Mike Ball is in his third season with raptors.com and he knows what's going down on the court and in the locker room. You can read Mike after most home games, throughout the week, and as a monthy raptors.commentator.

by Mike Ball
--raptors.commentator
March 28, 2005

(TORONTO) -- As I head into the home stretch of my third season writing from the raptors.com headquarters on the banks of Lake Ontario, sometimes I think my head’s going to explode.

Two seasons of watching a star player mope, deflect blame and quit on teammates was tough, but what’s going on lately is bordering on insanity.

Chris Bosh in his last two games: 56 points and 33 rebounds. (NBAE/Getty Images)

Hold the phone though, it's not for what I see or hear on the floor, although on occasion the Toronto cagers leave me shaking my head, but what I see, hear and read everywhere else is the root of my frustration.

The most guilty parties are those on the other side of the border. Every time I read a commentary on the Raptors originating south of the 49th, they’re telling me the coach is on the hot seat, ready to be replaced by the latest flavour of the month candidate, the owners have become impatient with the GM and the equipment manager isn’t getting the socks soft enough for the players’ feet.

From where I sit, none of this is true -- although I haven’t touch-tested the tube socks -- and it seems to me these critics must just look at a team’s record and say, “Well, they’ve lost more games than they’ve won, so they must be firing their coach, GM and hey that mascot must be to blame for some of it.”

The GM has taken the most heat of all this season, but while it’s somewhat understandable, I ask you, “Were you really more optimistic last summer?”

Let’s quickly review. Last offseason, Vince Carter had demanded a trade, both the coach and GM had been fired and uncertainty reigned.

Sam Mitchell has said he has no regrets this season. (NBAE/Getty Images)

As we approach the end of this season, we’re going into a draft with up to four picks (two in the first round, two in the second), the salary-cap situation is improving and the core of the team actually wants to play here.

Remember, the GM was hired based on his long-term plan. Rob Babcock didn’t promise the playoffs this season, in fact he said the playoffs were unlikely in 2005. Now pundits are calling for his head because he took Rafael Araujo instead of Andre Iguodala. Iggy’s a nice player, but does anyone really believe the Raptors would be much better off with him in the lineup?

The Sixers have him and they have precisely six wins more than Toronto as of Monday. Oh yeah, they also have Allen Iverson, Chris Webber and two competent veteran centres.

You’ve heard it a thousand, check that, a million times by now, but Araujo needs time to develop. If you really need to get on his case, give him at least 20 games of the 2005-06 season and then let him have it.

Point being, the Raptors hired Babcock on the strength of his long-term plan, so how can anyone expect it to get that much better nine months into said plan. Truth is you can’t, but I see optimism becoming a whole lot more prevalent after the spring’s draft.

Next I’ll address rumours that Sam Mitchell is in the hotseat which is about as laughable as they get. How many wins do you think Phil Jackson would have coached this team to? If you're no Jackson fan, then how about Red Auerbach?

Matt Bonner should be back in T.O. next season and never comes up short in the effort category. (NBAE/Getty Images)

Sam Mitchell is part of Babcock’s plan. He has the same vision of what Raptors basketball culture should be and will become. That’s what made him the right man for the job when he was hired and that’s what makes him the right man still today.

He wasn’t hired to convince Vince Carter to stay. He was hired to change the culture of this club and simply put, that can’t happen in six months.

Again, if the Raptors are hovering around 30 wins this time next year then you can start calling for his head, but for now he is doing what he’s been hired to do and aside from a few miniscule missteps along the way, he’s doing that job.

And finally, as you sit there questioning my motives in this column, let me just say this; before my job, (sadly before almost anything in my life), I am a Raptors fan first and if there’s one thing I understand it’s the frustration of many Raptors fans.

However as a fan, all I ask for is all-out effort and total commitment. Frankly that’s what I’ve seen this season (after December 17 anyway). Yes there have been mental errors and miscommunications on and off the floor, but since the trade in December you have seen a team that has never mailed-in an effort, never given up regardless of the score and played for, not just with one another.

So before you start lumping in the raptors.com web shill and calling for his head as well, remember building a winner takes time. But as the Raptors finish out this season, don’t be disappointed if they don’t make the playoffs, be disappointed if they don’t fight and claw to the finish.