Bryan Colangelo Holds Cards Close to His Vest

Pictures say a thousand words, but this snapshot of Toronto Raptor Chris Bosh says, "I give a damn."

Eight months later, and still, no one knows what's going through the mind of CB4.

Teams around the league have been reacting to the recent report from ESPN entertainer and comedian Steven A. Smith that Bosh recently notified the Raptors organization that he would not be re-signing with the club in 2010.

As expected, Bosh and Colangelo shot down the rumor yesterday. Bosh gave a simple, "No, no, no," response, while Colangelo seemed frustrated that such garbage could be found on ESPN.

Today, the fans in Toronto prepare to put Bosh's potential departure behind them as the Raptors face LeBron James and the Cavaliers.

However, one would be advised to use caution before dismissing Smith's report.

While he named no source and the timing of the rumor seems peculiar considering that Bosh is coming off one of his worst performances of the season against Orlando, Smith might actually have broken something quite legitimate.

The writing has been on the wall for some time. Unfortunately, athletes are interviewed quite a bit and are under the public microscope constantly. Most of the time, these players say the right things, however, they do slip. This is especially true in a major media market like Toronto.

One might say, Bosh has slipped quite a bit lately.

Three years ago, no one in their right mind would question Bosh's passion. His head was down after every loss and at one point his eyes even swelled with tears at the sight of the score board.

He has, to some extent, always been someone who took losing very personally, even when he was on a team destined to be in the lottery. This passion was the root cause of the fans' love affair with him.

It certainly wasn't his clutch domination.

Three years later, one can't help but marvel at a laid-back Bosh, whose team sits at the very bottom of the lesser Conference.

He isn't upset. He isn't yelling at his teammates. He's asking for refunds on technical fouls, making YouTube videos about anything and everything, and laughing it up in blowout losses.

Smith doesn't need a source. He need only use his eyes.

Former Raptor Vince Carter was a special talent and a special case. His involvement  within Toronto showed that he was a man who embraced the city in every way. He was an excellent citizen, a promoter of Canada, and someone who cared little about the glitz and glamour of the United States' fan base, something he had in his hand as early as his rookie season.

Bosh is a different story. His goals for any season have always been individual. His play has always been selfish. His aspirations have always been his own personal statistics, popularity, legacy, and star status.

More importantly for the Raptors, Bosh seems far less interested than Carter was at this stage of his career in staying north of the border.

May it be videos about loving his hometown Dallas, or the lack of Raptors exposure on ESPN, Bosh seems quite reluctant to say he's happy to be in Canada.

He's never once showcased the same interest in playing away from the USA as former Raptors like Morris Peterson, Charlie Villanueva, Matt Bonner, and also the aforementioned Carter.

It's that simple. Bosh wants to go home, and he isn't about to stay in Canada and play on a team which just fired his long-term coach, drafted Andrea Bargnani over his buddy LaMarcus Aldridge, is rumored to be bringing in an international coach, and is likely headed to the lottery for the fourth time in the last six seasons.  

He's never said the word championship. We've heard three years of "we'd like to get out of the first round if possible." He's enamored with the idea of having a team built around him.

Personally, I'm starting to doubt Colangelo shares his enthusiasm.

In this hoopla about staying or leaving, has anyone bothered to assess whether a player like Bosh is worth his $133 million price tag?

Can you build a team around a guy who doesn't defend, can't create, and is otherwise a rather incomplete offensive player and thanks you by eating up nearly a third of your cap space?

We're not talking Dirk Nowitzki or even Rasheed Wallace. Can you imagine paying Chris Bosh $23 million dollars per season at some point as he enters his prime?

I hope not.

We're talking about a guy who puts up 20 points and pulls down 10 rebounds in both wins and losses, disappears in the deciding moments of games, has twigs for legs, butter on his fingers, and owes at least seven of his 20 some points to bail-out whistles as he drives his child-like frame into the opposing team and falls to the ground after the opposing players breath too heavily on him.

To some degree, I proclaim Bosh as the power forward equivalent of Allen Iverson—with half the heart and half the off-court issues.

He's not Wade, LeBron, Duncan, Garnett, Paul, Howard, Pierce, Nash, or even Joe Johnson. He's a more consistent Pau Gasol with less skill and an inflated ego.

$133 million? I pity the team that thinks he's worth it.

In a nutshell, I commend Smith for backing his claims of saying that Bosh just wasn't ready to admit it. While it certainly is fun to throw Smith under a bus, a train, or perhaps a 747, one might wish to take Colangelo's words with a grain of salt.

This is the same man who called Charlie Villanueva one of his three "building blocks" for the future less than 24 hours before trading him to the Bucks for TJ Ford. The only thing that kept Bosh in Toronto was Sam Mitchell. He's now attending "Coaching for Dummies" off the South American coast.

Since Mitchell's departure, Bosh's productivity has dipped considerably and so has his interest in remaining with Canada's lone franchise. Expect a deal around the time of the 2009 NBA Draft.

What can the Raptors expect? A few seasons ago after the Raptors had their 47-win dream season end to New Jersey as Bosh was owned by Mikki Moore, Jason Collins, and some other scrubs from the Nets roster, I pondered trading him to Seattle for the number two pick and Ray Allen.

With some fillers, the Sonics may have budged on something like that after missing out on Oden. For the Raptors it would have been a steal of epic proportions considering that while Allen and Bosh are comparable in value to a team's success, Durant will undoubtedly be a  much better player than Bosh in the long run.

This season, I'd expect something close to the package the Sonics got for Ray Allen from the Celtics and a little bit on top.

I'd assume something like a top-5 pick, a veteran comparable to Antawn Jamison, and perhaps some future considerations would get Colangelo to bite. The Raptors would rebuild around Bargnani, Calderon, and this top 5 pick and add a free agent to complete the puzzle.

Whatever happens on Draft Night '09, the best part will no doubt be that Smith is actually an analyst for the draft on ESPN, and I expect him to get up, take a bow, and throw cheese doodles on all his hecklers when the deal is announced.

Thanks, Steven. Your career is now complete. You broke a story five months in advance.