Bizzaro Bryan Colangelo

I’m utterly sick of everyone complaining how much of a “travesty/ disaster / debacle” it is that the teams with the three worst records in the NBA got booted down to 4-5-6 in the NBA Draft. It’s a statistical anomaly for sure, and while I feel bad for those teams who tried so hard to lose games this season, each and every one of these teams knew that it was entirely plausible that they would not get either Oden or Durant. I especially have practically no sympathy for the Celtics who had Larry Bird in the ‘80s and also won like 13 other championships before Larry got there. I hope that David Stern keeps the lottery the way it is, because it still is slanted towards the top teams receiving the top picks, its just that there’s always going to be uncertainty because the lottery is designed to balance 1) a reward for team’s that do poorly with 2) providing a dis-incentive for teams that tank!

Onto other items of business…
I cannot believe that Sam Mitchell, coach of the Raptors has 1) won coach of the year, 2) became a hot coaching commodity, or 3) re-signed with the Raptors after becoming a hot coaching commodity. The whole reason for the Raptors success is because of the greatest NBA Executive of the 21st century, Bryan Colangelo. All I know is, Sam Mitchell went into the season as a “lame-duck coach” and came out smelling like roses, and I just have to question how much of the success can be attributed to Mitchell rather than for Colangelo. Colangelo is a stud as everything Colangelo touches turns to gold I tell you! Look at these transactions he’s made while GM of the Suns and the Raptors:
1) Trading Marbury and Penny Hardaway to the Knicks… then using the cap space to sign Steve Nash (more or less)
2) Trading Joe Johnson to the Hawks for Boris Diaw AND TWO first round picks
3) Signing Raja Bell to a 5-year deal when no one else was interested4) Signing Tim Thomas in the middle of the 2005-2006 when Amare was out for the season… and Tim Thomas was in a contract year, so it was like acquiring an All-star caliber player
5) [Toronto] Drafting Bargnani, signing Anthony Parker and Jorge Garbajosa from the Euroleague

In the end, Bryan Colangelo has decided to reward Sam Mitchell, so its his decision to keep Sam on, and only time will tell if Colangelo has made the right decision. Meanwhile, while Bryan Colangelo is making every RIGHT decision in Toronto, another GM, Kevin McHale, is stuck making every WRONG decision in Minnesota!

After firing his coach mid-way through the season when the T-wolves were 20-20, McHale hired his buddy, former Cleveland Cavalier head coach Randy Wittman, who was then able to inspire the team to a 12-30 record over the remaining part of the season. That’s not a misprint. And KG played the whole second half of the season!

McHale thought long and hard over the last couple of weeks since the season has ended… and decided that he would be more like Colangelo so he also would bring his head coach back! Yes, Randy Wittman now has a multi-year contract as a reward for his great “interim” work! It’s gotten to the point now where I fully believe that Kevin McHale is the “Bizzaro Bryan Colangelo.” McHale said that Coach Wittman is "… going to push the players and yet he's flexible enough that they'll enjoy playing for him.'' http://www.nba.com/nba_news/wittman_signs.html Really??? I think even McHale has topped himself on this one. How McHale keeps his job is really amazing. Despite all of the mistakes in draft picks, trades, and free agent signings, McHale also is notorious for making the “under-the-table” deal with Joe Smith, getting caught for it, having to give up three first round picks as punishment… and he still did not get fired! It’s hard to think of many jobs in life where you can get caught for cheating and punished for it, and you are able to keep the same amount of responsibility… for another 7 years??? Short of McHale physically harming one of his players, he clearly will never be fired!