Source: The Onion

I’m still stunned; the best performance by a Raptor team I’ve seen in three/four years. If you didn’t know the standings, and that was the first Raptor game you saw this season, you would have thought that this is a top team in the association; that’s the kind of game that was played last night.

It’s harder to duplicate that effort on back-to-back teams, but there is an added element of playing Chris Bosh tonight, which can’t be overlooked. The Raptors have a bit of history with the Magic, and were able to flip the on switch last night. The hustle and tenacity they have showed so far, was there for the whole game. Makes you wonder if this has two speeds: play hard/aggressive for some of the game, play hard/aggressive for all of the game. That switch needs to be on tonight for the whole game; even though the Heat are 5-4, they are mighty dangerous.

I had a chance to speak with Kevin Arnovitz, super writer/blogger for ESPN TrueHoop and the Miami Heat Index about Bosh and the Heat:

What a mess this has become; the basketball is almost taking a back seat to the dog and pony show.
From the vantage point in Miami, it’s actually settling down if you can believe it. Because this team has absolutely no track record even though it’s stacked like a contender, we can expect every single big matchup to be treated like a playoff game. It’s the only measuring stick we have. And outcomes generally stoke the extremes. If they win (Orlando a couple weeks back), supporters will crown them champs. If they lose (Boston on Thursday), skeptics willl revel in schadenfreude and pronounce the Heat paper tigers. It’ll be that way most of the season.

5-4 to start the year wasn’t the result many were predicting, but the fact of the matter is that the big three in Miami was a far different animal than the big three in Boston. What will this team have to do to get back on track?
The adjustments aren’t huge. Right now, they’re 25th in the league in total rebounding differential. LeBron James and Chris Bosh are well below their usual numbers. So that’s number one. Second, they need to buy into a defensive strategy and stick to it. Erik Spoelstra generally subscribes to a Popovichian approach, but over the past week, there’s very little evidence of that on the floor. The Jazz and Hornets shredded the Heat on rotations, and Boston lured them into silly gambles and exploited them on pushed balls. Take care of those two things and the Heat will stat winning 75 percent of their games.

It was generally assumed that Bosh’s production would drop offensively, but his whole game has seemingly gone south fuelling a lot of folks up here to argue that he was just a selfish stat stuffer during his time in Toronto. What are your impressions about Bosh as a person and player after watching him closely for the last couple months? How does he get back on track?
I’m not sure that Bosh put up gaudy numbers in Toronto because he was selfish so much as he was the single best matchup on the floor on every possession, and the Raptors fashioned their entire offense around that principle. That’s simply not the case in Miami. With the Raptors, he had a 5-man who lured the other big away from the block, whereas he’s getting no help in that capacity except when Ilgauskas is on the court. He needs to put the ball on the floor more and stop ball-watching when shots go up. Personally, he’s been very, very confessional about his struggles. He’s admitted the speed of James and Dwyane Wade have made him skittish and that he’s been more deferential than he probably should be. Ironically, the best prescription for Bosh might be to a more selfish stat-stuffer when he’s got a favorable matchup and the ball comes to him at the weak side elbow. Those are *his* possessions and he should own them.

Does Wade have what it will take to let LeBron become the alpha dog on his team?
It’s tricky because, on balance, this team is putting up the offensive numbers it needs to. They’re putting up 108.5 points per 100 possessions, which tells us that except for a few stretches when the ball stops, they’re doing fine. Both guys need to get more comfortable working off the ball. LeBron did this in Cleveland, but it was with the understanding that nobody was going to supplant him as the focal point in the offense. Wade has less practice with it, but Spoelstra is running some nice sets where Wade darts up from the weak side corner past a couple of stagger screens or gets a handoff from Bosh at the pinch post. To me, it’s no so much a need for a defined Alpha and Beta as it is James and Wade coming to a mutual understanding that the team can kill it if each of them starts doing more productive work off the ball to scramble the defense.

If you could add somebody to this team in the offseason, who would it be?
What they need is a Marcus Camby (who is unavailable) — rebounder/shot blocker who doesn’t need the ball, but can keep it moving and make plays.There aren’t a lot of players like that available. But a healthy Joel Przybilla could help. Tyson Chandler will be a free agent, but he might be out of their price range and is also susceptible to injuries.

Injury Report

Toronto
Linas Kleiza – Achilles, Day-to-day
Ed Davis – Out
Leandro Barbosa – Out
David Andersen – Pretty sure he’s out again

Miami
Mike Miller – Thumb, Out

Match-ups

PG – Jack/Calderon vs Arroyo/Chalmers
Since the Heat have both Wade and LeBron who handle the ball so much, the point guard situation for them is interesting. Neither Arroyo or Chalmers are big components of this team, with the bulk of their contributions coming on the defensive end, checking the opponents point guards. Offensively, they are reduced to hitting open jumpers/threes when they get them, and generally not screwing up. This should be an area of focus for the Raptors tonight, since the Heat struggle when they play teams with solid point guard play. Both Jack and Calderon are settling into a rotation that saw both struggle to start the season. Jack will need to continue attacking off the dribble, while Calderon has to maintain his control over the flow of the game offensively, feeding off the pick-n-roll with Johnson and hitting the shots that come to him. After fighting Jameer Nelson hard last night, there might not be much in the tank tonight, but they are off till Tuesday, so finding the second wind tonight will be crucial.
Edge: Jack/Calderon

SG – DeRozan vs Wade
DeRozan was absolutely brilliant last night, taking it to Vince Carter every single minute of the game, running around, crashing the boards…basically contributing at a very high level. Wade is a much better defender than Carter, and he’s coming off a God awful performance against the Celtics, so we can expect a nasty chip on his shoulder. DeRozan owned the paint/elbow/top of the key last night, and attacking from there opens up the court for the rest of the team when the Miami defense collapses on him, much like what happened last night.

One of the best ways to play Wade is to make him play on both ends of the floor, forcing him to play tough and try to get him into foul trouble. Should be noted that DeRozan did play 40 minutes last night in a very hard fought/emotional game, so getting him off early to get the adrenaline pumping will be key. Asking him to win this match-up is not fair, but we can ask him to play as hard as possible and put Wade under pressure from the tip.
Edge: Wade

SF – Weems vs LeBron
After starting the season forcing the action, Weems has really fallen into his niche of letting the game come to him, attacking off the dribble and hitting his shots. I don’t like saying this, but the injury to Kleiza was a bit of a blessing in disguise in that Weems adds a level of athleticism that Linas just doesn’t have. It was a big cog in the Raptor run-and-gun machine last night, and will be a very important piece tonight against LeBron. That being said, there is nothing anything in the world can do to shut down LeBron since he contributes in every facet of the game. Much like the DeRozan/Wade match-up, Weems needs to make James play defense, and run him around. On offense, his jump shooting will keep LeBron far enough from the rim that his spectacular rebounding wont be as big a factor; he will still grab plenty boards, but it should give Reggie one less person to worry about on every board. I was never a fan of calling Weems ‘Money’, but after last night, the nickname sticks for me. Hitting a game winning shot from behind the arc finally earns him such a big nickname.

Should be mentioned that Julian Wright has played damn good at the small forward spot the last few games. I like his length and agility on LeBron (not that he will stop him, but he could slow the guy down). His contribution on defense will be paramount.
Edge: James

PF – Evans vs Bosh
Haters unite, tonights your chance to rip Bosh up in the comments, chat and twitter. The hate being spewed at Chris has been epic, and more so than what Vince Carter and Tracy McGrady ever got from us. It only goes to show how important, and how tied woven into the teams identity Bosh has become over the years. Evans played Howard perfectly last night. While Howard still had a monsterish night (25pts 8reb 5blk), most of his points came as the garbage variety where the Raptors had a hard time matching his sheer physical prowess. Bosh doesn’t have those gifts, and will be working outside-in as he does. I like Evans in that role since he can put pressure on Bosh outside the paint, then keep him on his back when the shot goes up (limiting his rebounding effectiveness). Unlike Howard though, Bosh wont be missing 10 free throws in a game, so putting him on the line, and tempting him to beat us from there will be a terrible strategy. Bosh is right around 15pts 6rebs a night, which was expected to a degree, except for the rebounding. He has trouble playing at the speed Wade and James operate, so if this becomes a run and gun game, his contribution will be minimized.

I do expect to see Bosh play Bargnani on defense quite a bit this game, with Joel Anthony checking Evans in the paint, and am really looking forward to see how this plays out. Bosh has the quickness to stay with Bargnani off the dribble, and should know enough not to go for his pump fakes at the arc.

Wifee is pissed at me since I broke plans to watch this game, this is how important playing Bosh is for me this season. Beating him to a pulp would be sweet for me, and if Evans plays him the way I think he will, the Republic will treat him to a steak at Jacob & Co.

Haslem will have a big say tonight, and can’t be overlooked because he does everything right on the floor, and can pull Evans out of paint with his mid-range and away from the glass.
Edge: Evans (yea, I said it)

C – Bargnani vs Anthony
A mistake the Raptors did last night was not forcing the ball to Bargnani a bit more in the 3rd quarter, to maintain that ridiculous zone he was in, in the first half (9-12 from the field for 21pts). A lot of that had to do with Orlando sending a double at Bargnani, but a lot had to do with the game-plan coming out of the half. Compared to the last week or so, Bargnani should own Anthony tonight. How he handles Bosh when they match-up will be the key tonight. I’m basically looking for a repeat from last night, anything less, and this bad boy can get ugly fast.
Edge: Bargnani

Keys to the Game

Play Big
The Heat don’t have the same athletic front court the Raptors do. Between Evans, Johnson, Bargnani and Dorsey (to a smaller degree), the Raptors have the horses to really take it to a weakish front line that’s full of old men (Ilgauskas and Magloire). Haslem wont be breaking the game wide open, Anthony is only here because the Heat had no other choice which really leaves Bosh, who isn’t a big fan of the physical play, although he’s great at drawing contact and getting to the ine.

Substitutions
The injury situation has forced Triano’s hand into playing a tight rotation without the hockey substitutions, which we all know is how this game should be played. Making 4-5 guy chances disrupts the flow of the game for the Raptors, and has been a big piece of why they haven’t played well. The Heat have the luxury of fielding a team, where the best player in the world can play 5 positions. Triano (I’m just putting this out there) and Carlesimo’s ability to put out the best lineup will be crucial, especially considering that the Raptor starters played heavy minutes last night.

Sticking it to Bosh
This game needs to be more than just winning another game. Last night, the Raptors went into Orlando on a 6 game losing streak, and needing to stop the bleeding. They were able to dig deep and get a result that helped heal the team. Tonight, we play the guy who left us for greener pastures. I for one hold Bosh’s tenure in Toronto in high regard, and have nothing bad to say about him; but if we use his departure as motivation, it could serve as an ex-factor to fueling a win. Think about it, how sweet would it be to leave Florida beating 2 of the 3 elite teams in the East, where you’re ex-franchise player calls home?

The Line

The Heat are 15 point favourites with an over/under of 200.5.

How much the Raptors have left in the tank after an emotional game, and their ability to dig deep and summon the will to beat another elite team will determine this game. I will say this though, we will know very quickly how this game turns out. The 1st quarter will be telling.

We had a pretty good turn out for live chat, considering expectations were low for the game. I expect tonight to be super bumping on Twitter, Facebook and Live Chat; support the habbit.

Given this is our first post in the series, we examine the six games played to date.

[Editor's note: we are developing our own a user friendly guide to these metrics, but in the meantime Basketball-reference.com's glossary will come in handy. As well, some of the links need ESPN Insider access]

Scoring efficiency and offensive production

The most shocking metric? Linas Kleiza’s 7.3 PER (see definition here). Kleiza is supposed to be one of our key “go to” players on offense and this is a major concern (yes, it’s only six games, but…). Klieza is currently ranked 43rd out of 53 small forwards for PER. This cannot continue. Heck, even Jamario Moon is 3.5 ahead of him. His true shooting percentage is near the bottom on this team and his assist percentage tells us he’s not moving the ball enough.

Andrea Bargnani is solid across the board with the small exception that he needs to move the ball more. Amir Johnson is remarkably efficient on offense so far this year. His usage is very low, but he’s getting the job done when he has the ball. His assist ratio is dismal, largely due to the fact much of his offense is either put backs off offensive rebounds or fast break points. Amir is ranked 12th our of 69 power forwards for PER. However, his 7.1 fouls per 36 minutes is an all-time high. Why do I continue to believe he will improve this metric in order to leverage his efficiency on the court?! I’m finally capitulating – it just isn’t going to happen.

Finally, DeMar DeRozan needs to work on his shot – he has the lowest eFG% (well, besides Evans) on the squad.

His true shooting percentage is ranked 44th out of 63 players at the shooting guard position. (ESPN Insider access required for link – if you have it look how woeful James Harden’s shooting has been this year!).

Rebounding, defense and “hands”

However, turnovers continue to be a major concern. Most of Amir’s good work on the glass is largely negated by his very high turnover rate. As someone commented the other day, Jarrett Jack forces it too often. His very high turnover rate confirms this. His TOV% is the top 10 worst among guards.

Confirmed or busted?

Comment: Sonny Weems is a chucker
Analysis: He does force shots for sure, but his numbers are solid. I bet you didn’t know he was the #1 “long 2″ shooting guard in the entire league (games played > 30). He’s started at a solid clip again this year (40%), but somehow struggles with the mid-range shot: shooting 28.6% from 10-15 feet so far this year. Verdict? Busted.

Miscellaneous Notes

• Our old friend Chris Bosh is neck and neck with Kris Humphries in the power forward PER rankings. They are ranked 26th and 27th respectively.
• Reggie Evans leads the entire league in total rebound percentage. Bargnani sadly ranks 135th – right there with rebounding legends Jarrett Jack and Daniel Gibson. Surprisingly, Bosh isn’t doing much better – both are out rebounded by Chris Paul, Jamario Moon, Caron Butler, Marcus Thornton, Keith Bogans etc (you get the idea).
• Our best lineup: The sample size is too small, but watch out for this lineup: Calderon, Barbosa, Wright, Johnson and Andersen or Bargnani. Again, very small samples, but they clicked big time versus the Lakers (+9 in 3 minutes) and the Trailblazers (+7 in < 3 min)
• DeMar DeRozan’s appears to be the most effective partner the simple +/- rank (yeah, we hate basic +/-, but the sample size is WAY too small for the adjusted +/- measure)

Questions? Submissions for “confirmed or busted”? Email me: tomliston@gmail.com or find me on Twitter.

Sources: basketball-reference.com, hoopdata.com, espn.com

So I guess it wasn’t all BS rhetoric coming out of the Raptors camp during the pre-season. Things like intense practices and commitment to defense were all being pushed down our throat in an effort to appease us after a mediocre offseason (it wasn’t a great offseason, admit it), and I wasn’t buying any of it. Now don’t get me wrong, you can’t read much into a pre-season game where your opponent played the night before; but what I saw from the players, and the brand of ball they are playing now…all I’m saying is that I can watch this team play ball this season, win or lose, and not pull my hair out because they will be trying.

This game was more about assessing what he has more than anything, with Triano fielding a starting crew of Jose Calderon, DeMar DeRozan, Linas Kleiza, Reggie Evans and Andrea Bargnani. Reggie Evans’ being the lone WTF of the bunch. Triano has seven more games to get a sense of what he really has, and a rotation for the start of the season, so we can expect some interesting lineups over the next couple weeks.

I’m not going to get into a detailed recap of the entire game since I missed the entire 4th quarter, and this was a pre-season game, but there were a few interesting themes that developed:

Linas Kleiza’s star is shining
So that’s what it’s like to have a point forward who can create, facilitate and hit the open jumper in the corner. It’s not so much that I expect him to average 20pts (7-9 FG / 4-4 3FG / 2-2 FT) and 5rebs every-night, cause he wont. It’s just that the way he played, seemed sustainable. He didn’t over extend himself, played within his minutes, and knocked down good shots. Would have been nice to see him get his teammates more involved, but we’re one game into the pre-season. Looking forward to seeing more of him. He played exactly how the Kool-Aid drinking fans said he would, and you know what? While he isn’t the saviour everyone’s made him out to be, I’m all in.

Andrea Bargnani…sigh…
There were folks who said that Bargnani would step up and fill the offensive void that Bosh left. Not only did he not do that, he didn’t do much of anything other than grab 3 offensive rebounds; 1 less than all of last season. He seriously didn’t look interested in playing, and turned in a terrible effort. I’m not trying to rip him here, it is what it is. He will probably do 17-20 a night, and 6-8 boards, which is pretty good. However, when Triano says that Bargnani probably is the only one who has a guaranteed starting spot, there are expectations (from me) that come with it. Namely putting in a solid effort, which he didn’t. Something that Bargnani really misses is the space Bosh used to create for him. Going to be interesting to see him have to work to get himself open, then work to create his own shot.

Swarming Defense
If the Raptors hope to have any chance at winning games this season, it will be because of the defense, and NOT their offense. There will be games where they score 129 points, but this team isn’t as offensively gifted as they have been in the last couple seasons. Like last pre-season, the Raptors came out possessed, and actually maintained that pace for the whole game. Trapping in the half-court, full-court, out of bounds plays, inbounds, what have you; the guards/wings didn’t let up, and our bigs aggressively doubled the ball handler. Defensive rotations were another thing: Reggie Evans got hung out to dry a couple times when no one rotated out to cover his guy when he doubled on the perimeter, that pissed me off. Transition defense, early in the going was pretty rough, but even that picked up. Holding the Suns to 79 points on 37.8% shooting is impressive, regardless of the situation.

More of the same from Amir
15min 9pts (3-4 FG 3-4 FT) 6rebs (4OFF) 1blk…FIVE FOULS! So with Amir, it isn’t so much that he isn’t an effective player when he plays, it’s just that he doesn’t play as much as he should because he averages a foul every 6 minutes he’s on the court. There was a recent thread in the forums where the value of Amir’s contract was validated by the massive one Joakim Noah got recently (5yrs/$60mil or so). So while his productivity is off the charts (ESPN Insider required, but the stats are solid), we need to be reserved in the notion that his effectiveness is also the reason he is so prone to fouling. I really believe you can’t have one without the other, and we need to be ok with the fact that we paid a guy who can really only give us 19-23min every night, and pay him $35mil over the next 7 years for the privilege.

DeMar DeRozan needs to do more than score
He really does. He shot the ball well, attacked the paint, and put up 16pts (6-10 FG / 1-1 3FG / 3-3 FT), but otherwise contributed 2rebs 1ast 1stl. He’s been handed the keys, and needs to realize that there is more to this game than scoring. Weems on the other hand shot the ball too much, leading the team in attempts, but at least he gets after it on the boards and plays better defense. At the end of the day, they both compliment each other well, with no real drop off when you swap one out for the other, but they still need to raise both their games a bit more. For me, the honeymoon is over with DeRozan (more so than Weems since we passed on Jennings for him) and I’m expecting more from him this season.

I missed the 4th quarter, but the Raptors were able to extend their lead, while producing a ridiculous boxscore that had them besting the Suns in every single statistical category except blocked shots. One thing to note: Joey Dorsey – where have you been all my life??? Let me temper myself by saying this is pre-season, but if he keeps this up (13pts 10rebs), it’s going to be very hard not to give him minutes that were supposed to go to Davis and Evans, especially with Davis injured and our boy shining in his place.

I’d like to thank the 55 or so folks who came by our live chat at 10pm for a pre-season game; you guys are seriously boss, and from what Arse says there was great vibe and great convo. Next up, we got the Celtics in Boston.

I’m on Twitter.

Image Credit: Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2010 NBAE (Photo by Jeff Vinnick/NBAE via Getty Images)

Q. How did the Knicks do this off-season? Talk about drafts, trades and free agent signings as well as ownership/management changes.

Kevin McElroy: The answer to this question is necessarily relative to expectations. By any normal measure, this was the Knicks best summer since the mid-90’s. Their failed pursuit for LeWyane Bosh aside, the Knicks brought in Amare Stoudemire, a five-time all-star with three top-ten scoring seasons who also happens to be the active career leader in true shooting percentage. While concerns about the riskiness of the acquisition (especially those relating to Stoudemire’s injury history) are understandable, the rarity with which players of Stoudemire’s caliber can be had without forfeiting any tradeable assets makes the signing a worthwhile gamble. The David Lee trade — in which the Knicks gave up a player that they had already made redundant and received two valuable role players and a freakish athlete with world-class upside in return — was the best player for player(s) swap the Knicks have made since they brought in Latrell Sprewell and Marcus Camby; if Anthony Randolph develops, it will go down as even better than those trades.

I worry about Raymond Felton eating up valuable cap space, but I get the feeling that his signing was about keeping Amare happy enough to keep telling his buddies how great things were in New York — Felton’s contract should be moveable if he becomes the final obstacle to bringing in another star. I hated the Knicks’ play-it-safe strategy on draft night, but based upon the summers that Landry Fields and Lance Stephenson have had, my opinion on the matter has softened. Fields will hang around for 10 years and be a useful role player for the Knicks in the near term.

Q. Who came out the bigger winner AND loser in the Atlantic Division?

KM: I’ll exclude the Knicks from the conversation here since I’ve already discussed their offseason. I think the Celtics are the winners by default, mostly because they were the only Atlantic Division team good enough to focus their off-season on filling their remaining needs rather than blindly overhauling the team and hoping it would work out. I’m not crazy about their Shaquisition for the same reason I wasn’t crazy about it when he was Shaquired by Phoenix or Cleveland, but at the veteran minimum it’s a low risk move and they can always tell him to go away if he becomes a problem.

As for the biggest losers, the Nets’ mind-bendingly bizarre assortment of free agent signings gets the nod even in a division where Toronto lost their franchise leader in scoring and rebounding just as he was entering his prime. Better build that arena, Brooklyn, or Johan Petro will be plying his trade elsewhere!

Q. Last season we saw a dog fight from 5-9 in the East for a playoff appearance (the Raptors dropped from 5th to 9th rapidly at the tail-end of the season). What are your predictions for this upcoming season? Who are your dark horses to watch out for?

KM: Obviously the Heat jump out of that dog fight and into the top 3, arguably the top 1. I think this will be another season in which the Eastern Conference can be separated into pretty well-defined tiers. The Tier 1 teams — Miami, Orlando, Boston — seem fairly insurmountable at the top of the pyramid, although if the Celtics all get old at the same time, they could feasibly drop into Tier 2. For now, Tier 2 is Atlanta, Chicago, and probably Milwaukee, all of whom should qualify for the postseason comfortably and will be primarily concerned with finishing 5th or better and thus avoiding the Tier 1 teams in the first round. Tier 3 is where it gets a bit hairy: Charlotte has to be viewed as the 7th best team going into the year, but New York has much greater upside and is the only team outside of Tiers 1 and 2 with a chance to vault into the top 6 if everything goes right.

If things implode for the Knicks — and, let’s face it, why shouldn’t they — The Pacers, Sixers, and Cavs are all in the picture for one of the last two playoff spots. One more quick point that nobody is talking about: I will not be surprised if strength of schedule becomes a decisive factor in the Eastern Conference this year. The Bobcats have to play a whopping 15 games against the Heat, Magic, and Hawks, while the Knicks and Sixers will play each other five times and have 10 games each against the Nets and Raps. Could be enough to bump the Bobcats down to ninth in a tight East.

Q. Is what happened in Miami bad for the league? On the one hand, players are taking control of their own futures (as best as possible); but on the other, the rich just seem to get richer.

KM: I swore a lifelong oath of hatred against the Miami Heat the day that Pat Riley hopped the fence back in 1995, but the answer to this question is still “no.” In the long-term, this has to be viewed as good for the league, and not just because it will allow us to see something we’ve never seen before (which it will) and give other fan bases a unifying enemy (which it also will). The reason I’m glad it happened, and happened when it did, is that it has placed everything from cap rules to player tampering to the merits of “Superteams” at the forefront of the conversation, just before a watershed CBA renegotiation. This is the best way for basketball fans and writers to have any kind of a voice about the future of the league. Maybe I’m dreaming on that but, at a time when the NBA seems desperate to drum up demand for its product, it will have an unprecedented opportunity to gauge public opinion on nearly every issue that is likely to come up this summer. We may all be thanking LeWyane Bosh before this is over.

(Was that convincing? No? Darn it. I really hate the Heat.)

Q. Do you share the view that playing in Toronto is similar to playing in Europe, and not very appealing to American born players? What’s your take on the Raptors and Toronto as a destination for the NBA elite?

KM: I think there are five or six “destination cities” in the League right now — LA, Miami, New York, Chicago, maybe one or two of the Texas cities — and I don’t think Toronto is one of them. But I think it’s still a long way up from playing in Europe and doubt the Canadian border has much of a practical effect on players’ decisions. Most NBA cities become appealing destinations if and only if their resident teams employ players and executives that are appealing to NBA free agents, which the post-Bosh Raptors probably don’t. The problem is that Toronto’s previous attempts at building around a franchise player were based upon guys whose personalities were not conducive to being the first major building block on a team in a non-destination city. It only takes one super-talented, super-loyal star — think Tim Duncan, Kevin Durant, Dwight Howard — to attract top players to a place that once seemed to be on the NBA periphery. The problem, of course, is finding that guy. Clearly, Vince Carter and Chris Bosh didn’t fit the description.

Q. What’s your take on Bryan Colangelo and the job he’s done for the Raptors? Could he have held on to Bosh had he made other choices? Did he make a huge mistake by not trading him earlier? What about the type of team he is trying to build in Toronto?

KM: I think Bosh was always leaving — he’s a very good second option alongside an elite scoring wing with good court vision; now he gets to play with two of them. It’s interesting to think about how things would have played out for Toronto if Bosh and T-Mac had come along at about the same time — they would have complemented each other brilliantly, maybe well enough that they both would have wanted to stay. As for Colangelo, I think he was probably doomed from the start. His mandate was to focus singularly on the retention of a player who was 1) probably always going to leave and 2) probably not good enough to be the best player on a great team anyway. To the extent that this strategy has failed (in the departure of Bosh) or set the franchise back (due to the shortsightedness of some of Toronto’s acquisitions), that failure is more associated with the flaws of the mandate (which fall at the feet of ownership) than with any flaws in execution (which would fall at the feet of Colangelo). That said, Toronto clearly needs to dive head-first into overhaul mode and that necessarily involves a conversation regarding whether Colangelo remains the right man for what is now a very different job.

Rudderless.

I’ve taken many management courses throughout my career and I have seen that taking a step back, surveying the situation and trying to head problems off at the pass is pretty important when you run things. Just as important, though, is to have some type of disaster recovery in place. Get a replacement trained and in place in case something happens to you or one of your chiefs. Make it someone of value that has been around your company for a while and can guide the flock. In the case of the Raptors, Bryan Colangelo has failed to do this.

With the departure of the undisputed leader of this team, Chris Bosh, we look at the current roster and have to worry. We have been graced with a bunch of kids who seem to think Twitter and TMZ are as important as effort on the court. DeRozan, Weems, Johnson, etc seem to want to act the fool as much as they want to represent themselves as team players and strive to be AllStars. To that scary mix, we’ve added a self-described jokester with the 50th pick who some of you think will step in and be a heavy rotation player in a few years. Personally, I read Colangelo’s body language as we just picked up another Jawai. Ed Davis sounds great, but has the personality of a new kid at a new school with braces and chicken pox on his first day. That said, once DeMar gets his oversized hat wearing paws on him, I’m sure the kid will be cracking wise in between hoisting shots from centre court as opposed to real shooting drills.

As for the elders, I almost had to run to the bathroom when I read that Jarrett Jack was ready to run this team. The guy throws more snits per season than Drake does when his homies don’t tell him how great he is every 2.5 minutes as required in their posse contract.

Andrea? Seriously. The image of the guy running a team meeting is certifiable. I conjure up an elf trying to catch the attention of 14 reindeer that just downed a 6 pack of Red Bull each.

Hedo can be a leader but one has to wonder how much of his heart is in it. If I felt I was sold a bill of goods, I’m not sure I’d be busting my hump to be a leader of these merry men.

Colangelo is on the hook for this as is Triano. For two seasons you knew this time was coming. Good result or bad, as a manager of people you need to be ready for it. You can’t sit back, assume that in the worst case you can do a sign and trade and get equivalent talent back. You prepare for it by massaging the cap, adding complementary pieces that feed each other, and tinker. You don’t blow it up year after year and add friends of your major piece, have a glaring hole in the final year of his contract and sit idly by all season doing nothing to fix it.

With respect to Jay, you need to be in faces. You need to hold players accountable. You need to demand leaders among boys. You need constant communication with upper management and demand results from it. Jay, you had an entire nation behind you when you were handed the reigns. We willed you to do well. Instead you’ve turtled. If anything, you’ve become the Canada amongst the coaching staff: you want people to like you and tell you that you are good, but you are overshadowed by situations around you. You need to step out from behind the curtain and conduct.

Colangelo can save himself by doing something he has never done with the fans in his time in Toronto: be honest. Come out and tell us, now that he’s gone, what changed in Bosh after the all-star break. What happened in that locker room or around it that pulled this team apart and made the second best player in franchise history choose a different path from that point on? What other shenanigans have been going on in the land of the Raptors the last 3 years that have made this team so undesirable to free agents, fans on the road, and, indeed, fans in Toronto as evidenced by poor attendance all season. Nothing would serve this franchise better than a full 30minute interview that is open, honest, and forthcoming. Michael Heisley did it with the Iverson situation and won a lot of respect for doing so. You can do the same.

Chris Bosh did what any one of us would do. He bashed his head against the wall for 7 years willing his teammates to play above themselves every night. His manager brought in friends of both his own and of Chris’ to no success. His manager traded draft picks away like they were play money. For most of the years we had one of the smallest coaching staffs in the league, had the fewest scouts and early on had one of the most outdated video scouting systems in the league. Colangelo has fixed most of those, to be fair, but the quality of the coaching staff requires a bit more research than ordering an upgrade from a Betamax. Jay was a great fit for Chris, but there was a steady decline from there. Chris’ workplace was in a state of constant upheaval and any sane person would want that to either stop or would have to get out. Bryan refused to make it stop, so Bosh did the right thing and left. Of note here, of course, is that he played out his contract. He negotiated for the right to do what he did this summer. Anybody begrudging him that is quite simply an idiot.

I love this franchise. I want it to succeed with every ounce of my being. I’m as sick as you are of defending the moves and the departures and the losses. I revel when we pull something out of the hat like how we owned Cleveland in the home opener this past season. That feeling is always so fleeting, however. Here I find myself again wondering who I can latch my rope of faith on to next season. Just once I’d like to head into a Raptors season with some certainty. I don’t want to have to grab a media guide at summer league or training camp to figure out what the 7 new guys look like. Maybe add 1 or 2 draft picks, replace 1 or 2 free agents and call it a summer.

Chris Bosh put his heart and soul into his uniform every night. He was someone we could look at and have him remind us of the days of the division championship, the first banner to be won by this franchise. He was someone, unlike Colangelo, who faced the music at centre court, mic in hand, during the good and the bad times. He preached team. He appreciated the support of the fans, not playing them off as a necessary evil as Bryan did toward the end of his end of season press conference this year. Bosh WAS the Toronto Raptors to many observers south of the border.

Consistency is one of the keys to success. Unfortunately the only consistency that Colangelo has shown in his time in Toronto is that of being a failure.

“I don’t get it, what did we end up with?”

“Limp noodle (Andrea Bargnani), is he still on the team?”

My girl said that to me as I sunk into my seat while TSN played the Bosh presser. I seriously don’t know where to begin, except to say that there is no hard feelings towards Bosh from this corner of the internet (Arse excluded). All my anger and disgust are squarely aimed at the brass for failing this city so miserably, yet again.

Some bad PR aside, Bosh stayed true to the tenets he had maintained since his exit interview:

• Be a core piece of a championship calibre team (think Pau Gasol)
• Max contract (the Florida tax situation puts him damn close without breaking out a calculator)
• That he will resign with the Raptors IF he feels they are doing everything possible to put a quality team around him

We can do nothing but speculate about what was said between Colangelo and Bosh’s camp up until yesterday, but one thing was clear: there was not enough communication between the two groups. For that, the blame gets spread around evenly. However, you can’t take a couple tweets about the excitement of getting courted from a 26 year old guy to heart, that’s all I’m saying. While I fully believe that Colangelo was working like a mad man to get Bosh to resign, clearly not enough was done to appease him. For starters, perhaps he could’ve made the trip to Texas last week instead of sending his assistants.

By signing outright (for now, Colangelo can still negotiate a max S&T) with the Heat, Bosh has put winning a championship above everything else. For that, we should ALL have nothing but respect for the guy. Sure, the Heat only have Wade, Beasley and Chalmers under contract; they will have a tough time filling out the roster with enough talent to be a championship contender next season, but Riley has built a championship team in Miami in the past without a running mate for Wade of Bosh’s caliber. Top four team in the East as things stand? I say that’s about right.

Where did it all go wrong?

Colangelo had three summers to improve upon the surprising 47 win team that raised all of our expectations. While there were a couple smaller moves that worked out fairly well, Amir/Belinelli/Jack, the larger ones failed miserably:

1. He underestimated the value of Jorge Garbajosa after he went down with a broken leg, and literally did nothing to replace him in the lineup. While Jorge wasn’t the most talented of players, he was a glue guy for the Raptors who did a lot of the little things necessary to win games. The thinking at the time went that the team didn’t need a whole lot of tinkering, so there wasn’t any at all. Foul ball: 0-1
2. After getting thumped by Orlando in the first round of the playoffs, the Raptors had a clear need for a second “20 point scorer” who could take some of the load off of Bosh, so defences couldn’t zero in on him and grind our offense to a halt. Jermaine O’Neal was obtained to be that guy who could come in and be fill that role. Seemed like this was the start of a couple other moves (a shooting guard in the mold of Mickael Pietrus would have been a good fit), but it was the only move. JO didn’t pan out at all, and things went from bad to worse prompting the premature (but widely expected) firing of Sam Mitchell. O’Neal was promptly shipped to Miami (with a 1st rounder to boot) for the expiring contract of Shawn Marion and the crippling contract of Marcus Banks. Strike two: 0-2
3. The Raptors still needed that second option on offense, so Shawn Marion was turned into Hedo Turkoglu who, while coming off a great playoff run, couldn’t recreate the Magic (sorry) he displayed for Orlando. Hedo literally provided no relief on the offensive end of the court, and the Raptors narrowly missed the playoffs. To make matters worse, Hedo made a bigger mess with his appearance on Turkish television saying he wanted out and that the organization was unfair in their handling of his going out on the town. To top it all off, Colangelo outbid nobody and re-upped Bargnani to a 5yr/$50million contract instead of letting him prove his worth in a contract year and relying on the qualifying offer. That still could work out, but so far it hasn’t. Strike three: 0-3

If you were given the choice to play for Colangelo and Triano alongside Calderon, Turkoglu and Bargnani, or for Riley and Spoelstra alongside Wade and anyone else in the league – in Miami of all places, who would you choose? I think he made a great basketball decision. Doesn’t even matter that LeBron wont be joining them, since the pairing of Wade and Bosh rivals that of Kobe and Gasol.

Where does that leave the Raptors?

There is still some hope. Colangelo can still swoop in and try to make some things happen by giving Bosh a max contract, while trying to make a couple other things happen. I prematurely posted a Bucher rumour the other day that looks MIGHTY fine to me right now:

To Miami
Bosh/Calderon

To Toronto
Chalmers/Beasley and a trade exception

It is doubtful we get any draft picks back since Bosh was willing to forgo some salary to sign outright with Miami; Riley has proved to be a shark in these matters. The Heat still need a top calibre point guard, which Calderon still is. This leaves them enough space to fill out the roster by signing a few of their own free agents, while grabbing some veterans. Not a bad start for the Heat.

Where do we go from here?

The short: it leaves a squad with a lot to be desired. You can’t expect that Beasley will replace what Bosh (you also can’t expect him to even be a part of our imaginary dream either) brought to the table, you just can’t. The kid has talent, there is no denying it but the other stuff that comes with him frankly has me nauseous. A front court of Turkoglu, Beasley and Bargnani doesn’t get me excited, but it does get rounded out with Johnson, Evans, Davis and Alabi. Chalmers and Banks back up Jack, with a trio at the wing of DeRozan, Weems and Belinelli. That isn’t terrible, but there are no stars, and no one who can create their own scoring opportunities AND get to the line like Bosh did. The playoffs would be an unlikely event with this group, though.

IF Colangelo can negotiate a S&T that includes Jose AND if he gets back a large enough trade exemption that we can land a star somehow (I hear Chris Paul is available if you take Emeka Okafor’s massive contract, just putting it out there) AND if said trade exception is properly managed, things are salvageable BUT I wont hold my breath based on this teams history.

Here’s another IF: LeBron James. IF he decides to sign in Miami, expect a deal to get done that includes Beasley. The Heat still need to clear some space to bring in the second max free agent. With LeBron’s ego LeBron James holding a presser at 9pm tonight, Colangelo has a small window of opportunity to possibly take advantage of Riley since the clock is ticking to get LeBron to sign in Miami. Fortunately this ordeal will be over with quickly, then we can get to the important business of debating the crap out of our secondary tier of players and what to do with them.

I’m on Twitter.

There weren’t many Raptors fans who expected Chris Bosh to stay in Toronto once the season had ended, let alone blame him for leaving. Instead, we blamed Colangelo for using bandaids to fix hemorrhages and bringing us to the point where we’d be losing a highly sought player for nothing. Unlike Vince Carter or Tracy McGrady, and more like Roy Halladay, Chris Bosh would not be seen as a bad guy, and the reasons for his departure would be plainly understood by the fans. Despite what you thought of his strong points or shortcomings as a player, his exit was more or less understood because as he stated so clearly, he cared about nothing but winning and any self-searching Raptors fans can tell you that we’re not close to that. “I want to play in the postseason. I want to advance. I’ve been playing seven years. It’s time to start thinking about stuff like that for me, because I don’t know how many years I have left. I know I’m still a young player, but I remember when I got drafted guys were 25, 26, and now they’re on their last deals,” Bosh had said.

How Bosh has managed to transform the public’s perception of him from “good player tired of losing” to “greedy attention-seeking diva” is truly a thing of beauty. All Raptors fans wanted was a little feigned sadness and respect, instead we got a dose of egotism that changed our perception of him for the worse. He has handled the 2010 free-agency period about as poorly as one can. Whereas Dwayne Wade and LeBron James have met with other teams without alienating their existing ones, Chris Bosh has done exactly that. He’s managed to damage, if not burn the bridge with the Raptors 140 characters at a time for no other reason than to shine the light of attention upon him, and it has completely backfired. At LeBron James’ meeting with the Bulls in Cleveland, Cavs fans thronged the streets holding signs and booing the Bulls’ motorcade. Would anybody in Toronto even bother sending him an email asking him to stay? I think not. Even loyal fans have stopped updating their “Chris Bosh, please stay” website, and you can’t blame them.

Bryan Colangelo hasn’t sounded confident of re-signing Chris Bosh since the season ended, but the recent rumours that he’s inclining towards not even bothering with a sign-and-trade just to teach Bosh a lesson is reason to be concerned. As much as some would like to see Chris Bosh out $30 million, that line of thinking is hardly prudent and bordering on neglect. Amidst all the free-agency mayhem, one thing should not be lost: Bryan Colangelo cost us a decent return on Chris Bosh. An NBA GM must have the foresight of seeing what could transpire in the future, weigh his chances, and act accordingly. Hindsight is definitely 20/20, but fans aren’t being unfair to Colangelo when they state that he should have traded Bosh at the deadline, if not last summer. Instead of basing his decision not to trade him on wins against the NBA’s minnows before the All-Star break, Colangelo should’ve separated water from wine and done the right thing – traded Chris Bosh. Anyway, this post isn’t written to whine about that, so I digress.

As stated yesterday, there are reasons why a sign-and-trade with a trade exception as return isn’t the greatest option, but it is one that has more merits than disadvantages. The same is true for receiving whatever Miami will throw at us. Michael Beasley isn’t a model citizen or a player, but he is a second overall pick who has shown more than what our first overall selection has, and to think that he can’t help this team (on the court or in another transaction) is not seeing the forest for the marijuana trees. Writing off Beasley after two years but sticking with Bargnani after four doesn’t compute (year 1 comparison, year 2 comparison). Same goes for Mario Chalmers, obviously the two aren’t “fair” return value for Bosh, but at this point you swallow your pride, take the deal, and build on it or parlay it into something else. Or do you call the bluff?

It’s unlikely that Bosh’s attention-starved ways have cost him a maximum contract on the open market with a team who has the cap space but not the route to acquire James or Wade. However, Bosh will be, at the very least, reluctant to leave $30 million on the table, after all, he’s showing that he’s a business man first and a basketball player second. If Colangelo refuses to partake in sign-and-trade deals, you could see the Raptors become Bosh’s only option, and as interest in him dies down, it’s possible that he’ll come crawling back to the Raptors. In this case, what do the Raptors do? If this does happen, it’s clear that the only reason he’s considering Toronto is because of the money and nothing else. Do we want a player like that, especially given his track record when it comes to winning and being the focal point of a team?

If Bosh truly, in his heart of hearts cared about winning, he’s recognize the plain truth – he’s in a lower tier that of Wade and James, and take less money to sign with the Heat and bring fruition to Team Trinity. But that’s not happening and it speaks to his priorities.

The other issue of confusion these days is what to think of Chris Bosh’s service in a Raptors uniform. Overall, it’s to be appreciated and met with applause, he played relatively hard throughout his career, didn’t complain, brought the points and rebounds, and accepted the role of the franchise player which was shoved upon him only because there was no one better. After Vince Carter left, the franchise was desperate to replace him for fear of losing the momentum Carter had brought to the city, and Bosh was presented as the man leading the charge. It wasn’t fair to ask that of him and when he didn’t deliver instant glory, people started questioning his superstar status, when he didn’t even claim to be one. As the saying goes, some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness, rather unsuccessfully, thrust upon them. The latter applies to Bosh. Good player, good competitor, not a good leader and hence, a longshot to be a franchise player.

The debate of whether the GM did enough to surround him with talent, or whether he failed to lead the team, can go on for months without anything fruitful coming from it, our time is better served looking to the future than dwelling on the past. And Chris Bosh is now part of the past. Just like Mitch Richmond in Sacramento, Ray Allen in Milwaukee, Tracy McGrady in Orlando, Grant Hill in Detroit, Kevin Garnett in Minnesota, and the many failed instances of a single second-tier star trying to lead a team to glory, this era has ended.

As usual, check the front page for the latest.

You have to love that he was making omelets in the morning, and putting the final touches on a big contract in the afternoon. This will probably mean the end of Rasho Nesterovic and Patrick O’Bryant in Toronto, since we also grabbed Davis and Alabi in the draft.

This deal also provides a bit of insurance in the event that Bosh lands elsewhere (you do have to take the fact that the Miami rumours weren’t such a slam-dunk since nothing happened on the first day of free agency); although Amir will have to show that he can consistently play 30+ minutes a night without being hindered by foul trouble. I like this move a lot since you can never have enough young/long/athletic bigs who are aggressive in and around the basket, congrats kid, make us proud.

Three years ago, Bosh signed a short term deal for a couple reasons:

1. His people knew that with the CBA coming up, he would be in line for the last of the truly max contracts teams would be doling out until the next CBA comes up for negotiation.
2. He didn’t want to be locked into a long term contract with a team who might have different goals than he does.
3. He wanted flexibility.

No different than what any of us do when we negotiate with a company for a job; we want to be in the best situation possible. Sadly, Bosh is being dragged through the mud worse than VC and T-Mac were, and for what? The guy wants to play for a championship calibre team. He doesn’t like the direction this team is heading in? He wants to live in warmer weather?

In his exit interview he said he wants to stay but needs BryCo to give him a reason too. Up until this point though, what compelling reasons were given to him? Sure BC rolled the dice and brought in JO and Hedo, but to what effect? History has shown that this organization hasn’t been able to make the right decisions, and surround Bosh with the right talent. What is going to change all of a sudden to make things right? One of these gambles actually pays off? Seriously?

Let me ask you this: if your boss gave you a hockey stick and a fax machine, and told you to catch an elephant, what would you do?

Run; the answer is to run hard and fast.

Granted he might not have handled the situation very well, but this is a no win situation for him; he has a million mics in his face, being asked a million questions (all the same one though), and we throw him under the bus for saying how attractive it would be to play with Wade and/or LeBron to compete for championships. I know I would rather go elsewhere and play with Wade and LeBron than stay in Toronto and play with Hedo and Bargnani, wouldn’t you?

Beasley and Bargnani is something that makes you excited for the future of this team? Amir Johnson…?

So before you spit fire at Bosh, remember that he plays ball with the people he is told to play with, coached by people he is told to listen too by an ownership group that may not have winning a championship as their first priority. Winning starts from the top, the Lakers and Celtics have shown us that.

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Congratulations to Sam Mitchell for landing an assistant-coach gig in Jersey under Avery Johnson. Will be great to have him on the sidelines again.