Paul Jones

Paul Jones is the voice of the Raptors on the FAN 590 and writes regularly for Sportsnet.ca.

Bryan Colangelo met the media Monday and he looked like a player who had a good look at a game-winning shot to beat the buzzer and didn't knock it down. The shot was on line, half way down and rattled back and forth dead centre three times before bouncing out, and now, he was left to explain what happened.

I'm sure he was thinking the release felt good, it was right on line, it was halfway down and it's a shot that is made regularly. The bottom line, and the cruel reality of it, says something different. After all that's kind of how the Raptors season went didn't it? All they needed was one win, any of those that got away earlier in the season and they would have had a playoff spot. It would have surely made Monday's coroner's report a bit easier if it had been done after a first round playoff loss. But now there are more questions and a number of more difficult decisions going forward.

Nobody knows what's going to happen with the Chris Bosh situation but it sounds like Colangelo has all bases covered whether Bosh is in a Raptor uniform or not next season. But maybe more revealing was the fact that when the team was winning, an extension was offered to Bosh and subsequently rebuffed. Via text message, Bosh's agent Henry Thomas, confirmed that there was an offer extended but Bosh simply wanted to maintain his flexibility regarding free agency. Maybe I'm seeing ghosts where there are none, but, in essence, does that not speak volumes about the imminent decision? That plus the fact that the two sides have agreed to work together, regardless of what happens may be Bosh just tipping his hand without coming out and saying it. The prevailing thought at the top of Bosh's decision making tree probably still says "if this thing ain't fixed the way I like it. I'm gone."

It's popular opinion that something happened to the team's mindset after the all-star break. It was only half in jest I suggested back on February 11 that during some point on all-star weekend Chris Bosh was going to get a chance to sit and talk with Kevin Garnett about his thought process when he left Minnesota. You know, with all the finger pointing to that time of the season, hmmmmmmm, I wonder. Ahh, but I digress.

If Bosh walks and you get the right pieces in return as well as packaging the right assets, and it sounds like a point guard or two will be traded this summer, you could suddenly be a contender. It would make Colangelo's statement about things not being as bad as they are perceived to be an accurate one. It has always been maintained here that you are never that far away from being a serious contender with just a few of the right moves. But if you consider your GM to be a magician, he better reach into that top hat and pull out a rabbit, and nothing else.

It's what Mitch Kupchak did in February 1st, 2008 when he acquired Pau Gasol about six months after Kobe Bryant said he was done with the Lakers and wanted to be traded. Now Colangelo did say that Kobe is not available. But the truth is that early on during Colangelo's tenure in Toronto, rabbit fur was visible in the top hat. That says Colangelo is capable of doing it again but he'd better hurry as impatience is growing amongst some in Raptor nation. Any big changes this summer again bring with it the uncertainty of team chemistry and Toronto may be facing the same issues it did last September. Hopefully they will be able to handle it better this time and locker room cohesiveness won't be a concern with new faces present.

Major personnel moves also mean spending heavily and Colangelo did acknowledge that MLSE is willing to become a team that pays into the luxury tax if it's necessary.

Colangelo sat and answered all the questions as best he could but in reality there are so many variables he could not give definitive answers in some instances. Safe to say that new players will have a defensive mindset and locker room chemistry as well as coaching dynamics will also be considered as the team makes personnel moves with an eye toward next season.

The front office was extremely creative last summer to put together a team and on paper they did a good job. The problem was on the court the team clearly underachieved and because of that the pressure is now back on Colangelo and company to be imaginative once again. Yep the shot didn't go down this year. Now they'll have to play another season to get back into a position to get that look again.

So starts another summer in Raptorland, another long one, longer than fans, players, management and ownership wanted it to be.