‘Dr. Dino’ a.k.a. James Borbath from Dino Nation Blog, is a Broadcast Journalism Grad turned basketball blogger. He has worked as the publisher and writer of the Dino Nation Blog for almost 2 years. Dino Nation Blog is part of the sports federation of theScore.com. James also live blogs many NBA games for The Score.
It was just your average day in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The people that love basketball were excited for the start of the NBA Finals. Chris Bosh was in town doing media events and promoting his recent off court ventures. He was at a race track in the Toronto area and was part of the crowd drawing for a horse race. His being there would bring some basketball media to the race track. Bosh was asked about his future and that is when all hell broke loose in Raptorland. Bosh said the he intends to stick to his plan to opt out of his contract at the end of the 09/10 season. It would lead to an article in the Toronto Star written by Dave Feschuk. Who for those not familiar with the Toronto media market he is one of those guys that stirs the pot. He is not on Dr. Dino’s Christmas card list. Anyway that story spread like wildfire.
Later in the evening Bosh would make an appearance on the Fan 590 basketball show ‘Hoops’. In that interview he would say that he was happy in Toronto and the for 6 years in Toronto people had been good to him. He had said at the event, which I do not believe was mentioned in the article, that the odds were good he would return to Toronto in 2010. Eric Smith one of the hosts of the show ‘Hoops’ and the colour man on Raptors radio broadcasts would pose the question again. Bosh stated he was not sure about things to do with betting odds. David Stern is happy to know that. But when the question was re-shaped Bosh confirmed that there is good chance that he will end up in a Toronto uniform come 2010. But the fire has already been set and rumors of Bosh trades will no doubt fill your summer months.
Many feel that Bosh should be or will be moved. I saw a poll on a site related to this issue (do not remember which one, but it was not a Raptor based site). They had close to 75% of folks thinking Bosh will be traded. Most always feel that you can not just let a player walk away for nothing. But seriously now that everyone thinks Chris is as good as traded from the Raptors, what can the Raptors hope to get in return for him? It is going to be far less than his true value. That is the other issue that gets talked about in Toronto. Is Chris Bosh a max player? He has the numbers for it in my opinion. But not a lot of Raptor fans agree that he is worth a max deal. That is a different debate but ties into all of this. It is my view that you do not trade Bosh with a gun to your head. He has stated that even if and when he opts out, Toronto is in the mix. That goes against the rumor mill that started almost a year ago when I read some crazy non-sense about Bosh going to the Magic. Take a course in NBA cap management 101 if you think that can happen. But what really got the ball rolling was the comments of Jalen Rose on ESPN. Where Rose said the “HE KNOWS” that Lebron James and CB4 were coming to the Knicks. This would be followed months later by a Stephen A Smith story in which he stated that Bosh told Colangelo that he is leaving Toronto in 2010. Both Bosh and Colangelo said that was untrue and that the conversation Stephen A Smith said happened, never actually did.
If people think about it, even if Bosh were to walk and sign elsewhere, is that such a horrible thing for the Raptors? Like when V.C was traded to the Nets for what in present terms adds up to Joey Graham? The trade did include Eric Williams (Traded with Matt Bonner to Spurs for Rasho Nesterovic) Aaron Williams (Traded to New Orleans for cash or a second round pick- I forget) and Alonzo Mourning ( Bought out by Raptors and signed by Heat and won an NBA Championship Ring). It was a low point in Raptor history no doubt. Mighty Mouse and T-Mac also had checked out of Toronto in recent past.
If he goes the Raptors gain his salary in cap space for the 2010 free agent class that everyone raves about. That is not all that bad, now is it? You could bring in a Steve Nash and probably a couple other players with the money. I say if he walks you can do more with the cap space that you gain than what you get in any trade for Bosh.
Not to mention the fact that going into your 15th season in the league a historic moment for a franchise you are going to trade the franchise player? That is not that great a PR move. But it may be just as bad a basketball move. There is no doubt there would be a market to move Bosh. However because everyone knows that he could leave and be a free agent soon enough, the offers will be not as great as Raptor fans would dream up for their star player. That is my take on it. Feel free to bombard me with your trade rumors and the odd comment that says I am nuts. I am tough I can take it. Likewise, if you agree with me feel free to let me know that as well.
If you want to read or chat with me more on this subject, you can reach out at my Dino Nation Blog spot.
