Rob Babcock was not Scott Layden; he had a plan, he had support and he knew what direction he wanted to take his team. Unfortunately, Babcock?s firing was a case of too little too late.

Babcock was a marked man as soon as he signed off on the Vince Carter trade, as soon as he admitted to knowing that Alonzo Mourning would never don a purple uniform and from the moment that his first draft selection as a general manager was the woeful Rafael Araujo.

But as a basketball observer, the man was not all that bad. He came off as genuine when talking to the media and when I spoke to him one on one. He brought in a strong support system in Wayne Embry and his brother Pete, both experienced general managers.

Since the Araujo pick and the Carter trade, Babcock had nowhere to go but up and that?s exactly where he went. He traded Rafer Alston?s long-term contract when it was discovered that he was certainly not one of the ?character guys? that the team needed. Not only did he rid the team of the long-term burden of the enigmatic, abrasive Alston, but he accidentally landed a second star in Mike James, who has simply been excellent for the Raptors.

To compensate for the Araujo pick, Babcock drafted Charlie Villanueva, much to the chagrin of so-called basketball critics, Joey Graham and Roko Ukic and additionally, he signed Jose Calderon from Europe. With those picks, Babcock had silenced the critics with Villanueva having multiple 20-plus-point and 10-plus-rebound efforts. Graham?s defensive tenacity and athleticism earned him a spot in the starting lineup and Calderon plays starter?s minutes in nearly every game.

Babcock could have waited longer on trading Carter, but that was the best deal available to him, agreed upon by Embry, team president Richard Peddie and anyone else who signed off on the deal. Carter had to leave Toronto; he came to training camp out of shape and admitted to not giving a full effort when he was on the floor.

As I watch a smiling Babcock talk about how he scheduled the meeting with Peddie, only to be fired, I cannot help but feel that a mistake is being made. Babcock had a good heart, he worked hard and was always either scouting or talking trades and put a full effort into his job. A year and a half later, right when it seemed that Babcock was turning the corner, the team decides to release him.

The truth is that Babcock fell out of favour with the fans and with the passionate fan base in Toronto, a scathing media and a team that has an ultimately minimal chance of making the playoffs, this was most likely the only time that Babcock could be relieved of his duties.

As Babcock leaves his press conference, a smile on his face, he thanks the media by saying that he understands that it?s their job to hold him under the microscope and that he hopes to work with them again. Once a marked man, always a class act and that will be Babcock?s legacy, as it is nearly a certainty that he?ll never be given another chance to be the head general manager of a professional basketball team.

The tragedy arising from Babcock?s firing is that the team will continue with his plan, insisting that he could not pilot his own airplane to land successfully. Now the search begins for a veteran general manager and the only positive to come out of this is that whoever his replacement ends up being, they will likely replace Peddie as team president.