Toronto suffered a brutal homecourt whacking at the hands of the Heat yesterday afternoon, and after Chris Bosh was jeered during the (half) effort, the Raptors All-Star F told reporters, ““I don’t boo. If you have a bad fiscal year, how about I boo you?”

A day later, Bosh is denying ESPN’s report of a trade demand, and Raptor Blog‘s Scott Carefoot suggests, “rather than lashing out at fans like Bosh repeatedly does, the smart response would be to acknowledge that the team isn’t performing up to expectations and say that.”

Speculation is building that part of the reason Bosh will leave Toronto in 2010 is because of the treatment he’s getting from local fans lately. If he thinks it’s bad here, he should try playing in New York ” where the fans will boo your mother for simply giving birth to you if you get on their bad side. Oh sure, there are probably apathetic markets he could go to where he won’t get booed ” or the attendance will be consistently sparse enough that the boos won’t resonate enough to have an effect. Bosh can feel free to sign with Memphis or Charlotte in 2010 if he simply wants to be left alone to post his 20 and 10 numbers and collect his league-maximum salary in a losing cause. But I suspect that Bosh’s head has grown to the point that he wants to be a star in a major market ” and he’s going to be in for a rude awakening if he thinks fans of any major-market team are going to be any less demanding than these ones.

If I’m in Bryan Colangelo’s shoes, I would call Chris into my office and tell him to shoot a video blog where he apologizes for the team’s recent performance and for blaming the fans for booing. You want to be paid like a superstar and have the respect that comes with being a veteran and a team leader, Chris? Then, you need to act like a veteran leader instead of a thin-skinned, petulant rookie.

Andrew Bynum is expected to miss as much as 3 months of action after suffering an MCL tear during a collision with Kobe Bryant during Saturday’s victory at Memphis.  While Phil Jackson optimistically notes the Lakers won the Western Conference last season with Bynum recouperating from another knee ailment, LA’s future chances against Boston, Cleveland or Orlando have to be considered suspect in light of the latest news.   For one night, anyway, Bryant seems more than willing to accepting the additional offensive burden ; what a crisis of conscience it must be for Kobe to launch 26 shots in less than 3 quarters?