By RaptorTalk


The post season speculation and rumors around Raptorland began to heat up the day after Toronto’s season ended.

It started on the FAN590 with Doug Smith, Jack Armstrong and Doug Maclean and it continued on RaptorsTV Hoops later in the day.

Doug Smith of the Toronto Star said that its 95/5 likely that Jay Triano is appointed the full-time head coach by the first week of May. Jay will get 2 years and a third year team option starting at around $2 million to $2.25 million with incentives.

Apparently Jay and Bryan get along very well (which Sam and Bryan did not) and Bryan is most definitely willing to take the ‘interim’ tag off Jay. 

        

Marc Iavaroni will be joining the Raptors

Doug Maclean said he heard from sources that former Memphis Grizzlies head coach, Marc Iavaroni is a lock to be the lead assistant and that he's already got a condo lined up here in Toronto. Doug Smith agreed and it seems that this is public knowledge among those close to the team. There was more to Iavaroni's consulting assignment than we were led to believe.

Word is that the Triano/Iavaroni deal has been done for as long as 3-1/2 weeks.

Speculation is that Gord Herbert will be back, but the rest of the staff including Alex English and Mike Evans will probably move elsewhere next season. The coaching staff this year as a unit was too passive and Iavaroni will bring some intensity along with a strong defensive skillset.

Of course, if Triano stumbles we can immediately cue the rumors that Iavaroni is ready to assume the head coaching position!

On another front, Doug Smith said he's spoken to Bryan Colangelo and it seems that Chris Bosh will almost certainly be back next season and that Bosh seems more optimistic about the Raptors future than he has in a while.

With that said, the vibe we get from Jack Armstrong and Eric Smith is that Bryan needs to seriously consider any and all offers regarding Chris Bosh. The team simply can’t afford to let him walk in 2010 and get nothing in return. Doug Smith's response to that is the Raps then end up with a ton of cap room to spend on 2010 free agents to which Paul Jones responded, 'so did Chicago a few years ago and no one wanted to take the Bulls money." Touche!

More Raptor rumors

Other Raptorland speculation according to Doug Smith included:

- Anthony Parker will almost certainly be back next year in a new position on the bench as a back-up 2/1.

- Joey Graham will almost certainly NOT be back next year

- Whether Shawn Marion returns depends on money. The Raps want him back, but only at the right price. However, Toronto can offer Marion the highest annual increases. Thinking is that Marion could be had for $6 million to $7 million per year.


Jack and Doug spoke about Chris' comment after the game that the Raptors were a potential top 4 seed in the East if they had this squad together and healthy since October.  Both Jack and Smith felt that was not realistic, but they agreed that with a couple of the right additions (like at the SG spot and better depth) the Raptors could finish ahead of Chicago, Detroit and Philly.

On the other hand, Jack Armstrong was spot on when he said “don’t be fooled by a 9-4 record down the stretch”.

No doubt, changes need to be made sooner than later to this roster which simply did not get the job done.