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OT: The Official Toronto Raptors Thread

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Raptors must decide on Colangelo now

At long last, it appears the fate of Bryan Colangelo will be resolved.

There are those who believe a decision will be made official by as early Monday.

Unofficially, Colangelo’s option year is expected to be picked up, a route many in basketball circles had anticipated in the days leading up to the Raptors’ season finale.

In the absence of an official announcement, there’s been no shortage of speculation surrounding Colangelo and the path new top dog Tim Leiweke wants to take a basketball franchise that has missed the post-season for five straight springs, a first for a team that has only advanced beyond the first round only once in its existence.

Leiweke’s ties in Los Angeles with Phil Jackson raised the spectre of the Zen Master surfacing in Toronto, a connection that keeps getting revisited each time Jackson’s name gets mentioned with any opening around the NBA.

Whether it’s New Jersey, where ex-Raptors assistant P.J. Carlesimo was told his services were no longer required, whether it was in Detroit, where the Pistons turned to Jackson as a consultant to address the team’s coaching vacancy.

On the weekend, Jackson’s name was being linked with Seattle.

Cache aside, it’s hard to glean what exactly Jackson would bring to the Raptors in this rumoured scenario that would see Jackson serve as president.

What the Raptors franchise needs is clarity in the executive suites and results on the hardwood, not exactly the hallmarks that have characterized the club in recent years.

With the NBA’s pre-draft camp set to open in Chicago on Wednesday, the process of connecting the dots is in full swing.

Bell CEO George Cope, who is said to be on Colangelo’s side, was knee deep into CRTC hearings involving the Astral-Bell merger deal.

Leiweke is only beginning to understand the landscape he inherited, but this big-thinking executive must realize no name, regardless of stature, can turn the Raptors overnight.

It’s why the decision to give Colangelo one more year seems so logical that it’s laughable why nothing has been done.

In Boston, Celtics president Danny Ainge told reporters the Raptors had sought permission to speak with assistant Tyronn Lue, who has been out of the NBA long enough to distance himself from players, but at the same time maintain a pulse on today’s modern player.

One of the many issues surrounding the Raptors last season was communication.

Many felt there was a disconnect between the coaching staff and the players, an issue that led to dysfunction.

Lue played the point, a position that was handed over to Kyle Lowry once Jose Calderon was dealt in the three-team deal that landed Rudy Gay.

Colangelo made it abundantly clear in his media availability following the Raptors’ season that Dwane Casey would be back, assuming Colangelo would be back.

All along, it seems there was an understanding that changes to Casey’s staff would be initiated.

What remains to be seen is what becomes of Johnny Davis, who first became Casey’s assistant when Casey got his first head coaching gig in Minnesota.

Changes were inevitable in Raptorland and there’s a growing sense that some concrete news will become official this week.

The Raptors closed out their season on April 17.

A week later, Leiweke came to town with visions of greatness for every MLSE property.

But Leiweke must realize there are so many misconceptions and legitimate issues of running an NBA franchise in Canada that any wasted day serves no purpose.

The annual gathering in Chicago brings together every team executive.

Draft-eligible candidates get tested and are interviewed, but it’s also an occasion for the seeds of trades to get planted.

Andrea Bargnani’s name is certain to get floated, despite his declining stock.

It would be prudent if Colangelo and his team were the ones gauging whatever interest may exist or exploring all options in moving the Raptors forward.

Colangelo is very much like Leiweke in that he thinks big and is extremely competitive.

But he first must be given a mandate, even if it is for one more year
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http://www.torontosun.com/2013/05/11/raptors-must-decide-on-colangelo-now
 
Colangelo has been waiting for nearly a week to learn if he was convincing enough in his presentation to MLSE ownership and incoming president and CEO Tim Leiweke to at least have the option year on his contract picked up.

That timeline may not suit Colangelo and there is some suggestion that he may take action preemptively and offer his resignation in the coming days. “It wouldn’t shock me that if at the end of the day, if I’m not going to give him a vote of confidence, he moves on,” said Leiweke.

According to sources Colangelo may be growing frustrated waiting for a decision to be me made, with the longer it drags on serving as evidence to him that he is not Leiweke’s first choice to run the basketball operations going forward.

On the other sources close to the MLSE familiar with Leiweke’s thinking say he’s also tapping into his NBA contacts to determine if there might be a preferred choice to give the franchise over to for a complete makeover.

It’s also unlikely that Leiweke would consider an interim management team headed by Colangelo’s right-hand man Ed Stefanski, for example.
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http://www.sportsnet.ca/basketball/nba/grange-on-raptors-colangelo-decision-coming/

Good. GTFO Colangelo.
 
Memphis is a good team, but they're extremely luck to have faced a Clippers team with an injured Griffin in the 1st round and then a OKC team with an injured Westbrook in the 2nd round.
 
What are the Raptors TV numbers this year?

Very interesting conversation on Prime Time Sports about the Raptors.

John Shannon was saying he has more twitter followers than what the Raptors got on TV some games this year.
 
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MapleLeafBlueJayBoy said:
What are the Raptors TV numbers this year?

Very interesting conversation on Prime Time Sports about the Raptors.

John Shannon was saying he has more twitter followers than what the Raptors got on TV some games this year.
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Depends on how important you think ratings from SN1 & TSN2 are. John Shannon is full of shit. A bad ratings game for the Raptors is about 85K...
 
MindzEye said:
Depends on how important you think ratings from SN1 & TSN2 are. John Shannon is full of shit. A bad ratings game for the Raptors is about 85K...
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they will always be the little brother for MLSE but I don't know anyone out here who likes or follows them despite their claim to be Canada's team. Then again, I don't know many who follow NBA either.
 
TheCountofMonteCristo said:
they will always be the little brother for MLSE but I don't know anyone out here who likes or follows them despite their claim to be Canada's team. Then again, I don't know many who follow NBA either.
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There is a solid base of hardcore fans who will fill 75% of the arena and watch every game...whether the team is good or bad. Whenever the team is even just "meh" though...like a .500 team that has a legit shot at making the playoffs, the bandwagon fills up in a hurry. During the Vince years, the Raptors were becoming an incredibly hot ticket in Toronto. Toronto isn't a premium basketball market with a massive die hard following...because frankly the organization has done nothing in the last 17 years to earn that. If they become a perennial playoff club with a bit of contendership sprinkled in there, the city will fall back in love again and they'll be able to grow the brand nationally again.

The club isn't going anywhere though, and basketball isn't dying in Toronto....everything I've seen suggests that basketball is becoming more popular in Canada and I expect that trend to continue when we have a legitimate international team representing us in a few years (Wiggins, Thompson, Joseph X2, Nicholson, Dalembert, Anthony gives us by far the most legitimate NBA talented rotation we've ever had as a nation...with Olynyk, Pangos, Bennett, Stauskus likely future NBA'ers in the pipeline)...couple that with a return to respectability by the Raptors and the popularity of the only Canadian team in the NBA would return to it's milenium levels pretty quickly.
 
Shannon was talking about how the Raptors game against Philly when Carter went to his graduation in the morning then flew back, that game drew 1 million people in Canada. Shannon was in charge of HNIC at the time and said they were all worried at the time that if the Raptors win that game that the ratings were going to come close to matching the Stanley Cup final. There was potential there, a fan base that was ready to explode. Vince blew it, management blew it, ownership blew it. They had the makings of something then.

Your whole comments about attendance at the ACC are silly because that is entirely the corporate factor of MLSE. The Raptors will always have a solid home attendance. Always due to that fact. You know this ME.

The Raptors are an after thought, a fringe sport sport right now.

The main talk that Shannon was talking about was they need to get the Raptors more exposure, whether its totally added to The Score or whatever. They need more consistent exposure because its hard to find the games.
 
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MapleLeafBlueJayBoy said:
You realize the Jays draw around 700 K.
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You realize it's generally an irrelevant comparison, right? One team exists in a capped economic environment (that is about to get significantly more restrictive) and the other doesn't. Nevermind the fact that the Jays have been in Toronto for 35 years and won championships and all. Looking down your nose at the Raptors because of what the Jays draw is as silly as looking down your nose at the Jays because of what the Leafs draw. Regardless, your entire premise is ridiculous and wrong. The Raptors have a strong fanbase, are extremely stable financially, and aren't going anywhere.

and yes...the Jays draw 700K...this year, after a ton of pre season press and pomp. The Raptors draw 180-200K whenever they appear on RSN or TSN, after having been a bad joke of a franchise for a number of years.
 
Your whole comments about attendance at the ACC are silly because that is entirely the corporate factor of MLSE. The Raptors will always have a solid home attendance. Always due to that fact. You know this ME.
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When was the last time you actually witnessed a Raptors game at the ACC? It's not a corporate crowd...it's a significantly louder crowd than the Leaf crowds are ffs....you're talking clean out of your colon son.

The Raptors are an after thought, a fringe sport sport right now.
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Thank you for your insight from Sarnia. Care to pontificate about something else you don't have the faintest **** about?
 
The main talk that Shannon was talking about was they need to get the Raptors more exposure, whether its totally added to The Score or whatever. They need more consistent exposure because its hard to find the games.
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I agree with that to an extent. RSN and TSN are doing themselves (especially considering that they own the ****ing team now) no favours by hiding games on their RSN1 & TSN2 channels. The Raptors draw decent numbers on the main channels. Again of course, this is after years of being a punchline. When the raptors are good, they draw solid numbers and sell out the arena.
 
Hockey guys are always so sensitive regarding the Raptors. You can be fans of multiple sports.

The Raps are worth over 400+ Million, they are consistently in the top half of attendance and they turn a profit each year. All this despite sucking for about 80% of their existence. They aren't going anywhere. MLSE is building a sports empire and basketball is one of the most popular global sports.
 
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Yeah, Player and Mindz nailed it.

Even when they suck long and hard they're a viable franchise that fills their stadium, so imagine the potential if they're actually half decent for more than a season at a time.
 
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