As the Raptors went 2-8 to start the previous season, Colangelo sat down with Mitchell and forced his hand to play Bargnani more. He stated that if the Raptors lost games while Bargnani wasted away on the bench, then they were "losing twice". For the next fifty games, Andrea was arguably the best rookie of his class, and the Raptors had one of the top six records in the league. In fact, following the New Year in the 2006-2007 season, the Raptors had the forth best record in the league, and the best in the Eastern Conference. It was a remarkable turn of events from the 2-8 start they got off to.
Sadly for the Raptors and Bargnani, this time when Colangelo intervened, Andrea's season was already lost. Battling with a plethora of infections, slowed down by breathing problems due to adenoids, and feeling drained by antibiotics, Bargnani was just tired. It certainly didn't help that Mitchell didn't talk to his young big man for nearly three weeks towards the middle of the season as some form of "tough love" treatment.
The worst part was, he didn't look like he cared. He didn't have a towel on his head, and he wasn't getting technical fouls. To the fans who had welcomed him as a savior the year before, he simply looked disinterested and lazy.
Furthermore, it seemed Andrea came off as an introvert. He seemed to distance himself from his teammates when he was doing badly, and very rarely did it seem that he had any relationship with them. He seemed just like a young Kobe Bryant, who also struggled early in his career because he simply didn't trust the players around him to help him.
The year before, Jorge Garbajosa and Pape Sow were two of Andrea's closest friends on the team, and it certainly allowed him to vent or ask for advice when things wern't going his way. Last season, it didn't seem that way. "We didn't know him," one team official said. "We didn't know how to get the best out of him."
Yesterday, however, the Raptors media was introduced to another Andrea Bargnani. This one seemed a little more jovial, laid back, and he even added a joke for good measure.
What was more impressive was that his physique seemed completely altered.
Having followed Andrea for six years now, his body has gone through some significant changes. Unlike Bosh, his shoulders were never rounded and his base was never small, thus, the potential to bulk up was never a question. Last year,
he weighed in at a shade over 250 pounds—the majority of which was due to a strong base. This year, his upper body seems to be defined, and this will no doubt help him finish at the basket with a little more authority at his current weight of 262 pounds.
After last season, Bryan Colangelo re-stated his position on Andrea, claiming he was still one of Bargnani's "biggest fans". Those are telling words coming from the man who drafted the likes of Steve Nash, Amare Stoudemire, Shawn Marion, and Michael Finley.
Colangelo always took pride in taking Marion because everyone else wanted Maggette. He always seemed to want to do the unconventional thing in Phoenix. But for Colangelo, Andrea Bargnani is something completely different.
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