Bryan Colangelo Hints Chris Bosh Quit on Raptors

Fans may never know when exactly LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh first hatched the idea to band together to form a super team in Miami, but Toronto Raptors GM Bryan Colangelo seems convinced Bosh had his mind on bolting as a free agent long before he officially became a free agent.

In a Monday interview with FAN 590's Bob McCown (as transcribed by Ryan Wolstat of the Toronto Sun), Colangelo complained that Bosh took an excessive amount of time returning from injury, an apparent reference to the seven games Bosh missed in February with a sprained ankle.

"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 spiraling 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."



The Raptors went 3-4 in Bosh's absence in February. For the season, Bosh, who also missed the final five games of the season with broken bones in his face and nose, missed 12 games in 2009-10. But that's nothing new: in seven years with the Raptors, he played in more than 70 games only three times.

Colangelo also accused Bosh of losing his focus late in the season. "Whether he was mentally checked out or just wasn't quite into it down the stretch, he wasn't the same guy," Colangelo said. "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."

Bosh's numbers were in fact down in March, but he still played at an All-Star level, averaging 21.9 points and 9.1 rebounds. And in his final three games before suffering his season-ending facial injuries, he was playing some of his best ball of the season, averaging 34.6 point and 12 rebounds.

In any case, Colangelo doesn't seem to regret rebuilding without his former franchise player. "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."

The idea that Bosh can't be a true No. 1 option for a team is hardly new, but Colangelo's biggest moves to give Bosh a supporting cast the last several years include overpaying for Hedo Turkoglu, trading for an over-the-hill Jermaine O'Neal in 2008 (and then flipping him months later for an equally worn-out Shawn Marion), overpaying for Jason Kapono in 2007, trading for a fragile T.J. Ford and drafting a redundant (and slow to emerge) Andrea Bargnani in 2006.

There's not a championship-caliber second banana in that bunch -- or, for that matter, a clear plan. It's easy to knock a player when he's gone, but for all of Colangelo's acclaim, the fact remains the Raptors have posted just a single winning season under his watch, a trend that looks likely to continue this season without his former franchise player.