What Does Colangelo Do Next?

Get on the phone Bryan, you have an entire bench to fill!

Regardless of what has happened we can’t do anything now. Hedo Turkoglu, and his $56 million 5 year contract, will be coming to Toronto next season if you like it or not. The question now is where do we go from here. There are still a number of positions that need to be filled so here is the Raptors roster as it would be if the season started today:

PG: Jose Calderon, Roko Ukic, Marcus Banks

SG: DeMar DeRozan, Quincy Douby

SF: Hedo Turkoglu, Pops Mensah Bonsu

PF: Chris Bosh, Reggie Evans, Nathan Jawai

C: Andrea Bargnani, Patrick O’Bryant

I really hope that we buy out Marcus Banks and free up cap space to sign other, well… useful players. But for now we have a solid group of PG’s, especially given reports that Ukic has been improving in the offseason. If Banks is bought out however, I would love a Brevin Knight or Anthony Johnson signing. Both are talented vets who have been in the league for a while and players we might get at the vet minimum.

We recently drafted the future of our backcourt, high flying rookie DeMar DeRozan, but something chills me when I think about him starting the whole season. Quincy Douby, an All Star if votes were allocated based on players names, is is a mediocre backup in the NBA. I like Douby coming off the bench, playing 10 minutes a game, but I think the Raptors have to sign another veteran guard. My thoughts all along have been to sign a talented veteran who has underperformed in their career. Case in point, Rashad McCants. McCants was at one point thought to be the best player in the nation at UNC, but in his 4 NBA seasons he has been mediocre at best. McCants is a very selfish player, seen in his career 1.3 apg with 20 mins on the floor, but team play can be taught. Natural talent on the other hand can’t, and McCants has that in spades. There are times when McCants looks like an All Star, but that is usually followed up with long periods of time when he looks lazy and uninterested. Regardless, McCants can score, career 10 ppg average and a high of 14.9 in ‘07/’08, which is something the Raptors need. It’s unlikely Rashad will find many suitors this offseason and the Fanhouse listed him as one of their players under 30 fighting for their NBA lives. So it is very possible we can sign McCants at the vet minimum. McCants wouldn’t be my first option but given our cap restrictions he is the best one we have.

Hedo Turkoglu will work great with the starting frontcourt of Bargnani and Bosh. Turkoglu and Bargnani will spread the floor giving Bosh more room in the middle to score. However, beyond Turkoglu there aren’t many options. Pops Mensah Bonsu said on his twitter account that he is working hard this summer to make the shift from PF to SF. I would love it if that works out because then he is a perfect compliment to Turkoglu, someone at the 3 who is a beast on the boards. I can see Pops being our utility guy next year playing everything from small forward to center for the Raptors, which is key when your bench is the NBDL Idaho team. Linas Kleiza would have been a nice addition to the team but he is out of our price range now. As a result we will be looking through the bargain bin once again. So what can we scrounge out of the bargain bin you ask? How about Rodney Carney or Gerald Green. Two lottery picks who have been pretty god damn awful so far in their careers. Neither should see significant time, 10 minutes would be nice, but add depth and both have potential to improve. I never said this would be pretty, these are the kinds of players you get when you blow your load on the starting 5.

Chris Bosh and Andrea Bargnani make up a very soild duo at 4/5 and the position is actually were the Raptors have the most depth. As previously mentioned Pops will see some time at 4 and 5 next season, even if he successfully makes the move to the 3. Reggie Evans is a solid backup option at either position and brings some much needed rebounding and toughness to the position, with Bargnani and Bosh not exactly workout warriors. Behind that is Patrick O’Bryant, a lottery pick in ‘06, and Nathan Jawai from Australia. I really like Jawai because he has so much potential, he has only been playing basketball for a handful of years but has the size and power to be a solid backup for the Raptors. O’Bryant is a big question mark. O’Bryant is a true 7 footer but is extremely unathletic and has not mastered the position yet. My hope is that Colangelo can convince Jamaal Magloire to return to his hometown for the vet minimum. Magloire is not nearly the player he was a couple year ago but he would add rebounding and size to the position, two things that the Raptors are in dire need of. With Magloire either O’Bryant or Jawai would go down to the D-League were they could possible develop into solid NBA players.

I would compare our current situation to be the poor man’s ‘07 Boston Celtics. We have just put together a starting 5 that has the potential to be a top 4-5 team in the East, but now we have a bench that college coaches would laugh at. Problem is that Boston, the city and the team, have serious pull for free agents. Toronto? We could have the Euro League All Star team here in a second, but American players… a little harder. The hope is that some talented but underperforming players fall to us in the latter stages of the free agent signing period, when their options become limited to a veteran minimum in the NBA or a move overseas. Regardless, Bryan Colangelo has alot of work ahead of him. Here’s hoping he has something up his sleeve.

- KC Roberts