Every fanbase seems to pick someone on the team to be their whipping boy — the guy whose fault it is, even when it isn’t. Someone to be the lightning rod of fan wrath.
In Miami, it seems to have become Chris Bosh. And with the now national Heat fan base, he has taken incoming fire from all directions in the last few days, as the Heat have dared show they are still figuring it all out. Jason Whitlock was the most over the top, but his voice speaks for a lot of people. I think his conclusions are wrong, but he speaks for a lot of people.
I’ve compared Bosh to Pau Gasol before because I think it’s apt — not directly in terms of game, they are different in style and Gasol is far more polished; but in terms of situation. These are not guys who can carry teams on their own to titles, but if used right can be key cogs in getting the rings. They are very good second options. Or for Bosh, third option. But we then can’t get mad at them for not acting like option number one.
First, Bosh is not soft. Nor is Gasol. What they are not are classic bangers — you cannot match them up on a true, old-school center and expect them to act like Patrick Ewing. Same is true with physical power forwards. What you need to make either of them their best is a real center next to them — Gasol is freed up to do a lot when Andrew Bynum is along side to rebound and do the dirty work. Bynum is the banger, the guy who blocks shots. (Odom has been doing some of that lately.)
Miami has nobody like that. Not Joel Anthony, not Big Z. So Bosh is asked to do things that are not really in his wheelhouse, then he gets called out for not doing them well. What he needs is not to be asked to do them so much, but that is not the Heat’s roster right now.
That said, Gasol learned to stand his ground better, and Bosh needs to. Right now he is too tentative.
Secondly, the Heat have yet to figure out how to use him on offense. It’s something you could see at the end of the loss to the Jazz, as Zach at The Point Forward explains perfectly:Bosh did not attempt a shot or draw a foul after the 5:11 mark of the fourth quarter Tuesday night despite being on the floor for that entire stretch — and being matched with slow-footed Kyrylo Fesenko, who clearly could not guard him. The Heat isolated for Bosh on back-to-back possessions a little more than four minutes into the fourth, and he blew by Fesenko both times, drawing two shooting fouls. He made 2-of-4 free throws, and then scored two minutes later on a gorgeous pick-and-roll with LeBron James.
After that? He acted the part of a classic big man role player. He screened for James. He set up a screen-and-dribble hand-off for James. He screened for Dwyane Wade on most of Wade’s drives in overtime. He acted as a decoy on Wade’s game-tying three-pointer with 17 seconds left in the game.
A $110 million decoy: That’s what Bosh was for the last 10 minutes of the game.
That is not all on Bosh — he’s a big, one of the ball handlers needs to call his number than get him the ball. If he has the mismatch, exploit it. Problem is, James and Dwyane Wade are walking mismatches, so they see that and call their own numbers all the time.
The Heat paid Bosh big-time money but we all knew he was option number three in the offense from the start. And that is not going to mean huge numbers on this team. His teammates need to do a better job of recognizing when he has the mismatch and to get him the ball in spots he can succeed. Still, at the end of the game you’d rather have James and Wade making the plays. They are better at it.
So Bosh is what he is. The third wheel. Not somebody you trade, somebody you need to learn to use better. But still the third wheel.