Say what you want about Bosh, but he never ducked questions when times got tough, always made himself available to the media and he always looked an inquisitor in the eye.
Bosh was the Raptors’ leader, but he led more by example as opposed to looking a player in the eye and bashing him.
No player is best suited to lead whatever team gets trotted out this fall than Jack, a veteran who easily relates to the team’s young core, a player who learned a lot about himself when he pouted following a demotion to back up.
“All the guys have a certain respect level for me,” Jack said Tuesday as he voluntarily took part in a free-agent camp at the Air Canada Centre.
“If that (captaincy) gets placed on my shoulder, I can handle it. I’m ready for it. Personally, I have to be a leader 24 hours, all the time. There can’t be any breaks, no lapses, no steps back.
“That’s one of the critiques I’ve addressed this off-season. Last year, my body language wasn’t good when I should have persevered. I need to be that positive voice, whether the ship is afloat or if it’s not going well.”
In a text message, Henry Thomas, the agent for Bosh and Wade, confirmed that the Cavaliers had inquired about landing Bosh in a sign-and-trade deal. Thomas did not say if Bosh would be interested in playing for Cleveland should James return. The Cavaliers would be over the salary cap and would not be able to sign Bosh outright.
A sign-and-trade deal with the Raptors would almost certainly cost the Cavaliers forward Anderson Varejao, and Toronto would also probably use any deal to try to free itself of Hedo Turkoglu’s expensive contract, which extends another four years.
A Raptors official, speaking on the condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to discuss player movement publicly, said Toronto had “nothing imminent” with a sign-and-trade deal for Bosh. A deal between the Raptors and the Cavaliers appears improbable.
If James could convince Bosh to join him – and thus scupper Wade’s ambitions – James might even make it back to the NBA Finals.
But that would require Bosh to spend the best six years of his career living and working in Cleveland. Playing second fiddle in South Beach is one thing, but Cleveland?
As the free-agency period to end all free-agency periods winds down, the principals – all driven young men with ambitions to match – are going to have to make some choices if any of them are going to team up and take a run at winning rings instead of followers on Twitter.
Someone is going to have to trust someone else with his career. Someone might have to give up a lot of guaranteed money, or play somewhere that wouldn’t be his first choice.
So far there’s been little evidence of who that might be.
One story I heard could favor the Bulls. This is mostly a theory, but it was interesting how Tuesday began with news from ESPN that Toronto was willing to do a sign-and-trade with the Cavaliers for Chris Bosh.
If Bosh does a sign-and-trade, the Raptors could send him to any team in the league, so it’s no revelation that there is a combination of players they’d be willing to take from Cleveland.
The rumor expanded later in the day to include James trying to recruit Bosh to Cleveland with no luck. Bosh would rather play in Miami, Chicago or New Jersey.
Maybe this is all part of James’ exit strategy. He could say, “I did everything I could to bring an all-star caliber player to Cleveland, but it didn’t work out. So sorry to disappoint all my fans in Ohio, but I’m moving to Team X.”
Just before noon yesterday, Ed Davis had just finished his first practice as a Toronto Raptor. After wrapping up the session with his teammates on the Raptors’ summer league team, he made a beeline for the weight room in the back of the team’s practice facility.
Pull-ups and weight lifting followed, which could grow to be a theme for the Raptors’ lithe power forward.
"He’s got to [build up] his body a little bit," Raptors assistant and summer league head coach Eric Hughes said. "We’ve got to extend his range a little bit."
"Good," was how another Raptors official described Davis and Solomon Alabi, both of whom he had never seen play live before. "Raw."
And if you are Bryan Colangelo and the Toronto Raptors, where, exactly, do you want to be after the hurricane passes?
Like free agency, it’s complicated. Sure, a rebuild seems inevitable when you lose your best player off a non-playoff team. But the Raptors general manager only has one year left on his contract, and he still believes that, say, Hedo Turkoglu can play.
So what should he do? Without a contract extension in hand from Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment, undertaking a scrape-the-bottom rebuild is risky business, no matter your pedigree. And Colangelo could, if he feels it’s necessary, bring back just-add-water assets and try to catch the bottom end of the playoffs.
The Raptors have resigned themselves to the fact that Bosh isn’t returning to Toronto. But after talking to several teams about a sign-and-trade, they’ve been underwhelmed by the offers.
Here are some of the offers they’ve received:
• An ESPN report said the Raptors would be open to dealing with the Cavs. They have supposedly offered forward/center Anderson Varejao, forward J.J. Hickson, guard Delonte West and guard Anthony Parker. That’s 36 percent of their current roster (four of 11 players under contract). This offer can’t be totally discounted. It would give the Raptors two solid, young bigs, in addition to a way to cut more than $4 million in salary with West’s quirky deal. Of course, Parker is beloved in Toronto. A source said the Cavs have undoubtedly made an offer, but they might be down the list of suitors.
• Miami has just two players under contract. The Raptors want nothing to do with forward Michael Beasley, which just about ends any trade talks. The Heat could send a massive trade exception to the Raptors, but that doesn’t sound very attractive to Raptors president Bryan Colangelo.
• New York has offered a sign-and-trade with free agent forward/center David Lee, which has piqued their interest. Lee puts up good numbers, as he was a 20-and-10 guy last season.
• Chicago has supposedly offered forward Luol Deng, but the Raptors have countered with center Joakim Noah. That has probably ended their talks. Bosh could just sign with the Bulls, but they can’t afford to sign two max players.
• The one that might make the most sense for the Raptors is Houston’s offer of swingman Shane Battier, forward Luis Scola and a first-round pick. That would provide the Raptors with two solid players, including a legitimate big in Scola. The Houston Chronicle reported that the draft pick might not be included.