Chris Bosh to Miami makes too much sense
In his latest (6900-word?) column, Bill Simmons plays GM and suggests several “fake trade offers” for teams looking to save money this season.
He made an interesting point about Chris Bosh.
As I wrote in July, there’s nothing more dangerous than a GM worried about his job who dumps the team’s long-term interests to protect the short term. Everything Bryan Colangelo did this past summer screamed, “I need to keep my job!!!” Now the Raptors are hamstrung with an overpaid, below-.500 roster that doubles as the worst defensive team of this decade — seriously, what did they think would happen when Jose Calderon, Hedo Turkoglu and Andrea Bargnani were three of the team’s best four guys? — and Chris Bosh seems like a mortal lock to leave. You can’t do the Frank Drebin Memorial “Please disperse, nothing to see here, please disperse” routine. Raptors fans are too smart. They get it.
By dealing Bosh, Colangelo would be effectively saying, “I made some mistakes, we need to press the RESET button and start over.” Translation: “Fire me, I deserve it.” Because nobody would ever sabotage his job like that, he probably will keep Bosh, make a smaller trade and pray things turn around. If they don’t, the Raptors will get nothing for him. Not fair to the Raptor Truthers. At all.
If Colangelo is feeling the heat, then it is unlikely that he’ll move Bosh before the February deadline. He’s going to have a tough time getting equal value because the whole league knows that since the Raptors are losing, Bosh is likely to bolt. Why would other teams trade for a guy that they can sign in six months?
Well, one reason to believe that Bosh may indeed be on the move is that a team out there (like, say, the Miami Heat, who have their own superstar to worry about) might want to acquire Bosh now and not wait until the summer to try to sign him. In the case of the Heat, it would be doubly important because trading for Bosh would almost certainly convince Wade to stay in sunny Miami next summer. (Unless, of course, he already has other plans.)
Doesn’t a deal that would send Bosh and the bad contracts of Marcus Banks and Reggie Evans to Miami for Michael Beasley and Jermaine O’Neal’s expiring contract make a lot of sense for both teams? Yes, it’s not equal value for Bosh, but the Raptors would get a good young player (Beasley) and would save almost $10 million next season. In fact, they’d have $8 million of cap space to spend if they so choose. All of this for a guy they have almost no chance of re-signing anyway.
I know Heat fans would want to do this. What about Raptor fans?
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Bosh is going to stay in Toronto…sorry miami
“the whole league knows that since the Raptors are losing, Bosh is likely to bolt.”
What a joke.
If the whole league knows he’s leaving at the end of the season – what’s the rush? And what’s with all these random articles from people who clearly haven’t been watching Raptors basketball of late.
The Raptors are in 6th seed right now, and they’re currently riding a 4 game winning streak.
ALL Raptors fans know that they’d had one of the most difficult schedules in the league thus far, and it’s only going to get easier after New Year’s. Seriously, go to the website and check out their schedule. Look at the difference for yourself.
As for the person who wrote this article, you got no inside knowledge, this is all speculation based on your own personal assessment. The league “knows” nothing about Chris Bosh’s future plans, and I’m pretty sure he hasn’t made up his mind either.
“If the whole league knows he’s leaving at the end of the season – what’s the rush?”
Because they have to move him before the trade deadline to get anything for him. Otherwise, he’s free to sign with someone else and the Raptors wouldn’t get anything in return. This is simple stuff, really.
“As for the person who wrote this article, you got no inside knowledge, this is all speculation based on your own personal assessment.”
I never made any claim that I had inside knowledge.
“The league “knows” nothing about Chris Bosh’s future plans, and I’m pretty sure he hasn’t made up his mind either.”
Isn’t this just speculation? Why is it OK for you to speculate but not me? That’s hypocritical.
Listen, I realize that you’re a Raptor fan that is upset about the possibility of your favorite player leaving the team, but it’s reality that you have to face. The Raptors are currently 15-17 and won’t have any cap flexibility until the summer of 2011. If the team keeps winning, there’s a chance he’ll stay, but they’re not very good defensively and they don’t have the pieces (right now) to get past Orlando, Boston or Cleveland in the East.
Let me ask you this — if the Raptors finish 5th or 6th in the conference and have a first round exit from the playoffs, do you really think he’ll stay? There’s a chance they could gel and make the Eastern Conference Semis, but barring a big injury in the East, isn’t that their ceiling? Is this a situation he will want to get into long term, or would he rather combine forces with Dwyane Wade in sunny Miami?
What’s best for the franchise — letting him walk with no compensation or trying to get as much as you can before the trade deadline?
Everyone knows D-Wade is leaving the Heat at the end of the season, Miami should trade him to toronto for Andrea Bargnani and Jose Calderon.
Good one GrayZ. Why can’t it work both ways?
The short answer, is no, that’s a terrible deal for the raptors.
The Raptors do not want cap space. 8 million in cap space is not much better than the mid-level exception. Having 3 million extra space and Beasley is not worth Bosh.
The Raptors plan is to keep Bosh. It’s pretty clear that Bosh hasn’t decided yet what he wants to do. The Raptors have an advantage over every other team in that they can offer him more money. Even if Bosh decides he wants to leave, it’s likely the Raptors can turn him into an asset via a sign and trade. So the current plan of just trying to resign him makes the most sense.
John, there is no rush to trade him. At the end of the year a sign and trade, something almost all players are open to as it nets them both a change of scenery AND the maximum amount of money, is an excellent option to look at. I seriously doubt Colangelo is going to panic at this point and just ditch. If CB4 really is going to leave, then based on everything he has said and done in his time in TO would suggest he isn’t going to “McGrady” the Franchise.
Why, when TO is only trailing Miami by a couple games, would BC just hand you an All Star for a has been and a meathead like MB?
There just might be a deal to do with Miami. But it won’t include JO.
Miami would have to give something back that the Raps actually want to have! And USELESS Cap Space isn’t going to be a clincher.
These deals are very tough to do.
Okay, so it appears that the fallback plan for Raptor fans is a sign-and-trade for Bosh in the summer. The problem with this is that, this summer, he will be able to choose his own destiny so there is very little incentive for him to participate in a sign-and-trade. Why would he want to decimate the team he would be going to? Sure, the Raptors can offer him a bit more money than an outside team, but if it means his new team has to give up several good pieces to acquire him, why would he bother?
And I don’t agree that cap space is useless. I’m not saying $8 M is going to get you much, but if you’re able to move another contract and free up another $6 M, suddenly you have enough to sign a max player and start over with someone who actually wants to play in Toronto.
Rob — It’s not the same situation. Miami is a warm weather city and a favorite of NBA players. Wade has won a title there. He has stated repeatedly that he wants to stay. Toronto is cold, Bosh hasn’t won anything there, and he hasn’t said that his intention is to stay.
why is it such a mortal lock that Chris Bosh is going to leave Toronto.
The guy is the biggest sports star in one of the biggest media markets in the world, forget just being one of the bigest media markets in North America.
He is loved in Toronto and he has grown to love Toronto.
If the Raps don’t turn the season around, finish with a winning record and make a decent showing for themselves in the playoffs, then I can understand why he might want to bolt. But do you really think he would want to go to a town like Miami, which is a horrible sports town, for a team like the Heat, that plays before a half empty arena? Give your head a shake author.
I’m not against the Raps trading Bosh but the deal needs to be a good one or else I would wait for the offseason, execute a sign and trade and try to get the best deal possible.
My last comment on Chris Bosh for the time being:
Raptor fans need to get their heads out of the sand. While it’s certainly not a “mortal lock” that Bosh is going to leave, the general consensus around the league is that he will. Whether that’s correct or incorrect is yet to be determined. We can all argue until we’re blue in the face but we won’t know for sure until the summer.
Here’s what we know:
- The Raptors are a mediocre team right now. Yes, that could change (for the better or the worse), but they have no cap space and are going to have a tough time improving this roster around Bosh. They aren’t particularly tough and aren’t very good on defense.
- A sign-and-trade is a slim possibility for reasons I outlined in a previous comment. Think about it — why would Bosh want to decimate his future team when he has the freedom to sign with whomever he chooses? The only way a sign-and-trade happens is if he wants to go to a team that doesn’t have room to sign him, and there are going to be too many options out there next summer for that to outweigh how a sign-and-trade would decimate his future team.
- If the Raptors hold onto Bosh until summer, there is a good chance that they lose him without any compensation. And since the general consensus is that he’s going to leave anyway, his stock is lower than it would be if he had another year on his deal. Therefore, the Raptors are not going to get equal value if they do trade him.
I appreciate your passion for your franchise, and I hope that you come back this summer (and as the season wears on) to discuss Toronto’s future.
The “general consensus” around the league is woefully uninformed and people who don’t follow the Raptors closely are just echoing other people who don’t follow the Raptors closely. Remember, Vince Carter was supposedly a lock to leave, too. We shall see.
The number of raptor fans looking forward to Chris Bosh leaving is growing in Toronto. The problem is that he is the best player but you cannot build a team around him. He is the perfect second banana to a franchise player like Wade.
Other than scoring and rebounding (something like a Zach Randolph getting 20/10), Bosh brings nothing else. He lacks leadership skills, anti-clutch, terrible interior and man to man defense, injury-prone, starts strong and tapers off as the season progresses.
Bosh as the centerpiece of the franchise will get his stats but that will not result in team success. Therefore Bosh as the second banana to wade will be the perfect combination.
You obviously have a low basketball I.Q.
Why in the blue hell would Colangelo re-aquire J.O.?? He made that mistake once, I don’t think he would make the same mistake twice. That has to be the dumbest trade suggestion I’ve ever heard and I’m pretty sure no NBA GM would every consider a trade as ridiculous as that. This article is pathetic at best. It seems as if your boss gave you a deadline to write something and this is the crap you responded with. Pretty lame. Maybe you should switch to covering hot dog eating contests and leave the NBA reporting to people who actually know something about B-Ball.
And about the raptors losing ways, they were in the same position when Colangelo first came to town and wounded up finishing 12 games over .500. Patience!! Raptors can still do a sign and trade for Bosh at the end of the season and not lose much if he decides not to stay. There is absolutely no rush to trade him.
JP, is Miami going to have 2 “max” contract players or are you hoping/dreaming that Bosh signs for less than max?
Nice, Romel. I won a national championship playing basketball in college. I do know something about the sport. O’Neal isn’t a player to keep, he’s an expiring contract. If you know anything about the NBA you know that expiring contracts are golden. His would allow Toronto to get below the camp pronto. The gem of the trade is Michael Beasley, a 20-year-old PF who is averaging 16/7 in his second year. Maybe you’ve heard of him. Maybe not. Who knows.
A sign-and-trade is a very slim possibility for reasons outlined above. Any sign-and-trade would decimate his future team. Why would he do this? It doesn’t make any sense. He’s going to be a free agent and can pick any team with the cap space to sign him (and there are several). Think before spouting off about someone else’s basketball and NBA knowledge.
one luv — Miami has enough cap space to sign two max players. They only have a payroll of $30 M next season (including the final year of Wade’s deal, which he will opt out of) and the cap probably won’t fall below $50 M.
http://www.shamsports.com/content/pages/data/salaries/heat.jsp
Raptor fans are very enthusiastic i must admit that; your opionions are you own and can see that; but my opinion is chris bosh is a goner’ no one wants to play in Toronto there are only forced to come here.. why would anyone play in canada when they can play in the mecca of the world i call home america… if u ever read articles from when vince carter was trying to lure players here for him bak in the day no one would come becuase of canada.. heck even steve francis refused…. chris bosh is being mum and polite he doenst wanna end up like VC and get booed.. every time he comes back.. and everything u said in your article is true, u are very knowledagable.. this is my opinion
There is no way in hell that Miami would ever take back Marcus Banks, they already unloaded that contract last year on the unbelievably gullable Colangelo, Miami is shooting for bigger game, namely Lebron. What has Bosh ever won in his life that makes him soooo valuable, answer nothing!!!! He is a plan B option for the summer there will be no trade to Miami fhat includes Beasley.
thank you JP for speaking reason
its pretty obv bosh is gone in 2010 to a team that can compete, most likely miami w/ wade as those two can compete with anyone unlike just treadmilling in tor…tor blew it by giving out big contracts to avg players to appease bosh
except that i doubt a team like miami would even offer up beasley, let alone take back banks, i think that they are confident that there position is so much better than mia’s that they can sign him outright 100/5 is a lot of money for anyone
Well well well…message to all the know-it-alls, its now Feb 4th 2010 and the raps are 4 games over 500 and then Heat are not. Sure Miami is nice and sunny, but bosh is not so superfical. TO has the 4th best record in the league since Dec. Miami is under achieving this year, adding Bosh won’t help. He see’s more potential in TO than Miami right now.
Nova — There’s a huge hole in your argument: Chris Bosh. He’s on the Raptors now and TOR is only three games ahead of MIA. Do you honestly think that if he were on the Heat that Miami couldn’t make up those three games? Get real.