tobybennett

These trades have nothing to do with ego, its all about wins and losses. The raptors sucked last year. Changes have to made, and to get good players you are going to have to trade good players. Charlie for TJ wasn't about ego at all, it was about getting a point guard to lead this team. The one thing I noticed about Babcock was that he always brought in players that wouldn't mesh well together, and hopefully this will change with Colangelo.

ballocks

anyone remember what sidelined him for 10 games last year? that injury might 'worry' me more than his 18 month setback in 04/05. "injury-prone players" tend to miss a handful of games at a time- not months (i remember one of 'them' around these parts). the grant hills of the world come few and far between- players who miss extended periods, for whatever reason, tend to remain healthier otherwise. of course, i have absolutely no statistics to support the claim but whatever, i'm hoping tj falls in that category anyway.

in terms of ego, there's probably something there- but nothing as devious as would be implied by the tabloids. i think virtually every gm enjoys a honeymoon period of some length with his new team, and he ultimately decides to make use of it- presumably due to the fact that "new gm's" are brought in to... make changes. those changes often scare me because... well, i've never been a fan of change for the sake of change.

but i mean, villanueva is too good of a man and player to be expensed on that account. i sincerely doubt that bryan came aboard and said, "alright, let's purge this operation of virtually all babcock decisions- good and bad." that would be childish and, if true, would only happen in the manager's subconscious. in other words, i don't think that that idea would ever come to mind in such plain terms.

in this case, i think it's more of a coincidence than anything else. we don't need to reach for the tabloids to explain this transaction- it makes sense on too many other levels (imo).

peace