Wednesday, February 16, 2011

ESPN's Chad Ford: Colangelo won't trade Bargnani

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Raptors HQ brought the following quote from Chad Ford of EPSN to my attention today:
Herman (Toronto)
With Ed Davis and Amir Johnson showing signs of potential. Does there come a time when Toronto looks to trade Bargnani? Maybe they should take a shot at Odem?

Chad Ford(1:36 PM)
It's a good question. The answer is ... not as long as Bryan Colangelo is the GM. GMs fall in love with the players they draft. It's part of our psychological need to justify our decisions. Colangelo took him No. 1 over Rudy Gay and Brandon Roy. He needs to be right. Trading him is tantamount to admitting he was a bad pick. Lakers are suffering from the same problem with Bynum. As a rule around the league, teams tend to overvalue their own players and undervalue other team's players. It's partly why we don't see more trades in the NBA. But if Colangelo were to leave the Raptors, my guess is the first move a new GM would make would be to trade Bargnani. He's talented, but it's tough to have a 7 footer on the floor who refuses to rebound or defend anyone.

Chad Ford is one of the ESPN inside guys who has lots of contacts in the NBA and often has some...inside...information. However, in this case - regardless of whether or not he has any special info - he's been saying what I and others have been saying for a while: Bryan Colangelo is obsessed with Andrea Bargnani, and the Raptors probably won't trade Bargnani until Colangelo is no longer the GM in Toronto. What I really like about the quote is that Ford says it's because of Colangelo's "psychological need to justify [his] decisions", which is certainly true in this case.

Colangelo made a risky choice by picking an unknown quantity with the #1 pick. By any objective measure, that pick has been a terrible error. If Colangelo trades Bargnani, he has to admit that he made a mistake, and people don't like to admit to making mistakes. Until BC learns from his mistakes, perhaps management should admit to their own mistake and fail to extend Colangelo's contract?

Now, Ford also threw Andrew Bynum in with Bargnani, which is a bit much. Bynum is constantly injured, but when he plays he is far more productive than Bargs. If I was in charge of the Lakers, I would consider trading him only if I could get someone who was both productive and had a history of playing a lot of games/minutes, and I would target a PG (Blake hasn't played well so far this season, and Fisher...well, he's floundering).

 - Devin

16 comments:

  1. Were Doomed for 4 more years. This is absolute garbage.

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  2. "Maybe they should take a shot at Odem?"
    Is this Lamar Odom or Greg Oden

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  3. The Bargnani pick was not a terrible error. Outside of Rondo, the rest of that draft class has not done much or has serious question marks on their future. If the Raptors had picked a different player, I'm not sure they would be much better. So, I'd call it an error, but not a huge one given the options and the information known at the time.

    The bigger error was extending Bargnani. BC was gambling that Bargnani would improve greatly this year and tried to get that improvement for cheap. The gamble has not paid off.

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  4. I get sick and tired of so-called experts that do not see Bargnani on a daily basis and criticize his play. The Raptors did not draft him to be a lost post specialist or a monster rebounder. They drafted him as a scorer period. I just dont get it. Is Dirk Nowitski a great defender and a great rebounder? Know. He is a great scorer period. I can probable only name 5 to 10 guys around the league that are great at all three. Let's judge Bargnani's ability on how he can change the game offensively for the Raps and how he gives them an opportunity to win most nights when he has a good game offensively.

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  5. Did you see AB game against top team (like Miami). He can score when he want, threes , dribbles, turn around jump, lay up.
    Toronto is sucha bad team and AB such a good player. I hope he will be traded. Orlando e.g. would win the title.

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  6. So here is the thing with Bargnani... he is fucking terrible, except when he has the ball in his hands.

    Since he can't play 48 minutes of offense he needs to be moved. Please let Chad Ford be wrong again.

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  7. Funny how you use Ford words to justify your opinion on Bargnani but at the same time you dismiss his claims on Bynum.
    Is Ford right only when he talks about Bargnani?

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  8. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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  9. Bargnani = bench player on good team.

    Bargnani = starter on our crap team.

    Until we improve the team and Triano or somebody magically can bench Bargs, we have to deal with the fact that this dude is starting.

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  10. Evan:

    Depends on what happens to Colangelo's contract. Of course, he's very media friendly and seems to have a lot of support, so...yeah, could be doomed for four more years.

    Anonymous1:

    Bynum for Jose wouldn't be too bad for the Lakers. Here's a deal that would work, if both teams were up for it: http://es.pn/hXUorW. As a Raptor GM, I'd be happy to get rid of Bargnani, but Barbosa's deal is expiring and the PG situation would be pretty iffy - not too happy with the deal. As an LAL GM, I might be able to get some use out of Bargnani by pairing him with Gasol and Odom, but more importantly, I improve the team at PG. Gasol and Calderon would also be happy together. I'd probably do the deal if I'm LAL.

    Anonymous2:

    I'm pretty sure that was supposed to be Greg Oden.

    Anonymous3:

    The Bargnani pick was a terrible error, one that I've been over before. It's terribly risky to pick a player without NCAA experience in the top 5. I've already tackled how he compares to the other #1 picks, as well as all the players in his draft class (http://bit.ly/fPyLFf). Before the draft, there were several NCAA players who were likely to be very good NBA players that the Raptors could've picked (and yes, we knew beforehand those were Rondo, Roy, and Millsap). Although I'll side with you and say that extended Bargs was the biggest issue.

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  11. Let's compare Dirk to Bargnani:

    In 9 out of 13 seasons, Dirk has scored more per 36 than Bargnani's best scoring season.

    In 12/13 seasons, Dirk has a better TS% than Bargnani's best season.

    In 13/13 seasons, Dirk has a better AST/36 than Bargnani's best mark

    In 12/13 seasons, Dirk's REB/36 is better than Bargnani's best mark.

    In 12/13 seasons, Dirk's Stl/36 is better than Bargnani's best mark.

    Dirk shoots better from the 3, and shoots better and takes more from the FT line.

    TOs and PFs are basically even, although Bargnani may eventually overtake Dirk in TOs with more touches.

    There is literally nothing that Bargnani does that Dirk can't do even better. Bargnani is nowhere near the player that Dirk is, even at this stage of his career.

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  12. Yes, I saw Bargnani's game against Miami. Up until about the 4th quarter, he wasn't even shooting very efficiently - which is his only supposed skill. But he shot very well in the 4th and ended up with a very efficient shooting night...with 4 rebounds. I'd be okay with the minute amount of rebounds if he shot like that every game - unfortunately, he likes to throw in games of 2-13 about every third game or so.

    Is Ford only right when it comes to Bargnani? In my opinion, yes. He certainly could make the case the Bynum misses too many games to be of any real value to the Lakers, but Bynum is good when he plays. Bargnani, on the other hand, hurts the team whenever he's on the court.

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  13. it is stupid to think that colangelo won't trade bargnani b/c of pride. He has admitted he made mistakes with signings like marion,o'neal,and turkoglu and was quick to trade them, i don't buy this at all.

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  14. Bargnani is a high volume, low percentage shooter who can't guard NBA 5s 4s 3s 2s or 1s. Although he is often the tallest player in the game his position frequently leaks offensive rebounds as he is worthless on the glass and consumes the roster spot that would otherwise produce rebounds.

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  15. I think its hilarious Chad Ford saying "GMs fall in love with the players they draft. It's part of our psychological need to justify our decisions." I guess to fit his argument, he specifically said "drafted". What about J.O.? Turk? Jarrett Jack? just because colangelo ONLY traded and signed these guys that he's not "in-love" with them coz he was able to trade them to other teams? Sorry but i think this argument is one of those "im right because it fits my argument" crap.

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