By Stephen Legget

Bargnothing

How much longer will it take? For the past 18 months, Raptors fans have been waiting for the moment that Chris Bosh finally has his running mate. The type of player that can live up to being selected with the #1 pick in the NBA draft. Instead, Raptor fans have been forced to watch a learning curve so slow it would make Alexander Radojevic and Rafael Arajuo proud. I give you Andrea Bargnani.

I take you back to the 2006 Draft. Brian Colangelo was the new GM in Toronto and had his choice of the lot in the Draft. A horrible season was rewarded with the first bit of good fortune the franchise had seen in some time. Chris Bosh was pulling for the team to draft his Texas comrade LaMarcus Aldridge. Everyone knew Brandon Roy was already a polished player and would be a good pro right off the bat. Rudy Gay had been the front runner to go first for the past 2 years. Tyrus Thomas had come off one of the most dominating performances by a freshman in the NCAA tournament. TJ Ford wasn’t on the team yet and Rajon Rando along with Marcus Williams were the top PG prospects in the bunch.

The Raps had the pick of the litter. But instead of the conventional choices, BC had special reports from his Italian tailor that the 7 foot shooting guard from Beneton was the right choice for his new franchise.

“Bargnani is the next Dirk”. This was what was said to Raps fans to justify the top pick. “He may take longer to get his game going, but in the long run, Bargnani will prove to be the best pro”. Many in the Raptor’s camp were singing about how great Bargagni’s rookie season was. “He is further along than Dirk had been in his rookie season”.

Half the way through Bargnani’s second season he is averaging less than 9 points in more than 22 minutes a game. Dirk’s sophomore season was where he made the jump to NBA star. He scored more than 17 ppg while improving his rebounding and overall game. Bargnani still has proven to have no clue of how to play on the boards and what is most concerning is that his shot is no longer the weapon it had been for much of last season.

Now I don’t feel the Raps should give up on Bargnani as a prospect. He still has time to show the world that he can be a viable NBA player. But the clock is ticking on his ability to be the difference maker that can be a cornerstone of a championship level franchise.

Since 1991 these are the teams that have won a NBA Championship: Chicago Bulls, Houston Rockets, San Antonio Spurs, LA Lakers, Detroit Pistons, Miami Heat. That is only 6 different franchises in 17 years. The biggest reason for this is that in the NBA you need to have superstars to win. These 6 teams had superstars.

Jordan – Pippen, Hakeem – Drexler, Duncan – Robinson/Parker, Shaq – Kobe, Wallace – Billips, Shaq – Wade. In 4 of the 6 teams they had a #1 overall pick that was a superstar .

The Raptors have Andrea Bargnani.

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