Mike D'Antoni was the head coach of the Phoenix Suns when Bryan Colangelo was an executive with the Suns and it has been rumored that Mike D'Antoni would be brought in to coach Colangelo's team almost since day one and it was expected that after Jay Traino finished the last 65 games of 2008-09 season Mike D'Antoni would take over the team. Now Mike D'Antoni is the head coach of the New York Knicks but it looks like Donnie Walsh is on his way out of New York especially after Jim Dolan and Isiah Thomas were responsible for the trade for Carmelo Anthony and Walsh had nothing to do with it and actually did not want to gut the team for Carmelo. Mike D'Antoni is having trouble with fitting Carmelo Anthony into the offense and the Knicks have just won one game in the last 10 games.
If this happens once again it looks like Mike D'Antoni will be replacing Jay Triano as head coach in the off-season and this is a scary idea because as any Raptor fan knows the biggest problem with the Team has always been the defensive side of the game and D'Antoni is not exactly a defensive mind as during his time in Phoenix it was a run and gun style and it was always about the offensive end of the game and no defense which usually turned into a Suns win 120-116. The style with the Knicks is the same kind of game and the biggest thing about this is that both the Knicks and Suns are very talented offensive teams which the Raptors right now do not have anywhere near the talent and neither of the teams have gotten into NBA final.
The other option looks like Jay Triano will be staying as the head coach which is also not a good idea as there is no way Triano has not lost the room and in the end it is almost a given that Bryan Colangelo is getting his extension and staying as the Raptors GM.
Also it looks like the Raptors are looking into releaving themselves of Andrea Bargnani as they may have figured out that Andrea may not be the go to guy they expected as a 7-footer putting up points much closer to the basket when they drafted him first overall in the 2007 entry draft. It is not likely to get much for Andrea because he is a streaky scorer who is not likely to benefit the team when he does not have his shot for a game as he plays too far away from the basket to collect a large amount of rebounds in a game.
Finally it looks like the Raptors are now focused on building around DeMar DeRozan, who has been getting better shots and scoring the basket at a better %, and Ed Davis, who has been scoring the basket at a close range to basket and getting better at putting back offensive rebounds for points and heading to the line where he is shooting a much better free throw shooting %. I have higher expectation for Ed Davis than DeMar DeRozan as he has more untapped upside and maybe a future all-star as rebounding monster.
The Season is almost over
Tom Mehegan
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