Music: {allcanada} Colangelo says he tried to tank with Raptors

Friday, February 28, 2014

{allcanada} Colangelo says he tried to tank with Raptors

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Former Toronto Raptors general manager Bryan Colangelo has admitted he tried to tank during the 2011-12 season.

Colangelo, speaking Friday at the MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference in Boston, was asked about issues with the current NBA draft lottery system.

“Admittedly, I tried to tank a couple of years ago,” Colangelo said. “I didn’t come out and say, ‘Coach you have to lose games.’ I wanted him to establish a winning tradition and culture, but I wanted him to do it in the framework of playing and developing young players.”

The Raptors did not reap significant benefits from Colangelo’s approach in 2011-12 as the team finished with the eighth-worst record in the league at 23-43. Unfortunately for Colangelo, the Raptors defeated the then-New Jersey Nets in the final game of the season, resulting in them losing a draft position that the Golden State Warriors then used to select Harrison Barnes. The Raptors selected Terrence Ross with the No. 8 pick in that draft.

“The last game of the season, Avery Johnson (then the coach of the Nets), had a 24-point deficit and was looking down at the floor smirking,” Colangelo said Friday.

He was stripped of his general manager duties after the 2012-13 season by incoming MLSE CEO Tim Leiweke. Colangelo resigned from the organization a few weeks later.

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