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NBA Free Agent Rumors: Letting Chris Bosh Walk is an Option for Toronto Raptors

Pompaci BehcetContributor IJuly 4, 2010

Bryan Colangelo should be coming dangerously close to shooting down the circus we came to know as 2010 free agency period. Well Bryan, it is about time...

Between tweets, dinners, covert meetings, people popping out of nowhere to pass out unfounded rumors, and worse yet, possible tampering, I don't think we would be able to look back after 10 years and find anything to be proud of.

Toronto Raptors fans were initially shocked to hear that the front office might be fine with getting nothing in return for their franchise player. I am sure their first response did include at least one swear word.

But if one carefully weighs the options and visualizes the possible outcomes, it should be fairly obvious to anyone with average vision why the Toronto Raptors front office has every right to think about standing up for themselves.

I love how Bryan Colangelo has been handling the whole situation. By putting every possible option on the table he is not only sending a message to Chris Bosh, but also letting the likely Bosh suitors know that they are not getting the top-tier free agent and having their way.

Reports indicate that Toronto is considering not agreeing to a sign-and-trade for Bosh, if the current situation stays the same. This is one of the times that any self-respecting Toronto fan should be proud of his GM.

People would say that it might be about how Chris Bosh is handling the whole situation and acting like a spoiled kid with Christmas morning anticipations. It was also was reported that he cut communication with Raptors management and he wasn't in touch with them for almost a month.

However, the Raptors front office is smart enough not to put their feelings before the business. They proved it by the way they handled the whole Hedo Turkoglu incident, which happened earlier last month.

What might the reasons be that Bryan Colangelo is fine with getting no asset back for his franchise player?

The likely suitors might be acting like the Raptors have no power in this and thinking they would be OK with whatever they can get for Bosh. Chicago is reported to offer Luol Deng, while Miami is hoping to dish out Micheal Beasley (along with everybody they have whose name is not Dwyane Wade) for Bosh.

Seriously? Chicago should take it and run away if they would find "anyone" to take over the terrible contract (much worse than Hedo Turkoglu's) of their ever-injured small forward for free—yet they want to get Chris Bosh in return?

Moreover, why would Bryan Colangelo enable a team in their conference (by taking Deng in return) to sign all the top-tier free agents in LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, and Chris Bosh, and have the perfect supporting cast in Joakim Noah and Derrick Rose?

Same goes, more or less, for Miami too. The Raptors are not taking the contracts to let anyone to clear out cap space and dump bad contracts for a perennial All-Star.

Traded player exception (TPE) might not be desirable up north either. The thing with TPE is that it counts against your cap and it can only be used to get pieces by trades. You can not use it to sign free agents.

If Bryan Colangelo does not see anyone passing the borders soon via sign and trade, Toronto will surely be better off with the cap space to sign free agents outright.

If he is shopping for a huge traded player exception, which should be around $17 million, be sure that he is already in talks with another team to turn the TPE into something immediately or he sees some opportunities down the stretch.

The rest of the league might not have noticed (yet), but a change is happening in the Raptors team. Newly re-signed Amir Johnson, high flyer DeMar DeRozan, slasher Sonny Weems, and bulldog guard Jarett Jack formed a sub-culture with the name of "Young Gunz."

Young Gunz are all about exceptional work ethic, competitive winning mentality, and great on-court energy.

This very well might be one of the reasons that Turkoglu and the management buried the hatchet, so that he would be the playmaker and on-court leader for these young players.

Turkoglu would get quality looks for them, and help them to improve their and first round pick Andrea Bargnani's play. After all, he is the only Raptor with serious playoff experience and the only Raptor who was trusted with important roles on several winning teams.

Believe me when I say this, that most of the fans already prefer getting nothing in return for Chris Bosh rather than getting someone to hinder those guys' development. If nothing else, they are tired of overpaid and underachieving players stealing minutes from young talents.

Last but not the least, Bryan Colangelo is refusing to be pushover. He is aggressive and assertive and basically saying, "If we don't get something of value in return, we will not just get something to get something."

He is also letting Chris Bosh know that if he wants the extra year and $30 million, he better start working with the team and help them to create a value of his departure.

Toronto Raptors fans! Today, you should be proud of your general manager and stand by him. If anything, you will walk away with your dignity and self-respect.