The Bosh Identity

So I have adjust the look of the Samsquanch to give it more or a Raptor/Canadian look. I am not sure I am going to stick with it permanently since I found the blue a bit easier on the eyes for readers. If you guys have a preference either way, let me know. I will be covering the All Star festivities as well as the Olympics since they're being held in my home country which I love and hold so dear. GO CANADA. Screw the other countries and bring the Gold home!

On the Raptors side of things, there's been this talk down south about Bosh leaving and that Bryan should trade him. I didn't want to touch on this since everyone knows what the deal is with what Chris has been saying and what the Raptor's stance is on the topic. However, I will say that what Bryan is doing right now is the correct move. You don't find a Chris Bosh type players under rocks, nor are you likely to find them during the draft, or through trades. Chris Bosh is an elite type of player. If you're a hockey fan it's an easy analogy, he's like a Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, or an Alex Ovechkin to the sport of Basketball. Like those hockey players, he scores a ton night in and night out. Also like those elite hockey players, Chris is at the top of his position. He's one of the best, if not THE best power forward in the league. I would like to give a message out to other teams and their fans, Go get your Lebron, go get your Wade and leave Bosh alone. You're NOT welcome.

The Teams options are:

• You trade him now and pray to god one of the players you get back is half the player Bosh is, or one of the picks you might get in the trade eventually, in a few years from now can remotely be as good as Chris. A horrible scenario that is full of risk. It's like gambling with the team's future with a few lousy chips. Plus you're season is gonna be in the poop-chute cause you just lost your best scorer, rebounder and leader.

•  You sit and wait till summer when he whispers in Bryan's ears what he wants for himself. 

         
A. Chris wants to leave. You do a sign and trade for him to maximize Chris's salary and bring back something in return in the form of players and/or draft picks. You still got Chris till the end of this season and see how far you can take the team in the playoffs. You can basically hold other teams ransom unless Chris narrows his list of teams down to like 3. Worst case scenario, you get some picks and players that you can use to build around Andrea.

B. Chris stays and you give him as much money as possible so he's financially satisfied and his conscience doesn't keep him up at night thinking... could I have gotten more? This scenario is the one the Raptors would obviously like. This is the scenario where the prize makes the risk acceptable. The Raptors get to keep an elite level player and he continues to play on the team and the system built around him.

Chris's Options:

• Leave town and join another NBA team. Now in this scenario Chris would most likely want to go to an established team that is on the brink of a championship. Chris mentioned in Dallas yesterday that being the main face of a franchise is important to him and that he deserves to be built around with other players brought in to suit his game and to build on to a winning platform. But when you're leaving a team that is already doing that, it would make no sense to go to one that is worse off, and isn't already full of star players. So more or less, he'd be stupid not to go to a team with Lebron, Wade, or Kobe or some other top tier team. The goal here is a championship but Chris will no longer be the star, can not demand the ball any time he wants, his numbers and minutes would most likely shrink, the offense would not be built around him. Simply, he will not be the bright little center that the world shine around. This can NOT be underestimated. Also, a championship can not be guaranteed.

• Remain a Raptor. He would still get his gazillion dollars. Get max cash here that the cap will allow him to sleep on a mattress of $100 bills, and sleep without his conscience questioning whether or not he got the most out of his deal. Money wasn't the issue since he's gonna get his money no matter what. He's already a perennial all-star. This team is his, this franchise is his and it has been built around him. This is with no doubt in anyone's mind, HIS team.  

He's got a frontcourt partner that provides space for him to operate, two point guards that he's very good friends with and that can get him the ball where he wants it. He's got two up and coming young guns in DeRozan and Weems. Amir, a competent backup for him that will allow him to rest when he needs to so he doesn't blow out his knees playing 40 minutes a night. A decent second unit that he can count and and not worry cause the team is too pathetic to hold a lead without him. More importantly, he's got a coach he respects and who allows him the freedom to openly provide feedback and allow him to operate any way he wants. Wanna ISO down on the right block, go ahead. Wanna run screen and roll with Jarrett Jack and slip in to the paint for a post up? Go for it! Wanna shoot a three pointer? You're Chris Bosh, who's going to say no to you on Toronto? Wanna spot up on the corners and just hit jumpers? Be my guest.

He has roots in the community, a large market which includes most of Canada. Toronto is not a small market despite what our neighbours in the South might tell you. All I keep hearing is that Bosh wants to go to a bigger market. Why? So he can turn into some nobody schmo? Endorsements hinge more upon playoff success and individual success, not as much on the city that the team is in. If the Raptors make a deep playoff run and Chris ends up getting some individual recognition for it then more endorsements will likely come.

A lot of Americans have this view of Canada and Toronto as a second tier place and that it is too cold. Most of those statements come from people who have never been to Canada or Toronto. They think we live in igloos and eat whale blubber. Although there's nothing wrong with that, the majority of our climate and lifestyle in general is as close to the USA as you can get. Now that's not necessarily what Canadians would tell you but it's not the culture shock they'd want you to believe. NY city is just as cold as Toronto, it snows there too, it snows in Colorado, New Jersey, etc. but yet nobody mentions that. It's cold and snowy in many NBA cities. Basing a choice like this on climate would be childish and moronic. NBA players play in whatever city they want to play in, then go lay on the beach of whatever beach they want to lay on in the off season anyways.The fact is, Toronto is a first class international hub that is full of opportunities for a man with an entire sports franchise, an entire city, and most of a whole nation at the palm of his hand. If he were to join the Knicks for example, he'd just be another bean in a pork and beans can of sport athletes from the Yankees, Jets, Giants, Rangers etc etc. Chris Bosh is the biggest name in Sports in the GTA, in this province. Name me a bigger star.

Let's look at other players that thought they'd have greener pastures down south:

 

• Damon Stoudamire. Became an afterthought the minute he put on a Blazers jersey. To be fair to him he left cause Isiah left and Isiah is an idiot and not exactly someone you want to take career advice from. However, a person is responsible for his own actions and in the end he became that bean in that can full of beans in Portland. He wasn't the star anymore and his potential and stardom came to an end. You know that movie Kingpin, where they explain what a person is who has the entire world in the palm of his hands and he just blows it. The term used was the name of Woody Harrelson's character, Roy Munson. And Damon definitely turned out to be a Munson. 

• Vincezo. Left and went to NJ. New Jersey ok? It's the laughing stock of it's own country. He had a few decent years but again with Kidd, and Jefferson there he was another bean in the Pork and Beans can. He was an absolute Superstar here in Toronto. He was like royalty with Shania, (if i correctly recollect) that sang his name into our national anthem. He was once mentioned in a trade that would have brought Kobe to Toronto, he was that well thought of. Instead, he turned into a selfish whiny little brat that even the Nets fans couldn't stand. He never got past the second round in New Jersey and is now the bane of the Magic Fan's existence. He has showed some life but if he woulda stayed here he woulda stayed "The Man". Now he's just a shadow of the man he once was.

• Tracy McGrady. Went to Orlando, had a few decent years scoring. Never did a damn thing in the playoffs. Known as a ball hog and selfish A-hole. I don't know if that's true since I obviously don't personally know him but when your current team doesn't want anything to do with you it kind of fuels that perception. The only time his name has been mentioned lately is when a trade scenario has him going to a team that wants salary cap space at the end of this season. In other words, Tracy you're this year's Keith Van Horn. A space filler, a door stop, the Styrofoam that gets tossed in the trash when you've collected what you wanted from the contents of a Xmas present. Imagine what you could have done in Toronto if you stayed with your moronic second cousin Vincenzo. I wouldn't be surprised if they're actually blood related with the stupidity they've displayed.

So yeah, Bryan... stay the course big guy. You're doing the right thing and I as a Raptor fan support your decision as I am sure many other Raptor fans do as well. You just don't find players like Bosh very often, and when you do, you do whatever it takes to keep them around. Even selling your first born child. So will the Bosh Identity turn into the Bosh Supremacy or Agent Cody Banks? Tune in this summer to find out.