Helped by the NBA lockout, this has been an extremely slow summer. Usually around this time we get to see summer league ball and debate whether the 35 point games scrubs are dropping can be translated to the NBA level, or if that second-round pick was a steal or not. Things like those, basically fodder for not having any real basketball to talk about. The U19 tournament helped (a little), but frankly I couldn’t get into it, I saw a couple games and was less excited about it than I am with summer league. JonasVal was a pleasant surprise and I’m glad he’s already shed the undeserved parallels that were drawn on draft day.
The other ‘big’ news has been Bryan Colangelo deciding on giving up the GM portion of his duties to someone else, hopefully someone more capable than him. I welcome the change for the sake of change, and I think it’ll enthuse the fans as well because it indicates management attempting to correct itself. With the exception of the relatively bright spot of DeMar DeRozan, the franchise has been in more or less of a rut, and a change at the top will at least portray the image that the team is changing direction, and in this case change can only be good. Unless of course, Colangelo is installing a figurehead. That’s what I got from reading this article:
That wouldn’t mean the new addition would have final say though. While a fan of a consensus, brainstorming approach, Colangelo has always been an executive who gets the final word and that would not change.
I hope that that is not the case. You’re heard of a lame-duck coach, this could be an example of a lame-duck GM. In every franchise from every sport, the ownership has to usually sign-off on any matters involving personnel and/or money, in the Raptors’ case that would be the board. Giving Colangelo veto power before it even gets to the board adds another layer of complication to the wheelings and dealings the team must do. This stipulation might not deter would-be GMs from considering the Raptors job, but that’s only because there are only 30 of these gigs available. I mean, you don’t find a “NBA General Manager” posting on Monster.
Whether it be Dennis Lindsey, Jeff Bower, or Ed Stefanski, the choice of GM has to align with the choice of coach. Dwane Casey lost the job to Eddie Jordan when Stefanski was doing the hiring on Philadelphia two years ago, so I’m not sure how that might work here. Lindsey has already turned down the GM jobs offered in Phoenix and Minnesota, so I don’t think he’ll accept being basically a Vice-GM in Toronto. And Stefanksi hasn’t talked to the Raptor yet.
