Chris Bosh, who was sidelined due to blood clots for the second straight season, clearly wants to play.
The Heat maintain the same stance: There’s no timetable for his return.
Dan Le Batard of ESPN, as transcribed by Jason Lieser of The Palm Beach Post:This is complicated and it’s not great,” Le Batard said. “They are not in agreement here. The two sides—This runs the risk of getting problematic here at a bad time, because Chris Bosh wants on the court… It’s obvious that Chris Bosh wants on the court and that he’s pressuring the organization…and that his wife is pressuring the organization. They were wearing the #BringBoshBack shirts (Sunday). There is a tension happening.
“I don’t know exactly what to believe here, OK, but I do trust the organization and I trust the people in the organization who tell me things because I’ve never been lied to by them about much of anything. They’re telling me that they’re protecting him from him, but he doesn’t feel any symptoms. This doesn’t feel like the last time. All the doctors the Heat are talking to are saying, and they’re the foremost authorities on this stuff, ‘Hey, a second recurrence of a blood clot situation could be catastrophic, where you’ve got a death on the court.’”
Le Batard added that the Bosh family is trying to get the NBPA involved to allow him to play again.
Kevin Draper of Deadspin:
https://twitter.com/kevinmdraper/status/727611100305350656
I don’t think this will get Bosh anywhere. Teams have tremendous control about playing time, and the Heat have deemed Bosh unfit to play. The union can’t do anything for a benchwarmer who believes he deserves more minutes. This is substantively similar. Bosh is still getting paid, and unless sitting will prevent him from reaching contract incentives, the union would have a tough – probably impossible – case.
If Bosh is still on blood thinners, I can’t imagine doctors clearing him to play. The risk is far too great.
It’s valiant Bosh so badly wants to play (at least if you don’t believe discretion is the better part of valor). The Heat could use him as they enter their second round series against the Raptors.
But Miami appears to be doing what’s best for Bosh, even if it hurts the team on the court. There’s valor in that, too.
