Where will Bosh land?

[Kai]

True, but you left out a few details.

First, Toronto would keep Bosh if was willing to sign a max deal with them. That wasn't the case with Seattle and Phoenix.

In the case of Seattle, they had no interest in keeping Lewis at that price. So they traded him for a protected 2nd rounder and a giant TE. Now look what they did with the TE. They took Kurt Thomas from Phoenix in a salary dump in exchange for two first round picks. They have already used one on Serge Ibaka, the other pick will be made this summer. Then they traded Thomas to the Spurs for expiring contracts and another first rounder. They already had one extra 2009 first rounder, so they traded the lesser of the two for Thabo Sefolosha. So for letting Lewis leave, they have Ibaka, Sefo, and one more first rounder. Plus they won fewer games in the short term and stayed a lottery team long enough to add Harden and Westbrook to Durant and Green.

JJ was a restricted FA. Phoenix could have kept him by simply matching Atlanta's offer sheet. They chose not to. They traded him for Diaw, who was still on a rookie contract and two first rounders. The first one was used to pick Rondo, unfortunately Phoenix was too stupid to keep the pick. The second pick was top-3 protected in the 2007 draft and Atlanta got lucky and moved up to third, so the pick was used to pick Lopez in 2008.

The point of all of this? With Bosh, Toronto is a borderline playoff team. Without Bosh, they are terrible. They may prefer to follow the path cleared by OKC and Portland, rather than try to add pieces to a badly flawed team.

You're right about everything, the only point I'm trying to make is that a team with cap space isn't going to be offering as much as a team without.

The teams without space (Texas teams, etc) will have to make a deal worthwhile if they have to match salaries, whereas a team with space doesn't have to match salaries, so they'd be less inclined to make the deal sweeter than a couple picks or so.

[Mel_13]

You're right about everything, the only point I'm trying to make is that a team with cap space isn't going to be offering as much as a team without.

The teams without space (Texas teams, etc) will have to make a deal worthwhile if they have to match salaries, whereas a team with space doesn't have to match salaries, so they'd be less inclined to make the deal sweeter than a couple picks or so.

I agree with all of this.

What we don't know, and may have differing guesses about, is how Toronto would view their future without Bosh and what course they will follow to build a compe ive team after he leaves.

[Kai]

I think that might be the case most of the time, but this off season is quite a bit different than the Rashard Lewis and Joe Johnson situations, mostly because there are a number of teams that have a lot of cap space to offer max contracts and with that there can be a bidding war, upping the cost of making a sign-and-trade deal for a guy like Bosh. I don't recall exactly, but I would be willing to bet that Atlanta and Orlando were really the only teams in the discussion to acquire Johnson and Lewis respectively and therefore had leverage and didn't have to give up as much as a team might this summer for a guy like Bosh.

BTW, Seattle also acquired a $9 million trade exception in the sign-and-trade that sent Lewis to Orlando, and that can be a valuable asset. And, Boris Diaw was part of the sign-and-trade involving Joe Johnson going to Atlanta.

Bosh is the one driving all of this, not the Raptors. Bosh doesn't care about who can offer the best assets for him. Bosh is the one deciding where he wants to go, not Toronto. Toronto will have to agree to a certain extent, but it's not like they are trading a guy under contract. The only bidding war that matters is who gives Bosh the most money, which is kind of redundant because he's gonna get paid the max.

If anything, Bosh would want to go to the team giving up the least for him, since that would keep them stronger.

[JamStone]

Bosh is the one driving all of this, not the Raptors. Bosh doesn't care about who can offer the best assets for him. Bosh is the one deciding where he wants to go, not Toronto. Toronto will have to agree to a certain extent, but it's not like they are trading a guy under contract. The only bidding war that matters is who gives Bosh the most money, which is kind of redundant because he's gonna get paid the max.

If anything, Bosh would want to go to the team giving up the least for him, since that would keep them stronger.

True. But there are different factors. There are probably teams Bosh would prefer to go. And there are probably teams that will offer something Toronto might want. It's up to both Bosh and the the Raptors to try to appeal to the needs of the other in order to mutual benefit them, Bosh in order to get the most max money available and the Raptors to actually get a package in return they have value in.

You're right that it's still mostly on Bosh. But, there can still be a bidding war where the Raptors try to negotiate a trade that will also benefit them.

And as for Bosh wanting to go to a team giving up the least for him, there are different types of assets other than actual players. A team might not give up a lot of great players that will deplete their team, but they could offer draft picks, expiring contracts, and cash considerations. That can also up the ante.

[Kai]

True. But there are different factors. There are probably teams Bosh would prefer to go. And there are probably teams that will offer something Toronto might want. It's up to both Bosh and the the Raptors to try to appeal to the needs of the other in order to mutual benefit them, Bosh in order to get the most max money available and the Raptors to actually get a package in return they have value in.

You're right that it's still mostly on Bosh. But, there can still be a bidding war where the Raptors try to negotiate a trade that will also benefit them.

And as for Bosh wanting to go to a team giving up the least for him, there are different types of assets other than actual players. A team might not give up a lot of great players that will deplete their team, but they could offer draft picks, expiring contracts, and cash considerations. That can also up the ante.

Agreed.

[The Franchise]

True. But there are different factors. There are probably teams Bosh would prefer to go. And there are probably teams that will offer something Toronto might want. It's up to both Bosh and the the Raptors to try to appeal to the needs of the other in order to mutual benefit them, Bosh in order to get the most max money available and the Raptors to actually get a package in return they have value in.

You're right that it's still mostly on Bosh. But, there can still be a bidding war where the Raptors try to negotiate a trade that will also benefit them.

And as for Bosh wanting to go to a team giving up the least for him, there are different types of assets other than actual players. A team might not give up a lot of great players that will deplete their team, but they could offer draft picks, expiring contracts, and cash considerations. That can also up the ante.

That is exactly why I think Houston is in a good position should Bosh chose to sign with us.

[NugzFan]

this thread should be renamed "bosh will be signed/traded to my favorite team"

everyone just assumes bosh will end up there anyways.