I will be the first to admit I’m not a huge fan of college basketball. I’ve never been able to get into it, mainly because I equate it with watching high school basketball: Why would I watch a bunch of kids play a game that 90% couldn’t attempt to do at a higher level? I already have the NBA, why would I also watch what essentially is a D-league (actually less then the D-League – there are college stars that would KILL to play for the Maine Red Claws).
But along with a lot of other fans, I too was swept up in Gator fever a few years back when that team just took over the NCAA. Myself in particular, I was struck by the kid with the girly ponytail that seemed the most “NBA” kind of guy on the floor, in that his intensity level was through the roof. To this day I still lament the fact that he easily would have gone number one in the 2006 draft when the Raptors could have gotten him and he would have fit in like a glove. A seven foot banger who plays hard and dirty and would finally have given our soft team some much needed balls? Sign me up.
Alas, he stayed another year to make Florida a dynasty, and in the process exposed himself as a guy who (apparently) couldn’t hit jump shots, was too skinny to play against bigger centres but too clumsy to be a power forward. His stock went down and ended up going ninth in the draft (despite having an unreal, near-perfect game in the 2006 NCAA finals – should that not have counted for more? It’s like hating on season three of Lost while conveniently forgetting how amazing it was when Penny found the island in the season two finale. Clearly the seeds were planted that the show was going somewhere amazing. Same could be said about Noah).
I couldn’t believe it, I was sure that Chicago got the steal of a lifetime in that draft, but everyone (the Bulls included) thought otherwise. He was relegated to the bench as a rookie, treated like a little baby with “attitude” problems (of course he has attitude problems, he’s supposed to be your enforcer! Should he have been making everyone brownies every game??). It wasn’t until last year that the shackles were finally somewhat taken off, and his coming out party was during the 2009 playoffs where Noah became a living nightmare for the reigning champs. Already into this season, whispers of him being an all-star are already being thrown around. He’s averaging 13 rebounds a game, and his “non-boxscore” contributions are too many to count. His defensive prowess, his ability to get under the skin of anyone he plays against, are skills that absolutely nobody has on the Raptors right now, and are a reason we are dead last in defensive efficiency.
When rumors were just flying about a Bosh trade last season (with most of them circling around Golden State or some other western team) I wrote to a bunch of people about how much sense it would be to trade him to Chicago for Luol Deng and Joakim Noah. It made so much sense, it seemed almost crazy that it didn’t happen. In Deng we get a proven 20-10, 6’9” small forward, team captain at 24, and just a flat out great player (just last night against us, he was the best Bull on the floor with 18 points, 8 rebounds, 2 steals and 2 blocks). Then we get the dude who is turning into a 6’11”rebounding machine. Few agreed with me, saying there’s no way we give up Bosh without getting another franchise guy back, and that Noah just wasn’t going to make it as a big-time player (remember, this was before he gave the Celtics fits in the finals).
Well just today, Bill Simmons (ESPN columnist and the best sports writer of the last 15 years), posted this gem on his twitter: “Fake NBA trade: Noah, Deng + a top-7 protected 2010 No. 1 pick for Bosh. Which team says no?”
And all I could think of was: I really hope BC and Forman read that.
I am not the Bosh-hater that a lot of people in Toronto are. I love the guy, love what he’s brought this team, and love how he never gave up on us after Vince left us in a ditch to die. He brought us back from the brink, became one of the best power forwards in the game today, constantly improved himself every summer (including the most recent one where he figured out that since his skills aren’t getting any better, maybe it was time to finally pack on some muscle) and generally has been a great ambassador for the game here in the Great White North.
But is he a franchise player who will lead this team to a championship? No – he’s just not. It will never happen, and my biggest fear is we overachieve this season, he takes the max to stay here, and we’ll be stuck in the middle until Obama’s second term is up. Instead here’s an opportunity to replace him with a proven guy in Deng, and a young guy with an extremely high ceiling in Noah (who's improved so much that I almost named this post the cliched "Noah's Arc".) The only problem I foresee is what happens to our starting line-up? Does Deng come off the bench (having an amazing sixth man is not exactly a bad thing)? Does Turkoglu shift to shooting guard (gives the height of our starting lineup 2 through 5 an average of 6’11”, but how does that effect the development of DeRozan who I DO believe will be our franchise player in three years)?
Whatever the case may be, I’m not exactly sweating having too many good players on our team. It opens the door for Bargnani to take his place at the true alpha dog on this team (and from everything we’ve seen so far this season, he’s more then ready to do it), and overall just makes the team that much better by having another scorer and a guy who actually plays hard on defense (imagine what would happen if Noah and Reggie played together in the front court – it would be like having a wood chipper for opponents bodies when they went for rebounds). And on top of that, we get two picks in the draft to be building towards the future so we don’t have to keep gutting the team every 3 years.
And for Chicago, they get to pair their superstar Rose with a guy who compliments him perfectly in Bosh. It would obviously make me pull my hair out to see, but it’s not hard to imagine them playing off the pick and roll perfectly with each other to become this generation’s Stockton and Malone. The only accomplishment Gar Foreman’s made as a GM so far is losing his top scorer to Detroit. He should make like Larry David and go for the big move with Bosh. His team took the Celtics to seven games last year, how can he not want to capitalize on that?
In other words, which team says no?
I always ask myself: what if we got Noah in that 2006 draft coming off his finals MVP performance? What if we finally got a guy who truly helped bring genuine toughness to this team, and gave it a swagger it only whiffed at in the days of Big Oak?
Soon enough, if the stars align, I might finally get my answer.
But along with a lot of other fans, I too was swept up in Gator fever a few years back when that team just took over the NCAA. Myself in particular, I was struck by the kid with the girly ponytail that seemed the most “NBA” kind of guy on the floor, in that his intensity level was through the roof. To this day I still lament the fact that he easily would have gone number one in the 2006 draft when the Raptors could have gotten him and he would have fit in like a glove. A seven foot banger who plays hard and dirty and would finally have given our soft team some much needed balls? Sign me up.
Alas, he stayed another year to make Florida a dynasty, and in the process exposed himself as a guy who (apparently) couldn’t hit jump shots, was too skinny to play against bigger centres but too clumsy to be a power forward. His stock went down and ended up going ninth in the draft (despite having an unreal, near-perfect game in the 2006 NCAA finals – should that not have counted for more? It’s like hating on season three of Lost while conveniently forgetting how amazing it was when Penny found the island in the season two finale. Clearly the seeds were planted that the show was going somewhere amazing. Same could be said about Noah).
I couldn’t believe it, I was sure that Chicago got the steal of a lifetime in that draft, but everyone (the Bulls included) thought otherwise. He was relegated to the bench as a rookie, treated like a little baby with “attitude” problems (of course he has attitude problems, he’s supposed to be your enforcer! Should he have been making everyone brownies every game??). It wasn’t until last year that the shackles were finally somewhat taken off, and his coming out party was during the 2009 playoffs where Noah became a living nightmare for the reigning champs. Already into this season, whispers of him being an all-star are already being thrown around. He’s averaging 13 rebounds a game, and his “non-boxscore” contributions are too many to count. His defensive prowess, his ability to get under the skin of anyone he plays against, are skills that absolutely nobody has on the Raptors right now, and are a reason we are dead last in defensive efficiency.
When rumors were just flying about a Bosh trade last season (with most of them circling around Golden State or some other western team) I wrote to a bunch of people about how much sense it would be to trade him to Chicago for Luol Deng and Joakim Noah. It made so much sense, it seemed almost crazy that it didn’t happen. In Deng we get a proven 20-10, 6’9” small forward, team captain at 24, and just a flat out great player (just last night against us, he was the best Bull on the floor with 18 points, 8 rebounds, 2 steals and 2 blocks). Then we get the dude who is turning into a 6’11”rebounding machine. Few agreed with me, saying there’s no way we give up Bosh without getting another franchise guy back, and that Noah just wasn’t going to make it as a big-time player (remember, this was before he gave the Celtics fits in the finals).
Well just today, Bill Simmons (ESPN columnist and the best sports writer of the last 15 years), posted this gem on his twitter: “Fake NBA trade: Noah, Deng + a top-7 protected 2010 No. 1 pick for Bosh. Which team says no?”
And all I could think of was: I really hope BC and Forman read that.
I am not the Bosh-hater that a lot of people in Toronto are. I love the guy, love what he’s brought this team, and love how he never gave up on us after Vince left us in a ditch to die. He brought us back from the brink, became one of the best power forwards in the game today, constantly improved himself every summer (including the most recent one where he figured out that since his skills aren’t getting any better, maybe it was time to finally pack on some muscle) and generally has been a great ambassador for the game here in the Great White North.
But is he a franchise player who will lead this team to a championship? No – he’s just not. It will never happen, and my biggest fear is we overachieve this season, he takes the max to stay here, and we’ll be stuck in the middle until Obama’s second term is up. Instead here’s an opportunity to replace him with a proven guy in Deng, and a young guy with an extremely high ceiling in Noah (who's improved so much that I almost named this post the cliched "Noah's Arc".) The only problem I foresee is what happens to our starting line-up? Does Deng come off the bench (having an amazing sixth man is not exactly a bad thing)? Does Turkoglu shift to shooting guard (gives the height of our starting lineup 2 through 5 an average of 6’11”, but how does that effect the development of DeRozan who I DO believe will be our franchise player in three years)?
Whatever the case may be, I’m not exactly sweating having too many good players on our team. It opens the door for Bargnani to take his place at the true alpha dog on this team (and from everything we’ve seen so far this season, he’s more then ready to do it), and overall just makes the team that much better by having another scorer and a guy who actually plays hard on defense (imagine what would happen if Noah and Reggie played together in the front court – it would be like having a wood chipper for opponents bodies when they went for rebounds). And on top of that, we get two picks in the draft to be building towards the future so we don’t have to keep gutting the team every 3 years.
And for Chicago, they get to pair their superstar Rose with a guy who compliments him perfectly in Bosh. It would obviously make me pull my hair out to see, but it’s not hard to imagine them playing off the pick and roll perfectly with each other to become this generation’s Stockton and Malone. The only accomplishment Gar Foreman’s made as a GM so far is losing his top scorer to Detroit. He should make like Larry David and go for the big move with Bosh. His team took the Celtics to seven games last year, how can he not want to capitalize on that?
In other words, which team says no?
I always ask myself: what if we got Noah in that 2006 draft coming off his finals MVP performance? What if we finally got a guy who truly helped bring genuine toughness to this team, and gave it a swagger it only whiffed at in the days of Big Oak?
Soon enough, if the stars align, I might finally get my answer.
Bosh for Noah, Deng, protected #1? Sign me up.
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