Heat & Raptors make a deal

Written By: Ronny Dhillon

After weeks of speculation, the trade is finally done. On Friday the Toronto Raptors sent Jermaine O’Neal, Jamario Moon, a 1st round draft pick and cash to Miami for Shawn Marion and Marcus Banks. So who wins this trade? In all honesty I think both teams came out on top. In Marion the Raptors acquire a pure scorer they desperately needed. They also received more depth at the guard position in Banks. For the Heat, although Shawn Marion played a key role in helping the team win 28 games, it’s clear they’ll need inside help come playoff time. Jermaine O’Neal should help tremendously in the post-season when trying to guard big men in the east such as KG, D12, and Rasheed.

When you look at this trade on an economical stand point it seems the Raptors are trying to clear cap space for the infamous 2010 free agent class. Shawn Marion’s contract of $17 Million will come off of the books after this season. Toronto GM Brian Colangelo knows if he wants to re-sign Chris Bosh in 2010, he’ll have to have great players around him to help the Raptors content for a title. Now whether that means going after David Lee in the ’09 off-season of just saving the money and trying to lure in Dwayne Wade the next year is still left to be seen.

But will Chris Bosh really be happy in Toronto right now?

Bosh was extremely happy when Colangelo brought in Jermaine O’Neal but that experiment only lasted a grand total of three months. The Raptors are 21-34 at the All-Star break and sit five games back of a playoff spot but now they don’t have any depth in the front court. I doubt the Raptors will make the playoffs even with a great shooter like Marion so Chris Bosh might just get fed up with life on a sub .500 team.

Raptors fans, get ready for an even longer 2nd half to the season.