Raptors general manager Bryan Colangelo ripped into his former franchise player, on the team’s flagship station, the Fan 590, on Monday. The summary of the interview is detailed in an ESPN.com article. Colangelo feels that “CB-4”, as he was known around Toronto, could have given a better effort towards the conclusion of the season, in spite of injury concerns. Bosh was also questioned by the general manager as to how he worked with new players who Colangelo brought in over the years. The two high profile players were Jermaine O’Neal and Hedo Turkoglu. Both of them underachieved as Raptors, especially Turkoglu, who at times seemed completely disinterested in playing basketball as a Toronto Raptor.
As it pertains to Chris Bosh, Colangelo began his radio interview, by commenting on his play near the end of the season, while playing hurt: “ 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…………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……………..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 centerpiece.”
Colangelo is not the only one with a basketball background, to question Bosh’s overall performance in his final season in Toronto. Others have questioned if he was playing to protect the kind of contract he could get as a free agent. In other words, he played hard, but not so hard that he would put himself at risk to win a game, a loose ball, or play tough defense in the low post, against the other teams best players. On nights when the Raptors defense was non existent, which was quite often,Bosh was also guilty of playing soft in many of those matches. As the team leader, he needed to step up his defensive play, and quite often, he did not.
To be balanced, questions need to be asked of Bryan Colangelo as well. If he felt that Chris Bosh was not playing with maximum effort down the stretch, then why would he want him back on a maximum contract, as the team’s franchise player ? If he had these lingering doubts about his ability to to work with other players like O’Neal and Turkoglu, then why did he not trade Bosh long ago, when his market value would have been higher ?
What needs to be examined, is if the Raptors dismal showings the last few seasons, reflected on Bosh not being good enough to carry a team on his back and be a leader, or was their poor play more related to Bryan Colangelo’s ability, to assemble a team and evaluate talent. It seems to me, that it probably is a mixture of both.