Challenges That Still The Face Raptors

Hedo Turkoglu is showing more team work leaving the Raptors than he ever did when he was here. While Bosh and Colangelo fired back and forth it seemed the perfect time for Hedo to chime in and trash Toronto as an NBA city and defend Bosh. I Think Colaneglo opened up a Pandora's box that Raptors fans are far more familiar with than he is. This conversation about what Chris Bosh did or didn't do in his final months as a Raptor serves no purpose. It also makes no sense for Bryan to attack Bosh while taking the high road with Hedo Turkoglu which he continues to do even after his latest comments.

Why would that be? Maybe because Hedo was Colangelo's mistake while Chris Bosh is Bryan Colangelo's failure. What I mean by this is the fact the Hedo was part of that failure. Colangelo stated one of the reasons he came to Toronto was the chance to build a team around Bosh. That is what he was brought here to do. He has failed to do that, which is the bottom line of all of this. While you can invest your time in who to blame for that, it really doesn't serve any purpose.

The real problem is the one that has plagued the Raptors for years. The ability to attract top U.S players to the franchise. The Raptors only U.S stars have all come primarily from the draft. You are able to hit home runs once in awhile with Vince Carter and Chris Bosh. That is the first part of the puzzle. However the 2nd part of the puzzle is being able to build that team around the player. Both with organization with the Carter and or Bosh backing them were unable to bring in top players to play along side them. Leaving the Raptors only option to be to trade to bring in players.

The Organization has to come to the conclusion that they will eventually need to go into the tax threshold to build a legit contender. That is the reality of things. You have to overpay to a point until you build a winner. It is the only way it is going to happen. The negative perception of the Raptors in the United States is now growing based on the events of this summer. The job has become even harder now to get those U.S players to come.

Rather then complain about your lot in life the time has come to find real solutions. Bryan Colangelo's attempt to try and find a loop hole in the problem has failed. The idea of adding a great deal of European players has ultimately been a failure. In all the players he has brought in have any of them been even close to Chris Bosh in terms of their importance to the Raptors? Bargnani is no Bosh and anyone that thinks he is frankly is fooling themselves. Jose Calderon was a flash in the pan at best. No sense even mentioning Hedo is there? There has also always been talk of the divide it creates just naturally in the looker room.

Bottom line is this is year 16 of this franchise, and we still here many of the same stupid things. Be it the metric system, taxes, no ESPN and any other thing you constantly hear. Someone has to take on this problem and attack it. That is not just stating the obvious that Toronto is a wonderful first class city. NBA players don't have an issue with that. Toronto is one of the more fun places to visit for majority of the NBA. But we have all heard the expression- "It's a nice place to visit but I wouldn't want to live there". That is pretty much what the players are saying about Toronto.

One of the first things I would do, if I was the Raptors, is to press the league to lobby on their behalf to get them on T.V in the U.S. You can say well Raptors have not always deserved that attention. But we have seen enough dog games on TNT and ESPN over the years that I think a few times a year they can bite the bullet and broadcast the Raptors. I would also request they be home games. Which would be extra cost for the broadcasters but I would be willing to pay for it. Let people see what Raptor fans are all about and what this city is all about.

But are we hearing anything about figuring out plans like this? No, we are hearing a bunch of crying over spilt milk. That is not serving anything for anyone. The time has come to start coming up with answers and not crying about what mean people are saying about us. Suck it up and figure out a way to fix it. That is what Raptor fans should want and more importantly what they deserve.

If B.C can figure that out maybe then he will legitimately have earned, his at times God like status. But if he doesn't he will end like every other Raptor G.M before him. Frustrated that he can't attract the talent required to build a winning team to attract more talent to be a championship contending team.