I figured I’d write an article talking about what Dwane Casey did for the team this year, but this guy already did a decent enough job so I defer.
Colangelo was on the radio talking about picking up Casey’s option and how he’s exceeded expectations. Apparently he made the decision to pick up the option a while ago and figured to hold off on letting Casey know, because the latter was so focused in those crucial games down the stretch. He even tried telling Casey but it didn’t go well:
BC: Dwane, your option has been picked up, congratulations!
Casey: Hang on Bryan, just designing a 1-3-1 zone-defense to stop Jason Maxiell here.
BC: I said I picked up your option!!
Casey: Can’t talk. Hey, what do you think about doubling Jonas Jerebko early in the shot-clock?
BC: Dude, Your option! I picked it up!
Casey: Hmm…maybe I’ll switch Alabi to Vernon Macklin when Walker Russell runs the pick ‘n roll. Thoughts?
BC: F**k it, I’ll talk to you later.
Colangelo goes on to say how there wasn’t a trade out there that was attractive, even though there were several options including a couple calls for Linas Kleiza. As a side, to me, any trade where Kleiza is heading out is attractive. The three position is an open question, both to him and the fans, as nobody emerged to be seriously considered as a contender. He’s not going to outright say it, but him hinting that he’s always thinking about the point guard spot tell you that he’s convinced that it’s a position that requires some serious contemplation. Looking into my crystal ball and considering Colangelo’s free-agent tendencies and the point guard free-agents, I see Goran Dragic in a Raptors uni.
After the white Stevie Wonder forgot what trades the Raptors had made, or whether Leandro Barbosa was a free-agent or not, I’m surprised Colangelo even stuck around for this interview. He did though, and towards the end he was posed the question of how you get NBA players to play in Canada. After all, there’s no running water here and everyone lives in igloos so it’s got to be a tough sell-job. Colangelo says – and he’s bang-on here – that there’s ways around the taxes and it’s not even close to the situation it used to be in the days of Kenny Anderson. What’s interesting is that this was the first time he conceded that you have to overpay to get players to Toronto. Again, nothing we didn’t already know and it makes total sense – it just felt refreshing to have articulated in words what we’ve seen with Kapono, Hedo, etc. When he says that “money supercedes most concerns” and what he calls “above market deal” is what we refer to as overpaying, and it’s part of the game when you’re a GM in Toronto.
The talk of bringing Leandro Barbosa back has to be a joke, so no comment there. Honestly though, given the massive amount of cap space we have, the TPE at our disposal, Colangelo has all the flexibility he needs to make a deal – he doesn’t need a Steve Fruitman-concocted plan to sign dross like Hedo, he’s got the power to execute. The one question that hasn’t been explicitly put to him is whether he intends next year to be similar to this one in terms of suckage/rebuilding, or whether he plans to make a splash in the market that speeds up the job. My thinking is it’s the former.
Blake’s got a draft thingy where you get to participate and stuff.
