Earlier this week, it was announced that the Miami Heat were officially waiving Chris Bosh, putting an end to an unfortunate saga that began with concerns over blood clot issues that have kept him off the court for over a year.
The 11-time All-Star was adamant in wanting to return to the game, but league doctors deemed his medical situation to be career ending.
[BHS] Chris Bosh – The Forgotten Superstar (Part One)
Player: Chris Bosh Music: B.o.B – Don’t let me fall Really Slow Motion – Jaeger (Intense Powerful Action) Made by: MFB Designed to watch combined with Part Two: https://youtu.be/KjK4mC8iavY Description: Chris Bosh was a franchise name for the city of Toronto, he had everything he dreamed of with the Raptors, except a championship hope.
By waiving Bosh, Miami freed up $25.3 million in salary-cap wiggle room to take care of their free agency needs heading into next season. Bosh will still get the paper that he’s owed on the remainder of his contract, which includes $26.8 million for next season.
If another team declares him fit to play, he could conceivably sign with another franchise and play again, though that scenario seems highly unlikely. Although there has been some acrimony between Bosh and Miami’s management over his desire to continue playing and their refusal to let him, the Heat announced that his jersey will soon be retired to hang in the rafters in honor of what he accomplished in South Beach.
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Bosh’s career spans 13 NBA seasons, with his first seven as a Toronto Raptor. Despite the integral role he played in the Miami machine that went to four consecutive Finals and brought home the championship in 2012 and 2013, along with his record-setting run with Toronto, his remarkable deeds remain overshadowed.
If we have indeed seen him in an NBA uniform for the last time, I wanted to take a moment to show some love to one of the best, yet most underappreciated talents of this modern era.
It seems that Bosh, in terms of garnering the recognition that he deserved, has long been accustomed to operating in the background.
Coming out of the prep ranks in 2002, the two names that dominated the headlines from that recruiting class were Oak Hill Academy’s Carmelo Anthony and a Manchild in the Promised Land out of Cypress Creek High School in Orlando, Florida named Amare Stoudemire, who many were comparing to a young Moses Malone.
Bosh was considered an elite talent coming out of Lincoln High School in Dallas, where he led them to an undefeated season and USA Today’s end of year No. 1 ranking. In the state championship, he scored 23 points, snagged 17 rebounds and blocked nine shots. But he was not viewed as a “can’t miss” prospect, though his NBA potential was never in question.
ACC Rookie of the Year Chris Bosh | ACC Hidden Gem
The ACC Digital Network looks back at Chris Bosh’s incredible freshman season at Georgia Tech. SUBSCRIBE: http://bit.ly/Oqg3iE The Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) is a collegiate athletic conference in the United States in which its fifteen member universities compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA’s) Division I, with its football teams competing in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), the highest levels for athletic competition in US-based collegiate sports.
As a freshman at Georgia Tech during the 2002-2003 season, Bosh became just the second freshman in ACC history to lead the conference in field goal percentage. What made that accomplishment even more special was that he wasn’t just a big man scoring all of his buckets in the paint. He was a smooth, rangy and crafty scorer who could tickle the twine from far away who also led the ACC in blocked shots.
The Yellow Jackets were a mediocre squad that finished 16-15 and ended their year with a loss to Texas Tech in the N.I.T. quarterfinals, but Bosh was a force of nature in averaging 15.6 points, 9.0 rebounds and 2.2 blocks per game while converting 56% of his field goal attempts.
That season, for those of us enamored with the college game, was defined by the incandescent brilliance of Carmelo at Syracuse, Dwyane Wade at Marquette and one of the most exceptional and mercurial point guards the NCAA has ever seen, Texas’ T.J. Ford, who went on to win both the Naismith and Wooden Awards as the National Player of the Year.
Despite playing on a lesser stage, the NBA scouts were in love with Bosh because of his size and multi-faceted skills.
In his nba.com draft profile back then, his strengths were described as thus: “A smooth, fluid, left-handed athlete who appears to glide around the court. Covers amazing ground on the court, moving quickly to change ends. Has a smooth shooting stroke out to collegiate three-point line, and made 48 percent of his occasional three-point field goal attempts. He is a quick jumper who waits for offensive player to commit before rising to block shot.”
At 6-foot-10, his wingspan measured close to 7’4″. An outstanding young scorer who could do damage posting up and splashing jumpers off of spot ups and pick and rolls, he could also attack the paint off of wing isolations with an adeptness at finishing at the rim and dunking through traffic.
His tremendous quickness and skilled ballhandling allowed him to beat his man off the dribble with regularity. His size, speed and versatility created match-up problems all over the court, and he could guard effectively as a defender down low and on the perimeter. His vision was also an asset as big man with passing skills.
Chris Bosh Full Highlights 2007.02.07 vs Magic – 41 Pts, UNSTOPPABLE!
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Selected with the fourth overall pick in the top-heavy 2003 NBA Draft, Bosh toiled in obscurity as a rookie while the national spotlight was fixated on the top overall selection that year, the Cavaliers’ LeBron James.
But without the fanfare and media scrutiny faced by his counterparts, he quietly led all rookies in rebounds and blocks. And by his third year in the league, at the mere age of 21, Bosh was an All-Star reserve who averaged 22.5 points, 9.2 rebounds, and 2.6 assists per game.
The next season, 2006-2007, he was an All-Star starter and led the Raptors to their first playoff birth in five years while averaging a double-double with 22.6 points and 10.7 rebounds per game.
During his seven-year run in Toronto, he emerged as one of the NBA’s very best players, a five-time All-Star who also won a Gold Medal with Team USA at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. When he signed a free agent deal with the Heat in 2010 to pursue his championship aspirations with LeBron and D Wade, he departed the Raptors as the franchise’s all-time leader in points, rebounds, blocks, double-doubles, free throws made and attempted, and minutes played. To put it short, my man put in some serious work during his up north trip.
Team USA best plays 2008
Uploaded by kietasss on 2013-08-02.
As a member of the Heat, he was often seen by the casual fan as the dude carrying LeBron and Wade’s luggage. But that was far from the case.
Dude was a stone-cold baller who made Miami’s small-ball dominance possible during the back-to-back titles in 2011-2012 and 2012-2013.
One of my favorite memories is from that first championship run. Bosh suffered a lower abdominal strain in Game 1 of Eastern Conference semi’s against the Pacers. He missed the remainder of the series and the first six games of the conference finals against Boston.
Celtics point guard Rajon Rondo was playing out of his mind in that series, averaging 21 points, 11 assists, seven rebounds and two steals per game. Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen were gettin’ it in too, augmenting Rondo’s virtuosity like the Temptations did David Ruffin.
Miami fans were shook, contemplating a possible Game 7 loss, and the anti-Heat contingent was already celebrating another LeBron meltdown while derisively repeating, “not one, not two, not three, not four, not five,” in response to his bold proclamation of the untold championships to come at the initial press conference welcoming him and Bosh to South Beach.
LeBron balled out with 31 points and 12 rebounds, and D Wade got busy with 26 points, six rebounds and six assists. But Bosh made the ultimate difference in that Game 7, coming off the bench to hit three of his four three-point attempts en route to his critical 19 points and eight boards, which helped seal the 101-88 win and a trip to the Finals against Oklahoma City.
Celtics vs. Heat Game 7: Chris Bosh highlights – 19 points (6.9.12)
Credits to kietasss* Chris Bosh hit a career-best three 3-pointers — the last sparking the run that put it away — and the Heat won their second straight Eastern Conference title by beating the Boston Celtics 101-88 in Game 7 on Saturday night.
In Game 2 of the Finals, with Miami having lost Game 1, he returned back to the starting lineup to score 16 points, grab 15 rebounds and block two shots. In the series-ending Game 5, he scored 24 points, snagged seven boards and blocked two shots in winning his and LeBron’s first ring.
His other most memorable moments came in the next year’s Finals against the Spurs. The Heat’s three-headed monster was in full effect in Game 4, with Wade and LeBron splashing respectively for 32 and 33 points, and Bosh adding 20 points and 13 rebounds, allowing Miami to tie the series with a 109-93 win. San Antonio won Game 5 to take a 3-2 series lead.
Next came the classic Game 6.
It was already an exceptional and memorable game that seemed to be heading in San Antonio’s favor. Miami was on the verge of losing their second Finals in three years. Trailing by five with the clock ticking down, and with the Larry O’Brien trophy en route to the court to be awarded to the Spurs, LeBron heaved a three from the top of the key that was uglier and more desperate than Rob Kardashian posting revenge porn to even the score with Blac Chyna.
If the Spurs secured the rebound, the series would have been a wrap. Kawhi Leonard looked like he was about to swallow the ball with his gargantuan hands, but Wade came flying in like Deion Sanders soaring to deny a Michael Irvin or Andre Rison touchdown in ’94. The rock ricocheted around as if trapped in a pinball machine until Mike Miller got it back to LeBron, who this time buried the three to make it a two-point game.
EPIC Spurs at Heat 4th quarter highlights from Game 6!
Check out the FULL highlights from the INCREDIBLE 4th quarter of Game 6 of the NBA Finals between the Spurs & Heat as Miami mounted a dramatic comeback to force overtime, capped off with the dramatic Ray Allen 3-pointer! About the NBA: The NBA is the premier professional basketball league in the United States and Canada.
With 19.4 seconds left, Miller fouled Leonard, who made one of his two free throw attempts to give the Spurs a three-point advantage. In one of the greatest moments of basketball brain flatulence ever, Gregg Popovich inexplicably removed Tim Duncan for the Heat’s ensuing possession, and when LeBron proceeded to miss a three-pointer right in front of his bench, Bosh grabbed the offensive rebound and found a wide open Ray Allen in the corner.
Allen banged in one of the biggest and most pressure-packed shots in Finals history to tie the game. In overtime, the Heat led by three with mere seconds left. San Antonio inbounded the ball to Danny Green, who pulled up for a corner three.
Guess who blocked his shot to secure Miami’s win and force a Game 7? That would be Chris Bosh.
For all of the mental midgets out there blabbering about players “chasing” rings, they need to look at what Bosh accomplished throughout his career and what his coming to Miami, and winning two titles, really meant.
He left Toronto, where he could have easily basked in stardom and been the man for the remainder of his career, to sublimate his game for the only thing that mattered to him, team excellence and winning championships.
When Tim Duncan, Karl Malone, Kevin Garnett, Charles Barkley, Dennis Rodman and others left the game, they did so with the honor and recognition as being among the best power forwards in history. Chris Bosh deserves the same.
[BHS] Chris Bosh – The Forgotten Superstar (Part Two)
Player: Chris Bosh Music: James Paget – We Ride As One (Epic Heroic Emotional Orchestral) Marco Vernacchia – Into The Realm Of Eternity (Epic Fantasy Orchestral Drama) Made by: MFB Designed to watch combined with Part One: https://youtu.be/d3Z7ZR1zcMM Description: Chris Bosh was a franchise name for the city of Toronto, he had everything he dreamed of with the Raptors, except a championship hope.
But just like most of his career, from high school, Georgia Tech and through to the NBA, he’s been overlooked and underappreciated by the masses. And that needs to change now.
In a heartfelt letter that he penned to the city of Miami on his website, Bosh said, “Ive learned how to dream again. Ive learned how to appreciate the game of basketball and all the things Ive experienced even more now. People will always see the trophies and banners and think thats the whole story. But its only a piece, only a moment in time. Ive learned that no matter what happens on the court, the game continues. Even when things changed for me and I couldnt play, people still supported me and let me know what basketball in Miami meant for them. I truly cherish those encounters. Those good-luck chants or someone simply caring enough to ask about my healththey might seem like small gestures but they are some of my fondest memories.
We went through life together, Miami. You showed me how to stay strong and push through in the toughest moments. And although I didnt like it at the time, it made all the difference in the long run. It made me a better man, the person I am today. Thank you.”
That’s love right there. Can the man finally get some love back, the love he truly deserves? Ya’ll keep forgettin’!
Because all of this time, you were looking at one of the best to ever do it. You just didn’t realize it.
