Did the Toronto Raptors fail Chris Bosh?

Passing on LaMarcus Aldridge

Passing up on a can’t miss prospect like LaMarcus Aldridge is one way the Toronto Raptors failed Chris Bosh. Bosh knew Aldridge from their high school days in Dallas and made a personal plea to management to bring in the talented rookie.

He recognized the talent Aldridge had and envisioned them playing next to each other. Aldridge already weighed as much as Bosh as a rookie and projected as being able to carry more weight than Bosh. He indeed filled out and has hovered around 260 lbs for the last several years.

This humongous error undoubtedly played a correlative factor in Chris Bosh’s eventual departure from the Toronto Raptors. LaMarcus Aldridge remains one of the top big men in the league. Perhaps even more maddening is the player the Raptors passed on LaMarcus Aldridge for.

You can be sure that Aldridge’s success in the NBA served as a constant reminder of what could have been. Aldridge has averaged 19.5 points and 8.4 rebounds in 13 seasons and managed to be a seven-time All-Star in a stacked Western Conference. Even more impressive is that he was also named to the All-NBA team five times in his career.

Perhaps even more bizarre is the fact that Bryan Colangelo was just as enamored with Brandon Roy and Rudy Gay as he was by Aldridge. It stands to reason that Colangelo did not believe that he could play center and did not want to move Bosh there either. In all likelihood, however, he was likely just more enamored with another prospect at the same position named Andrea Bargnani.