New Jersey - Land of Promise

[Marz]

You're very correct in that if Bosh is deadset on a destination that BC has his hands tied. But the reality of the situation is that Bosh is likely going to say (or has already said given the "list" rumour) "These are teams I'm open to be traded to". And because of this BC has flexibility in which offer he is taking, and the offers have to remain competitive.

It's basically a bidding war on what teams want to offer. They may not offer much, but it's up to BC to choose the best offer. If they all offer trade exceptions, then BC will pick a team that's as far from the Raptors' division as possible.

EDIT: And as for your last comment... where'd you get that? The Suns almost did a deal of Amare Stoudamire for Shane Battier + MULTIPLE picks. Twill + TPE is nowhere near that ballpark. And now that they got all the way to the finals, the Suns may want even more or they'll just give Amare the max if they can't find a good deal.

And sorry, I don'st see how it's clear to you that I am only choosing one of the three sides to understand. If New Jersey is offering me a trade exception and so is Chicago, then fuck New Jersey I play them 4 times a year! New Jersey would have to sweeten the pot or risk losing Bosh. If they have Amare lined up that's fine, but Amare and Bosh's trade value is similar, so it basically came down to who they think is the better fit next to Brook Lopez.

[Tim W.]

I completely agree Ripp. And what does it matter what deal was almost going down before the deadline. I don't think people are really grasping the massive, massive difference between a regular trade and a sign and trade. What Phoenix almost got for Amare when he was still under contract is moot. When the player is still under contract, the GM has control, as soon as the player's contract expires, almost all control goes to the player. What might be most preferable to a lot of teams is to simply get a big trade exception back and no contracts. In many cases, a trade exception might net a better player than you could get in a sign and trade, anyway.

[mo-sales]

As usual I disagree. I think the raps can get more back from the S&T now than if they had traded him at the deadline. There was no guarantees Bosh would resign wherever he went and had been publicly adamant about wanting to test free agency. Would a team like Houston or even NJ offered more to rent his services for the rest of the year or now to ensure they had him for the next six.

In traditional circumstances when the player is under contract the return on a trade is night and day when compared to a S&T, but there is nothing traditional about this summer. Almost every team's future in the league is indirectly tied to this summer. As long as there are competitive offers from other teams, there is no reason to think every GM is going to attempt to undercut BC and steal Bosh for nothing when there is a widespread demand for his services.

There is 0 incentive to trade Bosh in division unless he gets bowled over by like a NJ offer of thier number 3 pick. The key is trying to understand Bosh's mindset. If the list he named is accurate then NJ could easily be added. They are a big city moving to a bigger one and have cap space. The hypothetical scenarios some of you guys enlist for Bosh to get what he wants are pretty ridiculous. Bosh does not have much power in the negotiation process, the raptors are the ones who can hold a press conference and inform the public that Bosh isn't willing to play ball and his reputation will forever be tarnished north of the border. You don't think Wince would have played it differently now. Bosh lived through the whole Wince ordeal and as a hypersensitive attention seeker I can't imagine him replicating the way Wince burned every bridge as he sulked out of town.

Bosh can either walk or be at the mercy of BC's desire to help each other get what they want.

[Marz]

As usual I disagree. I think the raps can get more back from the S&T now than if they had traded him at the deadline. There was no guarantees Bosh would resign wherever he went and had been publicly adamant about wanting to test free agency. Would a team like Houston or even NJ offered more to rent his services for the rest of the year or now to ensure they had him for the next six.

I agree with this completely. Houston was giving up that much in a trade TO RENT Amare for half a season. There was no guarantee he would resign with the team. I think the trade that almost went down has everything to do with this summer when contemplating the value of players like Amare and Boozer.

However, I don't believe Bosh will be at "the mercy of BC's desire to help each other get what they want." Bosh wants two things: a 6 year max contract and a legitimate chance at a title. If the sign and trade BC concocted leaves the other team bare or uncompetitive, Bosh can also refuse. However, in most cases, trading away picks doesn't take away from a team's competitiveness (when drafting a project, like Favors).

If New Jersey isn't offering Favors for our inevitable rebuilding project, then the trade just isn't worth it.

Trade Exceptions are not this godly asset. There were several trade exceptions throughout the last few seasons that teams just didn't use. If a team is looking to trade someone like Andre Igoudala (just an example), they probably want some assets in return. So after giving up Bosh and gaining this TPE, we now have to give up the TPE + Assets to get a player like Iggy (again, just an example).

[Ripp]

If Bosh goes to a team below the cap, we shall see who is/was correct this summer.

[mo-sales]

Part of the disconnect on the Bosh issue stems from people lumping all the prospective teams together as one entity. I would agree there is a fairly sizable difference between what a team with cap space will offer and what a team without will.

The front runners Miami, Chicago and New York either have little to offer or little incentive to offer anything. Expecting to get Noah, Galinari or anything more than the Beas is foolish as they do have the possibility to sign him outright even if that possibility is rather remote.

Any team over the cap that wishes to bid for Bosh's services will have no leverage and neither will Bosh, those are the scenario's in which I feel the raptors would be justified in demanding a star talent in return. They are also the teams BC should push for when negotiations begin.

If Bosh goes to a team below the cap, it will be interesting to decipher his motives as none of those teams sans the Bulls will likely be championship contenders nor will he get the super max.

His best chance to get the most money is to play ball with BC and his best chance to land in a winning atmosphere is to go to a team over the cap. The only foreseeable problem hampering BC's ability to deal Bosh on his terms is the potential for Bron/Wade to go to the Bulls or Knicks and plead with Bosh to join them thus narrowing Bosh's field considerably. Bosh has been rather wishy washy through this whole process and short of Bron/Wade making the first move, there is little evidence to suggest Bosh won't continue to be clueless as to what he wants to do.