Funny how winning takes the mind off of other issues. The Toronto Raptors who had nearly as brutal a start to their season as their sister franchise, Toronto Maple Leafs, have made a nice recovery. So to those of us who are little “f” fans the talk of Chris Bosh’s future in Toronto seems to have quieted down. Bryan Colangelo’s team has made it back from the near dead to the heat of the playoff race and one would think that given Cloangelo’s mantra of the best way to keep Bosh happy it to get him on a winning franchise, that there would be little chance of dealing Bosh now.

“What we did hear, though, is that the Houston Rockets have made it known that they would be willing to trade for Bosh immediately … even if they don’t get a guarantee they can re-sign him this summer.

That’s the problem with any sort of Bosh deal at midseason. Even if the Raps do decide they want to make Bosh available now and avoid the threat of losing him without compensation in free agency after July 1, there’s an overwhelming majority of teams that wouldn’t dare consider trading for Bosh in February without some sort of assurance they could keep him.

But Houston is different.”

So if the Raptors aren’t sure what to do, could they be convinced to deal him by the offer you can’t refuse? I have no intention of selling my house right now, however if someone rang my bell and made me an offer I couldn’t refuse I would call the good folks at AMJ Cambell to make me the move of the game PDQ.

“Sources say the ever-aggressive Rockets are sure a half-season in Houston could convince the native Texan to pledge his long-term future to a city players love as well as a team that sits four games over .500 without the injured Yao Ming and the exiled Tracy McGrady. The Rockets also have the requisite stash of young assets, as evidenced by their success this season without marquee names, to assemble a legit deal for Toronto to consider … and without insisting that McGrady’s mammoth $22.5 million salary has to be part of it. ”

So NBA Fanatics, what would it take from the rockets to deal Bosh? Shouldn’t Colagnelo be willing to listen to an offer on Bosh even if he hasn’t decided to deal him?

“You figure Chicago, Miami and New York also are on the short list of teams that would be willing to risk trading for Bosh before we get to the summer. Those are the teams thought to have the best shot at signing him in free agency and could inherit Bosh’s Larry Bird rights with a deal before the deadline. None of them, though, can offer a better talent deal than Houston. The Heat and Knicks — with their heavily stripped-down rosters as the countdown continues to July 1 — can’t come close.”

This is not an easy game of chess facing Colangelo. Bosh is his one trump card. Screwing this one up will set the franchise back for years. Being proactive and establishing the market early could be a huge advantage to Colangelo.

“I nonetheless was advised this week to expect Houston to make a hard Bosh push during these next 40 days if the Raptors invite it. Or perhaps even if they don’t invite it.”

I like Marc Stein and I think he is as credible an NBA writer as there is out there. He isn’t saying Bosh is going to be traded rather that Colangelo’s door bell could ring, question is, will he answer the door?

TSM

@yyzsportsmedia

Espn’s Marc Stein is here

Without doing anything at all, the Toronto Raptors have improved themselves in the eyes of ESPN. On September 1, the “Worldwide Leader” predicted the Eastern Conference’s order of finish, putting Toronto 9th. The reaction from many fans ranged from amusement to anger, mostly because the general consensus was far more optimistic elsewhere.

Now, in the latest edition of ESPN’s power rankings, the Raps are 14th, and 6th in the Eastern Conference. Toronto leapfrogged Washington, Detroit and Miami, and sit one spot behind the Bulls.

It’s not like this is much of a change – The 9th place prediction had Toronto missing the playoffs by one game.

More interesting to me is the reaction these rankings elicit from fans… Why do people care? In this case, the rankings come from one person, Marc Stein, who has an opinion and nothing more. Still, the rankings have generated over 2000 comments in one day – Many angry, many celebratory.

These comments always crack me up, like this one from a Pistons fan:

“Obviously stein doesnt look at full rosters… did he forget to mention the pistons also have rodney stuckey richard hamilton tayshaun prince? and also a man child in dajuan summers? they are one move away “hamilton for a big”.. to compete again.. i think stein must have got beat up or robbed in detroit thats why hes so bitter.. tisk tisk.”

These accusations of bias and stupidity are endless, and pretty funny too.

Raptors fans are especially sensitive about this kind of thing… Again I ask, why?

-DL

As those who work in media know, members of the local media (beat writers, etc) are almost always the most accurate source of information about a team, especially when the information is sensitive. Yet, the New York Daily News and the Miami Herald have both written about Toronto’s Chris Bosh in recent days, seemingly with no real sources.

Remember Stephen A. Smith’s “story?” – Bosh had apparently told Raptors management he wanted out, and Smith had gotten this information from his “sources.” That seemed a little sketchy, and it was probably based more on instinct and logic, than on actual reporting or facts.

Well, it’s always interesting to read something like this from Mitch Lawrence of the New York Daily News:

“Although Carlos Boozer could be headed to Detroit in a free-agent deal in July, there’s a chance he’ll end up going to Toronto in a package for Chris Bosh. The Bulls remain interested in Bosh, but Luol Deng would have to be part of a package going to the Raptors. The Raptors, privately, are acknowledging for the first time that they might need to trade Bosh, rather than risk losing him to free agency in 2010.”

Ok, Mr. Lawrence…if the Raptors are privately acknowledging this, who told you? Or, are you just making stuff up, because it certainly seems that way. It seems especially hard to believe the Toronto papers would miss this story, while you had it in New York.

Then, of course, you read this, two days later, in the Miami Herald. From Barry Jackson:

“Although the Heat covets potential 2010 free agent Chris Bosh, one NBA person said Toronto general manager Bryan Colangelo recently told him the current plan is to try to surround Bosh with better players instead of trading him. That plan will change this summer only if Bosh expresses serious doubts about re-signing. A friend of Dwyane Wade said Wade would love to play with Bosh in Miami.”

So, Mr. Jackson – Your sources are “an NBA person” and “Dwyane Wade’s friend?” I mean, seriously??

We’re in the day and age where reporters can just make things up, and those stories will travel quickly across the Internet, before turning into full-fledged speculation. It’s no secret that Toronto will have to make this kind of decision with regards to Bosh, and that makes it easy for out-of-market reporters/columnist to simply write what they want, and to use nameless sources.

Again, I’m just wondering how nobody in Toronto has a whiff of this story, yet writers in Miami and New York have no problem publishing them. Maybe there is a story, but there clearly aren’t enough facts to make it worth printing…unless you work for the Miami Herald or the New York Daily News, I guess.

Personally, I’m going to wait for someone credible to report on Chris Bosh, before I get too worked up over anything. Thoughts?

-DL

Lawrence is here.
Jackson is here.

We have been reading about it for some time and it finally went down.  Hear is a quick review as I have been able to find them…

A good review of the deal from the Star:

” Toronto gets

Shawn Marion

30 years old, 6-7, 228

Season averages: 12.0 ppg, 8.7 rpg, 36.1 mpg, in 42 games, 41 stars

Salary: $17,810,000 this year, expires

Marcus Banks

27 years old, 6-2, 205

Season averages: 2.6 ppg, 1.4 apg,, 10.4 mpg in 16 games, zero starts

Salary: $4.26 million this season, $4.553 million in 2009-10, $4.87 million in 2010-11.

Cash considerations

Miami gets

Jermaine O’Neal

30 years old, 6-11, 260

Season averages: 13.5 ppg, 7.0 rpg, 29.7 mpg in 41 games, 34 starts

Salary: $21.372 million this season, $23.016 million in 2009-10.

Jamario Moon

28 years old, 6-8, 205

Season averages: 7.3 ppg, 4.6 rebounds per game in 54 games, 39 starts

Salary: $711,517 this season, expires

Conditional draft pick: tMy man Ira at the Sun-Sentinel reports it’s a 2010 pick lottery protected through 2014. If Toronto doesn’t make the 2010 playoffs and keeps the pick, they will give up a second rounder that year to the Heat. If the Raptors don’t make the playoffs between 2010 and 2014, they wouldd give up their 2015 first-round choice to Miami. ”

“Colangelo insisted Marion was obtained for more than his expiring $17.8 million contract.

“Shawn is a piece that should be given an opportunity to fit in with the team,” said Colangelo, who worked with Marion while a Suns executive. “He’s not necessarily a rental player, that’s not necessarily the case.

“Shawn could be a valuable piece with this team in this system. One of the by-products is future flexibility but this is as much about now as the future.”

Colangelo acknowledged the agreement on the draft pick and the attached conditions closed the deal.

“The pick really was the difference in us not making the deal for a long time,” he said.

Colangelo also tried to sell the merits of Banks, who failed in limited opportunities with the Heat.

“Marcus will add scoring and defensive punch to our lineup and should benefit from the change of address,” he said.

In the end, the Heat got the size it needed, while the Raptors get the cap space they covet.

“This is a win-win,” Colangelo said.”

That from the Sun-Sentinel

From the Miami herald:

“With this deal Miami improved in the immediate, resisted the temptation to trade Beasley and all that wonderful potential for a splashier deal now, and kept all its chips for the major play in 2010. The Heat also gets from Toronto a future non-lottery first-round pick, no small thing.

Right now it isn’t about adding another O’Neal. It’s about building, about keeping D-Wade happy. Imagine Wade surrounded by Bosh, by a blossoming Beasley and Chalmers. Imagine.

Bear in mind this Heat franchise was 15-67 just one season ago.

Now it is 28-24 at the All-Star break, better since Friday’s trade than before it, and poised to get itself back into title contention before long.

You feel a plan. See a blueprint coalescing.”

That one worries me the most folks as I don’t see that at all for the Raps- I don’t know much, but I don’t like a first rounder going the other way… Read the herald here…

Opinion from the star:

“Any time you get a quicker chance to add players, the better, in my opinion and now Toronto can be a player – in trades as much as anything – this summer.

Yes, they lose toughness but I think overall, a starting lineup of Calderon, Parker, Marion, Bosh and Bargnani is better than Calderon, Parker, Bargnani, Bosh and O’Neal. The Raptors bench of Kapono, Graham and Ukic is okay at the two-three and maybe the one spot but they will be thinner up front. Marion can play some four, though; there are those who thinks that’s his best position.

The money? Well, the Banks contract’s not great but Toronto may still have enough, depending on what it does in the coming summer, to get in on the tail end of the 2010 free agent sweepstakes. I’ll take a look at the financials more closely for the morning, though. The mind’s racing right at the moment.

The Heat? Pat Riley knew they were not nearly big enough to challenge the top three teams in the East, he loves big guys and Marion was not going to re-sign in the summer.

Overall, I’d say Toronto came out okay. Not great, certainly not slam dunk, but not a bad deal all in all. ”

Read Doug Smith here…

I am surprised at how little commentary there is on the deal and I have yet to see a comment from any of those involved…

This story isn’t going to stop until either he is signed or traded. It’s one thing when Steven A Smith says it, when Chad Ford on ESPN.com starts talking….:

“Now do you understand why the Bosh rumors are flying? I can’t speak to the veracity of Stephen A. Smith’s report. However, the word around the league is that Bosh wants to leave. Bryan Colangelo says that Bosh hasn’t told him that. Bosh has said he hasn’t told Colangelo that. But what about Bosh’s agent? Or someone else close to Bosh? Even if it’s never been said, isn’t the writing on the wall? The question is, is Colangelo better off doing something now or waiting until this summer. There’s an argument for both approaches. It sounds pretty strongly that Colangelo is taking the latter approach. I’ve heard from a couple of NBA teams that he’s been pretty strong in telling them he’s not trading Bosh right now. But if the right offer came along … wouldn’t he have to look at it?”

How far away is this team from being competitive? Is this going to be good before it matters with respect to Bosh?

“I think Colangelo would need to get a young potential superstar back. He can’t give Bosh away. This summer, if things look like re-signing Bosh in 2010 isn’t going to happen, it could be much less. That’s why I think there’s an arguement that you trade him now. A team in contender mode might be willing to give up more to have him for two title runs. As for Cleveland, they don’t have the pieces to make a deal. But I wonder if a Miami deal that sent Michael Beasley, Shawn Marion’s expiring contract and perhaps a future first or Daequan Cook might do it? If I was Pat Riley I’d jump all over that. A Bosh, Wade connection would be awesome. ”

Bryan, do you have a pulse? Does anyone in the GTA care??? Are we going to have to beg Bosh to stay again????

With the Raps in a 7 game slump, on a slow road to nowhere, all signs seem to pointing to a deal being consummated.:

“Medical papers have been swapped. The long view is being stressed. And Pat Riley’s fetish for height remains unsated. After the Miami Heat president commented for the first time in months about his team’s personnel situation, it is difficult to take any view other than that a trade is in the works. Speaking moments after center Alonzo Mourning announced his retirement, Riley said Thursday while he appreciates his team’s current spot in the playoff race, long-term championship aspirations supersede current considerations.”The point is that the big picture always trumps the present moment,” he said. “While the present moment is important, I am not going to do something to take away from what I think we can see down the road.”

That from my favorite NBA writer, Ira Winderman of the Sun-Sentinel. I used to read Ira and listen to him regularly on the Hank Goldberg show in Miami.

“A move that could satisfy both objectives could be a trade of forward Shawn Marion to the Toronto Raptors for center Jermaine O’Neal, whose contract expires at the end of 2009-10. Asked about the Heat and Raptors having swapped medical information on Marion and O’Neal, Riley said, “It doesn’t make any difference. I could have made the same request to five other teams, also. That’s just the normal process.”

Done deal? Maybe not…coming? Sure sounds like it…

“”I’ve had long conversations with Shawn and with Dan,” Riley said of agent Dan Fegan. “It’s not a very comfortable time for anybody. I value Shawn Marion immensely. He is a tremendous player and I’m sorry that this is going on right now.

“Shawn Marion, right now, he’s our second-best player on the team and I value him as that.”

The Palm Beach Post thinks it will happen soon, maybe not yet, but soon:

“if the trade does happen – and my guess is it will, ’cause Riley loves this stuff and the cart-and-horse thing wasn’t exactly a denial – Miami could use a four-headed center (O’Neal, Joel Anthony, Jamaal Magloire and Udonis Haslem) in mix-and-match style. That wouldn’t scare many teams, but it would only be for a while if the Bosh plan subsequently worked out. The Heat has a dozen games to play before the Feb. 19 deadline, and what’s worth remembering is that Marion-for-O’Neal is about Miami’s long-term future a whole bunch more than it is about the present attempt to remain a viable playoff contender. That, and how much Riley loves this stuff.”

Check out Ira’s article here…
Check out the Palm BeachPost here

Reports are abound that the Raptors and Miami Heat are talking swap. The story coming from one of my very favorite papers, the Sun-Sentinel has the following trade being discussed:

To Toronto: forward Shawn Marion and point guard Marcus Banks
To Miami Jermaine O’Neal.

Sources tell the Maimi Herald newspaper that “Toronto Raptors center Jermaine O’Neal reportedly believes he will soon be traded to Miami.”

Apparently the Heat have hit the pause button while they monitor Jermaine O’Neal’s health. Bryan Colangelo would like to pull the trigger ASAP.

“With $45 million due over the next two seasons, O’Neal’s contract would allow the Heat to maintain financial flexibility for a deep 2010 free-agent class that could include Heat guard Dwyane Wade.”

“Similarly Marion, whose contract expires after this season, has yet to find a comfortable fit with the Heat since arriving from Phoenix last season in the Shaquille O’Neal trade. He’s been a good defender and rebounder but has not approached the All-Star production he enjoyed in Phoenix. Banks, who came along with Marion from Phoenix, hasn’t been much of a factor for the Heat despite its need for a veteran point guard. His contract, which has two years and more than $9 million remaining, would allow the deal to work under NBA rules. Marion, 30, couldn’t work out a contract extension with the Heat before this season. In Toronto he would be reunited with Colangelo, who was the general manager in Phoenix until leaving for Toronto in 2006.”

The third Florida daily (the palm beach post) has the story as well:

“One Internet web site quoted a source close to O’Neal saying, “if he’s healthy it could very well happen.” O’Neal missed 12 games because of a right knee injury, returning Friday to score two points and grab seven rebounds in 17 minutes during a Raptors loss at Indiana. He is averaging 13.3 points and 7.2 rebounds this season, one that has been a huge disappointment for the Raptors.”

I looked for more on ESPN.com and Foxsports.com but didn’t see anything….

The article in the sun-sentinel is here
The Miami herald is here
The Palm Beach Post is here