I realize that I haven't blogged in a while about the Blue Jays and I apologize. It's just that the NBA offseason up until now has held my attention consistently because of all the drama that has taken place (Lebron and the Miami Heat; the Raptors, etc). This will be my last post about the NBA for awhile, unless the Raptors make another trade. After this, it will be back to baseball.
In this post I will simply go over the Raptors offseason a little bit and then I will dive into an attempted defense by Chris Bosh of his actions regarding his move from Toronto to Miami. First though, the Raps offseason. It all started with Bosh and his annoying Twitter postings that mused about his future in the NBA and with the Raptors. He started by asking fans where he should go next season to play and he rephrased the thought by asking, "Should I stay or should I go?" These constant Twitter updates angered many fans, including myself. However, at the time, I still had respect for Bosh because I reasoned that Twittering isn't a major offense. Other former Raptors have done far worse things to the team. What helped to change my mind however was the undeniable fact that Bosh was constantly wavering about his decisions. First, he put out a list of teams that he would be interested in going to. Toronto was initially on those lists, but they came up less than the other teams (Chicago, Miami, etc). This troubled me somewhat, but I didn't have much to go on at that point. Then, the rumours started: Houston, Miami, and other teams were thrown around. At the time, I started making posts on this blog reasoning as to why Chris shouldn't sign with those teams. You can still read those posts to see what my arguments were. I was becoming more and more aggravated but I still respected Bosh a little and wanted the best for him. Then, the big news happened: Chris decided to sign with Dwayne Wade and join the Miami Heat. After that, Lebron betrayed his former Cleveland Cavaliers and produced a big-time ESPN television special to "announce" his decision to join Bosh and Wade in Miami. And the charity he raised from the program? That was all just to make him look good as he reveled, somewhat uncomfortably, in the spotlight. That wasn't humble, that was merely suppressing an ego. This has all led me to regard Bosh in a different light, and the light is: if you are this close with Lebron, then you may turn out to be just like him. However, there are other Raptors developments that have taken place. First, in June on NBA draft night, the Raptors selected Ed Davis from the North Carolina Tar Heels (an NCAA Division 1 college team) with the 13th pick and acquired the rights of big man Solomon Alabi from the Dallas Mavericks. Also too, 6'8" forward Joey Dorsey was acquired from the Houston Rockets in free agency. The Raptors also recently signed forward Linus Kieza to an offer sheet. We may hear from Denver today as to whether or not he will be with the Raptors. If nothing is said, then we can assume Kieza to either be with Denver or with Greece, his home country. Finally, the latest deal to come down the pipe is that forward Hedo Turkoglu was traded to the Phoenix Suns for guard Leandro Barbosa and centre Dwayne Jones. So, that puts and end to my recap on the Raptors offseason thus far.
The current lineup is:
Solomon Alabi
Marcus Banks
Leandro Barbosa
Andrea Bargnani
Marco Bellinelli
Jose Calderon
Ed Davis
DeMar DeRozan
Joey Dorsey
Reggie Evans
Jarret Jack
Amir Johnson ( he was recently re-signed by Toronto and thus remains a Raptor)
Dwayne Jones
Rasho Nesterovich (currently a free agent)
Patrick O'Bryant (currently a free agent)
Sonny Weems
Antoine Wright (currently a free agent)
Now, onto Chris Bosh's recent defense of himself: he gave his first interview since being signed by the Miami Heat about his departure from Toronto on its sports radio station, the FAN 590. Here are some of his comments:
``I'm happy with the way I handled things,'' he told the Fan. ``I don't think I got out of line at any point in time. I knew going into this situation, wherever I chose to go, people were going to think I was crazy.''
Response: Yes, we did think you were crazy Chris. Why? You chose to Tweet instead of communicating with the Raptors fans, the people who MADE you into the star you are now and who watched you grow up. Common courtesy would say that you should communicate with those people first before anyone else. Also too, where were the Raptors management in all of this? You should have been communicating more with them as well. Add the rumours about you to the mix about you going to Houston and Miami (teams with poor talent and poor regular season records) and I think you get the point. You chose to ignore the Raptors fans and reach out to others. Let me clarify something. I'm not angry about you using Twitter and about you leaving. That's not the issue. It's HOW you used Twitter and left Toronto that's the problem. If it had of been reverse, I would still be criticizing you just the same. If you don't think you went out of line, that's your problem, not ours.
``At no time did I want to offend anybody or make anyone upset,'' said Bosh. ``My intentions through that were just to broadcast what I was doing and just have fun with it. That's the biggest part for me, just to have fun.''
Response: If no offense was in your plans, than your plans failed as you can obviously see. Also too, if you were just merely trying to broadcast your plans and "just have fun with it", you would have wanted feedback from US first before going to the others. At least then, I would be still respecting you more. As it is, you chose the opposite route and cut yourself off from being loved in Canada again, which is unfortunate because you're still a good player and a great guy to get to know, for the most part. Far too much emphasis has been put on "fun" and little has been put on decency and morality. The PROPER thing to do would have been: communicate first with the Raptors fans before reaching out to the others, and communicate your plans to the Raptors management much more than you did to try and work out the best possible scenario for both sides. However, you chose something different and are now teammates on an UNFAIRLY STACKED team with the ultimate traitor, Lebron James. As far as your reaching out to everyone comments, I have no problem with that personally. It's great to hear that you have so many fans and that you are using Twitter and other sources to communicate your own ideas. It's just how you did it that's the problem.
``They are some of the greatest fans out there,'' he said. ``They love sports, they love basketball, they love their team and they were extremely supportive of me and everything I did.''
Response: Thank you Chris! It's great to hear that you still love us Raps fans even though most of us are going to probably be poor sports and boo you. *sigh* I just wish you would have been more professional about how you handled everything though.
``I don't know what to expect, but I wouldn't be surprised if I get showered (with boos,'') Bosh said with a laugh.
Response: Oh, sure! Tarnish your credibility more by joking and making light about the whole serious situation. Wow! Now I've heard everything. Goodbye Chris. I can't respect someone like that. If I was you, I wouldn't be joking about it, but that's just me. Even Vince Carter didn't lower himself to that level. Your attitude has been selfish here: me, me, me, me, me. That, sir, is the major problem with you athletes today. Later!
Conclusion: Well, that wraps it up. Hope you enjoyed the responding that I offered to Chris about his moves, and I hope you enjoy my offseason recap as well. Here's the link for the Bosh comments: Bosh's Attempted Defense on T.O. Radio Enjoy!
Bonus comment from Bosh: "You can't keep everybody happy. Sometimes you have to step on some toes." (in the interview that I responded to)
Response: Agreed Chris, but that's really not the problem. We've never asked you to keep everyone happy; you can't do that. The issue is that you treated us like a secondary option instead of the other way around. As far as your comments about what I would do in your situation, I've already sort of outlined that when I detailed the proper way to go about free agency. (see earlier in this post) All in all, I think your defense is poor and it skimmed over these main issues I've been discussing. Defending something that is wrong is what I can't respect. Later!
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