First and foremost, I have great regard for Chris as a player and as a person. But I am wondering, heading into the new season, shouldn't the most pressure to execute given the environment of players that has been set around him be on Bosh himself rather then someone like Andrea or TJ Ford or even Bryan Colangelo? What's strange is that all of his counter parts (including the likes of Hinrich) from the 2003 draft have all tasted playoff sucess at one time or another while the Raptors (esentially considered Chirs's team following Carter's depature) have yet to come close to even making the playoffs. Now, given that he has a stable core surrounding him that is seemingly decent and seem complimentary to the kind of team you'd want for a big-man, does anyone else agree that this year will solely depend on Chris' contributions more then any other year for he is considered the main face of the franchise? In other words, he is an enormous talent, but can he make "the leap"?? Chris posts up solid numbers game in and game out but many of us have doubted his late-game ctonributions, or the lack of it, to be quite blunt. This year, with no Mike James in the way to stop him from taking shots, with no CV there to slowly creep on his glory, do you think that the Raptors can rely on Chris to carry them to the playoffs? I realize he's only 22 and is only improving but will he always remain the kind of player who is considered a 'franchise' player and continously puts up solid numbers while never being able to lead his team to a playoff birth (ala Shareef Abdur Rahim) or do you think he will be able to lead the Raptors with a monsterous season sooner or later?
It's not Bosh's fault that we haven't been in the playoffs. His "counterparts" are on much better teams than what Bosh has had here. In fact, it's not even close in the talent level of what Bosh has here and what Hinrich has in Chicago, Wade in Miami, LeBron in Cleveland, Carmelo in Denver and Howard in Dallas. The Raptors have not surrounded Bosh with a good team. In fact, we still have no established second scorer.
i have been critical of bosh in the past for the results deficiency that he has against the other elite members of the 03 draft class including ford and heinrich. the raptors need desperately to develop another star or two whether that be ford or bargnani or preferably both.
Kinda reminds me of Shareef Abdur-Rahim in the 96 draft of never making the playoffs except this season with the Kings..
Please do not compare Shareef to Bosh, please don't. It is not Bosh's fault we haven't made the playoffs. Look what he's had around him. A whining superstar who didn't try, then a bunch of sub par role players, and a shoot first pg who was unwilling to give the rock to Bosh...
Just look at what Shareef Abdur-Rahim had surrounding him in Vancouver and then Memphis. Spectacularily bad teams --> no playoffs. When he goes to Sacramento, he had better teammates --> playoffs. There's really no secret formula.
