Don’t Believe the Hype

I agree wholeheartedly, but one other thing. If Bosh gives any kind of indication that he will leave, Colangelo's track record is that he'd much rather send him on his merry way and get something in return than just sit a pray like previous GMs have done so before. Oh yeah, I believe Bosh's girlfriend is a Toronto native too.

I just don't think anyone has a clue what they're talking about when it comes to things like this and it's like watching everyone trying to fill out their fantasy leagues.

Grange, like all media types likes to cause discussion, with mindless speculation. He pointedly does not mention that BC will have $50/60 million (subject to the lux tax in '10) to spend on free agents (Bosh included) if Bosh uses his ETO and opts out after next year, '09/10 season, based on current commitments.

I think if Mitchell and BC are here in 2 years, things will be stable. Bosh will not leave. No point of worrying till at least next year, it's rare for a superstar to leave a playoff team. He gets more money, he's stable, and it's HIS team. All those things can go out the window if you leave. The last superstar I remember leaving in the prime of his career was shaq.

Anybody else I'm not thinking about? That left during free agency?

No fire. Have not heard anything from Bosh remotely suggesting that he would leave. Have actually heard him in the past saying he wants to help this team become a champion, the victory being all the sweeter.
Bottom line is the Raptors have to remain competitive. If this franchise goes into a funk for the next two years who would blame him. My faith is in BC(and Smitch) to keep this team competitive.

Lets not discuss this subject for a while.

As per the AI trade - question is does this turn the Pistons from a 50+ win team into a 60+ win team or vice versa. Makes Wednesday matchup all the more interesting.

I foresee CB4 having the same type of career as KG. I see him resigning with the Raptors in hops that he can win a championship with them. If this fails, then he will ask to be traded. But, the point is he will first resign with the Raptors. I think he cares about happiness more than a few extra million. I also believe that he is loyal to the Raptors

I can't be the only one who notices Bosh's ear to ear grin every time he talks to JO in timeouts. The guy is loving life and winning games and has an organization that is facilitating both. Let's not forget that Toronto has the same population as Miami and Boston, bigger if you count the golden horseshoe. So it's fair to say there's a market here to keep superstars and likely gain some as well.

Totally agree Andre. I think not only is Bosh now starting to get addicted to that "winning feeling" thanks to his new team-mate, but as long as he, Jose and JO stay healthy he's not going to entertain ideas of going elsewhere.

Bosh is not Lebron either. Lebron has stated, in Men's Health of all places, that he wants to be the first Billionaire athlete and wants to change the game from a business perspective much like Jordan did before him.

Pretty hard to do that in Cleveland so it's Bron Bron, not Bosh that I think will jump ship.

And on that note...a great Yahoo piece on the whole "Pistons making a run at James via this trade" thing.

http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news?slug=aw-dumarslebron110308&prov=yhoo&type=lgns

Dumars looks like a genius and it's scary how powerful World Wide Wes is...

Thanks for your thoughts Franchise. Another example of the sensible intelligent perspective one can expect on this site. It makes utterly no sense at all to get exercised over what may happen in 2 years with Bosh. It is 2 years away folks and it will only distract from enjoying what is happening in the here and now. What we have is a much respected GM who will do whatever it takes to create a winning environment. Sadly however, given past fan/media hysteria, I probably should prepare myself for the panic driven onslaught.

Let me preface this by saying this is two years away and I truly believe that if this team is competative and has direction Bosh will resign. However...

The following is an excerpt from Grange’s Blog post today:

"The Raptors better hope that Bargnani's game can grow to the point that Bosh can look at Calderon and the big Italian and figure ‘two more guys and I'll take my five against your five any day’. That's a big if, but it's absolutely vital in my eyes."

When I read this my heart stopped beating and my blood ran cold… To think that keeping Bosh, who right now looks as though he is fully capable of being and MVP in this league, rests on the play and development of Bargnani scares the crap out of me. The argument being made here is that the Raps have the inside track, they can offer more money and more years contract wise when Bosh opts out of his current deal. However, what it may come down to is winning, and by extraction, the make-up of the team and the proposed teammates.

If Bargnani fails and Bosh leaves, I will never forgive Colangelo. Ever. I don’t even care about being rational when it comes to this topic. If Bargs doesn’t pan out and that is one of the factors in us loosing Bosh, I’ll be devastated. The reason being is that the one major disappointment of the Colangelo regime (the Bargnani selection), which still hasn’t been satisfactorily explained to this day, was COMPLETELY avoidable. There were other players ( Roy, Aldridge even Rudy Gay) that were all ranked ahead of Bargnani, pretty much unanimously by everyone, scouts, pundits, writers, NBA insiders, bloggers, posters/commenters on blogs, George that works at my local deli and my Labrador retriever…

MAS
"There were other players ( Roy, Aldridge even Rudy Gay) that were all ranked ahead of Bargnani, pretty much unanimously by everyone, scouts, pundits, writers, NBA insiders, bloggers, posters/commenters on blogs, George that works at my local deli and my Labrador retriever"

Thats not the way I remember it..........…

Great post Franchise.
As for the rest of you, please don't do this to yourselves. Enjoy the basketball, and let the chips fall where they may. It's waaaaay to early to start worrying about whether Bosh will stay or not. It's like getting engaged to the girl of your dreams and the very next day starting to worry about when she's going to dump your sorry ass. There's no point in getting your panties in a knot!

MAS,
It’s possible that Bosh could leave, and Bargnani could fail. And it’s possible that CB4 could be an MVP, but I highly doubt the latter will happen. He’s a great player, but not a LeBron.

Worse case scenario – as others have stated – is we do lose Bosh. And if that was to unfold, we’d have plenty of bucks to chase other free agents (in 2010).

Of course the upside is, Bargs continues with tangible progress, Bosh stays, because he prefers to MAKE a winner (as opposed to dropping in on a potential), Calderon gets even better, Ukic turns into a solid backup at the point, and BC takes the extra funds he has available, and goes after a quality SG and PF, plus some decent backups.

You can shed tears all you want, about how we should have chosen Aldridge, Roy, or whoever, but from my perspective, Bargs has a potential that we’re only beginning to see. And at a price that allows us to complete the puzzle, and make a run at the Championship.

But for now, I’m enjoying the zip and passion we're showing. 2 years is a long way off.

I like to think that bosh is all about winning and if toronto continues this path it started on in 06/07, he'll stay and maybe even convince one of his elite buddies to come play with him - I'm thinking d-wade. Lebron is more about the money and to have multiple superstars would require them all to take less $...

There has to be some appeal to becoming a National hero in Canada, getting his number retired, that sort of thing.

now while i don't believe the hype i think if anyone is feeling worried the best thing they can do is go out a buy a pair of Chris' hyperdunks and a hoodie. that's the smartest strategy to avoid him leaving. support Chris more in various ways he enables us to do so (web, merchandise, going to games and being loud etc.)

<>

Or a Knicks fan ; )

RapthoseLeafs, "BC takes the extra funds he has available, and goes after a quality SG and PF, plus some decent backups."? Two years from now, the two main concerns will probably be Parker & O'Neal's age ... unless BC does something in the meantime ...

Come on Raps fans, why worry about Bosh leaving which will never happen, but if it did, hey we lost VC and look at us now. This is a business AND players come I am sure there will be another Bosh or VC or AI outthere, no need to panic. Plus Bosh would never say he would leave...I have news for Lebron the first billionaire athelete will be Tiger hands down...if he is not there yet. Big game tomorrow, hope we catch AI learning the Pistons system and just lay it on Detroit....Raps$Life

Great post Franchise.

I like the Colangelo angle. it really does settle things down for me knowing he's in charge around here.

but of course, as doug smith said this morning, the best thing the raps can do to keep bosh around is to win.

and what's to say the raps don't go gangbusters this year, make some noise in the playoffs, lego master splashes some money down in the summer, the raps come back next year and do ever better, and still have a bunch of money to spend on the big summer of class '04?

besides, if bosh has a big year and the raps do well, he's going to get all sorts of exposure down south. which is THE big reason the pundits down south think bosh might be motivated to make a move out of here.

hmmmmmm, a lot riding on this year for the raps. just sort of hit me how big (important) it could potentially be for everyone involved.

Great comments all round.

I think the best thing the Raptors can do is build a winning tradition.

A string of consecutive playoff appearances helps.

The stories by pundits in the national media (like bill simmons) about our rabid fanbase(and blogbase) helps too.

I have a hard time believing that players don't read the own press. Everybody's watching Sportscentre, and I'm thinking a significant amount follow sites such as hoopshype. A rep that Torontonians could care less about basketball is a fate far worse then being where its "cold", and its something we're all working hard to dispel.

I'd like to paraphrase a quote from the esteemed Sharone Wright, who way back when was acquired from Philly to be a poor man's Al Jefferson.

"In Philly, they love you when you're good. In Toronto, they love you cause you're theirs"

It's not lost on me that at that time the team and fans were still in the midst of post-expansion bliss.

However, its this kind of sentiment that would help make sure we're not the ones with cash and no taker when summer 2010 ends.

US exposure is an important thing to consider. I've been out of the country for a few years and while discussing ball with other NBA fans it's evident that not many (excluding Canadians) know much about Bosh. And those real fans who know their ball feel he's wasting away in T.O.

I for one, am not worried about this. I don't think Bosh feels a need to perform on the big stage. I actually feel he prefers to play out of the limelight and go under the radar. I remember when Bosh was drafted and their was much debate about whether the Raps should trade the 4th pick. Grundwald stuck to he guns and went for Bosh and he the whole season all I remember hearing was about this mild mannered kid with good character and bright future.

Well, we're seeing Bosh's great character develop before our eyes. He is one of those rare pro athletes that is a true leader with all the ability in the world without the ego and greed. He's even a bit of a geek. (I use that as endearingly, as it's one of the things I love most about CB4). He's got is youtube clips and Leno appearances to show who he is. I think, for Bosh, playing in T.O. always keeps him the underdog. And I'm sure that's just how he likes it.

Bosh truly is just a 'regular guy' and just wants to be happy. If the Raps continue to show they are committed to winning (and Colangelo surely will) then Bosh will be a Raptor for a long time to come.

P.S. Anyone have a list of the 09' free agent crop. I wanna see what else Detroit may be up to.

yardly - "The stories by pundits in the national media (like bill simmons) about our rabid fanbase(and blogbase) helps too."

I think that's a huge point here.

The NBA is slowly realizing the power of the online audience and NBA players are as well. And there's not a more rabid online fanbase in sport than us Raptor nuts.

PS - Love the Sharone Wright quote.

And as for Grange, as much as I preach from his pulpit, I can't agree with him this time. There were four equal frontrunners in that draft - Andrea, Ty Thomas, Aldridge and Morrison, believe it or not. After that it was Gay, who fell because of issues about his lack of passion for the game.

Finally it was Roy and Foye, both of whom projected to be the most "NBA ready," but lacked the "upside" of the other options before them.

As for the top 4, it really depended on what you were looking for, and which sports reporter you talked to. All had their own preferences so saying that Bargs was behind everyone else on people's lists simply isn't the case.

And Zuchini - here's a comprehensive list from ESPN about the free agents in 2009 and 2010.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?page=FreeAgents-09-10

You guys gotta change the sliding standings on the main page.

Great point about BC. There is a valid arguement that the overall talent on our team might have been better with Bcock having another tank season, and stock piling draft picks.

However, the main problem with him, which is evidenced with the carter and alston situations, is that he was unable to MANAGE SITUATIONS.

I really don't think his plan for the team was bad. However, he isn't the kind of person that inspires confidence in their ability to pursue and protect thier interests.

I have alot more confidence in BC to control and influence and account for certain intangible aspects of the situation.

Lol, i'm not sure if that makes sense! I would re-read, but i gotta do SOME work...

Did I miss something? What did Grange say that was so bad?