Look Out for Barney In the Atlantic Division
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The New Jersey Nets have owned the Atlantic Conference for the last five years. They’ve won it four times, and finished so strong (19–8 down the stretch) in 2004–05 that few doubted they were the class of the division despite their third-place finish.
With forwards Richard Jefferson and Nenad Krstic just entering their primes and top point guard prospect Marcus Williams joining the fold, the Nets’ stranglehold would seem to be safe, particularly given the lack of competition. Philadelphia is looking to rebuild, the Knicks are down so low that 30–52 would be an improvement, and Boston’s youth movement is going nowhere fast.
The only tangible threat to the Nets’ reign is from the Toronto Raptors. Yes the Raptors. Sure, they’ve gone 117–211 (.357) over the last four seasons, and two of their last three lottery picks, Rafael Araujo and Charlie Villanueva, were considered reaches. But hope came to the great north on February 28, when Bryan Colangelo left Phoenix, where he’d built the Suns into a powerhouse — 29 wins in 2004, 62 in 2005 — to take over the team presidency.
This past season, the Barneys, as the purple dinosuars are pejoratively known,seemed poised for a speedy turnaround.They had Chris Bosh, one of the best young forwards in the game; a lottery pick, which turned out to be the no. 1 overall, 7-foot Italian phenom Andrea Bargnani; and none of the millstone contracts that will keep Knick fans waiting until the next decade for a contender.(In fact, the Raps dumped their worst contract, belonging to Jalen Rose, on the Knicks for Antonio Davis, whose deal came off the Toronto books on July 1.)
At present, the Raptors are one of few teams under the salary cap, and barring something really stupid (like taking Steve Francis off Isiah Thomas’s hands), they will have cap room for a few seasons to come. Given the paltry competition in the division, Colangelo, the 2005 NBA Executive of the Year, could make a major impact quickly.
If his first few months on the job are any indication, however, it looks as if Colangelo views the Raptors as a longterm project, and he’s as eager to put his stamp on the team as he is to make it a winner right away. Colangelo dumped both Araujo and Villanueva, picked up pivotman Rasho Nesterovic from the Spurs, and now he’s looking to Europe to bolster the roster. In addition to Bargnani, the Raptors are said — remember, nothing can be officially announced until Wednesday — to have reached deals with former Nets draft pick Anthony Parker and Spanish power forward Jorge Garbajosa.
Parker is a swingman who, during his three years in the NBA (1998–2000), posted numbers that were closer to Smush than Tony Parker. But he’s been one of the best American players overseas in recent years, starring for Maccabi Tel Aviv, a perennial power, and winning two Euroleague MVP awards. Parker should fit well in the two-three mix with Mo Petersen and Joey Graham.
Garbajosa is an undersized power forward who will back up Bosh. Colangelo may emerge with other finds from overseas during this off-season. He has hired veteran Euroleague exec Maurizio Gherardini to be his Assistant GM, and the pickings among NBA vets in the free agent market are rather slim.
That scarcity of available talent is probably the only good spin that can be put on Colangelo’s swap of Villanueva to the Bucks for point guard T.J. Ford. Ford leads up-tempo offenses well, but he’s a terrible shooter and is weak defensively. On the other hand,Villanueva surprised most observers with a stellar rookie campaign and seems primed to become a future star. The Raptors need a point guard,but Ford arrives full of holes in his game and substantial health concerns (he missed a season due to spinal stenosis). Unloading Villanueva is understandable given the Raptors’ glut of frontline players, but this looks like a severely one-sided deal.
If all the deals go through as unofficially announced, Toronto will likely field a starting five of Nesterovic, Bosh, Petersen, Parker, and Ford, with Bargnani, Garbajosa, and point guard Jose Calderon also in the rotation. You kind of have to feel for Raptors play-byplay announcer Chuck Swirsky. The team he’s announcing has improved, but his job just got a whole lot tougher.
Jason Kidd and Nets team president Rod Thorn probably won’t be losing any sleep over the northern threat this summer, but Colangelo is used to being ignored. When he drafted Amare Stoudemire to Phoenix with the ninth pick in 2002,it seemed like a reach; most observers also chided his signing of Steve Nash.Consecutive trips to the conference finals and two MVPs for Nash have quieted that criticism.
Right now it looks as if Colangelo and company are going the slow route in Toronto,surrounding Bargnani and Bosh with a good cast of role players and choosing to leave the cap room for next summer’s market. It may be a sound strategy; except for the Nets, the competition in the Atlantic will still be pretty paltry in 2007–08.The Raptors probably will emerge as a power, and when they do they may be “Phoenix North,”but the transition to that team is going to happen at a much slower pace than the turnaround in the desert.
