Chad Ford Mock Draft 4.0: Raptors select Jan Vesely

[RaptorDan]

Home crowd going crazy for Vesely lol

awesome. Here that crowd?! So exciting. It would be amazing to be there and watch that game. This was a big game and Vesely came through big time.

I would love for a Raptor crowd to be so enthusiastic, but then I remember that as soon as the crowd starts getting into a game, the loud music/sound effects start to blare and all the energy gets sucked out of the room.

Excellent clip.

[RaptorDan]

oh, and by the way, I agree with everything Tim just said in regards to Triano. Its hard to judge a coach by the 1% of stuff you get to watch on TV. It would be interesting if RaptorsTV gave us access to more behinds the scenes kind of stuff, and even then we wouldn't know 98% of what goes on.

[MyMomLovesMe]

I think judging an NBA coach is like judging an iceberg by what you see above the water. Most of what NBA coaches do we simply never see. All we see is how the players responded to it and most of the times, that says more about the player than it does about the coach. Sure, there are those few coaches who can get more out of players, but those are the exception. Each coach has his strengths and weaknesses. How he performs depends a whole lot on whether he's got the right type of player around him and the right type of assistant coaches. Would Phil Jackson been nearly as successful without Tex Winter? Or Michael Jordan/Shaq/Kobe? Would Greg Popovich been as successful without RC Buford surrounding him with exactly the type of players he needed to succeed?

One of the hardest things about coaching is that EVERYONE has an opinion on how your doing. Unfortunately 99.999999999% of the people watching simply don't understand enough to form a valid opinion. I certainly didn't agree with a lot of what Triano did, but it doesn't mean it was wrong. Most of what he did I had no idea the reasoning behind it, so it's hard to judge. And most fans are incredibly short sighted.

For example, he got a lot of flack for playing Calderon and Jack together a lot the season Turkoglu was on the team. Most felt it obviously wasn't working, so why continue to do it? Well, My feeling is that he wasn't thinking it would help immediately but in the long run. If he could get Jack and Calderon to play together well, it would help down the road, especially in the playoffs. Those two were the best guards on the team and having two guys who could run the offense would have been incredibly dangerous.

As for how they dealt with the media, I couldn't care less. I've found one of the least interesting things in basketball to be interview with coaches, players and GMs. 99% of the time it means absolutely nothing.

You say Mitchell protected his players and that Triano hung them out to dry. I do find it interesting because until the last six months, one of the main criticisms I heard about Triano is that he would never criticize his players publicly.

As for no shaking Bosh's hand, I really don't have much of an opinion. It seemed petty, but neither one of us knows what went on in private, so it's hard to say whether either of us would have done the same. Again, it's hard to judge without understanding the whole story, which we probably won't ever do.

I understand your point. However, we use these standards for all coaches, at least our fans do. So Jay is not being judged by some unfair criteria that other coaches haven't had to face.

All we have is soundbites from players, an article here and there, and performance of the roster and the health of the locker room.

I never judged Sam from his haste with the Media. Too be honest, was hoping that he would put a few of them in a headlock.


I think your Jack and Calderon point is a very good one. Shows me you are investing some thought in to this discussion. At the same time, regardless what the intentions are, in pro sports we sink or swim by the results. Sometimes, the keep it simple stupid stuff works surprisingly well. Like Sam's give it to the bull play. If it was working, and it was, people are stupid to question it. Who cares about the simplicity?


Triano tried to get all complex, and go away from Bosh to make the team better. His reasoning may have been sound, but sometimes the broth does not need more spices. In this game players know who the go to guy is and its done over and over again till it is stopped. Regardless of simplicity.


I understand deep thought, but in the end, the chance is taken by the coach and he must pay the price in terms of results. Do NBA players need classes, maybe, but I happen to think that the game is the way it is for a reason. I am sure it has been tried before, but somewhere someone down the line said "this is bullshit" lets save our energy for the game, and that was that. All these great ideas of Triano's to re-invent the way things were done... were well, egotistical and lacked proper perspective of the NBA, IMO.

[Tim W.]

I understand you point. However, we use these standards for all coaches, at least our fans do. So Jay is not being judged by some unfair criteria that other coaches haven't had to face.

All we have is soundbites from players, an article here and there, and performance of the roster and health of the locker room.

I never judged Sam from his haste with the Media. Too be honest, was hoping that he would put a few of them in a headlock.

Just because that's how most people judge coaches, doesn't make it valid. It's why, despite me being "somewhat" opinionated, you'll rarely hear me criticize coaches. I just don't feel comfortable doing it with such little information.

[MyMomLovesMe]

Added to my reply through edit, please read it all. (mean that kindly, not argumentatively)

[Tim W.]

I agree that in the end, the results are what matters, and I'm not arguing that Triano did a good job. I just think that he did an okay job with the tools he was given. Plus, his inexperience probably cost him a few wins, but it's hard to blame him for that.