The NBA is unquestionably a players’ league, a place where superstars often seem bigger than their teams and shoulder more than their share of the credit for both success and futility.

Allen Iverson in his prime was of course a key example of that truth, and an antidote put forward by adidas and the 2008 Boston Celtics appears slow to take.

Even if the Celtics put team before self during their most recent title run they still had three superstars capable of taking over games.

And though the ads proclaim basketball is a brotherhood, they also feature superstars who insist it’s on them to make their teams better.

Teams win as a group and lose as a group, but they’re often defined by a select few.

That’s as true in Toronto as anywhere, where the hometown Raptors are bolstered by Chris Bosh, one of the best power forwards in the league.

The Raptors won eight of 10 games in a promising mid-season stretch before Bosh went out with an ankle injury in late February.

Without him they won just three of seven and have struggled to find their rhythm since.

Granted, some of their wins came against bad teams – teams Toronto should expect to beat – but others are evidence a team led by Bosh can be one of the best in the Eastern Conference, as long as they’re willing to hustle, shoot quality shots, and bite down on defence.

Without Bosh the Raptors were a discombobulated bunch – a team without a leader worthy of the title, without a player capable of carrying the team, and without a stabilizing force.

Anyone seeking a vision of what the Raptors could look like if Bosh skips town this summer needn’t have looked further.

Lately the media hounds in Toronto have been circling, and tough questions have begun to fly.

“What else do you want me to do?” Bosh recently vented to reporters. “Score 30, 40 points a game? Twenty blocks a game? That’s not my game. That’s not what I do.

“I try to get these guys going, and that’s pretty much it. I’m not weak-minded by any means. I know that we’re going to be good this year. I think we have time to turn it around. That’s the plain fact.

“You can’t put the emphasis on one person … it’s a team sport.”

Many of those words ring true. There is no star Toronto player who does more to help his team win each night than Bosh.

He averages 24 points, 11.2 rebounds per game a just over a block a game – strong numbers that aren’t inflated by the fact he’s a great player on an under-performing team.

Like any player of his caliber, Bosh often wants the ball in his hands. But he’s also aware of the fact he can’t win on his own, and will defer to teammates he knows are capable of helping the team.

Raptors GM Bryan Colangelo has often said those seeking a scapegoat for the team’s lack of success should knock on his door.

“I’m the one who put them together,” he said recently. “I’m the guy. If you want to blame someone, blame me.”

But of course the reason for the Raptors’ mediocrity lies with more than one person.

It extends from the top of the franchise to somewhere near the bottom, and one doesn’t get from A to B without passing through Bosh.

Basketball is a team sport, indeed – but teams rely heavily on their superstars. The emphasis can’t rest solely on an individual. But when gifted teams struggle as mightily as Toronto has, the franchise player can’t expect to emerge from the blame game unscathed.