Bryan Colangelo always thought Jay Triano was a talented NBA coach — he wouldn’t have given him the interim job with the Raptors if he didn’t — and the team’s recent run of success hasn’t done anything to change that opinion either way.
Four straight wins won’t totally alleviate the bitter feelings of a disappointing season, but they have showed flashes of what might have been.
And what might still be if Colangelo decides to keep Triano on as the head coach after this season.
Reiterating that he wouldn’t speak specifically about Triano’s longer-term prospects until the end of the regular season, the team’s president and general manager has not wavered from his support.
“The message is the right message; the method of communicating is the right method,” Colangelo said yesterday. “I’ve been high on him the entire time.”
It will be sooner, rather than later after the end of the regular season that Colangelo acts on the coaching situation. While there will be a slow time while the first couple of rounds of the playoffs unfold, Colangelo wants to have a full staff in place well before the run-up to the June 28 draft.
Triano is 20-36 as a head coach since taking over from the fired Sam Mitchell on Dec. 3, but Colangelo continues to point to other factors than simply the won-loss record. Injuries to key players, a significant trade and the upheaval that goes with a losing season have all contributed.
“Jay’s done a solid job, he was given a bad set of circumstances,” the general manager said.
