With Jay Triano out as head coach, the question that remains is who's next in line?
Jay Triano will not be back as the head coach of the Toronto Raptors next season.
The team declined the option on the final year of his contract and its up to Bryan Colangelo, armed with his new two year contract extension, to find the next coach and help the team move forward.
Colangelo chatted with Sportsnet Radio to explain his thinking and what might be in store in the next phase of the team's history. Triano will stay on as special assistant.
So how many people were surprised by the move? I'll have to say it was a bit of an eyebrow raiser from this corner. Triano took a lot of bullets this year; particularly when the injuries hit and it was evident the team was not headed for the post season making the development of young players the prime focus. Now there are never any guarantees but there seemed to be more of a "Jay will be back" sentiment to Colangelo's post season remarks right after the season than moving in another direction.
So who's up next? Colangelo mentioned it would be someone with a pedigree but don't forget, some of these names were just regular guys waiting for their opportunity at one point. Can you convince an experienced coach like Larry Brown - who loves to teach the game, or Jerry Sloan with his old school values, to take the reigns?
Brown will coach anywhere and has had proven success. Sloan may have just had enough particularly with the evolution of the modern day player. Other names like Lawrence Frank, Jeff Van Gundy and Rick Adelman who have taken teams to the finals will be extolled also but don't rule out former head coaches like Dwane Casey and Mike Woodson.
Casey is currently an assistant with the Western Conference champion Mavericks and did a solid job in his brief stint as head coach in Minnesota. In a season and a half he compiled a 53-69 record. The Timberwolves were a .500 club (20-20) when he was let go in the 2007 season and while he has said to be terrific in interview settings, he has not had another kick at the can since. Mike Woodson did a good job in Atlanta with a young team taking them from a 13 win season in 2004-05 and making them conference semi-finalists five years later while increasing the teams win total every season during his six year tenure.
Frank, Van Gundy, Adelman are all solid coaches and have shown they can work with veteran teams. Are they the right fit for a young and that is growing and not yet at a championship level? Or do you hire a coach like Casey or Woodson who work well with youngsters and see what they can achieve before deciding if you need someone else to take them the rest of the way?
Defense will be a key component in Colangelo's final decision but there is a danger for the pendulum to swing too far the other way and hire a defensive minded coach with an unimaginative offense that may labour to score. It will be a difficult choice and in an ideal world, Colangelo would like to have someone in place before the draft takes place June 23rd.
Shaq hangs them up
The "Big Diesel" has pulled off the road and shut down the engine for the last time. After 19 seasons and four championships, Shaquille O'Neal has decided to retire.
O'Neal will best be remembered in these eyes as a big man who was like no other. He had the agility and athleticism of Bill Russell and Wilt Chamberlain (not to mention Wilt's free throw shooting touch), the longevity of a Kareem-Abdul Jabbar, the toughness and competitiveness of Moses Malone.
But most of all the man of many nicknames was the "big showman" who could play. In this era of marketing stars who turn out to be only average players or people who don't embrace the limelight, Shaq loved to interact with everyone.
While some big men are self conscious and shy away from attention, everything about O'Neal said "bring it on" as he was always happy being the gregarious life of the party. O'Neal's off court persona was a generous one also as he donated to charities and did things like paying for the funeral of one the NBA's original giants George Mikan back in 2005.
Here is a look at some of Shaq's best off court moments.
