Interviews with people inside Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment Ltd., the parent company that owns the NBA franchise, indicate Colangelo has spent a significant proportion of his time and energy deflecting anxious queries from an increasing concerned ownership about the Raptors performance after his hand-picked club crashed to an 11-19 finish after the all-star break and missed the playoffs.
Since the season ended off-court distractions that have rolled up like waves, be it reports the Raptors’ penchant for partying was a factor in their poor performance; the Cleveland Cavaliers LeBron James suggesting the team quit down the stretch or the spectre of Chris Bosh toying with fans’ sentiments by using his Twitter account to survey opinion of whether or not he should resign in Toronto.
None of which Colangelo can control.
“He came in with great DNA and great credibility and this is a tough time for Bryan,” Richard Peddie, the chief executive officer of MLSE, said. “He’s feeling it.”
Those close to Colangelo describe him variously as humbled, worn and humanized by the recent turn of events. “He’s getting banged on by a lot of people,” said one source, requesting anonymity. “A lot of people are nervous.”
Colangelo is entering the final year of his contract as one of the highest-paid executives in the NBA, befitting a track record that includes two executive-of-the-year awards, including one for his 20-win turnaround of the Raptors in 2006-07, his first full year on the job.
Reports of him being granted an extension on his contract this past February were technically incorrect: The club had an option to terminate their deal with the 44-year-old who cut his teeth in the industry at the right hand of Jerry Colangelo in Phoenix – his father and one of the modern NBA’s founding fathers – but chose not to exercise it.
Can you honestly tell New York Vinnie that Milwaukee center Andrew Bogut had a better season or is a better player than Chris Bosh? Bogut was named to the All-NBA Third Team and the reason he made it was the Bucks made it to the Playoffs and the Raptors did not. Zach Randolph also had far better numbers than Bogut did this season; however the Memphis Grizzlies did not make the Playoffs and Randolph was also omitted from the list.
New York Vinnie does not believe that any NBA General Manager is goimg to make being a member of the All-NBA Teams a determining factor in signing a Free Agent. They instead will look at the numbers that Bosh put ip this season which were quite impressive. The Raptors big man averaged 24.0 points and 10.8 rebounds per contest in 70 games this season. They are also going to look at the fact that he is still just 26 years old and his best days are most likely still ahead of him.
Chris Bosh in the right situation could make a lottery team a Playoff team next season. New York Vinnie specifically have the New Jersey Nets in mind. If the Nets can bring in Bosh to play with Brook Lopez, Devin Harris and Courtney Lee they could be a very dangerous team next year. And they have plenty of cap space available so this deal is realistic.
The Energy’s third season in the International Basketball League tips off next week, as they host the Tacoma Tide for a three-game series that starts Friday and runs through Sunday. The Energy season is starting a week later than expected, after the club postponed its three-game series against the defending IBL champion Los Angeles Lightning.
The three-game series that was set to run through this weekend has been pushed back to the weekend of June 25.
"L. A. is expecting to bring six to nine ex-NBA players," Sir said. Former Utah Jazz guard Bryon Russell headlines that group, along with two former Toronto Raptors in Darrick Martin and Lammond Murray.
First Chris Bosh changes his Twitter profile, now Bosh jerseys are half price at Centre Sports at the ACC (according to the FAN 590). Jerseys often go on sale in the summer, but half price is pretty steep and could be taken as a sign that the franchise knows there is no way Bosh is coming back and wants to rid itself of its stock early, while some still think he might be back.
Marco Belinelli told an Italian paper that he is definitely not going to Europe next year. Belinelli was a huge disappointment in his first year in Toronto.
However, Bosh has said that if he leaves, it will be through a sign and trade, to benefit both himself (one extra year of max money can be pretty handy when your next contract negotiation will come on the wrong side of 30 and a new CBA) and the Raptors, who will be able to get something back for him.
This has opened the door to some teams that may not have had the cap space to sign Bosh outright, while making it a bit more difficult for teams with cap space but not so many trading chips (Knicks, Heat in particular) to get the Black Avatar (sorry, couldn’t resist) on their roster for the 2010-11 season.
After spending a few hours playing on the Trade Machine and checking Hoops Hype’s salary list (instead of working on my political science essay) I came up with a few ideas.
So yes, Bosh, being the social-media savvy guy that he is (remember those interests that don’t always begin and end with sports?), tweets his followers with innocuous questions about what they think his future should look like.
He’s never been a free agent before, never known what it is like to play in another NBA city, and he’s justifiably curious about what that process may yield. He’s even curious to know how people he’s never met feel about the subject. He isn’t turning his back on Toronto or spitting upon the Raptors, he’s simply entering into a whole new life experience and he’s curious to explore all that that experience has to offer.
He’s not preemptively divorcing Toronto, he’s simply asking himself, for the first time that he’s been allowed to, what else is out there. Keep in mind that this is a guy that made it a half-season longer than Vince Carter did in Toronto before he got that curiousity itch, and unlike Carter (or Damon Stoudamire before him) he never quit on his team or demanded a trade out of town as a way of bracing himself to scratch that itch.
Bosh has never spoken or acted like he has left Toronto in his rear-view mirror, and in fact he’s always gone on the record stating that he loves the city and it would be hard for him to leave if that’s the way the chips fall, yet people have begun willfully misinterpreting his curiousity as wanton infidelity. They’ve begun accusing him of cheating when all he’s done is watch another pretty young thing walk by
