Meet and Greet with Bryan Colangelo, Full Report for RaptorBlog Options

[mark]

I attended a Meet and Greet with Bryan Colangelo for season ticket holders before yesterday's game. He spoke for awhile, then took some Swirsky-filtered questions, then pressed palms in the crowd and took individual questions. I lurked, queried, and noted, and now report back to the raptorblog masses:

1. The Draft. BC was asked about who he likes in the tournament so far. His first 4 mentions: Tyrus Thomas, Glen Big Baby Davis ("if he proves he can stay in shape"), LaMarcus Aldridge, Adam Morrison (a bit of a rave, sorry to alarm you scott. talked about seeing him at the maui invitational, where AM "went for 48"). He later went on at some length about Denham Brown, how he thinks he was the glue on UConn's team, and though he wouldn't be a 1st round pick, he could be available for one of our 2nds.

2. International Players. He spoke at some length about making international players a priority for this franchise, because, get this, "when they look down at a twenty dollar bill and it doesn't look like an american twenty dollar bill, it won't bother them, because they are used to different-looking currency..." Hm.
Speaking of international players...

3. Uros Slokar and Roko-Leni Ukic: BC said that everything he's heard about Slokar's ongoing development is that he's going to be a player who can help us here. As we've heard before, he was considered the best player on our summer league team last year.

As for Ukic, he said that he's been high on Ukic since the draft workouts 2 years ago, when he "gave Devin Harris fits with his length". Said he's not the best defender, but that his length makes him an interesting player. He announced that he is working right now on getting him out of his contract with Tau Ceramica "sooner than expected". That being over there is not helping his development, and getting him here soon will be the best thing for him. It's been a frustrating season for Ukic with injuries, and also his personal disappointment at not being drafted in the 1st, despite assurances from several teams. Reading between the lines, we can expect to see Ukic here next season, which is news to me of the good variety.

4. A Bryan Colangelo Player, particularly when asked what he looks for in a point guard: "I like playmaking players, whether they are a 1 or a 5... I look for guys who can dribble, pass, and shoot, which is kind of a lost art these days... I like athletic players, versatile players..." Oh, and also a Babcock flashback, when he said he likes "character guys"

5. Are we getting a traditional centre? "There are not really any traditional centres in the draft, and there are really only one or two in the league. Guys like Amare Stoudamire and Chris Bosh are changing the position." He went on to talk again about the importance of athleticism and versatility, and that he thinks CB and CV both have this, and bring a lot to the table as a 4/5 and a 3/4 respectively.
Reading between the lines, I think we're more likely to see a Boris Diaw-type centre than waste time with a big stiff.

6. What about needing a defensive presence inside? "Last year in Phoenix, we recognized the need for that, and went and got a veteran in Kurt Thomas who can hurt you from mid-range." He mentioned many times the importance of bringing in veterans to this team. He said our pick could be leveraged for this.

7. What about bringing in Jamaal Magloire? - No comment.

8. The Mike James question. Obviously BC didn't say what he was planning to do, but a number of things he said makes me believe that James won't be back, at least not as our starting PG. First was his repeated emphasis on playmaking players, and he also said he likes a pass-first point guard. Later in the night in front of only a few of us, he said that he sees James as a combo guard rather than a PG. He also said that there's no way he'd be paying insurance so James can ride motorcycles and jump out of planes.
So.. before last night, I felt that we'd likely bring James back. Now I have doubts. At minimum, he's not BC's ideal future point guard.

9. Alvin Williams and the old regime. In talking about whether to re-sign Mike James, he brought up Alvin Williams' contract, and said that the past GM maybe had offered that kind of contract to Alvin to keep us, the fans, happy. He said that those times are gone, and he will be conscious of not allowing fan feelings to influence his decisions about who to keep.

10. Steve Nash. "The best player in the NBA, and probably the best player in the world."

11. Matt Bonner. BC looked at bringing Bonner into Phoenix last year. The sense he got from Matt's agent was that Matt wanted to stay in Toronto, so he let it go. Hang on now, is Bonner a Colangelo-type player? Versatile, nope. Athletic, nope. Dribble, nope. Pass, nope. Shoot, check. Hm...

12. Bench. Getting a versatile bench where 10 players can play a night is a priority. No big news there.

13. Lucky 13, Sam Mitchell's future with the Raptors. Despite asking every inch from sideways about his lack of X's and O's experience, our closing-game fall-aparts, BC said nothing but positive things about Mitchell. He went on about how hard it is to get young guys to work hard every night, and that Sam has done an amazing job motivating them. When pressed about late games, he said it came down to inexperience. Which is interesting because he didn't say is that it comes down to inexperienced players, just "inexperience". So one conclusion is that he considers Sam an inexperienced coach as well, and thus some of the late-game problems.
My read-between-the-lines prediction, Sam is safe for one more season.

14. BC himself. Impressive. Good guy, smart guy. Likes to talk. Tendency to wear Don Cherry collars continues. Made time for some random guy with white powder on his lips and a motivational book tucked under his arm. (This was not me.) My favourite non-raptor-intelligence moment of the night was when when some guy reached into the scrum to ask BC to autograph a ticket, and passed him a pen too. The pen was black felt tip, and in passing it, it drew a small line on Bryan's hand. His reaction was hilarious. He stopped talking and stared at the mark on his hand, then stared daggers at the guy who had passed the pen, then stared back at the mark. Then happy Bryan returned, and he continued answering a salary cap question. When BC passed back the autographed ticket and pen, Bryan said thank you to the guy, then watched him walked away out of the corner of his eye. He then stared back at the mark on his hand, and -- clearly very aggravated -- started conscientiously rubbing at it while answering another question. This tiny glimpse of the evil obsessive hand-washing Bryan somehow made me very happy. With Bryan, we're in good hands. Really clean good hands.

[PBI]

Wow! Welcome to the board mark!

Thanks for your in-depth recap of last night's gathering for the season ticket holders. It's also nice to see that Mike James won't be back with the Raptors!

[Farmer]

Welcome, and nice first post.

Pretty much toeing the line, but it's nice to give us hope that MJ will be leaving.

[sim_city87]

Thanks for the hookup

[libra]

This was outstanding. Thanks. Did he say anything about the reporting or decision making structure, his autonomy or the role of Wayne Embry?

[vincecarter15]

Outstanding job Mark! Your my new friend on this site already lol

Anyway, it seems like Ukic will be here next year. And Mike James will be gone. yay!! ALthough who will play the 5 is quite confusing. Aldridge??

[picniclightning]

Great first post, Mark! Well done!

And the only thing that jumps out at me in that whole spiel is the list of players Colangelo gave, because I think he absolutely was trying to set smokescreens with that list of players. Glen Davis?

[pennington]

Anyway, it seems like Ukic will be here next year.
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Ukic is under contract next year with his European team so I don't think the Raps will spend a ton of money on a buyout when he's probably not ready for the NBA yet anyway.

[hoffamazing]

Hell of a first post!!

Glad to finally get some solid insight into Colangelo's state of mind on the team.

Whatever your point of view on him might have been, at the end of the Babcock regime, we had a good handle on what we thought he thought he was trying to do.

[Captain Haddock]

Welcome! Awesome-tastic first post!

[bfkeats]

I'm excited about seeing Ukic in person...big-time smoke screens...we need more season ticket holders around here for the inside info. Nice post.

[Swirsk_Is_Back]

Welcome Mark. Its nice to see your 1st post isn't ripping PBI.

Anyways, thanks for the recap. Thank god we finally have a gm who knows what he is doing. I am sure if Babcock was still here, he'd resign James to a crazy contract (i.e. Rafer Alston).

Can't wait till the off-season...I'm ready to see what BC is made of.

[pennington]

As far as season-ticket holders go...

Mark>Efman

[bfkeats]

As far as season-ticket holders go...

Mark>Efman
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Yeah. Screw you Elfman.

[Scott]

Welcome, Mark. As everyone else said, fantastic first post.

Oh, and Efman? Ignore the haters. You're still my boy.

[llama]

1. The Draft. BC was asked about who he likes in the tournament so far. His first 4 mentions: Tyrus Thomas, Glen Big Baby Davis ("if he proves he can stay in shape"), LaMarcus Aldridge, Adam Morrison (a bit of a rave, sorry to alarm you scott. talked about seeing him at the maui invitational, where AM "went for 48"). He later went on at some length about Denham Brown, how he thinks he was the glue on UConn's team, and though he wouldn't be a 1st round pick, he could be available for one of our 2nds.

Freaking amazing. Those are the types of players we need. No mention of Gay? Interesting... And Denham Brown in the second round? Just freaking fantastic! Love it! If we pick up a big in the first, and Denham with our first second rounder, it would work out PERFECTLY. After that, all we need is a PG and we're set!

3. Uros Slokar and Roko-Leni Ukic: BC said that everything he's heard about Slokar's ongoing development is that he's going to be a player who can help us here. As we've heard before, he was considered the best player on our summer league team last year.

As for Ukic, he said that he's been high on Ukic since the draft workouts 2 years ago, when he "gave Devin Harris fits with his length". Said he's not the best defender, but that his length makes him an interesting player. He announced that he is working right now on getting him out of his contract with Tau Ceramica "sooner than expected". That being over there is not helping his development, and getting him here soon will be the best thing for him. It's been a frustrating season for Ukic with injuries, and also his personal disappointment at not being drafted in the 1st, despite assurances from several teams. Reading between the lines, we can expect to see Ukic here next season, which is news to me of the good variety.

Awesome, I knew Ukic and Slokar were interesting... let's see what they can do now!

9. Alvin Williams and the old regime. In talking about whether to re-sign Mike James, he brought up Alvin Williams' contract, and said that the past GM maybe had offered that kind of contract to Alvin to keep us, the fans, happy. He said that those times are gone, and he will be conscious of not allowing fan feelings to influence his decisions about who to keep.

FINALLY. Someone in management that understands the value of MONEY over so called "HEART". Dump Alvin's pathetic self and have him move on instead of leeching from the franchise like he's been doing for a number of seasons. I'm loving BC's ideas so far!

[Grizz]

I think this is about all you can ask for out of a GM. Of course he's gong to throw out some cliches and tote the company line but he said some things that impressed me.

And I'm actually kind of dissapointed he didn't rip PBI with his first post, that was starting to get fun.

[yoyoma]

If the Raps lose Mike James for nothing, they're screwed. As much as people hate on him for not being a true PG your missing what he is, and that's a competitor. As much as you hate Mike now, the prospects of Jose Calderon as a full time starting PG are even less attractive. Mike has what no one else on that team seems to posses and that's balls. Chris Bosh doesn't have them, Charlie doesn't, Sam Mitchell doesn't, Mo Pete does thru 3 quarters. Critize Mike all you want right out the door, but when he comes back to Toronto next year and puts 30, 8 and 8 on them in a win like he did against Houston, and Toronto struggles to win 30 games again you'll miss him. There are people on this board posting they hope Mike James blows out his knee, wow, that's incredible...I guess people with nothing in their lives all need a cause to hate. I guess in the end it's better to have a horrible team to have more issues to talk about then have a winner and have the only bad thing in your lives be you actually sad existances themselves....reality hurts huh?

[Dre]

Nice recap Mark, welcome.

As for Mike James, "Can you smeeeeeeeeeeeeeeell, what BC, is cookin'?"

[pennington]

If the Raps lose Mike James for nothing, they're screwed.  As much as people hate on him for not being a true PG your missing what he is, and that's a competitor.  As much as you hate Mike now, the prospects of Jose Calderon as a full time starting PG are even less attractive.  Mike has what no one else on that team seems to posses and that's balls. 
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I'd take brains over balls any day, especially for a point guard. And I just don't think that Mike James has the brains needed considering he, as the point guard, gets the ball in his hands every play. He just doesn't know how to run a basketball team.