Plenty has happened in the last week in Toronto and the Raptors roster is going to look very different next season, but at least all of those who apparently no longer wanted to be with the team are now gone and we can look forward to some harmony.

It’s tough for NBA Betting pundits to look at the players on the roster now and see no Chris Bosh and Hedo Turkoglu, given the amount of money and hopes that have been invested in them, but then again it is hard to complain at the return they brought.

It wasn’t impossible that losing Bosh in free agency would have brought no return and Turkoglu would have stayed in town, stewing at not being able to secure a deal to go elsewhere, but now those nightmares can end.

Bosh leaves for Miami, where NBA Odds suggest he should be winning a title next season along with LeBron James and Dwyane Wade, and Turkoglu, according to plenty of reports will turn out for the Phoenix Suns.

The return? Toronto’s original first-round draft pick, traded to Miami last season, comes back along with Miami’s own first-rounder in 2011 for Bosh, plus a trade exception, which the Raptors then used to acquire Boris Diaw in what was basically a salary dump for the Charlotte Bobcats.

For Turkoglu, the Raptors receive Leandro Barbosa and a partial trade exception as well as clearing a huge lump of salary from the wage bill that can be used in free agency next season, perhaps not as valuable as this season, but still useful.

The Raptors could well be lining up next season like this; Jose Calderon, Leandro Barbosa, DeMar DeRozan, Boris Diaw, Andrea Bargnani. Not the worst line-up in the world by any means and with a few decent players (Amir Johnson, Jarrett Jack, Ed Davis, Sonny Weems) on the bench suddenly I feel a little more positive about the future.

Both Barbosa and Diaw have put up some decent numbers when they have been able to stay fit, and are well known to Bryan Colangelo who drafted them both when he was in charge in Phoenix.

Diaw is a ball-handling big-man who should fit in well in Toronto and Barbosa gives the Raptors another threat from beyond the arc – he was one of the leading three-point shooters in the whole of the NBA in 2007-8 – but comes in on the back of only playing 44 games last season. Fingers crossed for better health this time around.

By Andy Charles

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