Tue Jul 27 08:10am PDT
Raptors GM Bryan Colangelo slams Chris Bosh

By Trey Kerby

While it took Cleveland Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert just a few hours to compose his well thought out Comic Sans screed against LeBron James(notes), other owners have been a bit more magnanimous with their reactions to losing key free agents. And though that's bad for blogging, it's good for business — no one wants to play for an owner who's going to slam their former players like that. However, now that a couple weeks have passed since the big free agents made their decisions, we're bound to get some carefully worded critiques of outgoing players. It should be fun.

First up to the plate is Bryan Colangelo, Toronto Raptors president and general manager. He spoke with Canadian radio host Bob McCown of FAN 590 on Monday, and he said a few things about Chris Bosh(notes) that a lot of people already thought to be true. Namely that he milks injuries, he gave up on the Raptors and — gasp — he might not be a franchise player. Ryan Wolstat of the Toronto Sun breaks it down:

Colangelo intoned that Bosh took a long time to return from injury even though he had been medically cleared and that he started thinking ahead to his future to the detriment of the Raptors.

"Despite limited swelling and any excessive damage on an MRI, he felt like he needed to sit for six more games ... I'm not even questioning Chris' injury. I'm telling you he was cleared to play subject to tolerance on his part, and the tolerance just apparently wasn't there and he chose not to play," Colangelo said.

"The fact that our season was spiralling downward and we were hoping he'd come back sooner and we were also dealing with a few other things at that point ... we were really struggling there."

If you'll remember, the Raptors were in a neck-and-neck race for the eighth playoff seed towards the end of the season which they ended up losing to the Chicago Bulls by a single game. Do you think Chris Bosh playing in those six extra games he sat out would have made a difference? Yeah, me too.

However, Colangelo thinks that Bosh just didn't care by then.

"Whether he was mentally checked out or just wasn't quite into it down the stretch, he wasn't the same guy. I think everybody saw that, but no one wanted to acknowledge it."

"At the same time, I never felt we were quite in the game (in terms of signing Bosh to a new contract). There was too much out there, too much built up for him to take an easy out here, and he decided to do that."

Yikes. I'm not quite sure whether "mentally checked out" or "[took] an easy out" is a bigger indictment of Bosh, but it's good to see Colangelo covering all the bases. Just really carpet-bombing to make sure he addresses all of Bosh's flaws.

But to really drive home his point, Colangelo reached for the big gun — "he's not a franchise player" one.

"We tried in vain to put pieces around Chris. Different pieces, different styles. It didn't work out."

"No matter what type of player we brought in, it didn't seem to have the right mix with him as that centrepiece."

That's a burn, even if it kind of puts a bunch of the blame on Colangelo. After all, he's the one who acquired all those pieces that didn't fit, and brought in such underwhelming players that the best sidekick the Raptors could muster was Jose Calderon(notes). Nonetheless, you'd think franchise players would be easier to build around.

Of course, now that Bosh is going to be the best-paid third option in NBA history, all these complaints are basically irrelevant. Not only do the Heat not have to worry about building around Bosh, they shouldn't have to worry about him being checked in either. He's making a documentary about his free-agency process, so it's pretty obvious he'll be excited to catch dump-offs underneath the basket. Yeah, the injuries might still be a problem, but that's why the Heat signed Juwan Howard(notes). Filling in for injured big men is his favorite thing to do.

That being said, $110 million is a lot of money for a third banana who milks injuries and gave up on his team just
a few months ago.

Make Bosh take the hit. Can't say I blame Colangelo and its a sound management technique.

Bosh needed to get thru the season without any lasting injury. Can't Say I'd fault him either.

Bosh is who he is and will be who he will be as the 3rd option.

We're sorry about last year. Turns out 3 of our stars had senioritis and just couldn't wait to get away to Spring Break in South Beach, so they totally tanked on their finals. Bogus!

Thanks for paying even more money for season tickets while riding a wave of rumor from sources.

Love always,

David Stern, NBA Commissioner
and the team owners.

DrAlphaeus wrote:

Marv wrote:hey don't include dwade in that. he took that piece of s**t team to the playoffs where he banged up boston to the tune of 33ppg on 56% shooting and 41% from 3, with 6 boards, 7 assists, 2 steals and 2 blocks per game. no senioritis for the best player in the game.

Haha, true that. Guess he found a way to adjust the curve though, huh.

wasn't his fault two guys were copying off of his test

Marv wrote:hey don't include dwade in that. he took that piece of s**t team to the playoffs where he banged up boston to the tune of 33ppg on 56% shooting and 41% from 3, with 6 boards, 7 assists, 2 steals and 2 blocks per game. no senioritis for the best player in the game.

You have some mancrush on respect for D Wade...I'll go easy on criticizing him in the future out of respect for a more senior member.

Marv wrote:hey don't include dwade in that. he took that piece of s**t team to the playoffs where he banged up boston to the tune of 33ppg on 56% shooting and 41% from 3, with 6 boards, 7 assists, 2 steals and 2 blocks per game. no senioritis for the best player in the game.

Isn't it the best way to show that he is The Best by asking 2 other candidates to join him and then outplaying them in the main things - the love to the game and the loyality to the fans (second already done deal)...

DrAlphaeus wrote:

K22 wrote:So, how much is BC going to pay here? Gilbert paid $100K for his jilted lover rant on his website.

Marv wrote:no senioritis for the best player in the game.

Absolutely not, he was too busy winning his fifth ring.

Haha, true THAT! He even snuck in a little modeling gig!

put dwade on that team instead of kobe and they don't f around letting boston hang around for a game 7.