Bosh to Miami

To Sign and Trade or Not

Call it a high stakes game of poker, a chicken match or staring contest to see who will blink first.

It's a game that at times has to be played in the NBA fraternity and while Bryan Colangelo is not a regular proponent of these games, with so much on the line he has been forced to go all in.

Euphemisms aside, were talking about Chris Bosh joining Dwayne Wade in Miami. That we know is going to happen, at this point it is much more about which conduit will be chosen.

Reports out of Miami last night and this morning state that for the first time Bosh is seriously considering signing outright with Miami and thus forfeiting an extra year on his contract and roughly an extra $30 million that he could receive by working with Toronto on a sign and trade. It has long been reported that both the Raptors and Bosh would work together to benefit both sides.

Time will tell whether Bosh is serious about giving up the money, security and status a max deal would provide but this sudden change in direction likely stems from a deteriorating relationship between the Raptors and Bosh.

The Raptors have been unimpressed with the way Bosh has conducted himself throughout the free agent process. Keeping a vigorous and undying commitment to his twitter account Bosh has seemed to let everyone in accept his soon to be former franchise.

Bosh and his camp likely feel as if they owe the Toronto franchise in which he is the franchise leader in almost every statistical category nothing and feels put off by comments coming out of Toronto.

If spite is all that stands between a sign and trade or not then you have to think one will get done. Bosh has said all along that he is a max player and will accept nothing else. The status alone seems to be a key to Bosh and his ego would probably not allow him to sign alongside Dwayne Wade for less then his counterpart.

Toronto cannot afford to let Bosh go for nothing. They have enough salary obligations that they are not in a full rebuilding mode and would gain no cap relief by letting Bosh go for nothing. The Raptors need any assets they can get to save face and assist the rebuilding process quicker especially when you consider Miami owns the rights to the Raptors 2011 first round pick.

By extrapolating all the factors my educated guess is that this is the snag: Miami wants Toronto to take Beasley not Chalmers because Beasley plays the same position as Bosh and Miami like Chalmers fit-wise with Bosh and Wade. It has been reported that Colangelo has no interest in Beasley and wants to play hardball with Miami after the way they have been recruiting Bosh seemingly much longer then the Collective Bargaining Agreement would allow.

So who blinks first; Colangelo or Riley?

Stay tuned over the next 24 hours, also check my twitter feed for quick updates- @jefmoore

- J.Moore