Originally Posted by Mike Ganter

Also, there is the presumed arrival of former Memphis coach Marc Iavaroni to join the Raptors staff for next season.

The groundwork for such speculation was laid a few weeks ago when Iavaroni turned up at a practice as an "observer."

Well, the "observer," according to some reports, has since become a slam-dunk addition to Triano's staff next season as an assistant with Triano remaining head coach and GM Bryan Colangelo supposedly behind all this.

Turns out the Iavaroni cameo at Raptors practice had nothing to do with Colangelo.

Iavaroni and Triano bumped into each other earlier this year when the Raptors were visiting Philadelphia and Iavaroni was in town to get together with members of that 1982-83 championship Sixers team that he played on. Triano, who attended a big-man camp for coaches in Italy with Iavaroni a few years ago asked what else Iavaroni was up to these days and was told he was visiting various teams to stay sharp with coaching philosophies and the like.

He was planning on "hanging out" with four or five teams to accomplish this and Triano invited him to Toronto to do the same.

Iavaroni expressed concern that this might be awkward for Triano, who has yet to have the interim tag removed from his own position. Triano quickly waved that off at which point Iavaroni said he would clear it with Colangelo first.

"I did not feel threatened at all," Triano said yesterday. "Marc and I have a relationship ... nor do I feel threatened by the fact that Dave Smart from Carleton (University in Ottawa) who won another Canadian championship just recently is coming in later this week. Coaches do that. Coaches always want to help other coaches because it can be a pretty tough world."

More concerning for Triano is finishing up on a high note this season. With six games to play, three against playoff teams, Triano said there is still some judgments to be made on personnel.