Doug Smith Live Chat

[Built Ford Tough]

Not much to talk about with the Raptors, so I thought I'd post some of the more interesting parts of the live chat that Doug Smith had about an hour and a half ago.

 

 

[Comment From Jacek from the UK Jacek from the UK : ]

When is Ed Davis due back? What can we expect from him? (Sorry I'm kinda out of the loop)

 

Doug: That's the kind of top notch people we have running things around here!

Davis is cleared for 5-0 work, no contact, I can't see him in a game for almost a month, he's a rookie who'll then be two months behind. I expect nothing of substance from him for a while.

 

 

[Comment From Marc Marc : ]

Doug, thanks for your earlier response. Do you think efforts will be made to work Ed Davis into games even if he's not quite as good as our veteran bigs? I know he might not start like DeMar did, but I think playing DeRozan through his struggles last year might have helped his development.

 

Doug: Oh, I think they will try to find him a few minutes here and there; but I think there's so big a difference between a swingman and a big that they can't force-feed him time. But to expect him to make any significant contribution is asking too much, in my opinion

 

 

[Comment From Marc ]

Hey Doug, do you think with Richard Peddie's recent comments supportive of a rebuild that the Raptors will stay the course even if the wins aren't there? What I'm asking is -- will management avoid sacrificing future flexibility (by acquiring a pricey vet) just to increase the wins short-term, or will they let this play out even if it means a lottery year?

 

Doug: If I had to pick one, they'd look to the future rather than get saddled with a bad contract to go from 28 wins to 35 or something like that

 

 

[Comment From kevin kevin : ]

What is exactally wrong with Barbosa's wrist? I understand it is just painfull, but how long do you think they can keep him in the lineup unitl he has to have surgery. Could that keep him out till the end of the season.

 

Doug: There's as good a chance he plays the entire season as there is of him having any surgical procedure. It is some kind of ligament issue that's simply pain management and impossible for me to explain absent a medical degree

 

 

[Comment From Lionel Messi Lionel Messi : ]

Have you seen what the coaching staff is talking to Bargnani about? Are they focusing on improving his defence and rebounding or just letting him practice and hope he figures it out?

 

Doug: They work with him on the court and in video session about weakside help defence every single day

 

 

[Comment From Guest Guest : ]

How aggressive will BC be when it comes to pulling off trades? He seems to have something up his sleeve all the time.

 

Doug: He told us media day he's almost 100 per cent sure he'll do something; but the thing to remember is as much as he wants to make a deal or you want him to make a deal, it takes two GMs do it.

 

 

Those were really the things that stood out to me, particularly the third quote that I posted. It sounds like the team is actually committed to a rebuild at this point in time.

 

EDIT: I think it is also worth mentioning that Doug Smith probably isn't as "in the loop" as he likes to believe so it wouldn't surprise me at all if Colangelo did make a move with the TPE to acquire some vet that would handicap the Raptors financially just so that they would win a handful more games.

Edited October 29, 2010 by Built Ford Tough

[Check my Stats]

The commitment to a rebuild will help this team so much. I have said it before, and I still believe this 100%, the way the Thunder rebuilt, the way the Kings are rebuilding, is the way to do it. The attendance might be down, the losses will pile up, but in the end two or three top 5 picks far outweigh the negatives.

 

You can't build a team in an off-season like BC continually tried to. Hopefully next year he doesn't try and make moves to advance the rebuild like he did in 06.

 

We already have a bunch of 'solid' prospects, but we need our VC, or our next Chris Bosh. Just hopefully our next franchise player can carry this franchise into the future, it sounds like the point guard prospects this year are pretty sweet, or overall, this draft has the potential to be pretty sick.

 

Also I hate Doug Smith.

Edited October 29, 2010 by Check my Stats

[headliner]

I hope Bryan himself is committed to rebuilding and doing it through youth. We need to accumulate young talent and develop them. Demar and Davis is a good start to a youth movement. Teams like Memphis, Portland and Oklahoma improved through the draft and there is no reason why the Raptors can’t improve through the draft.

 

My concern is Colangelo capable of drafting the right talented and allows them enough time to grow. In my opinion this has to be a 5 year commitment to rebuilding this team I just don’t believe that Colangelo is the right guy to rebuild this team.