Alright. The gloves are off and the last shreds of journalistic professionalism are packing up their things. For the purposes of this article, I am officially no longer a sportswriter, but rather, nothing more than one angry, angry basketball fan.

Oh Vince. Vince, Vince, Vince. What exactly is your problem?

Why do you think you have the right to request trades to specific teams? If it weren’t bad enough that your lackadaisical attitude and mama’s boy toughness are largely the reason the team is in the basement, you sabotage any chance of the team getting fair value by making it clear you are desperate to leave and
that the organization is unavoidably desperate to be rid of you.

To make matters worse you not only disrupt the solidarity of the players but you put everyone who is trying to help in improving the team, including the new GM and head coach, in an almost impossible position. All you have to do is go out and actually prove that the team that trades for you will get more than you’re mother’s brownies and a big boost in their games lost to injury.

I understand GM Rob Babcock’s wanting to say that it’s not a big deal and that it won’t really hurt the team, but that’s obviously a lie. And I know it’s unwise to trade Vince right now but I’d rather take less value and not throw away another entire season on the off chance that you’ll give us a good half-season and become decent trade bait.

Who remembers when Grant Hill was traded for a virtual unknown named Ben Wallace? I don’t see why Babcock, with his bevy of wonder scouts and the help of Alex English can’t find some building blocks in the league that will come into camp happy now, and pan out later. Especially with the league’s realignment, which puts the Raptors in what is undoubtedly the weakest division in the league with New York, Philadelphia and Boston.

I understand though, that Vince is worth more as a moneymaker than a game winner, but still, if the Raptors want him because of his marketability, than they’ll have to trade him anyway, because he’s no longer marketable in Toronto. The Raptors, who have done comparably well in attendance the last few years are not going to milk the interests of a hockey starved metropolis with more whining and poor progress.

Besides, Vince is just another in a long line of pro athletes who are ignorant enough to treat Canada like a third world country, and take that message to the American media and other players, instead of embracing Toronto for the world class city that it is. What I don’t get is why these players feel the need to sabotage a team’s future just because they can’t adjust to using dollar coins, and putting a u in colour.

Of course I don’t have all the answers, and I certainly don’t envy Rob Babcock because Vince and his people have put him in an unenviable position. I think Babcock is looking to make a statement with Vince, not giving in to his demands by trading him to the detriment of the team, and therefore sending a message that he will not let the players run the organization. I like that message, but what Babcock doesn’t understand, because he is new to Toronto and the organization, is that Raptors fans are sick of the same cycle of cry-baby underachievement and trade requests that seem to come from every star that puts on a Raps uniform.

Realistically, this is what I see happening. Vince will be a baby in camp, and Babcock will stick to his guns and make him keep playing. Despite Vince’s worst efforts though, and his continually plummeting value, the Raptors will be able to move him sometime after the all-star break to a major market team who thinks they’re more of a contender than they are. The Knicks are probably the best bet, because their front office has no respect for draft picks and seem to want to make every overpaid player in the league their own.

It’s unfortunate that Raptors fans are forced to be unavoidable losers in this equation, and even more unfortunate that one of the NBA’s most popular players has proved to be such a pathetic caricature of the spoiled, selfish, lazy, millionaire athlete. And here I thought Terrell Owens had that market cornered. Actually come to think of it, seeing the real Vince is far worse than the hurt feelings of Raptors fans, because after all, losing is like everything else, it gets easier the more you do it.