Paul Jones

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

Chris Bosh.

12:01!! Happy New Year!!

It's here, what everyone has been talking about for years, the start of the 2010 free agent period and if you thought the trade deadline had wild rumours, just wait until you hear what's coming in the next few days. It has already been crazy with speculation and the twitter accounts are blowing up.

In Toronto there were reports of a deal involving Chris Bosh to Miami for three players, Michael Beasley, Mario Chalmers and Canadian Joel Anthony. Is it a possibility? Yes I suppose but from what I've been told, nothing is going to happen until all the big names make the rounds and check things out.

Geez, you'd think the way teams are deploying personnel, jetting off here and there to go and make visits to players that there was a war going on somewhere. In a sense there is as many teams with cap space are planning to rule the NBA. But all this will take some melding of egos and sacrifice. Yep, everybody talks about winning but in the end, if there are no sacrifices, there are no rings.

So who got the first call made by Raptors President and General Manager Bryan Colangelo? Is it to Chris Bosh to ask him where he plans to play next season? Maybe. But you can bet that Bosh wants to take the grand tour and listen to all the offers. It has been in the cards the entire year, so why would he have made a decision a few minutes ago. He's waited to be recruited so why make a decision quickly?

So what does Toronto do? Well if Bosh walks, don't make a trade and take back bad contracts just to make it work for Chris. This is business and if it doesn't work for the team then Bosh may just have to walk away and leave $30 million behind. There is some, but not much wiggle room depending on what happens with other moves made. The discussion about the point guards and moving one of them has been on everyone's mind since Colangelo hinted that deal could take place this summer. And although he did not play well, Hedo Turkoglu is still a big bargaining chip. Reggie Evans is now an expiring deal as is Marcus Banks. Can you get someone to take them and free up about $9 million in cap space?

Ok, so what about the big guys? Dwayne Wade has his tour planned, Chicago, New York, New Jersey, Dallas, yes the Mavericks as he likes Mark Cuban and Los Angeles, Clippers that is, are his stops. Bosh will make the rounds and see what teams have to say as well. Amare Stoudemire has opted out and may have broken up the best pick and roll combination with he and Steve Nash in the history of the NBA. Yes I know there was Stockton and Malone but right now, they have as many championship rings as Nash and Stoudemire. Just curious, will Stoudemire be as effective without Nash?

After seeing LeBron James movie 'More Than A Game' on the eve of the season opener in Toronto, it occurred to me that James was an extremely loyal guy. It says here he will have a very tough time leaving Cleveland. Why? Loyalty.

And somewhere, Erik Spolestra is resting uneasy. Remember the last time Miami put together a championship team, Stan Van Gundy was fired, er, I mean resigned to spend more time with his family. If the Heat do form a "super team" with Wade and two other big name free agents, you may see Spolestra, who is unmarried resign. The reason, he was an assistant to Van Gundy and just wants to spend more time with Stan's family.

It's on folks!!