Did Chris Bosh quit on Toronto?
Chris Bosh, Dime #33
Chris Bosh and Vince Carter might have more in common than you think. After Toronto GM Bryan Colangelo tried to shred Bosh’s reputation earlier this week, claiming the All-Star power forward quit on the Raptors towards the end of last season — drawing comparisons to Carter, the ultimate Toronto villain — Bosh had this to say:
“No, at any time, did I ever give up,” Bosh told Rogers Sportsnet. “You know, I take that very seriously. I work hard every time I step on the court — practice, games, shootaround, whatever you want to say — I take this job seriously and I take my effort on the court seriously.
“I play this game as hard as I can every time I step on the court. On the back of my jersey, it says Bosh. The Bosh’s are hard workers. We have a lot of pride in what we do in our jobs and in life. There was no time, at any time, that I ever stepped on the court — in my NBA career, in my life — and stop playing hard or give up.”
While we can’t truly get inside Bosh’s head, we can look up the numbers: 24 points and 10.8 rebounds per game this past season. We also know that Bosh sat out the final five games last year with a facial fracture, but before he got hurt, check his scoring numbers in his final four games wearing a Toronto uniform: 22, 34, 28 and 42, while the Raptors were fighting for a playoff spot in the East.
Even Carter, who famously said he didn’t give his all every time he was on the court when he played with the Raptors, has since been defended by supporters like John Thompson. You could argue Carter was just being honest; really, does any NBA player go 100% every single second he’s on the court? Of course not. But Carter shot himself in the foot with his comments. At least Bosh didn’t allow any room for misinterpretation.
Do you think Bosh quit on Toronto?
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July 30th, 2010 at 12:14 pm
Hood says:
Im chantin ruPaul when this nigga come to town
July 30th, 2010 at 12:16 pm
Hood says:
ruPaul…..ruPaul….ruPaul
July 30th, 2010 at 12:25 pm
Mike Mihalow says:
I didn’t see enough Raptors games last season to make an honest opinion here.
July 30th, 2010 at 12:27 pm
Brown says:
Not in the least. I’ve never seen Bosh coasting, ever. For most of his career, he was the only Raptor with both talent and drive. I don’t blame him for leaving. The Raps roster is a mess and has been for the majority of his time with the team. As I’ve said about a lot of players, I’d hate to see Bosh waste his prime playing for a mediocre team the way KG did due to some misconceived notion of loyalty to the franchise that drafted him.
July 30th, 2010 at 12:28 pm
K Dizzle says:
Chris Bosh’s last game as a Raptor:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bs2LvJQgaoc
July 30th, 2010 at 12:29 pm
smoothy says:
I watched every single basketball game this year. Chris Bosh is not a quitter. I most defintely think he did not intend on returning to Toronto, but he played out his contract hard. When he signed with Miami, this first thing he said was “I miss Toronto already”.
Chris Bosh loved Toronto, and after the shit the Vince pulled, T. should be thankful to have a leader who care(d)(s) about the community and city even know.
ps. THE MAN BROKE HIS FACE. I sure as fuck aint coming back from that… we cant all be Anquan Boldin’s here…
July 30th, 2010 at 12:31 pm
Detroit Dave says:
Management quit on him, by not bringing in some BALLERS.
July 30th, 2010 at 12:37 pm
s.bucketz says:
bosh is a cock tickler…and wen miami don’t win a chip hes gunna b the first one gone
July 30th, 2010 at 12:39 pm
s.bucketz says:
do you guys think hes gunna get booed wen he comes to toronto??i kno the team as a whole is gunna get booed everywhere they go but i was jus in T.O last week and i was askin my girl and her fams and they said they wouldn’t really boo him specifically. If my franchise player was leaving hints for the past 2 years that its a forgone conclusion he dont wanna b on my squad no more..ima boo the shit outta him wen he comes back with another jersey on.
July 30th, 2010 at 12:39 pm
s.bucketz says:
ooh yea…p.s.
bosh is a cock tickler
July 30th, 2010 at 12:44 pm
Sporty-j says:
Sounds like sour grapes as usual and lets just move on past these DAM signings because i think the world is ready to see the greatest finals in NBA history(Lakers vs Heat) just like we are dieing to see Flloyd vs Manny in boxing… If these Owners felt like these guys quit why didnt they call them out on it as soon as it happened like a real man would, instead of trying to resign them which makes the Owners look even more stupid because who in there right ming wamts to resign a player they felt quit on there team. As soon as these 3 guys decided to play together all this nonsense started coming out and in the long run all these Owners are doing is hurting there Franchise even more because players are going to think twice are coming there and would rather go somewhere else for cheap unless they just offer a player a boat load of money that they cant turn down like Joe Johnson was offered… Man up and move on just like my Heat would have understood if Wade would have went to Chicago with his kids and to be closer to his Family and because we wasted 2yrs of his prime which could of brought us hell in south florida but instead brought us hevean. Pat Riley threw all his eggs in 1 basket and gambled which no other owner would have been brave enough to do and hes now going to have a statue 1 day outside the Arena instead of be the most hated man in south florida which he could have easily been if he would have failed especially once guys like Joe Johnson, Rudd Gay, and Amare started signing. So just give him and my Heat Organizations there props because people kept saying that Wade and Lebrons ego were to big to for them to be teammates but i guess they did not watch the 2008 olympics or the 2010 all-star game. These Owners need to stop bashing these players especially because these guys were FREE AGENTS and earned the right to play wherever they wanted, its not the end of the world, and i dont see these guys bashing there former Organizations or Bosses for signing guys like Hedo and Mo Williams and Jamison as great side kicks unlike a great organization like the Lakers who know how to sign great side kicks like Gasol and etc…
July 30th, 2010 at 12:45 pm
K Dizzle says:
Did Bosh quit?
Not on purpose. The issue is: Was he planning to leave to go play with Lebron or Wade no matter what happened with the Raptors? Dude played hard. I’m not buyin that “missed 6 games” junk the media tryin to push. Dude has never played a full season, and he’ll miss games this upcomin season too. This is always gonna look worse for Lebron cuz he was a 2-time MVP who left his 60+ winning hometown team, but Bosh won’t get a free pass if it gets out that this was a plot planned out since before he became a free agent.
Better question – Why did Hedo Turkoglu quit on the team?
….oh yeah, guaranteed 60 mil…
July 30th, 2010 at 12:54 pm
s.bucketz says:
@sporty-j
were you one of the 16 “fans” that showed up for games last year in miami??
its a god damn shame…no1 deserves a stacked team less than miami..you guys drafted a superstar and he and the refs won you a championship only a few years ago..and when the team starts doing decent there is sooooooo many empty seats in the arena its disgusting. miami fans are cock ticklers….sporty-j is going to have fun tickling bosh’s cock as bosh tickles jebron lames cock all season long
July 30th, 2010 at 12:57 pm
JAY says:
@K Dizzle
My thoughts exactly. Media is the concience of society. They push what they want people to think. All it takes is one writer, then it snowballs from there.
NBA needs to abolish guaranteed contracts. or at least decrease the amount that is guaranteed. Too many people who coast after signing that contract. Bunch is bitches. They do a disservice to themselves, the fans and the game of basketball. Turk then turns around and blames the fans for booing him. Play ball and we’ll cheer you. Fuck him. JYD was a doo-doo player skill-wise, probably had less than half the basketball skill as Turk and the fans LOVED him. All we ask, as fans, is for the players to work hard. It’s simple. Do that and you’ll have the whole city behind you. Blatantly dog it, and we’ll boo you.
July 30th, 2010 at 12:58 pm
George W Kush Sr says:
I watched games last year, he ain’t quit, the team sucked…
In his last 2 years the “big acquisitions” were a washed up J.O’Neal, a washed up S.Marion and a played out Turk.
Kobe’s team went out and got themselves Gasol when he needed help. Boston gave Pierce Allen and KG. San Antonio tried last year when they brought in Jefferson, even Orlando tried when they got VC.
Raptors went after O’Neal and Turk.
They could have drafted B.Roy with that #1 pick. You think Bosh would have stayed if it was B.Roy, Bosh & Calderon? With Jack, DeRozan, Johnson, Weems and Bellinelli you’ve got a legit playoff team, which Colangelo never delivered to him. How one move could have changed everything
July 30th, 2010 at 12:58 pm
JAY says:
http://www.fan590.com/media.jsp?content=20100729_233014_676
I posted in Smack before this article was posted.
July 30th, 2010 at 1:01 pm
A.S.L. says:
this is coming straight out of toronto. . the only people who are even considering booing bosh are ungrateful ignorant people in the city . . the same who push “drake” . . bosh did so much from the city and for people to forget that is quite childish. . dude wants a ring BC can’t get the right people to do that so he had to dip i understand that . . if we were a contender like atlanta he woulda stayed like joe johnson but we weren’t so he had to go
July 30th, 2010 at 1:23 pm
SJ says:
@sporty-j – I pretty much agree with what you are saying. It’d be nice if everyone can just STFU about the signings and look forward to the next season. Owners need to stop bashing former players like this. It’s f’ing ridiculous, because if it were true why the f where they trying to re-sign these players??? Miami will be an interesting team to watch and that’s where it ends for me. No super love or super hate. The guys were FREE F’ING AGENTS and can do whatever they want. Guarantee you put all these haters in the shoes of LBJ, Dwade, and Bosh and they would have likely made the same choice.
Honestly, players in Toronto and Cleveland should use this as an opportunity to elevate their game and maybe become an all star themselves.
July 30th, 2010 at 1:27 pm
karizmatic says:
I don’t think Bosh gave up, as you said the numbers speak for themselves, he put up career numbers last year. Just another instance of owners not liking the move and trying to shred the player’s reputations.
July 30th, 2010 at 1:33 pm
control says:
I’m kinda pissed at Chris Bosh, the Raps were the hottest team in the league at one point, then it all collapsed. He’s partly responsible, not to mention how SOFT he was in the last two minutes of some games. Maybe he didn’t “quit” on the team, but it’s still fustrating to see him failing to box out and letting other team get a rebound, then put back to win the game off of a free throw.
I think the way Bosh “quit” on the Raptors, is if you watch the games, he went from being aggressive and taking the ball to the rack almost every play (when he was getting MVP talk at beg of season, during hot streak) to becoming a spot shooter/fade away shooter every play. Sure he got his numbers, but his style of play changed drastically. Not to mention how soft he was in the clutch, I shuddered every time he got the ball with 2 min left in the game.
July 30th, 2010 at 1:49 pm
Dagger says:
I’m a Raptors fan. Bosh was always known as a hard worker and a great guy while he was here. In past years I’ve read articles about how, after suffering an injury, he wanted to play before he was officially cleared to play. I, for one, will cheer when Bosh comes back. He played well and hard for 7 years. Booing just identifies you as petty, heartbroken and ignorant. The franchise and its fans should move on, and hope Derozan, Weems and Bargnani turn into a decent core to build around.
I’ll also go a step farther: VC and Bosh should both have their numbers retired in the ACC. Yes, I can’t stand Vince and I do actually think Vince quit on the team, but he also put the team on the map and was the best player we ever had. Retiring both numbers would be a classy move that reflects well on the organization and its fans.
July 30th, 2010 at 1:54 pm
Dagger says:
Oh – even though I’m ready to move on, I will cosign Control, though. Good comments.
July 30th, 2010 at 2:08 pm
K Dizzle says:
@ George W
Hindsight is 20-20. Kwame Brown went #1, Darko Milicic went #2, Michael Jordan went #3. Bargnani is not a bust, as people were sayin earlier and he’s improvin.
Gettin tired of typin this, but Raptors missed the playoffs by only a Chris Bosh missed layup against Golden State. Like Control said, if you watched a lot of Raptors games(which I did cuz they played homegames sunday mornings for some reason), you noticed that Bosh’s style of play subtly changed. That missed layup that cost them a playoff spot was a vicious tomahawk crush in the first half of the season. Dude was angry and ferocious in the first half. He was still playin hard after the Memphis game ankle injury…just not “as hard”
One more thing, Hedo Turkoglu was a GREAT signing. How he played was shit, but when the Raps stole him from Portland, there wasn’t one person who thought he would dog it like he did. Your examples are on point tho. Richard Jefferson and Vince Carter played just as bad for their squads as Hedo did for the Raps. Blaming Colangelo is ridiculous when you look deeper and realize he brought in(ONCE AGAIN) 9 NEW FACES, Bosh misses 12 games and they missed the playoffs on a missed layup…
No one gonna remember this, but Toronto trading Jermaine O’Neal to the Heat allowed hem to sign Bosh or Bron cuz his 23 mil came off the books and all that capspace opened up…….damn, that’s some irony
July 30th, 2010 at 2:46 pm
Marcus says:
Yes he did. If he was in Georgia Tech he would have fought through it.
He quit on himself. It doesnt take a genius to figure out that Bosh wanted out of Toronto. Well what does a player do when he wants out? he quits. Bosh had no motivation, nuthin to play for.
Toronto a foreign country? Your a F…ing punk CB4
July 30th, 2010 at 3:01 pm
JAY says:
@Dagger #20
You had me until your second paragraph. Retire Vince’s number?? BLASPHEMY!!! Lol
On the real though, I respestfully disagree. I wouldn’t retire Vince’s or Bosh’s jersey. The rafters should be reserved for the truly great players. As good as Vince was, and as good as Bosh was, they weren’t GREAT. Vince missed too many games. If you put Vince up there then you have to put Damon. You don’t hang jerseys just to be “classy”.
July 30th, 2010 at 3:27 pm
sh!tfaced says:
Bosh quit on Toronto just like Toronto quit on Bosh… only goes both ways… I think…
July 30th, 2010 at 3:41 pm
JAY says:
@K Dizzle: “How he played was shit, but when the Raps stole him from Portland, there wasn’t one person who thought he would dog it like he did. ”
I knew all along K. Well, I didn’t know he would dog it that bad, but I knew he would dog it somewhat and I knew he would fit with the team.
“Blaming Colangelo is ridiculous when you look deeper and realize he brought in(ONCE AGAIN) 9 NEW FACES…”
I blame Colangelo. I commend him for taking risks but the pieces he acquire all played the same positions. Interchangeable players doesn’t mean anything if none of the pieces aren’t bonafied starters. The guys he acquired wouldn’t start on half the NBA teams.
July 30th, 2010 at 4:25 pm
Bizz says:
It wasn’t the missed layup that caused them to miss the playoffs, they LOST 41 GAMES that year. A missed layup is just as costly as not playing defence and getting your ass blown out if you lose.
I’m happy to see a lot of people, especially Raptors fans, co-signing on the belief that Bosh didn’t quit. I wish CB4 all the best in Miami. While here, he was aware of how the city respected and treated Roy Halladay with the Jays and Mats Sundin with the Leafs, and he followed in their footsteps with the way he conducted himself when he spoke well of the Raptors franchise, the personnel (despite their deficiencies), the city, the country, the fans and everything about his tenure as a Raptor and wanting to win. He was a class act through and through when he was here, always played hard, worked year after year to improve some parts of his game that needed improvement. (bulking up, being a leader, developing some post moves, rebounding) The #’s don’t lie about his progression.
July 30th, 2010 at 4:40 pm
Own Up says:
I speak for those of us who watched most every game last year, esp. after the all-star break when Bosh turned his ankle and didn’t return for 6 games (that’s not a media push, it happened…and it wasn’t the facial injury he didn’t return from). Most everybody so a clear difference in his play…
First, Colangelo never spoke in a derogatory way; his tone of voice (if you actually listened to the interview) was matter-of-fact and nothing he said was new in the interview, that is he said most of what he said during the season before Bosh left, except about the part of Bosh missing 6 games…that was new and indicative of how the media can blow stuff out of proportion, i.e., Colangelo “called him a pussy,” “called him a quitter,” etc., so that you’ll read their product. Here’s what Colangelo said, in pretty much a neutral tone the whole time:
“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.”
“The fact that our season was spiralling 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.”
“Whether he was mentally checked out or just wasn’t quite into it down the stretch, he wasn’t the same guy. I think everybody saw that, but no one wanted to acknowledge it.”
from Andrea Bargnani a couple days ago:
“…You could feel that [Bosh] was going to leave for the last couple of months before the end of the season. Everybody had this kind of feeling. So I wasn’t surprised.”
http://blogs.hoopshype.com/blogs/sierra/2010/07/29/andrea-bargnani-i-dont-feel-like-ive-arrived/#ixzz0v8Eqn5mr
Here’s a quote from Bosh when Raps lost a close one during our playoff stretch run…ask yourself if he sounds like a max-player team captain and franchise man who takes to heart every game and play with conviction, though I don’t like him like KG. This was from another Toronto reporter:
“And what to make of Bosh’s game-high five turnovers, which brought his tally of giveaways to 19 in the past four games? “I have no idea. I turn the ball over, I turn the ball over,” Bosh said. “I really don’t pay attention to that statistic too much. I don’t care.”
…enough said…
July 30th, 2010 at 4:47 pm
Taj says:
Nahhhh… I seen lotta Raps games and he didnt quit.. The Raps shot him in the foot when the signed Turk and the 2 of them never meshed. BC is kinda sour and I expected better outta him.
July 30th, 2010 at 5:02 pm
Own Up says:
taj, bc may have sour gripes…but as for the quitting…i guess you would know better than andrea, and as andrea said, “everybody” else who felt a shift.
July 30th, 2010 at 5:24 pm
TomGfromCanada says:
once his face got broke, he quit/was gone.
July 30th, 2010 at 6:12 pm
Grissy says:
@Own Up
100% co-signed.
July 30th, 2010 at 7:43 pm
K Dizzle says:
Re-word that. The Raps “didn’t shoot him in the foot when they brought in a free agent” that shoulda helped. How you blame a team for bringin in the top free agent that summer? There are dudes still sayin that Lebron and DWade won’t mesh cuz their games are too similar….Lemme go to record as sayin, “HELL NO!!!” Some teams are gonna get outright MURKED by those two alone.
@ JAY
Turkoglu fooled me. Nothin in his past showed him to ever be about the money. Kinda been a winner since Sacramento, San Antonio and Orlando.
There were a lotta interchangeable pieces but that’s every team as long as you have 3 top dogs and the Raps thought they had that with Bosh, Bargnani and Turkoglu. Either Jack or Jose could start and so you fill up the wing spot with Sonny, Wright or Demar. They caught fire for about 30 games. The issue with everybody’s opinions is that if Bosh didn’t hurt the ankle against Memphis, Raptors EASILY coast into the playoffs
July 30th, 2010 at 8:06 pm
100k says:
lmao @ Bosh is cock tickler
July 30th, 2010 at 10:44 pm
Promoman says:
Of course Bosh quit on Toronto. He colluded along with LeBron & Wade to hook up. Why else is there a sudden NBA mandate on tampering all of a sudden. At least Vince Carter had issues with Sam Mitchell to the point where things damn near got physical. Vince at least has an argument for having his jersey retired. He made a foreign NBA franchise viable, is responsible for bringing the dunk contest back, is the best dunker of all time, and is arguably the best Raptor player ever to date. Tracy McGrady could’ve challenged that status had he not been held back by Butch Carter.
July 31st, 2010 at 1:42 am
OneZero says:
Bosh is just saying something he supposed to say
I honestly think he quit, but after watching the video from K Dizzle, I can say that he did quit the team, but never the game.
July 31st, 2010 at 5:31 am
jerry smith says:
Chris Bosh is a good player, of course he is hard worker in the court,every game he will do his best to help the game to win.but as we all know,winning is not depending one one guy,but the whole team work together.so only Bosh one guy to play,it is hard to win,just like Kobe Byrant after O’neal leave from 2005-2007 season,two season are so bad,so that he announced he want to leave Lakers;Lakers’s leader recruit Pau Gasol Fisher,Ron Artest to be a big help to kobe ,so that win the championship.
so i think Bosh never give up,still for the champion,only leave rapoters,go to Miami.