Amid fears they would lose the five-time all-star to the Miami Heat and receive no compensation, they have received a package in what’s turned into a sign-and-trade transaction.
The Raptors will get back the draft pick they gave the Heat in the Jermaine O’Neal transaction, Miami’s 2011 first-round pick, and a trade exception worth about $16 million.
The trade exception would allow the Raptors to acquire a player or players with salaries up to $16 million without having to ship out any players.
It expires one calendar year from the date the transaction is complete and allows president and general manager Bryan Colangelo to be a player in what’s left of this summer’s free agent market.
‘‘We are certainly sorry to see Chris leave, but we are planning to use these acquired assets to retool our roster and evolve as an organization,” Colangelo said.
the Raptors were finally released from the limbo they had entered when Bosh agreed to sign with Miami on Wednesday of this week. The team completed a sign-and-trade deal that sends Toronto two first-round picks and a hefty trade exemption to use in future deals. Specifically, the Raptors received their own 2011 first-rounder, sent to the Heat in the Jermaine O’Neal-Shawn Marion trade of 2009, and Miami’s 2011 first-round pick. Miami’s pick is lottery-protected.
The trade exemption, meanwhile, will allow the Raptors to absorb extra salary in any trade, or multiple trades. It is believed to be worth approximately US$15-million, and must be used within one year or it will expire.
Earlier in the week, the idea of not getting anything in a sign-and-trade deal — letting Bosh leave outright — did not seem like disaster. The optics would have been bad, and the Raptors would have been short a few assets, but getting nothing in return would necessitate a rebuilding process. In the Raptors’ books, that would mean moving Jose Calderon and Hedo Turkoglu for the lowest-committed salaries possible, and taking their chances in the draft lottery.
However, that only works if a team is determined to bottom out. General manager Bryan Colangelo made it clear on Thursday that he will never be OK with such a process occurring in Toronto while he is employed as its architect.
“I think we’ve got such a great young nucleus of athletic, young, energized, youthful players that it’s exciting to see what could come of it,” Colangelo said.
“I can’t tank. I’m about competing, and I’m about winning. I can’t plan to lose. That won’t happen as long as I’m here.
“Not every player that’s drafted in the lottery turns out to be the franchise saviour.”
Sources told ESPN.com’s Chad Ford that James and Bosh are scheduled to make $14.5 million and Wade $14 million in 2010-11.
Each player took $15 million less over the life of the contract to sign with Miami, but the deals came with a caveat.
All three contracts, sources told ESPN.com’s Marc Stein, have an early termination option after the fourth season that would allow LeBron, Bosh and Wade to return to free agency in the summer of 2014. Each player also possesses a player option entering the final season of the contract (2015-16).
Bosh and James’ deals were completed through sign-and-trades, making all three eligible for 10.5 percent raises each year.
The Heat sent two future first-round and two second-round picks to the Cavaliers for James, while packaging two first-round picks to the Raptors for Bosh.
Sources told ESPN that Toronto reacquired its first-round selection in 2011, which Miami had from a 2009 trade that sent Shawn Marion to the Raptors, and added the Heat’s own first rounder in 2011.
Miami then sent its first-round picks in 2013 and 2015 to the Cavaliers and Cleveland has the option to swap first-round picks in 2012, according to a league source.
Both the Raptors and the Cavs will receive trade exceptions valued at $14.5 million, sources told ESPN.com.
Now that Chris Bosh has lost the Predator hair and hit South Beach, a million thoughts have popped into my head for what will happen next. Instead of listing all of them I am going to list 10 things that will happen now that Chris Bosh is playing for the Miami Heat.
This is good news for Toronto and Cleveland; future draft picks may not be quite as sweet as LeBron or Bosh, but it does at least give those franchises something in return. They aren’t likely to be very high (if Miami is as good as they look today, we’re looking at the tail end of the first round), but there are still rotation players to be found that late if teams look hard enough. Plus, the huge trade exception acquired by each team could end up scoring impressive returns (Al Jefferson, anyone?).
Beleaguered Toronto Sports Fan
The thing with Bosh’s departure isn’t so much that he’s screwed us over or anything (though, he has been acting like a bit of a boob lately). And it’s not like the Raptors were all that good when Bosh was here. It’s more that general manager Bryan Colangelo, and the Toronto Raptor organization in general, have finally been fully exposed as having failed. Abjectly. It’s like they’ve been operating under cover of darkness, and now the lights have finally been turned on. We can all see clearly now that he’s spent the last 4 years grasping at straws. I guess we’ve kind of known for a while now, but it’s just that Colangelo’s a really charismatic guy, has nice clothes and always speaks so confidently that you can’t help but have faith in him. And he has this “pedigree”. I heard that when he was hired. Sounded pretty good to me. And the guy before that…Rob Babcock…eww…he never would have been able to get away with any of this. He just didn’t have the charisma.
Getting back our pick for 2011 is perhaps an understated part of this trade, as many seemed to be zeroed in on what we can do with the trade exception. As the Raptors are still looking for a PG, Raptor fans would be happy to know that there are currently as much as 5 point guards ranked in the top 25 prospects for next year so we may be able to find a solution next year. We will likely be a lottery team or if not a 7th or 8th seed so the chances are next year will be the 1st year we have drafted a point guard in the 1st round since Damon Stoudamire.
The names to remember are Josh Selby, Kyrie Irving, Brandon Knight, Malcom Lee and Kemba Walker.
Chris Bosh will soon discover what Vince Carter, Tracy McGrady and Damon Stoudamire already know. The “Jurassic Curse” will follow them through the rest of their career. While each player left Toronto with visions of an NBA Championship, not a single one has ever won an NBA ring. Never happened and it never will. The curse will not be broken until first, the Raptors enjoy their own NBA Championship Parade.
After every day of games here at the Vegas Summer League, “Unsigned Hype” is going to be looking at the best performances from players who don’t have contracts with NBA teams or who were drafted by a team in the past year’s draft. Guys who with great performances in the Summer League, may be able to play themselves into a training camp invite and maybe even a NBA contract.
I’m sure that there is frustration and disappointment, possibly even resentment, upon hearing the news that Chris Bosh is leaving Toronto to join forces with Dwyane Wade and LeBron James in South Beach. Well that certainly is the feeling from this vantage point as we lose a player that has been the centrepiece of our franchise for the last several years. I can assure you every move/investment made in the last four years to improve our basketball team was designed with the belief that putting the right pieces around Chris would get us closer to our goal of winning an NBA Championship. In fact, Chris actively participated in that process as transactions and changes were contemplated because I have always believed that a franchise player experiences a sense of ownership in team building. Unfortunately, we fell short of that goal and must now move on to a post-Bosh era in Toronto.
In completing a Sign-and-Trade transaction with Miami, we were able to extract a very valuable Trade Exception and future draft picks that will serve as building blocks in the process of re-tooling our basketball team. The Trade Exception can be used to acquire players under contract with other teams via trade, or it can be used to leverage the acquisition of additional future assets. Speaking of the future, I can’t tell you how energized we all feel to see the positive growth and development of so much young athletic talent on our roster including re-signing Amir Johnson and the recent first-round draft selection of Ed Davis. While more changes to the roster are possible, even likely, we can promise you now that this team will compete every night they take to the floor.
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