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.

[audio:http://raptorsrepublic.com/audio/2009-08-10-EricSmith.mp3]

Follow him at @eric__smith.

Quick summary after the jump.

• Thinks Belinelli could very well start if things stay where they are. Triano will figure out if he’s got “it” in training camp.
• Thinks blogs shouldn’t have the same access as “regular” reporters. Says its slippery slope. I actually referred to bloggers as “riff raff” in there. Stupid.
• Says the Raptors have an easier road schedule because the trips are short even though there are many. He rides the Raptors charter jet but says even that gets grueling at times.
• Having a kid makes him tweet at 4AM.
• Admits that Jones and him had some growing pains as the radio combo but thinks things have gotten better as the years have gone by.
• Finds himself working much more due to Twitter, Blogs etc when compared to a few years ago.
• Wouldn’t mind getting into TV broadcasting but politely points out that Jack Amrstrong, Matt Devlin and Leo Rautins have those gigs sealed for a few years.
• Allen Iverson told him to f**k off once. Andre Reed went off on him once too.

UPDATE: If you aren’t on Twitter, this may not make any sense to you (also, if you are, you may not care)

It started out as a self-righteous duel to 50,000 followers between two of the NBA’s most prolific young-guns/Tweeters. Looking from the outside in, it smelt of a cheap way to get followers up while having some fun. However, it quickly deteriorated into a fan backlash by many of us on Twitter.

Now if you’re not on Twitter, you should sign up and follow the lot of us on RR asap (@altraps @arsenalist @rapsfan @realizar and of course @raptorsrepublic), but for those of us who @reply, retweet, #hashtag and DM the hell out of things,to say this whole thing is a  disappointment is a gross understatement.

While there isn’t anything wrong with having a friendly competition, the nature of this particular one just rubbed us all the wrong way. Twitter is about joining the conversation, letting people know how you feel about a certain GM, supporting political/human rights causes or mourning a pop-idol. The fact that people follow you means that they like what you have to say, and want to have a conversation with you. Not that they want to be dictated to and sold a bag of magic beans.

So back to things… CB4 and CV31 trash talking each other was all good until all our streams were polluted with an incessant amount of “follow me” “I need 50k followers before he gets it” “I’m close!” “My penis is gigantic” blah blah blah. Things went from mildly amusing to outright disappointing. We already watch, blog and generally shower you guys with praise and gratitude, but everything has its limit.

Slowly the two sides forked in their direction:

Chris Bosh stayed the course. Even promised to stay up to answer everyone (that poor dwarf you have tweeting on your behalf, he clearly didn’t answer everyone, but you have to give the little guy some credit, he has short fingers, and typing so much takes it toll). Just looking at his stream (@chrisbosh), it’s all “@reply thank you’s” and “RT, I need more penis’ to make mine bigger.” It all resulted in his business partner snapping out in a rather disgusting fashion, then deleting it.

Charlie Villanueva went the other direction, turning his quest to 50k into a charity event, donating the equivalent number of followers needed (3172) to get to 50k of sneakers to charity. He even reached out to some shoe dude.Wow, that’s a conversation I want to be apart of.

Chris, you’re my man, I’d give you a max contract in a second to keep you in Tdot. We know that’s not all you on Twitter, two different styles (yours and the douchebags), but you gotta get rid of that dwarf – ASAP. He treats people poorly, is slimy to our ladies, and is a poor reflection on you. At least change your twitter password and keep him the hell away from it. Better yet, let us rep you on Twitter. We’re doing a damn good job of reppin the Raptors on ESPN, and we’re holding it down on Twitter.

The Raptors need to take this one as they head into a tough stretch of games where they play 7 teams who are .500 or better. Without getting too far ahead of ourselves, there is a game against the Wolves. Don’t get too excited, but it could mean two wins in a row for the Raps. It should mean two wins in a row. Actually, if they don’t win against the Wolves, Bosh might start Twittering haiku’s to the masses.

A sexy G*d fearing dame.

After going 10-4 in January, and leading the league in wins, the Wolves have gone 2-8 so far in February with one of those losses coming against the Raptors. In fact, the Raptors haven’t lost to the Wolves in 5 years, a span of 9 games. I don’t think any other team in the league has that distinction. They played the Lakers on Sunday and took a 5 point lead into the 4th, ultimately losing 111-108. Say what you will about them, but they have a few nice young players who play some exciting basketball, too bad Jefferson is down for the count. I’ll take it.

The Raptors on the other hand aren’t much better, going 3-7 in their last win, and 1-2 since the Marion hit the scene. Over the weekend, they split a pair of games with the Knicks, getting blown out of the water on the first one in Mecca, then winning by (not blowing them out mind you) 11 two days later.

Chrissa checks in as my favourite Timberwolves cheerleader, which isn’t saying much. Gotta say, most of these girls are pretty lame, Church going folk. Not that there is anything wrong with Church, we here at RR support religion (well I do anyways), but when this Telemarketer Market Researcher’s goal is to live a Christian life in everything she does…kills the buzz a bit. I was gonna go with Ashley K, but I fell asleep reading her profile. You can Fan Chrissa on Facebook if you so choose.

Injury Report

Raptors
Kris Humphries

Timberwolves
Corey Brewer
Al Jefferson

Match-ups

Calderon vs Telfair
The Edge: Calderon - Calderon won the match-up last time around as Telfair didn’t bother to pass the ball to anyone. I don’t expect much more out of Marbury’s cousin, was never a big fan of him. Ultimately doesn’t matter, Jefferson is injured.

Parker vs Foye
The Edge: Foye - Randy “McHale traded Roy to get” Foye dropped 33pts 8rebs on us the last time around while Parker was nowhere to be found. Since Parker had the solid game against the Knicks on Sunday, I don’t expect him to make out to this one. Ultimately doesn’t matter, Jefferson is injured.

Marion vs Miller
The Edge: Marion - 16pts 15rebs 5st Sunday against the Knicks. If he can do that for a couple more years, I’d give him a 3/$24 in the summer. Joey Graham kept Miller in check last time around, Marion should do the same. Ultimately doesn’t matter, Jefferson is injured.

Bosh vs Gomes
The Edge: Bosh - CB4 anchored the defense since it is his new focus at the moment. I have to admit I don’t disagree with him going that route. He was a beast at the Olympics and frankly, whatever keeps the guy happy keeps me happy. Gomes dropped 17 last time around, but Bosh should keep him in check. Ultimately doesn’t matter, Jefferson is injured.

Bargnani vs Love
The Edge: Love - Love dropped 15pts 11rebs last time around, and has been having a pretty solid rookie season. I just have a feeling that Bargnani will have a pretty solid offensive game, but fail to keep Love off the boards or off the score sheet, which will ultimately swing this match-up in Kevin’s advantage. Ultimately doesn’t matter, Jefferson is injured.

The Line

VegasInsider.com has the Raptors at 6.5, and Basketball-Reference.com says the Raptors have a 64% chance of winning. Ultimately doesn’t matter, Jefferson is injured.

The Prediction

Jefferson is injured, Raptors win by 12

Catch us on Twitter (and me)

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Free Ukic.

It’s the “Shame on you for tuning in” edition.

Adams – When Colangelo beat zero other teams to the punch in signing Adams, is this how he envisioned him being used? Technically, none of the Raptors struggles are Adams’ fault since he didn’t do anything. Nothing.

Bargnani – Darko 2.0. I can’t for the life of me figure out why he needs a towel on the bench, what has he done that tires him out? 1-5 for 2 points and 2 rebounds and three bricks on clean looks? If he can’t make an open jumper he’s useless since he gives us nothing in any other area of the game. Forget about jumping for rebounds, let’s start using your legs in your shot like every other shooter out there. How long are we going to say its a confidence thing with him? Maybe he’s just, you know, a bad player.

Bosh – The only reason Bosh’s line (17/10, 6-14) is looking good is because I just got done seeing Bargnani’s. Couldn’t finish his moves against Matt Bonner who had 14 on 5-8 shooting and lost the Red Rocket on defense way too many times. Got in Moon’s face again (not as fiercely though, after all it’s just a game) for taking a bad J but then took an equally bad 3 pointer with a minute plus left. Still waiting for that great game against a great team. Is it 2010 yet?

Calderon – Had to leave the game in the first half because of an upset stomach which was further aggravated by Tony Parker’s dribble “penetration”. Scored 16 but gave up 24 to Parker who got his 10 assists after zipping past Ocho at will and finding snipers. 7 of Parker’s 10 assists were to perimeter players and 6 of those were threes setup by penetration against Calderon. That’s 21 more points scored indirectly against Calderon. I think I once saw him clapping his hands as Parker went up for a J, further research tells me that’s called a shot contest in Spain.

Graham – Started off with two air balls, then some more bricks, then got two three point plays and that’s about it. Funny part is that he was closer to Good Joey than Bad Joey. I thought we should’ve looked for him in the post against Manu, he’s stronger than him and the one time we went to that matchup he came oh so close to finishing, should’ve gone right back to him.

Humphries – We’re -10 on the boards and this guy gets 1 minute? Triano does know that he can rebound, right? Remember last season when everybody wanted Bargnani’s playing time to go to Hump because he played harder and produced more per minute, well, let’s start those chants again.

Jawai – He’s a good kid, just not an NBA player.

Kapono – Here’s a crazy thought, have him play point guard. He drives more than Jose, can run the 2-man game with Bosh or JO and is a better shooter. Find me one element of Jose’s game that is not present in Kapono’s and in better quality. If Jose’s not driving, he’s a piss-poor Kapono and right now he’s not, so I’d rather have the better shooter in there. What’s the worst that can happen? The opposing PGs can’t torch us any more than they already do?

Moon – His way of upping his intensity is wearing a headband. Got burned so many times by Bonner, Finley and Manu that you have to consider him a defensive liability and not the “defensive ace” Hollinger made him out to be. As pointed out by OntarioTeachersFundPresident in the chat “Moon likes to make those grab the rebound with one hand and SLAP THE BALL to MAKE THE REBOUND LOOK FIERCE”. That about sums it up. Here’s his line: 1-5 with 4 points.

O’Neal – 24 points, 10 rebounds on 12-20 FG. Most of this work is against Duncan and the San Antonio help. Went to the bench to ice his shoulder and some said he was checking out but came back to make a run at the Spurs, he was the only one. Sure, he bitches to the refs more than any other player in the league but at least he cares, that’s more than you can say about anyone else, no? His offense is coming back to where it was before he got injured. His salary is a problem, his play is not.

Parker – Managed to lose Roger Mason Jr. for 9 second half points. His lateral quicks are shot and if anyone ever calls him a “good defender” again they’re basing it one a quarter’s stretch of play, nothing more. Hasn’t played a good defensive game since Game 2 when we beat GSW. Can’t wait to see what BC gets for this pylon.

Solomon – No better way to endear yourself to the coach than to jack up a terrible 3 as soon as you come in and then let Tony Parker beat you down the floor twice for 4 points. Leo called him a “very good shooter”? This guy couldn’t cut it in the D-League. To be fair, the only reason Triano got him off the bench was because Jose was busy reading the Spanish translation of “7 seconds or less” on the can.

Ukic – Apparently played 5 minutes but I could’ve sworn I never saw him.

Voshkuhl – The ace up BC’s sleeve. Appears to have a more refined post-up game than CB4. Hey, he scored twice in the post on Matt Bonner and that’s more than I can say about Bosh. Would’ve gotten more play if he was mobile enough to trot his ass to the perimeter and stick with the Rocket. (Why am I missing Matt Bonner and Roger Mason Jr.?)

Driving the bus – Jermaine O’Neal

Under the bus – Andrea Bargnani

Game theme – Knights of Cydonia

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