Lunchbox Links

The whole ruminating aloud through Twitter about not playing in the post season and wondering how heavy the MVP trophy is kind of felt a bit like he’s toying with people just to see what kind of response he’ll get. Grow up.

The way Bosh is going about this is juvenile, and far from classy. That being said, if you acknowledge that the fellow is attention hungry and a big fan of social media, then its not contrary to his past behavior. He made himself a Chris Bosh app for goodness sake!

He’s playing on the fact that he’s an impending free agent to expand the Chris Bosh brand. And considering the fact that Twitter is supposed to be an unfiltered way for athletes to communicate with fans…well reader beware.

re: Hindsight

I wonder if the best thing for Raptor Fans Collective conscious is the perception that Bryan Colangelo pulled all reasonable stops to get Chris Bosh to stay in Toronto. Now these moves may have been misguided, but their intention was to get Toronto to a higher competitive level, with an eye towards making at least some playoff noise before Chris was a free agent.

If the front office perceived us as having a legitimate chance to keep him if those moves worked out, it was just that a chance. However, this is more then Tracy McGrady ever gave us. His mind was made up, and that’s his right as a free agent, just like it was for Damon Stoudamire. Bosh may not have been the most talented of the past bright lights in Toronto, but he probably carried himself the best of the whole lot. If ever there was a player to take any kind of chance on to keep, it was Chris Bosh. I don’t know if people want “What if” in the back of their heads, especially if our next few draft picks don’t turn out as expected (see past Raptors draft 2004,2005, and 2006 thus far).

While I also championed trading him early for a higher potential return, there is always some luck involved when acquiring players of Bosh’s calibre. It’s easy for me to say such things, I didn’t own the team during the immediate post-Vince period when fan interest cratered. From a front office POV, they likely thought the risk was worth it for a guy that would be near impossible to replace from an on-court, and marketing perspective. I was of the mind that if a 30 year old Hedo Turkoglu was the potential difference maker, then hopes for sustainable success were remote. And the hangover from the contract would hamper an already inflexible salary structure.