And now this new general manager: Todd Kennedy, a former broker in NYC who has a background at USC being a rotation player there. So he has the basketball and the business background. He's 31 years old and should look to build a supporting cast for a possible high draft pick plus a free agent addition in the summer of 2011. He has the OK from the boss to trade every player except for Andrea Bargnani who has a long term deal until 2015.
Start of the Season.
My first day foresaw a meeting with coach Jay Triano. He said to me that he wanted to experiment a bit this season. I convinced him that I'm keen on good defense and that's really not what the Raptors stood for last season. He said it's very hard to get better at it without Bosh. I didn't like this comment. Whining about CB4's absense isn't the right motivation for the start of the season.
I really wasn't convinced Triano is the right coach for the team so I had a meeting with team owner Rich Petway and he was OK with my decision to fire the entire coaching staff as my first official act.
I found my Head Coach very early. I chose Steve Patterson who never was head coach but who did a great job as a general manager in Portland for four years. I'm sure he is the right choice. As 1st Assistant I gave him 79 year old Dick Harter who will be great for the upcoming draft with his great scouting. He's very likeable. As 2nd Assistant I picked T.R. Dunn who did good assistant jobs for the Hornets in the 90's and lately the Houston Rockets. As 3rd Coach I picked Paul Mokeski who had an assistant job with Rio Grande up until now.
I'm satisfied with my decision and now let's change the roster.
The PF position is way to deep. Because it's more quantity than quality with Joey Dorsey and Reggie Evans not being good players. I don't like Amir Johnson so my plan is that Bargnani starts at the four with rookie Ed Davis being his back up. I have to do something about the SF and C position. Solomon Alabi and David Andersen are players for the garbage time not for a starting lineup. Let's look what we can get. I probably will give up the 2013 and 2012 1st Round draft picks with the plan to be a .500 team next season right away with the right additions right now and a upcoming draft pick.
Toronto Raptors trade Amir Johnson, David Andersen & 2011 2nd Round pick for Cleveland Cavaliers' Anderson Varejao
Toronto Raptors trade DeMar DeRozan, Reggie Evans, 2012 2nd Round Pick, 2013 2nd Round Pick for Los Angeles Clippers Rasual Butler, Eric Bledsoe
Toronto Raptors trade Jarrett Jack, 2013 1st Round Pick for Los Angeles Clippers Eric Gordon, DeAndre Jordan
Trading Recap:
Well I'm feeling pretty good about this trades. We now have four former Clippers with us. I hope we can get a winning aura even with some Clippers with us.
Anderson gives us a hard worker in the paint who is always good for offensive rebounds and some easy points. Neither Andersen nor Alabi could play this role. Getting rookie Bledsoe is great because Assistant Dick Harter sees great potential in this kid so he develops in a regular NBA starter. Butler gives the team a scoring option even when he's a bit one-dimensional being just a pure 3-point-shooter. But the most thrilling aquisition is Eric Gordon. He played well for Team USA this summer and will be our second scoring option. We lacked a good scorer who can create his own shot so he we have one now.
Our depth chart looks now this:
PG Jose Calderon
SG Eric Gordon
SF Rasual Butler
PF Andrea Bargnani
C Anderson Varejao
6 PF Ed Davis
7 SF Linas Kleiza
8 SG Sonny Weems
9 PG Leandro Barbosa
10 SG Eric Bledsoe
11 C DeAndre Jordan
12 C Solomon Alabi
Now we look forward to a season which can be very difficult season. Our goal are 30 wins. Hopefully we get these! We start at the 1st November @ Philadelphia!