2/3/12

We Interupt: Raptors vs Wizards To Bring You Bryan Colangelo

Bryan Colangelo hi-jacked the Raptor broadcast tonight to address the captive Raptor audience. He used the time to talk about his recent trip to check on Raptors 5th pick Jonas Valanciunas. He was as expected extremely positive about his prize draft pick. Even at the expense of current players like Amir Johnson. He said some things about Jonas' defence and said unlike Amir Johnson had been doing. Given the fact Amir has been having some unknown personal issues I found it to be a perhaps unintentional but an uncool thing to do on Colangelo's part. He basically gave a long drawn out promotional speech on how Jonas is going to translate well into what the Raptors are building with Casey. Highlighting his defensive skills and abilities to rebound. No pressure kid you are just suppose to save the franchise. It is going to get to this point.

Here is where things got interesting. The topic of the small forward position came up. Rumours of the Raptors being interested in Wilson Chandler have been flooding the internet of late. He is one of the players that decided to head to China during the NBA Lockout. The name of Andre Kirilenko was also mentioned as a possibility. The was news for an interested listener in Lithuania, it wasn't Jonas checking out what the boss was saying. Sonny Weems was though who is playing over there as he decided to not wait for the NBA Lockout. After the conversation had ended he tweeted to Matt Devlin asking if he had forgot about him? Bryan sure did. The Raptors did tender a qualifying offer to Weems who was a RFA. So much like what the Raptors went through with Carlos Delfino, When Weems would decide to return he would still have his rights held by the Raptors. But based on the conversation Weems later tweeted that looks like he will have to find a new team. It should be noted that Sonny is often checking on his old team over in Europe. In an interview here in the DNB Demar DeRozan said the two still keep in contact as often as possible. Some including me wonder if Weems not being here is at least a small part of the struggles Demar has had this season. It was widely known how close they were when Weems was here. But in an interview with Matt when I suggested the idea he was quick to dismiss it. Whatever the case is with that or the future of Sonny Weems it made for a moment that you could only have experienced with Twitter. Personally I have always loved Sonny. I try to give him a shout on Twitter often like I do with other former Raptors like Reggie Evans and T.J Ford. I would welcome him back to Toronto. Not to say he would fix the Raptors issues at small forward. He would need to prove that. But would I rather have him than say Rasaul Butler? Do I even need to tell you my answer?

The Colangelo show was not done. In talking about Jose Calderon he talked about the need for a point guard of the future. Which might suggest Jose Calderon is the past. Colangelo did not go as far as saying he would move him. But he is clearly shopping for a new younger more modern point guard. There was also talk of Leandro Barbosa. Colangelo claims he has already taken calls about his availability. Colangelo when you were reading between the lines seemed to be angling for a better deal. That is actually our current poll question and last I checked you folks believe both Jose and Barbosa will be gone by the deadline at least the majority of you.

Ironically the two guys Colangelo slagged had big nights as the Raptors won 106-89 over the Wizards. Just the third time the Dinos have been over 100 this year and first without Andrea Bargnani who was also praised by Colangelo. No new info on his injury status. Will have a full re-cap tomorrow as the Raptors head to South Beach for Sunday afternoon reunion with Chris Bosh and all his super friends on Super Bowl Sunday.

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