Triano's Interim Tag Dropped

On Monday, interim head coach Jay Triano was named the Raptors' full-time head coach. He was signed to a three-year contract, and in 2008-09 posted a 25-40 record, despite leading the Raptors to a 9-4 finish.

The Good and the Bad:

The Good:
- Jay is a respected basketball man. Every current Raptor - including GM Bryan Colangelo - has given him credit for dealing with a tough situation and earning the players' respect. He has been with the Raptors longer than any other coach in franchise history, and coached Team Canada to a 52-42 record from 1998-2004. His experience around the game will be very helpful, and should allow the Raps to be more cohesive, since he'll have the benefit of his own training camp.
- Andrea Bargnani, who before the 2008-09 season, was already hearing more than just whispers of "first-overall bust" was headed for more of the same in 2008. However, after Jay took over, so did Andrea. He brought his season averages up to very solid 15.4 points, 5.3 rebounds and 1.2 blocks per game. Beyond the numbers, Andrea looked confident on the floor, something we had very rarely seen from him since his rookie season. He shot 45% from the floor and over 40% from three, and on many occasions, he completely took over games. Bargnani himself has cited Triano as the reason he was able to break through. As long as Coach Triano can keep up Andrea's confidence, he has a great shot of having two (or three, if Jose Calderon can get in) All-Stars in Il Mago and Chris Bosh.
- Triano is very much a coach that can look unappealing to the casual fan. He does not command one side of the ball like Mike D'Antoni's run-and-gun offense or Tom Thibodeau's defensive fundamentals, he doesn't have the pedigree of Phil Jackson or Gregg Popovich, and he doesn't speak out to the media like Pat Riley. Triano is a "player's coach", much like the (fantastic) Toronto Blue Jays' Cito Gaston. He doesn't nitpick his players, rather opting to establish distinct roles for players and making sure they know what is expected from them. And - if this year's Jays are any indication - it just might work for the Dinos.
- Triano also had the unfortunate situation of having to join the team in the midst of in injury plague. Calderon was injured and the Jermaine O'Neal experiment had not yet been euthanized. When Calderon was healthy and O'Neal had been flipped into Shawn Marion, the Raptors reeled off six convincing wins in a row, even beating the Orlando Magic, who still had much to play for.

The Bad:
- Well, he simply hasn't won very much. He posted an unimpressive record while serving as the interim, and while one can certainly assert that it wasn't entirely his fault, his coaching statistics will not leave any teams shaking in their Nikes.
- At times, mostly in close and late situations which require delicate substitutions, he looked lost. Again, it can be argued that, having been shoved into a trial by fire, it wasn't entirely his fault. However, Triano definitely needs to work on in-game management to project confidence from the sidelines.