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Originally Posted by Sainters7
It's ridiculous the misconceptions alot of U.S.-born NBA players have about playing in Canada. The Vancouver Grizzlies could offer up a similar list I'm sure(Steve Francis comes to mind. I remember before the draft, his excuse to not wanna come out here was because he's an East Coast boy, and Vancouver's too far West. Then the Canadian reporter, sensing the B.S. said "So you're saying you wouldnt play for the Lakers either??", to which Francis just lowered his head, sheepishly smiled and added meekly "No I'd go there, I mean its the Lakers". What a punk). I also remember when the Grizzlies drafted Bryant "Big Country" Reeves. He said when he got to Vancouver he was shocked at how modern it was, he said he expected moose to be all over the roads. Seriously.
This is why I really like the moves Colangelo is taking with this current team. I think he realizes Toronto is arguably the least-desired place to play for U.S.-born players(basically the Oilers of the NBA, with a much better GM), so he seems to be trying to get the inside edge on the European talent-base, possibly urging more Euro FA's to want to sign in Toronto in the future. I also like how the only U.S.-born players Colangelo and the Raptors now pursue are "high character" types, like a Chris Bosh. Colangelo definitely gets the Toronto basketball market, and what types of player he needs to bring here in order to be successful. I'm really starting to see why he won the NBA's best Executive award in '07.
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I agree with everything you said, but I'm just not sure Colangelo is making the correct moves to take the Raps to the next level. Character and bench depth is great, but as starters, many of these players make this team simply average IMO. This offseason, I was pretty happy about the additional good-guy Euro's, but now looking at these guys, Delfino has really been the only consistent one, along with Moon (not Euro, but more of a credit to good scouting). I don't know, to me, it just seems like he went for depth when at this point it's clear a solid starter is needed more. Secondly, it looked like he went for the good-guy European for the sake of making this team more of an international flavor, just for the sake of doing so. Right now, I just think they're a first round exit with a small possibility of moving on the round 2. Now, if they can get a rebounder like Dalembert, we're talking something higher.