According to Dave Feschuk of the Toronto Star (http://www.thestar.com/sports/basketball/nba/raptors/article/992812--feschuk-gm-colangelo-agrees-to-multi-year-extension-with-raptors?bn=1 ) Bryan Colangelo, two time NBA Executive of the year and current President and General Manager of the Toronto Raptors has confirmed that he agreed to a multi year extension with the Toronto Raptors.
The complete details of the contract are yet to be announced but it is reportedly expected to be a two year deal with a team option for a third year which will be heavily influenced by the performance of the team in the first two year’s.
In an attempt to decipher whether this was a good or a bad move for the Raptors, I will look at the short and long-term impact of the Colangelo signing.
Short Term: Good signing…
In the short term, with the upcoming NBA draft I think this is certainly a good signing for the Raptors, especially if they do not end up with the first or second overall pick in tonight’s lottery.
Now that Colangelo has a fresh new extension, he is guaranteed to be the man in charge come draft day. When we look at Colangelo’s recent draft success (Ed Davis, DeMar DeRozan and Andrea Bargnani who no matter how much I knock him now was still a good pick at the time considering the lack of talent in that draft) he is certainly the man I want in charge.
This is especially true when you consider how important this year’s draft will be for the Raptors rebuilding efforts.
Long Term… Looks to be a good signing but we will have to wait and see
After losing Chris Bosh in free agency last summer it was clear that the Raptors would have to enter a legit rebuilding stage if they wanted to achieve any success in the future. I am convinced that Bryan Colangelo is committed to this rebuilding process and I think he is the best man for the job.
Since losing Bosh to free agency Bryan Colangelo has made four big moves that prove he is committed to the rebuild…
1. Signing Amir Johnson long term: Though Amir will never be an NBA All-Star he is certainly a great young prospect at power forward with a well-rounded game. Amir is worth every dollar.
2. He successfully got himself out of his mistake signing of the underachieving Hedo Turkoglu and his four-year $10 million plus contract. In doing so, he also brought in former sixth man of the year Leandro Barbosa.
3. He traded for Jerryd Bayless, a former 11th overall pick who is yet to reach his full potential and has a bright future ahead of him (more so as a shooting guard, not as a point guard).
4. He traded for James Johnson, an athletic small forward, great defender and a former 16th overall pick who was buried in the Chicago Bulls depth chart and was not given the opportunity to show what he can do.
As mentioned, these moves demonstrate Colangelo’s commitment to acquiring young prospects and freeing up cap space. If he can continue to make these types of deals and successfully lock up the core members of the team for long term (i.e: DeMar DeRozan, Ed Davis etc…) then he should have no trouble getting the Raptors out of this rebuilding stage and back into the playoffs.
Final Thoughts:
In his time with the Raptors thus far Colangelo has made his fair share of mistakes. On the other hand, he has also done many good things to help this franchise, which I would argue greatly outweigh his shortcomings.
That being said, if Colangelo is to get this Raptors team through this rebuild and lead them back to the playoffs he must do these same things and more.
For the estimated two to three years of his extension, Bryan Colangelo will have to focus on three things in order to…
a) Keep his job and
b) Get the Raptors in to contention for an NBA title.
Here is what he will need to do…
- Draft well and continue to build through the draft
- Continue to free up cap space in order to ensure that the Raptors are a big player in free agency.
- Lock up the core players long term (DeMar DeRozan and Ed Davis) and do everything possible to keep the team exciting and maintain fan support despite the necessary losing records that are characteristic of a rebuilding team.
Don’t forget to tune in to tonight’s NBA Draft Lottery! Good luck Raptors!
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