the playoffs

2005-2006, Babcock-Mitchell/Colangelo-Mitchell
27-55/.313, 12th place, missed the playoffs

2006-2007, Colangelo-Mitchell
47-35/.573, 3rd place, 1st Rd playoff loss

2007-2008, Colangelo-Mitchell
41-41/.500, 6th place, 1st Rd playoff loss

2008-2009, Colangelo-Mitchell/Colangelo-Triano
33-49/.402, 13th place, missed the playoffs

2009-2010, Colangelo-Triano
?, ?, ? 

Teams “in a constant state of flux” do not know what they are doing when it comes to ever being able to build a championship operation in the NBA … in spite of their own ability to make $$$ hand-over-fist, on an annual basis.

It takes a high degree of Basketball Acumen to actually win the title in this league … and THIS simply isn’t to be found on a piece of paper, or through crunching numbers.

Araujo pick set off chain reaction
I‘ve always considered the drafting of Rafael Araujo the Raptors’ original sin. It set off a chain reaction the team has never really recovered from.

Araujo, as every Raptors fan knows, was picked No.8 overall by Rob Babcock, who promised on draft night that the big Brazilian was “Not a stiff.”

Well, he was a stiff. One with small hands and short arms and – quite literally – no upside.

Missing at No.8 isn’t ordinarily the end of the world. It happens. And it says A LOT about the NBA that having the chance to pick the eighth – or in this year’s draft – the ninth best player in the world in a given year carries with it no certainty of success.

Tough league.

But the 2004 draft had its share of good players. One of them – Andre Iguodala – was taken ninth by the Philadelphia 76ers, as every Raptors fan knows.

Which is the problem: It’s not so much that Araujo was a bust, it’s that Iguodala represents exactly and – short of Kobe/LeBron/Wade – I mean exactly what the franchise needs.

He slashes. He defends other wings. He’s a one-man fastbreak. He’s a passable spot-up shooter. He’s very good playmaker and passer. He’s relatively affordable, at $12-million a year, which is pretty good value for a Tier 1A wing player in the NBA.

But you know all this.

Still, I’ve been thinking about Iguodala as I’ve [been] watching Mickael Pietrus with the Orlando Magic.

———-

In contrast, what this corner sees is that the specific time-line … i.e. Chain Reaction … for the de-evolution of the Raptors looks like this:

* Fired Glen Grunwald, Apr 1, 2004
* Hired Rob Babcock, Jun 7, 2004
* Drafted Rafael Araujo [No. 8], Jun 24 2004
* Hired Sam Mitchell, Jun 29, 2004
* Traded Vince Carter, Dec 17, 2004 [for exactly what, in return?]
* Fired Babcock, Jan 26, 2006
* Hired Bryan Colangelo, Feb 28, 2006
* Drafted Andrea Bargnani [No. 1], Jun 28, 2006
* Traded Charlie Villanueva for TJ Ford, Jul 1, 2006
* Traded for Carlos Delfino, Jun 15, 2007
* Signed Jason Kapono, Jul 11, 2007
* Traded TJ Ford & Rasho Nesterovic & No. 17 Draft Pick for Jermaine O’Neal & No. 41 Draft Pick, Jun 26, 2008
* Signed Hassan Adams, Jul 8, 2008
* Signed Roko Ukic, Jul 16, 2008
* Signed Will Solomon, Jul 28, 2008
* Bought out Jorge Garbajosa, Aug 10, 2008
* Fired Mitchell, Dec 3, 2008

33-49/.402, 14th place in the Eastern Conference

———-

April 1, 2004 [and, then, Dec 17] will live-on, in infamy … as a sort of very real, cruel JOKE … in the history of this franchise, purpetrated by Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment [MLSE, i.e. Richard Peddie & Larry Tanenbaum]. 

The Raptors’ team that beat the Bobcats last night … Box Score … was indicative of the roster Toronto SHOULD have been playing with from the opening tip this season … minus, of course:

* Rasho Nesterovic
* Rodney Carney
* Royal Ivey
* Jorge Garbajosa
* Carlos Delfino [depending on his interest in returning]
* the 2008 No. 17 [overall] Draft Pick [e.g. Roy Hibbert, CDR, Joey Dorsey, Luc Richard Mbah A Moute]

That line-up … right there … is a top 6 contender in the Eastern Conference, with a legit shot at winning a 1st Round Playoff series this spring and enough flexibility moving forward to become a perennial contender for a spot in the NBA’s FINAL FOUR annually for the balance of Chris Bosh’s career.

That’s the type of line-up a TOP NOTCH President/General Manager would/could/should have been able to put together heading into this season on behalf of the Toronto Raptors given the list of assets which this organization had at its disposal the day before the 2008 NBA Draft.

When this speaker talks of Opportunities Lost, on behalf of this organization, over the years … i.e. since the transfer of ownership from Mr. Steve Stavro to MLSE and the subsequent dismissal of Lenny Wilkens & then Glen Grunwald … this is the type of situation that is being referenced.

* THE problem with the current Raptors
* Of scorpions, frogs, GMs & coaches
* Staying the course in Raptorville
* More Smoke & Mirrors
* 20/20 Vision of the Toronto Raptors
* The next step for the Toronto Raptors
* Understanding Bryan Colangelo’s method of operation [good & bad]
* Toronto Raptors Player Roster 2008-2009

OH, WHAT COULD HAVE BEEN, IF THE PEOPLE RESPONSIBLE FOR RUNNING THINGS AT MLSE HAD JUST KNOWN WHAT THEY WERE DOING IN TERMS OF BUILDING A CHAMPIONSHIP CALIBRE PROFESSIONAL BASKETBALL FRANCHISE.

It’s enough to make a knowledgeable NBA observer sick to his/her stomuch.