Monday, April 27, 2009

The Rumor Mill

Despite the Raptors poor season, there is more buzz around them ever. What will Bryan Colangelo do this summer to shake up the team and get them back on track? The offseason itinerary for BC is no picnic. He will have to solve some serious coaching and personnel issues. Here's whats been making the headlines recently.

Headline 1: Toronto is expected to retain Jay Triano as head coach.
Bryan Colangelo told the Toronto Star, "I think it's safe to say, coming out of all of the player exit interviews, that to a man the players have a lot of respect for Jay, they respect his basketball acumen, they respect his professionalism, they respect his means of communication and they respect generally the way he leads this team." Backed up by Andrea Bargnani attributing his success to Triano, expect to see Jay around next year.

Headline 2: Bryan Colangelo will offer Chris Bosh a contract extension.

Chris Bosh is one of two 20 and 10 big men in the Association (the other being some guy named Dwight Howard), and is the franchise player for our beloved Raptors. Amongst season long rumors of Bosh leaving Toronto, BC looked to assure Raptor fans that CB4 is not going anywhere (for at least a year). "Chris is still the best player on this team and thus will remain the cornerstone of the franchise," Colangelo said Monday. "I will sit down and talk to him and his agent this summer about the possibility of signing an extension."

Headline 3: The Raptors have shown interest in Brandon Jennings.

Jennings, a projected top 10 pick in the upcoming draft, made the decision to forgo college and play a year in Europe before heading to the NBA. The lefty point guard averaged 7.6 points, 1.6 rebounds, 1.6 assists, and 1.2 steals in 19.6 minutes per game, in 16 games. He shot 38.7 percent from the field and 26.8% from 3 point range. Also, he has awesome hair.

Headline 4: The Raptors will look to sign and trade Shawn Marion.
The Raptors are interested in re-signing forward Shawn Marion (Bryan Colangelo needs someone to sit with at dinner), but hope to sign-and-trade him if they can't retain him over the long-term.
At the end of the Raptors season, Marion made it semi-clear that he wanted to play for a contender. Perhaps BC will try to sign and swing Marion for a higher draft pick.

1 comment:

Mintz... said...

Are those Jenning's stats for the Euroleague??? Because those rookie numbers for the Euroleague are not impressive in the least.. something tells me he could've used a year or two in college...