February 17, 2011 will go down as a date of infamy in the relatively meaningless annals of Canadian NBA history; the date yet another franchise player who betrayed his franchise returned amongst greater talent and downed the lowly Raptors on their home floor. He was booed all night; a tradition a legion of increasingly bitter Toronto fans have become accustomed to bestowing upon their departed stars. But alas, no revenge was exacted, Chris Bosh got the last laugh, and likely will continue to...The issue with Bosh is obviously whether he deserves it ("it" being either the merciless booing or his comfortable new surroundings, or both, whatever spin you wanna put on it). Many feel as though he sold Toronto out and quit on the team, while some still insist he gave them seven seasons of top-notch basketball and did what he could for a horribly inadequate franchise. While he gave the Raptors some great years, there's no denying that Bosh - for all the hateful scorn directed at a certain teammate of his - might've been the biggest disgrace this past offseason with his free agency departure.
Let's be honest with ourselves: Chris Bosh had absolutely no intention of re-signing with Toronto. He admitted as much during the free agent process, and likely never did. If I were a gambling man (and I definitely am) I'd put better odds on the Pacers winning a title this year or Shane Battier getting one of those Birdman turtleneck tattoos. With all the cap money being cleared and potential dynasties in the making, why would any sane person? As much as I love Canada, from Bosh's perspective, he'd be re-upping in a cold-ass, rainy, snowy abyss on a different dollar under a shitty team that had trouble attracting stars and was even worse at surrounding them with cohesive talent, and even worse at handling them when the situation eventually dissolved. Yeah, didn't make sense to me either.
With that in mind, if Bosh was really the devoted, honest, hard-working Franchise player many made him out to be (and some still do) shouldn't he have made his intentions clear? Rather than playing up Toronto and being ambiguous in the media, wouldn't a Franchise player do what's best for the franchise and be honest with the GM? (and don't give me any of that "Bosh isn't a Franchise player crap. He won't ever be on a contender, but he was a high draft pick they built around for years, far and away the best player on their team. He was a franchise player, just not for a very good one) A certain amount of responsibility comes with that tag, and it wouldn't have been very hard for Bosh to privately meet with Bryan Colangelo last January, tell him "Look, our team sucks, I love this city and we gave it our best shot, but I don't want to spend my prime struggling to make the playoffs in the shallowest conference ever. You should call around with some offers."
A real man would've done that. Instead, Bosh facaded about, tuned out of games down the stretch, and capped off a forgettable season for the Raps by missing a wide-open tip-in that would've booked them a playoff ticket (that he actually did them a favor by allowing them to draft Ed Davis instead of being swept by Cleveland is beside the point). Once the season was over, the show was just starting. The opening act was a series of idiotic Twitter posts, asking fans where he should go and making vague attempts to sound deep and focused that came across as shallow and distracted. Bosh then hired a camera crew to document his free agent courtship (you know, because CHRIS BOSH is such a big fucking deal), wasting the time, money and hope of numerous teams, most notably Toronto, only to later reveal that the had made his mind up about Miami earlier and he just thought "the attention was nice". What a fucking mutt. His summer antics showed a new side of Bosh; the spotlight shone on him brighter than ever before and it exposed his true colors, forcing us to wonder if he ever really was that stand-up guy he made himself out to be all those years. Leaving the sub-par team that breathed life into your NBA career is one thing; but doing it in the dishonest, pretentious and simply cowardly manner that Bosh did deserves every "boo" and "Ru-Paul" chant that rained down on him last night.
The situation gets complicated by the horrible points of reference Raptors fans have when analyzing Bosh's departure. Damon Stoudemire went all Towelie on us and (perhaps rightfully) started demanding an out when the Raps couldn't crack the 20-win barrier. Tracy McGrady was a selfish idiot and decided he'd rather play in Grant Hill's shadow than his own cousin's...And Vince? Well, there's really no need in pouring more salt on that wound...Every star player Toronto's ever had (with the possible exception of Marcus Camby) has made an unceremonious exit that the front office handled absolutely horribly. That precedent might've made it easy for Bosh to do what he did, but doesn't excuse it at all.
Things are only further complicated by the repeated ineptitude of Toronto's front office, regardless of who's running it, when dealing with unhappy superstars. Regardless of the Raps' nice run in January, they were peaking at 5th in the East, nowhere near homecourt and clearly not the contender Bosh was willing to commit to. It should've been obvious that he'd get a more enticing offer, regardless of the extra money Toronto could give him, and he needed to be moved before the deadline. Colangelo clearly fucked that one up, but at least part of the blame also needs to lie on Bosh for his apparent content with the team and the city. He portrayed himself in a manner that likely made the Raps' GM favor trying to re-sign him over trading him for 60 cents on the dollar. His mind and his actions spoke in different tongues, and spoke volumes about who Chris Bosh really is.
When it's all said and done, Bosh might accomplish enough with Miami to have future generations remember him as something else than Canadians do right now. Every time the Heat visit the ACC, we'll be treated to more boos than an Usher/Alicia Keya collabo, "RuPaul" chants and "Two and a Half Men" signs. Every fan in the building will go home with a hoarse throat, which will almost never be exacerbated by celebration. Bosh and the Heat stung Toronto last night, despite 38 points from Bargnani and the most spirited effort the team's put forth in a very long time. These fans keep seeing stars leave, and keep booing them when they return almost as much as they can cheer for their own team. It's becoming a very depressing basketball culture, one that sees its fans get the last laugh even less than we see Lady Gaga do something normal. The Raps need to make drastic changes and at least give them something to smile about soon; bad contracts, no experience, and even less defense are maiming their prospects for redemption.
