Will Andrea Bargnani Ever Become a Star?

Coming into the league, he has all the tools to become perhaps the most skilled big man in the league, but lately I've been getting the feeling that this will probably never happen, especially in Toronto.

Why, you ask?

Here is a player from Europe making a transition to the NBA, and he's got a lot of pressure on his shoulders. To me, he can make that transition, but he won't do so playing behind the likes of Chris Bosh, maybe the best power forward in the league, and Jermaine O'Neal, the man who was the best power forward in the league.

Bargnani is not better than these guys yet, but one thing the best big men in the NBA have received early in their careers is playing time or, in other words, time to grow. They have had time to make mistakes and learn from them. No matter how hard you work in your off time, it's nothing compared to real game play.

In his rookie season, Bargnani averaged 11.6 points per game, which is more than Bosh, Dirk Nowitzki, and even Kevin Garnett. However, one thing these three players had after their inaugural season was more playing time, which went up dramatically in their second seasons along with their numbers.

Bargnani's numbers, on the other hand, have gone down, along with his playing time. Asking a young, big, and relatively new NBA player to learn a new position (he constantly moves between SF and C) makes it an even tougher transition.

One position he never plays in Toronto is the power forward spot, his natural position, and the one he was drafted to play.

Bargnani has no clue where his minutes are going to come from, and I don't think the coaching staff does either. One thing he does do is play well when he starts and when JO isn't in the lineup. For example, he had a 16-point performance off the bench in Oklahoma Friday night after JO had gone down with a sore left shoulder.

I've heard the cliché many a time that you have to earn your playing time. However, with Bargnani, I think he earned a lot of it after his rookie season and he plays much better defense than Bosh and JO in the backcourt.

He was third in the league in blocks for a short time before his spot in the starting lineup and playing time were thrown out the window as he was delegated to backing up Jamario Moon. (Are you kidding me?)

I understand you can't give Bargnani a starter's role or even significant minutes with Bosh and JO on the same team. The Raptors have been losing a lot lately, and there have been rumblings out of Toronto to trade Bargnani. If that happens though, GM Brian Colangelo will regret the deal as long as he lives because Bargnani will become a household name with almost any other team.

However, you can't keep him and have him play behind Bosh and expect it to happen. Maybe after Bosh opts out of his contract and signs elsewhere, then you can start building around Bargnani, but until that happens there will be no Bargnani and definitely no consistency out of him.