Tier 1: Chris Bosh (16 million through 2010)
Notes: Toronto is Chris Bosh and a bunch of guys I don’t want. Bosh has the highest value of anyone on this list. He’s the only guy I’d trade McGee for and the only guy I’d consider giving up one of the Big 3 for.
Potential offer: Bosh and Kris Humphries for Etan Thomas, JaVale McGee, Andray Blatche, DeShawn Stevenson and #5.
9. Toronto Raptors – Earl Clark, F, Louisville
This was one of the tougher picks to make as I was juggling between Clark, Wayne Ellington and Chase Budinger. For now, Clark gets the nod but in later versions of this mock, don’t be surprised if that changes. Clark is an all-everything forward, just like Shawn Marion, but doesn’t do any one thing very well. Those type of players don’t always flourish in the league, but Clark could prove otherwise.
3. Hire Sam Mitchell
Mitchell is the perfect hire for this franchise. He evokes memories of the Wolves when they were at their best. He not only has head coaching experience, he was the NBA’s coach of the year, and after he was fired, the team he was coaching, the Toronto Raptors, went south.
He has enough charm to lure fans and free agents, and enough backbone to hold players accountable.
9. Toronto Raptors:Tyreke Evans, PG, Memphis
Tough pick here for the Raptors as I have them going with value. Anthony Parker is more than likely leaving the Raptors next year via free agency and Evans is a good replacement. He can play both guard positions and has outstanding size. He is also great value right here.
NBA Comparison: Dwyane Wade
Other Options: Earl Clark, Demark DeRozan
Previous Pick: Gerald Henderson at #9
9. Toronto Raptors- DeMar DeRozan – SG, USC
The Raptors have been searching for an elite shooting guard ever since Vince Carter left, and in DeRozan, they may finally find him.
DeRozan is extremely athletic, but is still very raw.
His lack of inexperience and low skill-set could keep him out of the top ten, but his natural ability and fluidity could see him here, at the nine spot.
The European contribution has certainly been stronger in several drafts before 2009, however this one features the without doubt biggest story of the whole draft, Spain’s teenage sensation Ricky Rubio. Then there’s Brandon Jennings, the first elite high school project to take a sabbatical year in Europe. And there are the Llull’s, Casspi’s and Dasic’s, all of them subjects of intrigue for teams picking early in the 2nd round. Here’s in the game’s look at the prospect from an European viewpoint.
62 Raps
Congrats to Cleveland last night. Lebron is the real deal. What a franchise player and a leader. Same as Dwight Howard. There coaching, and there teammates, all mentally tough individuals.
Do these guys call out the fans and complain that they are not being loud enough? No.
Do these guys ever claim they want to be an MVP and then after 3 games gave up on their teams and began to sulk the rest of the season? No
Do these guys show up against all the bad teams in the NBA and disappear when facing an elite team? No
Do these guys spend all his time making youtube videos instead of stragetizing for the next game, maybe? No
You have your franchise players in Dwight and Lebron and you have your glorified role player in Chris Bosh.
You have Hedo, Rashard, Alston, SVG who give a fuck about team success and play hard each night.
Raptors have absolute Dog shit in Barganai, Caldeorn, Parker, Kapono. Guys to afraid to attack the basket and play defense. LOL What’s going to happen you going to break a nail?
What Lebron did last night and What Dwight has been doing is something Bosh could not be able to do 5 lifetimes. That’s not hyperbole either.All the heart I see from those players and teams is contagious.
Chris a loser. Trade the guy for someone who will give a fuck about playing for the Raptors and take pride in.
Bosh scoring a buzzer beater in a playoff series against Boston, in Boston, in a game 7 ? Let alone in Cleveland. LOL Wont see that in our lifetimes folks.
Well, Lebron hasn’t, Dwight never will, I guess there shit as well. Also, Dwight hasn;t been that great in the playoffs, had a good game 1, can’t shoot free-throws at any time, Bosh did not give up fucktard, and the reason that he gets sht down by other good teams is because nobody else on the team can beat them. Also, for interest, who would you compare Bosh to skillwise?
Comparing Bosh to Lebron is dumb. Plain and simple. Thats like comparing ANYONE to Jordan in the mid-90’s. Lebron is a physical freak of nature, the likes of which will not be seen in the NBA for one jillion years, so the comparisons to Bosh should really stop, at least as far as basketball goes. Dwight is also a great player, but as far as I can remember, he basically didn’t do ANYTHING without Lewis. And remember that the Orlando Magic have like 7 guys that can hit three’s consistently and space the floor. It’s not like if you put Dwight on the Raps we’d suddenly be a contender. It’s how his team is built that allows Dwight to succeed at what he does.
As teammates and leaders, Dwight and Lebron are definitely WAY ahead of Bosh, and that should be either something Chris works to get better at, or that the Raptors import with a trade or free agent. But, in general, I’d say Bosh is NOT a loser. He wouldn’t have been on the gold medal team if they thought he had a loser’s mentality, and definetly wouldn’t have been asked to be on the 2012 team if he was a loser. He’s not a real winner, either, but that has to do with the supporting cast more than anything. Like people have said thousands of times before on this site, one of the main reasons Bosh doesn’t show up to big games is because the other team’s defence zones in right on his dreadlocked little head, and his team generally can’t pick up the slack (see Playoffs, New Jersey). He is also not generally clutch in late game situations because HE’S A POWER FORWARD DAMMNIT!!!!! How many power forwards in the past 20 years (and don’t say Duncan, the pseudo center) have been their teams go-to guy in the last minute of a game? Please, give me a list. The Nba is a perimeter league where the rules are now tailored for guards to score. Not for power forwards. So a power forward being clutch is like a chicken trying to play the piano. So, I’d hold off on the “Tr4de B05h N00000WWW!11!!!!” chants until we see what happens this year, simply because the pressures on Colangelo to make a real goddamn team outta the Raps, and only after we see how Bosh performs with a real team should we crucify him or not.
/end rant
You know how we can tell you actually like Bosh? You rarely speak of anybody else. You are the prototype Raptor fan who listens to the radio, believes everything Stormin’ Norman says, reads the Toronto Sun because they have nice pictures, and thinks Tim Hortons coffee is the ultimate cup of joe. You are also exactly the type of person who, if he re-signed this summer, and somehow the Raptors made it to game 7 of the second round next year, you would sell your left nut to get a ticket and cheer with your (insert MLSE colour of the year here) shirt on every time Bosh made a play on either end of the court.
I really appreciate people like you and your continued insight into the one and only problem with the Raptors. Your stuff makes for great email forwarding and provides both laughter and pity from so many people.
You know what I love about your post? How it tries to sum up all of my basketball knowledge from my first post on a Raptors fan website. I like Bosh, but only so far as to defend him when he’s attacked for stupid reasons. He will never be Lebron. He will never be The Guy. But he’s a solid player that doesn’t deserve ALL this criticism. By the way, my favorite players are Brandon Roy, Manu Ginobli, and Kobe Bryant. Bosh makes my Top 10 as 10th. If you want to trade Bosh that’s fine, but what do you get for him at this point that makes the Raptors relevant next year? I’m fine with a trade but only if we completely commit to rebuilding and blow up the team (trade Caldy too, get picks and cap space and build for the future), not just trade Bosh for Monta or something, and hope him and Bargnani rip Lebron a new one next year, or something.
My post wasn’t in reply to you, it was in response to Joe.
I am completely on your side, re: Bosh. Anybody here will tell you I support the guy, but you are right, he is not a natural born leader, he has not been transformed into one, and he, in my opinion, will never be one. Is he a great player, worthy of everything you said in your original post? Yes. Is he worth max money? No, not with the team as constructed. Is he worth close to the max if we can sign or trade for some help? Yes.
Oh lol I’m sorry…I feel like a moron….I thought you were another of those people that goes on a team fan site and then proceeds to bash the team for 1000 posts. I also agree with less than the max for him, hopefully giving us money that Colangelo could turn into a quality wing starter.
I floated the theory before that if he does re-sign, I can see MLSE making an announcement that he signed for less than max in order to help the team, much like they did when Jose deferred some of his money.
Be a twist to try and get some fan support back, especially if it actually WAS used to improve the team as opposed to adding another floor to the condo development.
I agree 100% Great Post Joe. Bosh is nowhere near a franchise player and people think that he is. He led us to what multiple 22-60 season? LOL. He is not a star or will ever be a star.
Hedo Turkoglu and Rashard Lewis are better players then Bosh. They put there 20 points, like Bosh does but they actually WIN. And that’s what the NBA is about, to win. Not pad your stats every game while your team loses. That’s not what a leader does or should ever do.
Get your fucking teammates involved and try to help them get better, always. Calderon won’t attack the rim or play D? Then you better make him do it. Kapono wont shoot 3’s? you better make him do it.
Lebron, Duncan, Paul, Wade, Shaq, Dwight, would not settle for that shit, but our leader does
Now your showing you are stupid. Do you think Bosh wouldn;t win if he was surrounded by two all-stars and a solid bench. Also, Bosh, or anyone else can’t get Calderon to get to the rim if he’s not healthy enough to do so.Lebron doesn’t tell people to take shots, he motivates them to, like Bosh does, only Kapono doesn;t seem ot want to.
dumbest post of the year.
I would suggest we do a dumbest post of the day to go along with the ROD, but that would just be wrong.
Maybe you guys are the dumb ones.
Ahh, the “whole world is wrong and i’m not” theory…
Classic stuff there buddy.
Keep telling yourself that…
Cosa, I feel like Bosh may have stolen your bike as a child or something…He may not be a franchise, go-to, dunk-on-your-mother-and-never-apologize player but he’s no Tim Thomas either. Besides, I’m pretty sure Bosh only “padded” his stats on the last game of the season for the rebounds. And come on…if I needed a couple more boards to go from 9.9 to 10, I’m pretty sure I would try harder too.
A sign of a great player is too make each player accountable.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MkwU6eFA8As
You call this guy a winner? His Best friend is in the conference Finals trying to win something and this guy is getting stoned and making movies. Lebron and Paul and wade don’t like him either from what I have heard.
That’s a Franchise Player.
So i understand, he sucks b/c you don’t like his blog and you think 3 guys don’t like him personally?
Please post a list of who Lebron likes and doesn’t like so that we can evaluate them as NBA players. Thanks!
LOL, so “you heard” that three players don’t like him, and that’s supposed to mean something?
Especially when they ALL played together (and won a gold medal together)and (unsolicited) praised each other up and down in the media for all of last summer?
I actually think Mitchell wouldn’t be a bad fit for the Wolves. At least until they’re expected to win for real, until then Mitchell’s a good “kick your ass” type coach for them. He’s guaranteed to get something out of Rodney Carney.
Who would make a better coach in Minny: Sam Mitchell or Jay Triano?
probably Smitch because he has Minny roots.
yeah, but that’s the easy answer, much like some are using to explain why Jay is here. Forget history or nationality….who gets the better results with that Minny team?
Then i would have to say Triano.
Well when Smitch was here he had a bad time developing players or having players play to their full potential. As soon as he left and Triano came in Bargs and other young players started to show their worth.
With a young team in Minny i think Triano would help develop them alot more than a jacka** of a coach.
yet, as the media states, the team had a worse record under Triano.
I would tend to agree that Jay would be the better coach to cultivate young talent. Not sure he can get the best out of established players, however. Also not a big fan of how he throws tantrums during some games.
lets not forget CB4, that was all Smitch.
Well good luck RuPaul. You will really need it in the future, wherever you end up.
Whatever team this loser ends up they will become worse, mark my words.
Mr 22-60 Franchise player
Bosh has a prime Vince Carter to work with, Donyall marshall, jalen Rose, calderon, Ford, garbo, parker, Mike James, marion.
I guess that’s not enough for him
LOL…because that wasn’t his rookie year or anything, right? :P
And at that time, Vince was trying to play his way out of town, Jalen was at the tail end of his career, Jose couldn’t make layups, Donyell was still a scrub, and mike james was well…mike james…
And you forget that we won 47 games under Bosh’s leadership just two seasons ago…and who was the second best player on that team? TJ Ford, who (even though I’m a huge fan of his) is hardly considered to be good NBA help.
Are you gay?
Why are you following all my comments.
Like I said, BC gave him all the pieces he wanted.
Bosh was bitching that he had no tough centre, he gets Oneil
Then he complains we have no SF..we get Marion
He wants Calderon to be the starting PG and not Ford. he gets his wish.
Yet he can’t deliver anything other then 22-60 season
47 wins with eh worst NBA season in 60 years right? the conference was absolutely attrocious. Put it this way, every team was like facing the sacremento Kings.
BTW buddy, what happened in the playoffs that year? who shut down Bosh all series? That’s right, your Boston Celtics 8th man Mikki Moore.
Mentioning Mike ‘you miss 100% of the shots you take’ James is not helping your argument.
Funny that almost every player in the 2003 draft has won a championship or has been to the conference finals already. The list is very long. Look it up.
If Bosh wants help he should have demanded help 3 years ago
Kobe, Lebron, Dwight,Dwayne (2006), all demanded help and now look where they are?
Heck derrick Rose is a rookie and he has more playoff wins in 1 season then Bosh in 6 years. That is pathetic.
OH MY GOD, so did Darko, I guess he’s better than Bosh to
When did Bosh become Kobe and Lebron? you dumb fuck,wake up and read no one is saying Bosh is in the same league as the last two nba mvp’s so lighten up.
So its Bosh’s fault that the front office hasn;t improved the team, I guess he should follow Lebron’s lead and become GM of the team, moron
I love your use of statistics. Did you know that the average birth rate in Europe decreased after World War 2? And did you know that the stork population also decreased in the same fashion? Conclusion? Storks must be how babies are made.
Derrick Rose has more wins because his team is pretty stacked. Some of their bench players could be starters for us. And imagine if Salmons and Miller hadn’t come to Chicago in that trade. The Bulls might not have even made the playoffs. And once again, Kobe, Lebron, and Wade are in a different league than Bosh. Noone here says Bosh is worth the max like they are. I don’t see why you keep bringing the “if Kobe and Lebron can do it, why can’t Bosh?” arguement. Bosh can’t carry a team on his back and win games, because forwards generally don’t do that in this league. But again, he is not Tim Thomas, either.
And also, first you say that Bosh had enough help, with Carter and Jalen Rose and all those other people, and then you say that he asked for help, with O’neal. But now you say that he should’ve demanded more help three years ago? I honestly don’t know what your attacking Bosh for anymore. Because he’s not good at telling a GM how to do his job?
The Bulls stacked?
You call Ben Gordon and Tyrus Thomas and scrubs stacked?
How is that different from Marion, bargs and Calderon? Common lol
Maybe Derrick Rose can actually, you know, lead a team, perhaps?
I get your point but I don’t see how the Bulls are that great of a team. It’s equal to what we are.
Heck, the 76′ers are equal to us and they made the playoffs.
Bill Simmons, Shaq, Lebron, numerous sports brodcasters, Zach Randolph, have all called out Bosh for his poor leadership skills and not leading a team because he needs 4 superstars at each position.
To post #10 answer me this honestly….
Say BC gets Bosh his help and were still 22-60 and 14 in the Conference? Then what will your excuse be. Eg..
Devin Harris
James Harden
Shawn marion
Chris Bosh
Andres beidrens.
Bench..
Jr Smith
Parker
Graham
Rasho
If that happened, I would tell you that you’re absolutely right, Bosh can’t carry a good team. But if that team was assembled I’m very very sure we wouldn’t be 14th.
Just wondering, do you think Carmelo Anthony is a better player than CB4, if so then why?
You can give Bosh Durant, Roy and Bynum and he still would lead us to 15th place in the East. People don’t understand how much of 3rd option he really is.
So you call Ben Gordon, Tyrus Thomas, Brad Miller, John Salmons, Derrick Rose, Kirk Heinrich, and a very lively Joakim Noah not pretty stacked? Compared to the Raptors? Are you for real? That Bulls team can actually play defense. The Raptors, with Marion, “Turn-stile” Calderon, and “WHERE DO I GO NEXT!!??” Bargnani could not this past season. And by the way I never said Rose couldn’t lead a team better than Bosh. Rose does seem to be a great leader. But Rose has a better team, leading to those playoffs wins you mentioned.
Sad part is if you Gave Bosh that team they would not have made the playoffs.
Derrick Rose took that team to what was it..5 extra overtimes? If that is not leadership I don’t know what is
I’m sorry everyone. I think I just saw the light. You guys are all absolutely right. Why didn’t I see it before? I mean, if you put Chris Bosh on the ‘95 Bulls, they never would have made the playoffs. I mean, Bosh is just such a terrible leader that that team would’ve imploded and Jordan would’ve went to baseball permanently in shame. Again, sorry you all. Chris Bosh is that bad. I’m serious, if you ever see Bosh walking towards you on a street, run the other way because he will turn you into a loser.
No but What he’s saying is that there is no way ( I would bet my home and car) That if you replace Rose with Bosh, the series would have went to 7 games. Not just that, but went to several overtimes in the process.
You’d have to be ignorant and an idiot to assume he would have put that chicago team on his back and went to 7 games.
I will call a spade a spade and say, quite honestly, the Bulls would have got swept.
Your right, it wouldn’t have gone to 7 games because then the bulls would only have 1 point guard and Ben Gordon to run the offence, which would result in abject failure.
hahaha…DING DING DING
Although, Bosh could hit a couple of 3s. :)
46 re: 35
I think a great option for backup c/pf would be chris anderson. Toughness, rebounding and high energy for a very affordable price.
affordable price?? He is a fan favourite in Denver and the locals would go crackers if Denver let him go. He turned his life around there and management love him. You’d have a better chance prying LeBron out of Cleveland.
Lets be realistic here. Denver currently has 63 million committed to salaries before JR smith and Anderson. Assuming JR smith gets around 7-9 million (which is how much i think he is worth), you are basically paying double for Anderson because of luxury. While I agree that Anderson is loved in Denver and he undoubtedly loves Denver, are Denver going to realistically commit 8-12 million (4-6 doubled) for one bench player? I doubt it, especially considering the camby deal of last year.
JR Smith signed a three year extension last year. He’s on the books for $5.5mil.
The Nuggets will resign Anderesen. Their owner has been trying to cut the salary down some, but he has deep pockets and he’ll be overly (wrongly) giddy about their postseason run. The rest will talk him into signing Andersen for anything up to four years and the MLE. I really can’t see him letting the Birdman go, not when he feels his team is right there for a title and after Andersen played such a large role. Kroenke was only upset about the payroll because the Nuggets weren’t getting out of the first round.
Now Kleiza …. Kleiza could be in play. I struggle to see Denver resigning him after they’ve signed Andersen. He’s someone worth focusing on from the Nuggets.
That is chilling. We were speaking about Kleiza last night and wondered if he might shake out of the Nuggets tree.
Owners need to appease fans. Just ask JYD’s agent.
Dave’s observations are 100% on the $$$.
Except for the personal dislike which Jay Triano has for Linas Kleiza … who happens to be a hoops thug of the highest order … an add like that would be a solid move for the Raptors.
Personally, I don’t see the Nuggets parting ways with LK because he is simply too valuable on their squad.
My bad. I generally use hoopshype for salary information and they had his contract ending this year. I also think Kleiza is a quality player and a solid backup for the raptors. Definately would focus on trying to obtain him over a rasho.
Yeah, Hoopshype is inconsistent with free agents from the previous summer. I don’t know why they don’t update it more often. Sham Sports is a more reliable source for salaries.
As I’ve stated in the past, I don’t want the Raps to spend money offseason, so I’m against signing Kleiza overall … but if they were to spend, and they appear to do be planning on doing so, Kleiza is a good target.
I’d only sign him if I were planning on giving him 30+ minutes a night though, because I don’t think the Raps can get value for their buck otherwise. That means letting Shawn Marion go and giving Kleiza the starting SF slot. If Kleiza did get 30+ minutes a night, I think he’s a candidate for a breakout year and he’d likely become a great trade asset too.
That goes for pretty much all teams, I’m unlikely to be a fan of the contract someone signs Kleiza to … unless he’s due to get 30 minutes or more a game from that team. From a personal point of view, Kleiza should be trying to get a starting spot for his own development and the good of his career, it’s the next step and he needs to find that opportunity.
If I was Bosh I would wait until next year b4 resigning with such dysfunctional franchise (even if the max is offered). Bosh would be the free agent prize of 2010 (Lebron is gonna be a Cav and maybe Wade might leave). Bosh could go to the big lights of NY and play for D’antoni or could play robin to wade’s batman and win chips there.
That guy on the Washington blog who keeps going on about getting Bosh and keeping Jamison, Arenas, Caron, and Haywood is a clown. What a ridiculous trade. I tried to post on his blog earlier this month but I couldn’t register. Why would Colangelo consider that?
I’m sick of these clowns going crazy with the Trade Machine and not considering what players mean to teams, or relative player values, or the relative values of contracts, or common sense.
Since the Vince Carter trade, everybody believes that they can fleece the Raptors.
Can you blame them?!
Lets talk draft…. Everyone has their favorites in the top 10 but who’s the most probable BUST in the lottery? My bet is on Jordan Hill…