Collangelo is absolutely retarded. I know that Obama just got in trouble for saying a similar phrase about himself, but is Collangelo trying to make the Raptors into a team that can qualify for the Special olympics? From Marcus Banks, to Shawn Marion's handicaped jump shot. Shawn Marion is an athlete, who thrieved with Steve Nash, 'cause Nash set him up and built his confidence. He was drilling ugly formed jumpers, because he felt great. The Raptors had a descent team, with a motivational coach who made them feel confident. They were going through hard times after Vince Carter tore their hearts out with that game winning reverse.. and unfortunately they faced some hefty competition after that. Collangelo needed to place blame and shake things up, which has left us with this result, an AllStar D-league team at best, with Bargnani and Bosh doing everything they can to try and keep their team's heads above water.

PS Does anyone know when Collangelo's contract is up? Fire him please.

Keep up the good work.

First off:

“and the dangerous Moon. Moon is a wildly athletic wing who will give them tenacious defense and a sparkplug off the bench.”

I’ve watched almost every Raptor game for the past 2 seasons. I’ve seen Moon play. The last thing he is, is dangerous. He’s wildly athletic but he’s also weak and lacks confidence. Unless he gets a CLEAR path to the basket, he’ll opt to take the ill-advised jumper 90% of the time.

His defense is just as bad though. My favourite is how he constantly bites on pump fakes. It’s hilarious how he always falls for it and the opposing player just draws the foul off him.

“2. The Heat save money for 2010. With all eyes on the 2010 free agent class, this works perfectly for them. O’Neal’s $23M comes off the books just in time to lure a Chris Bosh to come play next to Dwyane Wade. Wow. Plus, they save an additional $5M by getting rid of Banks because now the Raptors will be on the hook for paying a third-string point guard ludicrous amounts of cash.”

Toronto loses JO’s contract *now* and get and get more off the books in the summer. This gives them some “breathing room” at the moment to add more depth. We’ll see about Banks once he gets some consistent minutes. He can’t be worse than what our back up PG’s are like now anyways. Apparently he’s a solid defender, which we desperately need on the perimeter.

“3. JO will bounce back now. Watch. Just like when Shaq got dealt to Miami and experienced a newfound ability to play like his former self, so too will JO. O’Neal has seemed injured and/or terrible the past three seasons, and let’s try to understand why. Hmmm…it’s probably because he had to shovel snow in Indiana and Toronto all winter while playing for awful teams. Now he gets to sit out on the beach in paradise while he slots into the Miami frontcourt next to Udonis Haslem and Beasley, while forming a perfect complement to the backcourt solidified by Mario Chalmers and D-Wade. Scary good.”

Pretty sure he stayed in a condo in Toronto so no snow shoveling. Those early days in Indiana weren’t too bad either. I do agree though, that Miami filled a bigger whole than Toronto. At the same time, the Raps didn’t need JO (as our record proves the trade didn’t help at all) so it was a win-win for both teams.

“4. The Heat are contenders again. While they are still not as good as the Top 3 in the East, they are now right there with the Hawks as the next best thing. If we get a 2002-like performance out of JO and a jump in maturity from Chalmers and Beasley, this Heat team can make a run in the East playoffs. Never count out D-Wade, especially when he has some help.”

They’re hardly contenders but they’re definitely more complete now. I wouldn’t expect some magical maturation from most of the Heat so they won’t be a scary team to play. Still too young.

“5. Somehow they negotiated a first round pick away from the hopeless Raptors. Hilarious!”

Conditional first round pick that will be no better than 15th place or something like that. Plus the Raptors got cash for the pick so it’s not like it was given as a bonus.
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Hardly taken to the house.

Nice snow shoveling reference to Toronto and Indiana……

A protected first round pick isn't worth anything. You can pick up 20+ for around 1.5 million or less. Plus the pick isn't for this season which is probably going to be a better pick then in 2010.

The only bad part about this trade for the Raptors was acquiring Banks and his contract. However, if he plays well off the bench for at least 10 minutes and brings energy then he'll be fine and could possibly be moved again.

The Heat did alright Moon is a decent player, he's really a bench player. His contract expires this year and he'll be looking for around 3 mil/season so he prolly won't stick around with the Heat. JO is going to be good as long as he's healthy and we've seen that he isn't of course he could be like Shaq you never know.

I guess only time will tell how this trade really worked out for both teams I think it was good for both of them.