Chris Bosh is willing, but unable, to pass to open teammates. I always said if only he could average 5 assists per game the Raptors would be a contender.

While this could be a skill that he might develop, it is not a skill he has.

* IMO, Bosh would not have yelled at Moon, the way he did, if Sam Mitchell was still the coach of the team … or, someone with the attributes Sam has.

* Good players need other good players on their team, in order to succeed in a major way. A lot of good players, not just one or two.

* Great players need other good players on their team, in order to succeed in a major way, as well.

* Having a bunch of good players on your team and one or two great players, as well, is what it ususally takes to be able win a NBA championship.

* Please do not make the common mistake of thinking that a player who has:

- a Top Notch attitude
- good leadership skills
- an awareness of his limitations
- outstanding creativity, imagination, & curiosity about life
- the ability to play WITH other good-great teammates
- the ability to Rebound
- the ability to Team Defend [including vs Pick & Roll/Pop situations]
- the ability to Block Shots, coming from off the ball
- the ability to run the floor
- the ability to score the ball
- the ability to get to get fouled and make his FT’s
- the ability to play the CENTER position, as the Hub of the TEAM
- the willingness to pass the ball to open teammates

is something other than a Franchise Player … because he doesn’t conduct himself, or perform during key phases of specific games, quite like MJ, Oscar, Magic, Larry, Kobe, D-Wade or Lebron.

* Please do not make the common mistake of thinking that a Franchise Player MUST also be a team’s Clutch Scorer, or display highly visible signs of “intensity”, at all times, or a “cutthroat” attitude … so as to avoid be labelled as a “softie”.

IMO, Chris Bosh is nothing like Pau Gasol … physically, mentally, emotionally, and/or skill wise.

Chris Bosh is a “poor man’s” version of an all-time great player, who was never a great scorer in his own right but was definitely the FULCRUM on the teams which he Captained and coached in the NBA, which were championship-worthy 11 times … and, who was fortunate enough to link up with a fabulous head coach/GM, early in his career who knew how to let these attributes flourish at the heart of their team, spilling over to each player on the squad and creating a culture of excellence overall.

The main problems which the Raptors face are NOT rooted in the performance or the character of Chris Bosh [or Jose Calderon].

Bosh is a foundation player that any team which aspires to win a championship would love to have on their squad as a Center-piece.

The Raptors won 47 games during the 2006-2007 season … with Chris Bosh, as their Center.

If they play Chris Bosh as their Center, with Jose Calderon as their Point Guard, the Raptors are 2/5ths of the way to building a high calibre team.

It’s a shame that their talents have been largely wasted over the last 2 seasons.

But, the above comment is way off. First, you won’t get full value back for Bosh but you will get value and best of all relief. Arguably both Minnesota and Memphis traded franchise cornerstones for peanuts and both franchises are better off for it than they were before the gifting despite being horribly run. Here are the problems with the above comment.

1) The franchise will lose credibility and no one will want to come here.
Sorry to tell you but the franchise has no credibility. LA Lakers, Houston Rockets, Detroit Pistons (arguably), Boston C’s, San Antonio, Utah (arguably), Miami, Portland, OKC (surpisingly) and Dallas (to a lesser extent) have credibility. That is it, the whole list. Everyone else is seen as floundering – even Orlando has yet to get it. These are franchses that are seen as well run or reasonably well run by players.

1b) Save the Raps Reputation? What reputation? What has ever been won in Toronto? Boston has a reputation, Lakers have a reputation, SA even Dallas but Toronto? What exactly do you want to save, annual lottery visits and first round exits? This is a losing mentality, you either move ahead or die. No one wants to come to Toronto already. The hot list of places people want to go consists of places that have proven winners and big star press/warm weather-desirable locations. This list reduces the above to only: Miami, Dallas, San Antonio, LA Lakers and Houston. People will look to Boston, Portland and Detroit due to history but as you go through the rest of the league there is a sort of micro economic trade off of their desperation and how many dollars you would have to throw their way to get them even if you really could get them. Nothing against Chicago, Toronto, etc as cities but if it wasn’t for Colangelo most players would not even give the Raps a second look unless they were desperate. Sorry haters but if you don’t see this find me 10 better GM’s in the NBA and list them.

2) Running Bosh out of town. Its a business. If Bosh wants to be Kevin Garnett and get 20 Mil plus a season to be a bridesmaid then trade him now. In the end he will thank you and the team will be better off. He is not going to take you any farther than Garnett could take you (as stated above). To admit this and do a deal is not running anyone out of town. It is making a smart business decision that everyone benefits from. No one is going to look at it as a negative if it is handled in the straight up manner. I have to believe that even Bosh sees the limits here. As the Cavs just proved the NBA has changed. One SuperStud is not enough. Look at LA’s line up. 3 guys who would be or have been go to guys on their teams (Odom, Gasol, Kobe) and probably would be the best player on any of the bad teams. Ditto Boston and even to a certain extent Houston and Orlando (Howard, Lewis with ?’s for Nelson/Hedo). Bosh, Marion and ? is not going to cut it unless the third guy is Kobe/Wade/Bron.

Committing 50 Mil to Bosh, Marion and Bargs? You will get yourself at most five years of borderline playoffs with no flexibility and declining skill sets. Frustration at best. Again, I like Bosh but he is not going to get you anywhere at 20 Mil. You have 3 choices. Wait and offer him 12-15 M and pray like hell that he will take it and you can use the rest to get something to fill in the missing pieces. Trade him now for a young (Al Jefferson type) and picks. Stick your head in the sand and pay him the full monty and in 5 years trade him for peanuts to LA or Boston or who ever the flavor of the month is then and watch him win a title while hammering your franchise for wasting his career and you start over anyway.

Colangelo gave this thing a run, I think he saw all this already. It hasn’t and won’t work. It is time to make the tough call. If you can’t see that and he can’t get it done I hope you enjoy Timberwolves 2 as it is now other franchises are making tough decisions/moves and passing us by. I don’t want to see that happen and I truly hope Bosh either comes to terms with this (not sure I would if I were him – money is money) or Colangelo gets the guts to do it.

With a first rounder added in, it’s not a terrible trade for the Raptors. What it is, however, is a terrible trade for Chicago … which, IMO, the Bulls would have zero interest in making.

http://games.espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=qrkwjg

Add in a first round going to Toronto, and I really feel like we improve our team.

i don’t believe that “we gotta get tougher talk they are all proclaiming” they just want that one singleton, varejao, anderson, hustle player off the bench that causes havoc, which i think they found in pops. otherwise its about scoring the ball.

nevertheless, watching every team on the league pass, the raps frontcourt was one of the more interesting ones to watch. adding a prototypical two guard, might turn us into the finesse team that just flat-out outscores you.

if we lose bosh for nothing, i will be upset. you would figure that bosh would tell BC that he wants out so he can move him accordingly. the trade would also have to include either a kapono or a banks.

otherwise i want to see this frontcourt together combined with the 3 (marion) and a two guard that can do things and see if it could work.

I don’t see any reason that Bosh deserves to climb that much higher on the list, and I’m sure the Invisible Hand will ultimately determine his value.

The only fault I see is that if you are trying to look at salary as an important measure for a players value, the current list is misleading. In two years time when Lebron, Carmelo and Wade are rightly on top, and Marbury, Francis, Wallace etc have finally expired, a GM might feel foolish for putting Bosh amongst the top 5 or 6 highest paid players. At that point the value you are getting for the $$s is much more suspect.