This is on Colangelo, Not So Much Bosh

[TdotTrizzy]

Did any of you watch the season?! We were one of the hottest teams in the league before the break, bosh looked happy and there were talks that if we made it out of the first round and showed improment he would stay. Rap fans would have killed bc for trading bosh at the deadline.

[Apollo]

Hindsight makes everything SO easy!

Been saying Bosh is going to leave for a long time now. I never sudden started saying this today or last week or last month.

[Hotshot]

In the last 3 years Colangelo failed to build a winner.

Also Colangelo has a poor instincts, he actually thought that if he build a winner that Bosh was going to stay and he failed to react fast enough to trade Bosh when he realised that its not going to happen. In Denver for example they aren't allowing Carmelo to pull the same stunt, if Carmelo doesn't sign the extension this summer managment told him he would be traded ASAP.

Then he thought that at least Bosh will work with him to help the Raptors out in a sign&trade deal that now seems like its not going to happen.

Colangelo is on his last standing legs in Toronto and if there is going to be a bad season ahead he will probably be gone.

[Apollo]

Bosh picked a place he wanted to play. He wasn't going to pick a place that offered the Raptors the best incoming players.

[thomas1]

I can't believe that in this day and age there are some (mabe many) who want to blame the GM. This is a franchise failing, once, twice, three, four times and sadly many more times to come. Its on all of them Peddie, Tennenbaum, Embry, the Board and OTP.

There is something wrong on a macro scale, there has to be, even an animal with limited brain capacity will learn from mistakes if it wants to survive. I dont know if its the corporate structure that they've adopted. The desire to spend just enough that you are not the worst but not enough to be even considered good. The perception turned reality that good players dont want to be here, thus paying a premium for the mediocre of talents to stay.

I dont know if they'll seek a S&T, but the last thing this franchise needs is a rebuild on the fly. To get us back to the 35-40 wins season that would neither get you to the playoffs or allow you to draft the difference makers.

BC has done an excellent job, as best as any GM under the same circumstances can do.

[Tortacular]

How is it the fault of ownership and upper management when the GM can't tell a good basketball player from a bad one?

[thomas1]

How is it the fault of ownership and upper management when the GM can't tell a good basketball player from a bad one?

pass

[Arsenalist]

I definitely agree with the thread title.

[TRX]

I think Colangelo just took a risk that didn't pan out by keeping Bosh around. Chris Bosh isn't the first star to leave in free agency and won't be the last.

[Arsenalist]

Hindsight makes everything SO easy!

I keep hearing this "hindsight" argument. You can't hold an NBA GM to the same standard as the fans. Only an idiot would think that we'd have a chance of winning a playoff round by finishing as a 5-8 seed. Check our records against Boston, Orlando, Cleveland and Atlanta. Here's how you judge a team:

Record vs teams over .500: 14-33
Record vs teams under .500: 26-9

That trend did not change at any point in the season and it is Colangelo's JOB to figure out that the team, as constructed, is not good enough to compete at even a moderate level. This site, and many others, have noted the Raptors SOS during their pre-All Star winning streak. I understand that it would take a ballsy decision to trade Bosh at the deadline, but it is one that a great GM (as many claim Colangelo to be) would make if he had the foresight to see what this team really was.

[Mess]

In the last 3 years Colangelo failed to build a winner.

3 years? That seems like a short time to expect a winner - expecially when it has become apparent that Bosh is not a player to take them anywhere close to the finals. If it was easy for a GM to just make an all star appear on their team everyone would be doing it.

Also Colangelo has a poor instincts, he actually thought that if he build a winner that Bosh was going to stay and he failed to react fast enough to trade Bosh when he realised that its not going to happen.

When did he realize that it wasn't going to happen? When did everyone realize this? Do you recall Bosh saying that he thought they could catch Boston for first place in their division? Everyone was optimistic around that time. (ok after reading Arsenalist's reply above, almost everyone)

In Denver for example they aren't allowing Carmelo to pull the same stunt, if Carmelo doesn't sign the extension this summer managment told him he would be traded ASAP.

Wrong. They're not trading him.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=5356389

Then he thought that at least Bosh will work with him to help the Raptors out in a sign&trade deal that now seems like its not going to happen.

As far as I can recall, Bosh has stated many times, going back a while now, that he wants a max deal, he wants to be the man and be paid accordingly. And that put BC in a position of power. But apparently Pat Riley has changed all of this - or maybe Dwayne Wade is just too damn charming and irresistable. But either way, whatever cards BC thought he had by being able to offer a 6th year and $30M more, may be useless if Bosh decides to change the tune he's been singing for a year now.

[DirtyMikeSeaver]

I'm going to go on a bit of a rant here:

As a fan/observer of the Raptors team/mess/snuff film, I have to laugh at the reaction of some of the fans and especially the media towards Bosh. People are planing "RuPaul" chants and you have the main broadcast team subtly throwing Bosh under the bus for the fact they never did anything in the playoffs (like it's Bosh's fault he played with Anthony Parker, T.J. Ford, Jake Voshkul, The Corpse of Hedo Turkoglu and that no talent Jose Calderon). Bosh made the right decision and played about as well as someone could here for 7 yrs. The team tried, but anytime you hand $24 Million to Jason Kapono, you know that you're just headed for trouble.

Most laughable is this writer for the Toronto Star, who talks about what a great signing Turkoglu was/is because he was the leading scorer on a team that made it to the finals (you know, like Jalen Rose), about how no one should admire the OKC Thunder because "How are they going to pay all those guys in 2 to 3 yrs?" (yeah, that's a horrible position to be in) and how there is still talent here to make the playoffs (Turkgolu/Bargnani/Calderon - $145 Million total salary, 0 All-Star Appearances... actually Bosh has NEVER played with a guy that made an all star team in the same year he played with him). Some of the NBA writers in Canada are very good, but some are either on the Raps payroll or just think it's funny to fool the public.

Now the question is "Why won't any of our stars stay? Why does everyone hate Canada?" Why? Because our general manager trades away for Jermaine O'Neal 25 yrs past his prime. Because they trade away their first 'franchise player' for Joey Graham and nothing else. Because they give $50 Million extensions to Number One picks that are so mediocre, even Joe Smith has to shake his head. Because this town jeers and boos players that make mistakes and then when the players call them out, they take the whole "Hey, don't take it personally, why do you hate us?" position (Bryan McCabe, Tracy McGrady, Larry Murphy, Roberto Alomar). Bosh didn't leave because he hates Toronto. He actually loves it here. He left because this is a wasteland of a basketball team. They pay $14 million a year for 2 point guards that couldn't guard me. They resigned a power forward for $34 Million that fouls more than Greg Oden. They employ a coach who, after they lost their most important game last year against Chicago by about 362 points, came into the press conference after and said that he was pleased by their effort and how they came out. When Bosh missed a shot at the end of the game against Golden State off a wicked steal by Sonny Weems and collapsed on the floor, inconsolable, his running mate in the front court was over, congratulating the opposing coach for beating Lenny Wilkens on career wins. I can't tell you how much of a joke this franchise is/has become.

And all of this, and I mean all of this, is on this general manager, who somehow is seen as a genius. Bill Simmons wrote a great article a couple of years ago about Colangelo and the Suns, exposing what kind of 'genius' Colangelo is (the last paragraph is very funny in hindsight): http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story? page=simmons/080501.

All the GM has seem to do in his career is overpaid for mediocre to no talent, draft horribly and got lucky with 2 moves (Nash and Stoudamire... and even then, it was more about Cuban not wanting to pay him and everyone scared off of what a headcase Amare was coming out of high school). Yet, there's no move to fire him (hell, they will probably extend him!) and Toronto will become Indiana North.