Friday, July 30th, 2010 at 9:30 am  |  78 responses

Chris Bosh: I Didn’t Quit on the Raptors

by Marcel Mutoni / @marcel_mutoni

After his former GM basically accused him of quitting on the team, Chris Bosh felt compelled to respond and tell his side of the story. And you’ll never believe this, but Bosh totally refutes Bryan Colangelo’s claim.

Talking to the Rogers Sportsnet, a sports television station in Toronto, Chris Bosh says he always played hard as a Raptor.

The AP has the quotes:

After being called out as a quitter by his former general manager, Chris Bosh says he “put his heart and soul” into the Toronto Raptors organization and never gave up on his team. In an interview on Rogers Sportsnet on Thursday night, Bosh responded to allegations made by Raptors general manager Bryan Colangelo on Toronto radio station FAN 590 that claimed the All-Star was “checked out” late last season and chose not to play some of the Raptors’ final games.

“I play this game as hard as I can every time I step on the court,” Bosh said. “On the back of my jersey it says ‘Bosh’ … The Boshes are hard workers. We have a lot of pride in what we do, in our jobs and in life.”

Bosh also claimed his decision to leave Toronto was at the end of a long process and not something he had committed to before the offseason. “Everybody thinks, ‘Oh, he was gone as soon as the season was over.’ It was the hardest decision I ever had to make. As different as another country is, it was still home for me. I had been there for seven years.”

Whether or not Bosh “quit” on the Raptors, or if he planned on leaving the team since well before the end of last season is completely irrelevant at this point. What’s done is done.

It’s time for Bryan Colangelo and Chris Bosh to face their new realities, and make the best of those two very different situations.

  • Add a Comment
  • Share
  • RSS

Tags: , , ,

← Older Comments
  • JoeMaMa

    We still love you in TO, Bosh! At least you didn’t give away plays at the end of games and stop dunking!!! Sigh. Okay, I’ll stop with Vince too. He’s Orlando’s problem now. Anywho, he didn’t take a paycut. HE DID NOT TAKE A PAYCUT. Taxes are different. And one cannot really put a price on playing with two other mega stars in one of the world’s best places to party/enjoy. Please PLEASE don’t make this out to be “players sacrificing”. I’m happy for LeBron and Bosh, but let’s not go down that financial path without looking seeing the bigger picture.

  • http://slamonline.com Allenp

    medically cleared means the doctors say you won’t get injured.
    Grant Hill got “medically cleared” multiple times when he was coming back from the Magic, and also regularly re-aggravated the injury.
    some of you people suck.

  • AJBALLER

    yes he did quit he didnt want to play in the playoffs he just wanted to b done with them and move on to the next team cus he knew he wasnt going to stay in canada and he just wanted to stop playing for them so he quik on them

  • AJBALLER

    b faking in ijury

  • Migs

    @ConeyIslander – he moved to Miami – doesn’t half that city speak Spanish anyway? … come up for a visit to Toronto – You’ll love our igloos, polar bears and year-round winters.

  • http://sdfjklf.com Jukai

    T-Money: You’re not even an original. Unless you are and you changed your name to prove a point. So, you know, either way, dumb statement.

  • Scottie Pimpin

    cut the guy a break. he got his face broken. i think toronto still sour from the vince carter years. and rightfully so.

  • Josh

    When a GM trades a player they say ‘it’s just business’ but for some reason the GM’s (Cleavland/Toronto) are pissed that their star players left like they would have had some special loyalty if it was the other way around. It’s just business guys.

  • total scrotal implosion

    Allenp, I was going to say something similar. Grant was medically cleared at end of 2000 season, busted his ass, got his ass busted in the first round, ankle destroyed, and was never the same. As a side effect, caused tmac to carry orl like few have ever done before, heavily contributing to his past and current health problems. I bet if bosh wasnt going to be a fa he would have played.

  • http://slamonline BossTerry

    haha @ migs…

  • The Philosopher

    To The Masses:
    If you must play, decide on three things at the start:
    Rules of the game, the stakes, and the quitting time.
    (Chinese proverbs)

  • The Philosopher

    Age wrinkles the body.
    Quitting wrinkles the soul. (Douglas MacArthur)

  • chingy

    Toronto fans are one of the most passionate fans in the NBA. When they won the division title, the ACC was rocking. Even last season, people came out (cus the Leafs sucked). Toronto is dying for a winner (Leafs/Raps/Jays all in rebuild mode). Having said that, yes the taxes suck (I pay it everyday), but its also one of the more beautiful cities to live in (and raise a family). I’m going to miss “oh my bosh” but I’ll always remember that missed put-back right in front of the basket at the end of the game as his lasting image…

  • http://www.slamonline.com Pardeep

    LOL Bosh is going to get booed just as much as VC is when Miami plays Toronto next season

  • Shem

    @Allenp: Medically cleared is when doctors say that it’s alright for you to play and there isn’t a risk of an injury no? (of course there’s always chance for an injury but no chance for an injury based on the previous injury so i guess re-aggrivating it). When doctors say it’s fine to play and you decide not to for whatever reason, then you did quit on your team. Especially when your team is fighting for the playoffs. We could have easily gotten 8th because when he was with us right up until the All-star break we we’re the 5th seed and we went on an incredible run. If we didn’t have that awful start, we we’re playing as the 2nd best team in the league for a good two months behind the Lakers. He checked out early, don’t give him any excuses.

  • http://joeloholic.wordpress.com Joel O’s

    Bosh definitely tuned out a bit toward the end of the season, but can you really blame him, with the Raptors sucking terribly and free agency coming up? Instead on focusing on half a dozen games, think about the last seven years – half Chris’ career – that he’s given to the Raps, where he’s often put in way more effort and hustle than his less talented teammates.

  • Robb

    This Raptors GM is an å∫∫høl€. You sir, should accept the fact that you suck at your job. You couldn’t build a team and now you blame a player who always worked hard and who did everything on the court for Toronto.

  • Lloyd

    Bosh gave Toronto a lot when he was here and he definitely kept the team on his back and pulled almost all the weight for us. That said, he DID quit on the Raptors in the end. You can’t crucify Colangelo for saying a factual statement. Don’t even compare him to DGil and his “crazy ex-girlfriend tirade” which was just embarrassing.

    When your team is fighting for a playoff spot and is in a desperate need for wins, to sit when you’re cleared to play is not called “giving your all”. The fact that Bosh talked about the name on the back of his jersey rather than the one on the front speaks volumes about where his priorities were. He placed himself over his team, therefore he quit on them for his own benefit.

    And this Heat team is supposed to be the next big thing in the NBA. The “pay cut” will be more than compensated through endorsements and media events as soon as they pull together a couple wins.

  • http://Www.lkz.net Darksaber

    You know when i thought he was leaving? When Paul Pierce slammed one on him then adding injury to insult, kneed him in the groin as Bosh challenged. None of the soft brigade (Bellinelli, Bargnani, Calderon) tried to help their leader up. Big oops..

  • http://pardonthedopeness.blogspot.com DP

    Bosh isn’t that tough to me but he always played hard for his team. He WAS raptor basketball for the past 5 to 6 years but his team just couldn’t jell together. They had some nice pieces, just didn’t go as planned. These GM cats just need to all go to therapy together and learn how to overcome this together. It will take time, but hopefully they will pick up the pieces.

  • Shem

    Co-Sign Darksaber, that was embarassing. All of the Toronto coaches we’re on the floor and Turk, Bargnani, Belinelli and Calderon just watched. Jack was on the floor but it was such a bad sight. Marc Iavaroni, Alex English, Jay Triano showed a lot more guts and heart then the guys actually on the floor.

  • León

    I want to see Durant in the free agency if he is like mike or like lebron

  • Bruno, RJ

    this guy never played hard in his life!
    i lived 3y in T.O. and it was always obvious he wanted out.
    he is as idiotic as fella lebron, but its not their fault… they are what their generation is.

  • http://facebook.com/tronjohnson Chief

    Bryan Colangelo never signed talent up until drafting derozan that would gel with Bosh. They had one year could have been sick but BC signed a 15 mil band aid called Turkulu when Garbajosa would be filling that role if he adn mgmt weren’t dicks. waste of time adn money. Turkglue will never get back off the bench.

  • http://www.triplejunearthed.com/dacre Dacre

    T-Money: Who are the ‘original commenters’? Jukai, BETcats, Eboy, AllenP, Pardeep Darksaber! Ummm of course there is everyone that actually WRITES for slamonline… where’s Russ at actually???? [@ T-Money] And to answer your question, no I am not stupid. I’m actually more awesome than you in every concievable way. I’m on some ‘SteveNash-XXXvitaminwater-inception-MacbookPro-otherworld-differenttimeline-IownYou.com-binge up in here.
    ____No offense of course.
    How much did Cleveland or Toronto actually put on the table for LeBron and Bosh?? Do you know. I don’t think you do – Was there even specific offers?? Cleveland were looking to get LeBron to re-up on a basic contract extension. In a bid to have him accept less money and draw more star power to the Cavs. Toronto weren’t even as sincere – BC tried to surround Bosh with talent sure – but as soon as Bosh started ‘qutting’ as B.C. called it, he was more interested in getting talent to REPLACE Bosh, not keep him around. So he we have two teams once vying for playoff positions (if not a finals showing in the case of Cleveland) about to experience a free-fall dive into the lottery, possibly for an extended period of time.

  • IAMORANGE4EVER

    Shaq said it best, Bosh is the RuPaul of big men.

  • http://www.triplejunearthed.com/dacre Dacre

    Bosh Spice

  • http://jayemmbee.blogspot.com/ ClutchPerformer

    Bosh gave us his all, and put it out there, its more than I could say for lebron, quitting in the playoff or too busy dancing all year. Bosh wont get booed cuz he play it out every game and its hard to do when your back up is Andrea, Calderon and Hedo, Softest of the soft. but he busted his butt, and hes no VC who faked injury or downplayed his talents to get a trade to seem like we were unloading him, then plays amazing once traded
    BC is bitter but be happy he didnt do what lebron did with the hour special and ego maniac, bosh just did it silently
    he might have stayed if the team didnt take such a nose dive when he got injured it meant he could never have a night off .
    BC needs to stop filling the team with Euro trash

← Older Comments
Advertisement
Counterkicks