Hey Bryan Colangelo!

In case you haven't noticed, there's this cool little tool over at ESPN.com titled "NBA Trade Machine" where wannabe GM's like me get to mess around with trade scenarios to see if they work within the NBA trade guidelines.

Now I know a lot of Raptor fans are bracing themselve's to the possibility of yet another franchise player skipping town. As of right now, the chances of Chris Bosh returning in Raptor red next season is very slim. Once again this franchise is littered with the "potential" tag, and that is simply not good enough to keep anybody around no matter, because in order for a player to make big time money (max contract) they have to earn it first by winning. Playing on a subpar or average team will not get you anywhere. So this creates a huge headache for everybody in Raptor land, what should they do with Chris Bosh?

My solution is simple, as simple as getting rid of Chris Bosh right now. Why? I had a conversation with a friend of mine the other day discussing this issue and how Chris will be demanding a max contract next summer (6 years 136 million dollars?) People familiar with the NBA know that you don't neccessarily have to be a "max" player in order to get paid like one. This leads to another question, is Chris a max player? In the NBA there are only a handfull (being real generous here) of deserving max contract players. LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Kobe Bryant, Chris Paul, Tim Duncan, etc all carry lengthy resumes that includes MVPs, multiple playoff victories and of course for a few of them NBA championships. I know it's still too early to judge Chris Bosh's body of work in the NBA because he is only 25 years young which is far from the age when NBA stars reach their peak. No doubt he is talented, he's a winner, I respect what he has accomplished so far in his career. But this is literally a toss up, Chris is young, talented but injury prone and his production level has been the same the last three years and coincendentally his team failed to get far into the playoffs (missing it last year). The Raptors right now are a talented squad (even without Bosh) but they are littered with young players and if you count Shawn Marion the next player in terms of senority is Jake Voskuhl. This team lack the toughness and veterin leadership that a perenial playoff team has.

So with that said I found a team that should be a perfect fit on and off the court for our soon to be ex franchise player. Chris Bosh welcome to Houston Texas.

With the recent developments regarding Yao Ming's foot injury and it's implications. Knowing that this injury can be detrimental to the team's future, also the fact that it's hard to imagine the Rockets as the type of team that would fold under this type of situation and give up on the season. If Yao is out for the entire 09-10 season, there will be a huge hole in the middle for the Rockets to fill. Enter Chris Bosh, having the ability to play both the center and power forward spot I see Bosh as a perfect compliment for Luis Scola. Bosh's got the length and quickness that Scola lacks in low post defense. As a big men in the NBA Bosh is one of the best at running the floor. The Rockets equipped with one of the quickest guard in the league in Aaron Brooks and with Bosh they can finally play a faster pace that they couldn't with Yao in the lineup thus making their offense multi-dimensional. And do I have to really mention that Bosh is from Texas (although born in Dallas) being in the home state would be a huge confident booster.

In return the Raptors should take Shane Battier, Carl Landry and the contract of Brian Cook (waive him later to save money). This move could pay huge dividend for the Raptors, they get a proven and solid veterin player in Shane Battier, did I mention he's one of the best defenders in the league. Shane has the senority to mentor the flock of wing player/young players that we have on our roster. With Carl Landry we get another energy player, who can grab rebound in bunches. On paper, this may look like an unfair trade, but with the development of Andrea Bargnani, the rebounding machines in Reggie Evans and Carl Landry and the addition of Shane Battier. The Raptors are sure to improve in all of their weak areas in one fell swoop (scoring, defense, rebounding).

Win Win