For the first seven years of his career in Toronto, Chris Bosh had five seasons averaging at least 22 points a night, and went for 20/10 averages three different times. Last night in Miami’s 39-point execution of Charlotte, the four man hit the ‘Cats for 24 points and 10 rebounds and is now shooting an incredible 57 percent from the floor this season. Despite never winning a playoff series, he did take the Purple Dinosaurs to the playoffs twice. And yet this weekend in The Boston Globe, Toronto GM Bryan Colangelo admitted he wasn’t a franchise cornerstone, and that the way Bosh bounced left the Raptors without much chance at getting equal value.
Colangelo did what he could, nabbing two first-round picks and a trade exception once Bosh decided he was leaving for South Beach. He says he was never given a shot to get equal value.
But maybe it wasn’t all bad. Toronto drafted another big man (Jonas Valanciunas) who looks like one of the best young prospects in the world, and now have a coach (Dwane Casey) finally stressing defense. As for Colangelo, he believes this wouldn’t be possible if Bosh was still around, and that building a contender around Bosh would never happen.
The Boston Globe writes:
Colangelo did not hide his belief that Bosh is not an elite player or franchise cornerstone.
“Even if there was an open market similar to what’s gone on with [Carmelo Anthony] last year and Chris Paul this year and Dwight Howard, he’s not that caliber of player,” the general manager said. “It’s just that simple.
“I never had an opportunity to move him for the kind of haul that some of these other deals are producing. But for us to end up with a couple of first-round picks, it was a nice way to segue toward the future.
“As long as we weren’t strapped with a $126 million contract and the inability to really build around the player, we feel like this is probably the best thing that could have happened to us.”
The whole “franchise cornerstone” label always depends on your point of view. Is Bosh good enough to anchor a playoff team? Yes. Can you win a championship when he’s your best player? Probably not. Because he left, Toronto took a step back, hoping that would eventually position them to take two steps forward.
They won’t be good this year. But with some young talent, a future lottery pick in a deep draft and potentially $20 million in cap space next summer (Who would come?), maybe Colangelo doesn’t sound crazy when he says Toronto looks better for the future without Bosh.
Is Bosh a cornerstone? Did he screw over Toronto?
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