Jay Triano has worked with three different Toronto Raptors head coaches, three general managers and a revolving door of players.
Through all the changes the NBA team has seen during his four seasons in Toronto, the Canadian coach has remained a constant.
The Raptors head into a new season with a new roster after one of the most dramatic off-season makeovers Triano has seen yet. And, he believes, it may turn out to be the most successful.
``I think we've got all the right reasons to be optimistic for this year,'' Triano said at training camp at Waterloo's RIM Park on Friday. ``I think this is the best talent and best basketball I.Q. that we've had in a long time.''
GM Bryan Colangelo blew up the roster in the off-season _ only five players remain from the team that went 27-55 last season.
The mood is more positive, Triano said, with Jose Calderon and Raptors rookie Jorge Garbajosa fresh off their gold-medal performance for Spain at the world championships and the signing of Chris Bosh to a contract extension in the off-season.
``Bryan has really changed the face of the organization from the top and from the product that's on the floor,'' said Triano. ``There are so many new faces, and we've kept the good guys, Mo (Peterson) and Chris and the rest of the guys who are still here. It's fun coming to practice with these guys because they're all good people, and that makes it such a good environment.''
The Raptors will wrap up their training camp in Waterloo on Saturday with an intersquad game. The scrimmage could produce some spirited battles.
``That's the thing about this team, we're deep this year and we have a lot of good players, a lot of athletes, coach (Sam Mitchell) is talking about guys fighting for minutes and that's what we're doing,'' said Peterson. ``Nothing is etched in stone and we have to go out and compete every day. It's fun though because it's a challenge, guys are definitely trying to make their mark on this team.''
The Raptors returned to Waterloo to hold camp this year after two seasons at St. Catharines, Ont. Triano, Peterson and Bosh _ who was in his rookie season _ are the only Raptors remaining from the 2003 Waterloo camp.
``That kind of shocked me when I heard that,'' said Triano. ``In this business there is so much change and so much turnover, that you don't realize it sometimes until you hear a fact like that. . . it kind of hits you a bit.''
But the 48-year-old Triano, who worked for coaches Lenny Wilkens and Kevin O'Neill before Mitchell, said he's made the most of the changes in staff, gleaning knowledge from everyone he's worked with.
``It's been interesting,'' said Triano, who was the first Canadian-born coach in the NBA. ``Different coaches have different styles of teaching, they have different personalities, they have different ways to interact with the players, they have different styles of what they want to do offensively and defensively, and for a person who loves basketball like I do, it's been great to learn from so many different people.''
The native of Niagara Falls, Ont., heads into the NBA season after a few unexpected weeks off. He had accepted a job as the head coach of the Republic of Georgia's national team, but Georgian officials pulled the plug on the job at the last minute.
``I was in Toronto getting stuff ready to go,'' said Triano. ``I honestly don't know why, and at the time I was excited about going and wanted the challenge. But when it fell through there was also the sense of relief too, that this is going to be six great weeks that I've cleared my schedule for and I can take time off now.''
Triano was the head coach of the Canadian men's senior team, leading the squad to an impressive seventh-place finish at the 2000 Olympics in Sydney. But after the team didn't qualify for the 2004 Games, Triano's contract wasn't renewed.
While the Georgia job was not to be, Triano said he'd love to coach a team at the international level.
``If I had that opportunity, I would do it for sure, I was looking forward to that,'' said Triano. ``Any time you coach a national team, there's just such a sense of pride. These guys (Calderon and Garbojosa) played for Spain and the two Slovenians (Rasho Nesterovic and Uros Slokar) played at the world championships. . . There's no money involved, you just do it for the love of the game and the love of your country.
``To be able to help guys get better and try to qualify for the world championships, I was looking forward to it and I would love the opportunity to work with somebody or as a head coach internationally for sure.''
