[Dirkenstien]

Toronto is hoping to Sign and Trade Chris Bosh. Straight from the horse's mouth (Colangelo):

http://www.realgm.com/src_wiretap_ar...nd_trade_bosh/

Toronto general manager Bryan Colangelo feels as though the team's best course of action is to sign-and-trade Chris Bosh.

Bosh will become an unrestricted free agent after the 2009-10 season, which puts the Raptors in a difficult spot.

"We'll have the discussion, we'll talk about the pros and the cons, he'll most likely not sign it, and then we'll get in to next season, we'll figure out where we are," Colangelo said in an interview with The Fan 590 in Toronto.

"In respect to the situation for him, there will be a handful of teams next year - I'm guessing between five and ten - which will have maximum allowable free agent money, which means Chris is subject to walk to one of those deals. But, I have to reiterate the point that keeps being overlooked - we're the only team that can offer him a full six years versus five years, 10.5% increases versus 8% increases ... Basically equates to a $30 million dollar difference. So, even if he wants to leave, he's still better served, and we're better served if he works a sign-and-trade with us where we can get some sort of an asset back from the team that he's going to. And, I think that's probably the thing that we'll both push for because he'll benefit from it and we'll benefit from it, and that's why it's probably not time to panic now and make a bad deal."