Can Brian Colangelo Build a Winner in Toronto? 5 Offseason Questions

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This year’s draft many scouts and GM’s are calling a crap-shoot with more losers than winners. While under a microscope it would appear (as it does every year) that the top 15 projected picks should be great players if they are placed in the right situation. I’ve already examined who the Raptors logically should take in the draft. However I will state again that DeMar DeRozan appears to be the pick for this team. Simply put that his potential like most wing players seems to be limitless. However we also must consider that most NBA players DO NOT reach their potential so it is difficult to project what DeRozan will become, and can he be that ‘athletic slasher-type that can create his own shot’ this team desperately needs. In another scenario I had examined trading down in order to stockpile assets. If we have an opportunity to acquire a player that can be a contributor or a 6th man type (in the Josh Childress, Ben Gordon mold) by trading our pick and moving down in the draft AND allowing us to pick someone that fills a position of need (Gerald Henderson, Earl Clark). I believe we’d be maximizing one of the few assets we currently have (which is the draft pick).

5. Is Brian Colangelo the right person to lead this team?

I find that because of Colangelo’s success in Phoenix you do not hear a lot rumblings in Toronto calling for his firing or replacement. Part of that is because of past success and the other part I believe centers around the league-wide regard for him, and his evaluation of talent. I would like to state that Colangelo has caught some lucky breaks from other teams (The Nets for making the Kidd trade which lead to Nash eventually coming back to Phoenix, Dallas for thinking Nash was washed up, the 8 other teams that passed on Amar’e Stoudemire, the Knicks for trading that pick to Phoenix in the Marbury deal just to name a couple) and he hasn’t had the opportunity or the same luck that he had down there. Toronto is a true test of Colangelo’s abilities to build a winner. I am a firm believer that each GM should have at least one summer where 'bad contracts' come off the cap and see what they do with it before writing them off (sometimes this is possible other times it's not). I am very willing to stick with Colangelo until his contract is up and then re-evaluate at that point. In this current NBA contenders have seemingly been made on Draft night (Boston, San Antonio) so let’s give Colangelo a couple more drafts to get the Raptors to that status.

With little cap space, a unhappy star in Bosh, a depressing economy shrinking the salary cap by the day, and a plethora of their own free agents, the problems in Toronto seem enormous and plentiful even for Colangelo. However as I’ve said previously I would like to see Colangelo complete his contract here before passing judgment. He had 11 years in Phoenix before leaving and it takes more than 2 years to build a contender especially when cleaning up the messes left by the previous regime. While my blind faith in him as subsided, I am convinced that the Raptors can’t possibly get any worse can they?  

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