2009-10 NBA preview: Toronto Raptors

The Toronto Raptors really face an uphill battle getting and keeping their talent. There are so many excuses for this team, Toronto is cold, the money is funny looking, and it is in a foreign country. However the fact that this team just isn’t that good should always factor into the discussion. The truth here is Toronto is a great city, a multi cultural city where half of the residents hail from a country other than Canada. While they face a battle to get talent, if they won more often it wouldn’t be an issue.

A lot of people say that same thing about my hometown, Detroit Michigan. Detroit is a pretty crappy place to live, and the weather is terrible. While all that is true NHL players stand in line, and often take less money to play for the Detroit Red Wings because they are an elite team. If The Raptors could build themselves into that via the draft then all the excuses could get thrown out of the window.

Of course this discussion is all about the black cloud hanging over this team. Franchise player Chris Bosh can opt out of his deal after this season, and it seems likely that he will play his ball elsewhere. So the Raptors have a big decision to make, should they try to resign Bosh and failing that trade him away, or try to resign him and keep him with the risk they could end up with nothing?

That question is likely to define the Raptors season, even though the addition of Hedo Turkoglu fixes a lot of the problems on this team, they still have the cloud hanging over them. The Raptors must find one guy in Bosh, Turkoglu or Andrea Bargnani to be their full time center and they could be an eight seed playoff team.