Rob Babcock

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Rob Babcock (born ca. 1953) is an assistant general manager with the Minnesota Timberwolves of the NBA. He is most notably remembered as the former general manager of the Toronto Raptors. Brothers Pete and Dave also are employed by the NBA.

Babcock has 17 years of NBA management experience. On June 7, 2004, he was named to head the Raptors' basketball operations.

Babcock earned his master’s degree in secondary education and psychology from Arizona State University in 1977. He received an undergraduate degree in 1974 from Grand Canyon with a bachelor of arts in education and social studies.

Prior to working in the NBA on a full-time basis, he was head coach at Phoenix (Arizona) College, where his teams advanced to the ACCAC playoffs twice and were the regional runners-up in 1986. He joined the NBA in 1987 as the director of scouting for the Denver Nuggets. He has also held part-time scouting positions with the Detroit Pistons, Cleveland Cavaliers, San Diego Clippers and Indiana Pacers before joining the Nuggets staff.

Babcock then completed a successful tenure with the Minnesota Timberwolves after 12 seasons. The last two as the team’s vice-president of player personnel. He served as the director of player personnel from 1994-2002 and two seasons (1992-94) as a fulltime scout.

[edit] General Manager of the Raptors

Babcock left Minnesota to accept the Raptors' GM position. Raptors star Vince Carter had preferred Julius Erving as General Manager instead. Despite Carter's personal friendship with MLSE Chairman Larry Tanenbaum, they decided to go with Babcock instead. (Erving has never held any coaching or managerial position with an NBA.)

Babcock's first move as GM was drafting center Rafael Araujo 8th overall in the 2004 NBA Draft, a widely criticized move from the onset, considering highly touted Andre Iguodala was drafted with the next pick. Araujo's disappointing play has fueled the criticism of Babcock. As well, prior to the 2004-05 season, Babcock signed mercurial point guard Rafer Alston to a 5 year deal. The move backfired, with Alston reportedly threatening to retire after repeated altercations with rookie head coach Sam Mitchell.

On December 17, 2004 Babcock traded a then disgruntled Vince Carter to the New Jersey Nets in exchange for Alonzo Mourning, Aaron Williams, Eric Williams and two first round draft picks. He has come under fire from Raptor fans for this trade, which was regarded as one of the most lopsided deals in NBA history. Mourning never played a game for the Raptors, and his contract was in fact bought out shortly after the trade, supposedly due to career-threatening injury. However, Mourning signed on with the Miami Heat shortly thereafter and subsequently played a major role in helped them win the NBA Championship in 2006. The two Williamses played limited minutes for the Raptors prior to being traded in separate deals in 2006. However, Joey Graham, drafted with one of the picks acquired from New Jersey, has shown promise in his first two years (though inconsistency has been an issue). Babcock's Raptors were voted as having the best overall draft that year by RealGM.com. His two second round picks, Uros Slokar and Roko Ukic, have drawn a lot of international scouts. Surprisingly, Toronto's record improved after the Carter trade, as the team managed almost a .500 percentage.

The departure of Carter from Toronto opened the door for emerging star Chris Bosh to take the leadership role of the team. Another sometimes-forgotten benefit resulting from the Carter trade was the enormous cap space created by getting rid of his long, massive contract (this year alone Carter will earn about $15 million[1]). Babcock's successor as Toronto's GM, Bryan Colangelo, took full advantage of all this cap space when he took command after the 2005-06 season. Without the Carter trade, the Raptors would not have had the cap space to sign free agents Anthony Parker, Jorge Garbajosa, or Fred Jones.

Wayne Embry had originally been hired for the 2004-05 season as the Senior Basketball Advisor to Babcock. With MLSE citing a lack of confidence in Babcock's abilities, Embry was elevated to Senior Advisor to MLSE President and CEO Richard Peddie, bypassing Babcock in the chain of command.

In the 2005 NBA Draft, Babcock again defied experts by drafting Charlie Villanueva with the 7th overall pick, a move roundly criticized throughout the NBA. However, prior to being traded to Milwaukee in July 2006, Villanueva played well, if inconsistently, for the Raptors. He earned NBA Rookie of the Month honors in December 2005, scored a rookie-season-high 48 points in March 2006 against the Milwaukee Bucks, and finished as runner-up in the rookie of the year award.

Babcock made two other surprising moves which earned him praise within the NBA. They included the signing of Jose Calderon from Spain, and the trading of Alston to the Houston Rockets for point guard Mike James on October 4, 2005. James, who left the Raptors after the 2005-06 season, was widely seen as a "me-first" point guard, but was nonetheless a significant upgrade over the temperamental Alston.

Babcock took a lot of heat when a false report claimed he had said the team would be worse in 2005-06 than the year before. However, even though being a misinterpretation, the headline only fueled the media to point more fingers. The Raptors began the 2005-06 season losing their first 9 games and 15 out of their first 16. The team improved in December, but continued to struggle in January.

On January 26, 2006, just one and half years after being hired, Babcock was relieved of his duties as the General Manager of the team by Maple Leafs Sports & Entertainment President and CEO Richard Peddie. Wayne Embry was named GM for the interim and Bryan Colangelo was appointed as Babcock's permanent successor.

Shortly afterwards, Babcock returned to the Minnesota Timberwolves organization as a consultant. On September 14, 2006, Babcock along with Fred Hoiberg were both hired as assistant general managers for the Timberwolves.

Preceded by Glen Grunwald

General Manager, Toronto Raptors 2004-2006

Succeeded by Bryan Colangelo