July first marked the beginning of NBA free agency as teams are allowed to talk to free agents before the July 11 official start date of free agent singing and the league's teams have taken full advantage. Sign and trade deals are usually the norm during this period as teams look to add upcoming free agents before they are free to sign with any team they want, insuring that they will have their prized player before the deadline and on the other hand allowing the team on the other hand to get some value from their player leaving in free agency.
Many notable deals have been made over the past week, but by far the biggest news when it comes to home is Steve Nash's trade from the Phoneix Suns to the Los Angeles Lakers in a deal that changed the face of the Western Conference and the Los Angeles Lakers title hopes.
Nash, who led the league in assists last year despite being in the tail end of his career, is still one of the game's best point guards and is sure to give his team and himself a chance at a title, something Nash has yet to accomplish in his illustrious career. But past the goodwill of seeing the face of Canadian basketball going back to a contender and having a chance at a title is the bitter taste in the mouths of Raptors fans across the country.
The Raptors were openly doing whatever it took to acquire Nash and bring him back to his home country, but for whatever reason (likely the fact that the Raptors kind of sort of suck) Nash went with the Lakers and a trade was made to send him to one of the league's most glamorous franchises.
This type of disappointment is nothing new to Raptors fans, the long enduring victims of spurns from free agents and star players alike. From their first star player during their expansion days in Damon Stoudamire, to Tracy McGrady's departure to Orlando before becoming one of the early 2000's best players, to the very infamous exit Vince Carter and you get the picture that superstar players don't necessarily value the cold weather and blue collar comforts of Toronto's basketball scene.
Even more recently the Raptors have found struggles with their "star" players as multi-million dollar signing Hedo Turkoglu mailed in an entire season of basketball, drawing the ire of Dino Nation before being shipped out at a bargain and leaving a bad taste in the mouths of Raptors fans. That same year also featured the end of Chris Bosh's tenure in Toronto as the all-time leading scorer in Raptors history left the team to join LeBron James and Dwayne Wade in Miami, leaving Raptors fans to watch their franchise player play in two straight NBA Finals and win a championship in another uniform.
Steve Nash being in a Raptor uniform was once just a pipe dream, something Raptors fans talked about cautiously as they knew that a Suns squad that was in the midst of a playoff run every season would never trade their blue chip player. But with Nash in the twilight of his career and becoming more involved on the operations side of Canada Basketball in a management position, the wheels really seemed to be in motion to make Raptors fans pipe dreams come true.
That caused many a Raptors fan, myself included, to once again get their hopes up and to dream big. I was already envisioning Andrea Bargnani and Steve Nash pick and rolls as the Raptors finally returned to the Eastern Conference playoffs., Wishful thinking with the Raptors is always a mistake, and yet again it got the best of me. There is a reason the Raptors have only won one playoff series in their entire existence as a franchise and in a league where eight teams have accounted for the last thirty championships the cold reality that the Raptors are a have-not team is often a hard pill to swallow.
Nobody wants to cheer for the team that always lets you down and never seems to have a hope, but that is what being a Raptors fan is. You go into every season with a different expectation, and despite for a few flashes here and there, they usually find a way to let you down. A run for a player like Steve Nash promised something that other Raptors hopes didn't, a change of culture, an addition of someone who automatically makes teams better, arguably one of the best point guards of all-time. Combine that with the fact he has been the face of Canada basketball since his days in college and my hopes were admittedly very high that Steve Nash would come back for Canada.
Yet just like the Raptors most famous heartbreak, Vince Carter's miss with two seconds left in Game Seven of the 2001 Eastern Conference Semi-finals the Steve Nash pipe dream just missed target.
Another heartbreak, another pill to swallow, another near miss. Just another day in the life of the Toronto Raptors.
