The Toronto Raptors should trade Chris Bosh while they can get some value for him.
Bosh did the Raptors a big favour by announcing he will not sign a contract extension. It wasn’t a surprise since he followed LeBron James’ lead three years ago. Bosh could have signed a six year contract extension with the club but opted to sign for a shorter term. Why? So he could do exactly what he is doing now.
The move helps the team in two ways. By announcing his decision now, the team has ample time to make a move. The earlier the better as the team will get less value as July 1, 2010 approaches. It helps them in the public’s eye as well. If Bosh walks, a lack of effort by management won’t be the culprit.
Chris Bosh is owed almost 16 million for the 2009-2010 season. On the free agent market, he will command upwards of 20 million per season. Bosh is not worth sacrificing payroll flexibility. He just isn’t that good.
Bosh is a very good player but not a great player. He is an all-star not a superstar. Watching the Likes of LeBron James, Kobe Bryant, Carmello Anthony, Dwayne Wade and Dwight Howard strut their stuff in the playoffs is evidence of this. They are a level above Bosh, thus worth the money.
Bosh played very well in the 2008 Olympics. But he had the best players in the world surrounding him. He would be great in a secondary role to a bona fide superstar. Like Scotty Pippen was to Jordan. Like Pau Gasol is to Kobe. He isn’t good enough to lead a team to a title. If the Raptors want to build a championship team, signing Bosh for 17-20 million a year is not the answer.
The 2010 free agent class is shaping up to be the best in NBA history. Amare Stoudemire, Dirk Nowitzki, Paul Pierce, Yao Ming and Mike Redd all have opt out clauses in their contracts. Joe Johnson, Manu Ginobili, Tracy McGrady, Ray Allen, Carlos Boozer and Steve Nash all have expiring contracts. There will be a boat load of talent to choose from if the Raptors want to start over. They need to make the right choice or they will be stuck with a good player taking up most of the salary on a bad team.
Anthony

There were a myriad of responses after he Toronto Raptors removed the interim tag by giving Jay Triano a three-year contract. I spoke with many media and non-media people all with different takes on things. Whatever their opinion, was it really a surprise? Not really.
Brian Colangelo has supported Triano throughout a tumultuous season. He said Triano was dealt a bad deck of cards from the start. This is what he said today:
“It’s been a great opportunity to see what he’s made of, and see what his basketball mindset is,” Colangelo said of Triano’s years as an assistant. “But then to see it put into action when he was named the interim head coach, he was given not the most ideal circumstances to fight through. Yet each day he showed up with a positive attitude.”
Weather you like or hate this move, at least he put his duckets (or MLSE’s) where is mouth has been all year.
In 2004 Mike D’Antoni was 21-40 in his first season with Phoenix. He stuck with him and was rewarded with a 62 win season the next year. It helped to have a guy named Steve Nash on your squad, but he didn’t pull the trigger and fire him after that awful season.
Colangelo puts the blame squarely on himself.
“Any deficiencies in the roster I’ve already talked about, that falls on me,” he said. “Make no mistake about it, there’s no deficiencies here with Jay as the head coach of this basketball team.”
Colangelo said he plans to spend a lot of time with Triano over the next couple of months talking about the roster. Triano will have a major say in the direction of the team, Colangelo said.
Let’s hope this doesn’t come back to bite him.
The players have respected Triano since his arrival in 2002 as an assistant under Lenny Wilkens. Let’s face it, players get coaches fired in the pros. To have a team that respects a coach is big, although that didn’t work out too well for Sam Mitchell in the end.
If the Raptors have another year like this past season, they could both be gone.
Regardless of the outcome, it’s nice to see someone practicing what they preach.

Anthony

I think I pissed a few people off with my last Blue Jays article when I said J.P. should be fired and that the Jays will not make the playoffs. Hey, I write it how I see it. However, there is always another side to the story….or coin as they say. Here are five reasons the Jays can keep it going and make the playoffs.
1) Hitting:
This is an easy one of course. The Jays lead the league in runs, team average and wins. Aaron Hill leads the league with 54 hits as of today. Adam Lind is 3rd, and Vernon Wells is 11th. Everyone is getting in on the action. Even the enigmatic Alex Rios broke out of a 2 for 18 slump today. Even if the pitching struggles, this team is never out of a game. They haven’t shown any signs of slowing down
2) Pitching:
Most felt this would be their undoing this year. With the departure of A.J. Burnett and injuries to Shaun Marcum and Dustin McGowan, they were supposed to get lit up. In comes Ricky Romero and Scott Richmond, and the Jays were off and running. Even with injuries to Romero and Jessie Litsch things didn’t implode. Career reliever Brian Tallet and Brett Cecil pitch a couple of gems and the Jays take two of three against Oakland. The Jays have a solid bullpen as well. When everyone is back healthy, the Jays will have something that seemed unfathomable two months ago, too many good pitchers. That will only make the pen stronger. I never even mentioned Roy Halladay, but I don’t think I need to.
3) Coaching:
The trio of Cito Gaston, Brad Arnsberg and Gene Tenace have done wonders. I think they are making J.P. look very good. Whatever they’re doing is working. The players trust them and believe in their methods. When players and coaches are a cohesive unit, talent is maximized. The Jays are the perfect example.
4) Depth:
Besides the pitching, the Jays have decent depth in the field. DH Travis Snider can play the outfield if someone goes down. Jose Bautista plays right field, third and first. John McDonald is a great defensive fill in at short or second and they’ve got Kevin Millar at first base. Bautista and Millar are batting .328 and .327 respectively. They don’t stockpile talent like the Red Sox or Yankees, but they have enough if injuries occur.
5) The GM

Anyone who read my last Jays article thinks I’m nuts. Although his trade history is brutal, let’s look at the positives. J.P. has drafted very well. No one could have expected some of these draft picks to succeed how they have, but that’s how it goes. You often don’t know for a few years. I find this especially true in baseball. Travis Snider, Jessie Litsch, Ricky Romero, and Adam Lind are just a few. It seems there is more on the way. He has significantly improved the Jay farm system in his time here as well. For the first time in his tenure here, J.P. is looking, dare I say….smart.
So there it is. Five reasons I think they can keep this ride going. Weather they do or don’t, they’re definitely a fun team to watch…..so far.

Anthony

Toronto FC’s solid start couldn’t have come at a better time. I’ve talked to more than a few FC supporters recently. While all of them continue their unbridled support for the team, they desperately want a winner. Will continued losing affect the club’s fan base in the future? With 14,000 people on the waiting list for season tickets it seems unlikely, but it could happen.
Although FC is a smash hit at the gate, it hasn’t been so off the field. The hiring of Chris Cummins marks their third coach in two plus years of existence. That’s not the way to build consistency on the field.
The most successful teams are the most stable organizations. The Pittsburgh Steelers have hired only three coaches in their history. Sir Alex Ferguson has coached Manchester United since 1986. The Detroit Red Wings are the model of consistency on and off the ice year in and year out. We can’t say the same for FC. Even talented teams suffer when they’re faced with a revolving door of coaches.
In these economic times, there are no guarantees. The NFL discovered this when they priced tickets at $550 for the Bills/Steelers exhibition game at Rogers Center. One third the stadium was empty, one third had their tickets given to them, and the other third were paying customers. I nearly started a riot when I told two business men (who paid $1,100 for two tickets) that I and six of my closest friends had our tickets compt. Even in soccer crazed Europe, there are empty stadiums. But I digress.
Hopefully Cummins stays around long enough to build something. There’s no doubt that Toronto FC has some of the best fans in North America. But when the bloom is off the rose and TFC is no longer a novelty, the fans may not be there in such force if they are still a losing club.
Anthony
P.S. To the thousands of TFC fans I haven’t talked to: What do you think?

Hey TSM readers.
Did anyone catch Bob Mccown on Primetime Sports today? He went on his usual rant about how the NHL is nothing in the US. He went on to say to say it is “folly” to think a good game or a year of good games would do anything for NHL ratings in the US.
Bob stated that minus a couple of years, the NHL has had national coverage since 1960. He said Americans just don’t like the NHL and never will. Of course he is correct with all of his comments…..at the moment. I say, at the moment, because it wasn’t always that way.
My question to Bob would be: Do you remember June 20, 1994? He probably wouldn’t nor would most of us. On that date, on the cover of Sports Illustrated was, “Why the NHL’s hot and the NBA’s not.”
How times have changed. It’s inconceivable to imagine the NHL being more popular than the NBA today. But Flash back to 1994 and things were different. The great one had just led his LA Kings to the Stanley Cup finals. Gary Betman was only a year into his reign as NHL commissioner so he hadn’t had enough time to ruin things. The game was about to expand into the West. Overall, hockey was booming in the US.
Call it short lived, but it happened. I’m not claiming to know how to fix things. I don’t know if things can be fixed. What I do know is there was a time when the NHL was a hot ticket in the US. SI doesn’t put something like that on the cover for nothing.
Just food for thought………

Anthony

I find the topic of J.P. Ricciardi a very polarizing one. Some people are staunch supporters, while many want to burn him at the stake. I’m sort of in the middle, but one thing is for certain. Only a playoff spot for the 2009 Jays should save him his job, and they are not making the playoffs.
Given the Jays solid start, J.P. supporters might think I’m crazy, but hear me out.
My financial advisor was doing ok for me. He made some pretty good moves and some really bad ones. I told him, “Thanks for your time, but I’m going to move in another direction”. Mediocrity is not what I’m looking for. J.P. has made some good moves. He’s drafted players like Adam Lind, Aaron Hill and Jesse Litsch to name a few. He’s also made some horrible moves. Giving an aging Frank Thomas $10 million per was insane! Letting Reed Johnson go for squat to keep Shannon Stewart was ridiculous. I’m sure you can think of many more.
He has also alienated players and their agents. Remember what he said about Adam Dunn? Let me remind you. “He’s not a guy who like’s to play Baseball, or enjoys what he does.” FYI J.P., Adam Dunn has averaged 41 homers and 100 RBI’s the last five seasons. The last time I checked, no one on your roster has done anything close to that, including your $126 million dollar man, Vernon Wells.
Teams often make the mistake of keeping or resigning a GM just because of a hot start or better then expected performance. Remember the Leafs in 2006? They picked up the option on John Ferguson Jr’s contract because of a hot start to the season and we all know how that ended.
J.P. was signed in 2001. Of all the GM’s that are still with their team since that time, he is the only one who has not got his team into the playoffs. There are probably worse GM’s out there, but the Jays can definitely do better. So, unless they make the playoffs, thanks for your time J.P., but the Jays need to move in another direction.
Anthony

editors note Hey Folks- TSM here. Say hi to Anthony, a new writer here at TSM. I think you are going to like him!! TSM

One thing I keep hearing from many Toronto sports fans is how disappointed they are about the state of affairs of Toronto’s sports teams. My reaction is the same every time I hear this. Fans of this opinion need to stop their whining.
If you can’t handle a few years of frustration, why don’t you move to a city where there are no professional sports teams and see how you like it. As Torontonians we are lucky to live in a city where there are a variety of pro teams to choose from. We’ve got NBA, NHL, MLB, and CFL. We have lacrosse and soccer played at the pro level. We even have NFL football as the Bills are playing one game each season at the Rogers Center. What more can you ask for?
In 2004, the Leafs were busy racking up 103 points, the Argos won the Grey cup, and the Toronto Rock won their sixth strait division title. Not quite what the city of Boston has enjoyed in recent years, but not bad. Even Bostonians have had their share of misery.
I’d rather suffer through some years of sorrow than live in a city where you have to root for teams in other cities. At any time of year in Toronto one can see a sport played at its highest level. Very few Cities can boast this. Try going to a TFC game. The crazy atmosphere at BMO field makes Leaf games sound like a book club.
If you don’t like the Toronto sports scene, move to Nunavut. It is a beautiful place with great ice fishing.

Anthony