BOSH RESPONDS TO ACCUSATIONS HE ‘QUIT’ ON THE RAPTORS

It didn’t take long for Chris Bosh to respond to Toronto GM Bryan Colangelo’s assertion that he’d ‘quit’ on his former team last season.  Bosh and LeBron James have signed with Miami to join Dwayne Wade, and the team has since become the NBA betting favorite to dethrone the LA Lakers as NBA champions.  Both James and Bosh have taken their share of heat about how the move was handled, but on Friday Bosh denied Colangelo’s claims and insisted that he always ‘played hard’.

After a late season swoon following Bosh’s injury, the Raptors were eventually edged out for the 8th and final spot by the Chicago Bulls.  In a sports radio interview, Colangelo called out Bosh for his questionable commitment to the team:

"Despite limited swelling and any excessive damage on an MRI, he felt like he needed to sit for six more games.”

"I'm not even questioning Chris' injury. I'm telling you he was cleared to play subject to tolerance on his part, and the tolerance just apparently wasn't there and he chose not to play."

He also questioned Bosh’s focus:

"Whether he was mentally checked out or just wasn't quite into it down the stretch, he wasn't the same guy. I think everybody saw that, but no one wanted to acknowledge it."

"We tried in vain to put pieces around Chris. Different pieces, different styles. It didn't work out. No matter what type of player we brought in, it didn't seem to have the right mix with him as that centerpiece."

Bosh took to the sports radio airwaves on Friday to give his side of the story:

"I play this game as hard as I can every time I step on the court. 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."

He also claimed that contrary to reports the decision to leave Toronto was a tough one:

"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."

Bosh had been the subject of trade rumors on a number of occasions, so his departure wasn’t completely out of the blue.  At this point, the Raptors haven’t made any significant moves in either the free agent or trade marketplace and will need to pick up some offensive contributors to replace Bosh’s scoring.