Chris Bosh could have continued what he was doing, being the face of the Toronto Raptors. He had made the All-Star team five years in a row, was the focal point of the Toronto offense on the court and the team’s marketing off it, and he was getting his touches, averaging 24 points a game his last season north of the border.
Yet he chose to leave, to head all the way down to Miami to team up with Dwyane Wade and LeBron James.
It’s a “big three” that changed the game. On the court somewhat, they won two titles and went to four straight Finals. However, Bosh told our own NBC Sports NBA Insider Tom Haberstroh that the bigger impact was off the court, where other players — Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving, Kawhi Leonard, and most recently Anthony Davis — have started to take charge of their own careers and destiny.
“It’s huge,” Bosh says of the trio’s pioneering role. “A lot of people don’t like it, that’s the funniest part.”
Don’t like what?
“An athlete with brains.”
Bosh said the Heat’s big three specifically helped lead to one of the most controversial moves in the NBA in recent years — Durant to the Warriors.
I ask him, does Durant leave OKC if Bosh and the Big Three don’t choose to team up in 2010?
“No,” Bosh says now. “That put pressure on him.”
LeBron gets most of the credit for players taking a more aggressive role in charting their own course and not just going where the tide takes them with their career. Deservedly so, he was the best player in the game when he went to Miami and changed the game.
But Bosh did his part, too.
Next Tuesday in Miami Bosh will get a little recognition when his jersey is retired. As it should be. Those banners aren’t hanging in Miami if Bosh didn’t only come to the team but willingly sacrificed and changed his game to fit around what LeBron and the team needed. He was a No. 1 option who completely changed how he played to win.
That’s a lesson more players could use to pick up on.