The cosmopolitan city of Toronto is wrong in not welcoming another European to town.
It says everything about the frustration of the Toronto Raptors' fan base that this is the year they've just said 'yes' to xenophobia.
The wave started on Twitter and elsewhere online about a nanosecond after NBA commissioner David Stern rolled 'Jonas Valanciunas' off his tongue, like he'd been taking Lithuanian lessons from Raptors announcer, (and proud Lugan), Leo Rautins.
If there was such a thing as a collective digital "what have we done?" forehead slap, it happened Thursday night after the seven-footer's name was called.
Wasted pick. Not another Euro. Didn't we learn from Bargnani. Fire Colangelo. I hate this team.
Tweet, tweet, tweet. Lament, lament, lament.
Raptors fans are a special bunch. There are a lot of them and they can't help but feel marginalized in a city where hockey casts a monstrous shadow over everything else. Even after 16 years, basketball feels new and bit different. There's still a need to explain it. It's more indie flick than summertime blockbuster.
So there's a sense of ownership that seeps through everything. With the just one playoff series win to show for all the pain, they are a hardy bunch. But five years into the Andrea Bargnani era, they've collectively adopted immigration policies that Don Cherry would agree with. They are giving the impression that they may finally have reached their breaking point, at least when it comes to the Raptors' passionate embrace of international basketball -- this from a fan base that is more diverse than any other in the city.
But watching Bargnani, the seven-footer taken No.1 overall by Raptors president Bryan Colangelo in 2006 - the last draft as weak as this one - play defense and rebound like a pouty teenage girl, well, people get emotional.
The Raptors have needs -- lots of them. And when the No. 5 pick came around, Brandon Knight seemed perfect to fill one of those holes. Knight, a slashing point guard from the University of Kentucky, a pedigreed program that churns out the kind of player - fast, athletic, American - that Raptor fans would love to see take over the point from too-slow Jose Calderon, the Spaniard dubbed El Matador.
The Raptors have little in the way of depth, but they do have a fair bit of their salary cap tied into a trio of young big men in Ed Davis, Amir Johnson and Bargnani.
Listen on the FAN590: Colangelo talks to Smith and Jones | Colangelo's take on Tristan Thompson | Mavs GM Donnie Nelson talks Casey, praises Valanciunas pick
Coming off a 22-60 season, was this really the time to pick an unproven, largely unseen pick-and-roll specialist who may not be able to get out of his European club contract?
Well, he's charming at least.
"I just want to say hello to all fans, Toronto fans. I will hope we will have a good season. I want to wish you victories," he said Thursday night.
And Colangelo may be dead on when he describes the angular 240-pounder (what's that in kilos?) like a stock just waiting to go on a tear: "His numbers from an analytics view point were off the charts," Colangelo said. "He's got a lot of life in his body. He's got a long ways to go, but he's going to be a great long-term pick."
But Raptors fans have no time for that. They've seen big and slow and white. They want something different, starting perhaps, with a new president and general manager.
To his credit Colangelo remains willing to take risks and think long-term, even though his two-year contract extension and likely fourth straight year out of the playoffs might encourage the opposite.
"I can't worry about where they're from," he said. "I can only worry about how they play and what they bring to the table. I can't worry about me. I can't worry about my contract situation. Winning basketball games and becoming better as a franchise will ultimately sell. That's what we're shooting for, that's what we're striving for."
"This is a solid pick, trust me."
If only the Raptors fan base could feel so sure, but the enigmatic Bargnani, and to a lesser extent, Calderon, have turned a city of basketball fans off their risotto, ruined their tapas. And whatever the specialty of Turkey might be, you can bet Hedo Turkoglu ruined that for them too.
Raptors fans turning their back on Europe as a source of talent seems ill-timed considering the performance Germany's Dirk Nowitzki put on in leading the Dallas Mavericks to the NBA championship earlier this month. Spain's Pau Gasol may be mercurial and worldly and Euro, but that hasn't stopped him from earning two championships with the Los Angeles Lakers.
Bargnani was compared to both to those players on draft night in 2006. That he'll never live up to those standards shouldn't be held against Valanciunas, or Colangelo.
The Raptors are at the beginning of what will likely be a long-term rebuild, as much as their fans may wish otherwise.
Will their latest European lightning rod be the decision that earns Colangelo his next deal and makes Raptors fans cosmopolitan again, or the one that costs him his job for good?
The verdict is years away. But now is not the time to go all Don Cherry. Talent doesn't come with a passport.
