http://www.nationalpost.com/sports/stor ... z0kKGBIDiY
From this vantage point, there is no arguing that keeping Bosh is the best-case scenario, unless you're excited about the idea of Andrea Bargnani and Turkoglu as your top two options. And if you think Bosh isn't a franchise guy because he can't convince Turkoglu and Andrea Bargnani to play hard enough, just know that, in that regard, he is hardly alone.
The chatter over Bosh shutting it down since the all-star break has died down after his last four games - he was named the league's Eastern Conference player of the week Monday after averaging 31.5 points, 11.5 rebounds, 1.5 blocks, 1.5 steals and - the essential barometer of his commitment - 13.0 free-throw attempts.
Which lends credence to a couple of the internal theories surrounding Toronto's franchise player. One is that he was convinced by somebody at all-star weekend to avoid injury on a team going nowhere, perhaps even by a New York-based girlfriend. Which is possible.
The other is that his post-all-star sprained ankle took a toll on him; that some of his teammates, Turkoglu in particular, took a toll on him; and that his jump shot temporarily deserted him, making it tougher to beat defenders off the dribble when they were playing five feet off him. And maybe it's all of that, combined.
But the slender strands of hope regarding Bosh come down to this: if Chris Bosh really does have his heart set on being a team's No. 1 option, as he has said, then playing with LeBron James or Dwyane Wade is out. And then, where can he go to be the franchise guy and have a better chance of winning?
Chicago? Not if the Raptors demand, say, Joakim Noah back in a sign-and-trade. Phoenix? Only if it's a sign-and-trade for fellow free agent Amare Stoudemire. New York, with someone like Joe Johnson? Meh.
Maybe, should general manager Bryan Colangelo somehow promise to and manage to trade Turkoglu - hey, it only sounds impossible - and somehow acquire one more major piece, then maybe Bosh thinks about it. Maybe if Colangelo can replicate his sell job of three years ago, when Bosh signed the contract he will opt out of this summer, then Bosh will stay.
But only if you are on the right side of that bright line between the playoffs and the lottery. It's a thin sort of hope, but it's hope nonetheless. The playoffs matter.
"Yeah, because you put yourself in a position to salvage the Chris thing," said one source who knows Bosh well. "If you don't, I think you're done."
It's something. Which beats nothing. Which remains, to be clear, a distinct possibility.
