To Trade or Not To Trade

That is Miami's question. But in reality, that's every teams question and BC of all GM's is probably facing the most pressure. With the Raps sinking to second last in the conference, with the growing yet reasonable fear that Bosh has very little to stay for, pardon my French but BC has to pull some serious shit out of his ass.

In terms of the Marion trade, sources seem to indicate that the ball is in Riley's court so to say but I find that hard to believe right now. O'Neal has played two solid games stats wise but really, every game since hes been back he's played with high energy and doesn't seem to be worrying about his knee. If I was Riley I would have to believe his knee isn't the issue and it's more simply about getting conditioning and game timing back. That being the case, with Miami in the playoffs, for the Raps sake as well, it might be better to pull this trade off sooner than later and let their teams have more time to adjust. At the same time, Marion has yet to play since these rumors surfaced and if he is unfit to even suit up, while O'Neal is ready to go, how is it that Riley has the power over this negotiation. With Miller underperforming, O'Neal is definitely the best deal out there. Personally, as great a passer as Miller is, there is not enough talent or sharpshooters on Miami for him to pass to in the first place. Again, it seems the hold up is which is better, cap space now, or in two years?

From my standpoint, I think Miami is better off with making some big signing two seasons from now. Why? Because Wade has shown a much stronger commitment to Miami and winning his championships there, after all, he already has one and lets face it, Miami is probably a harder city to leave than Toronto. It's probably much safer for them to wait for the best free agency class in history and make a run at say Stoudamire or ..... yep, Bosh. From Toronto's side however, I think they have to do something this season or this offseason. They need to have talent here waiting to convince Bosh to stay, and more importantly, they have to do something with that talent.

I think from this standpoint, it's safe to say that O'Neal will not play another season as a Raptor. Even if this Marion deal falls through, the plethora of expiring deals we have and our 1st round draft pick has to be able to fetch us some valuable pieces and I think BC recognizes the importance of getting these deals done before training camp. In fact, I hope it doesn't, I'd rather see them use O'Neal to get multiple pieces from Chicago or Goldenstate and add to our depth instead of filling one spot. When next season approaches, Goldenstate may want to give up some of its long term deals to be able to play in the offseason while Chicago may decide to make O'Neal their big man, or use his cap space to finally get one. Both these teams would be able to offer two or three pieces that would play big roles on our team instead of getting one small forward, and one scrub in Banks. After all, the last thing the Raps need is another 13th man.

I for one can't wait for the trade deadline to come. Not to see what happens or doesn't happen, but just so we can stop expecting ONE PLAYER to come on a white horse and save the season for us. We need more depth, we need more than Jesus, we need his wise men too!