Chris Bosh Not a Superstar? Please…

Although LeBron James has gotten the lion’s share of the coverage this offseason, and is the main focal point in most articles written about the South Beach Superteam in Miami, there was another addition to the Heat that was just as important; Chris Bosh.

After all, they’re not calling LeBron, Wade, and Bosh the “Three Kings” for nothing.

While Chris may not be as heralded as LeBron, he brings a game that is nearly James’ equal in statistical relevance, and totally equal in importance to the fate of the Miami Heat.

Miami won’t be winning many titles with just talented wing players; they’ll need a dominant post presence, and Bosh provides that.

A recent article I read (by a guy who laughingly considers himself objective), tried to posit that Bosh was, as he put it, “a good, not elite, player in the NBA.”

Beyond the numerous grammatical errors and lack of any real style in the writing, the author also revealed a true lack of basketball knowledge in his analysis of Chris Bosh’s game and talent.

For instance, he implies that Bosh’s man-to-man defense is sorely lacking.

Granted, he makes this implication while also making note of the fact everyone raved about his defense while coming off the bench playing for Team USA in the 2008 Olympics, but he obviously thinks that was some sort of aberration.

As evidence of that, he states that during the Toronto Raptors 2009-10 season, opposing “centers” averaged scoring 20 points “per 48 minutes” against Bosh.

First, Bosh was not Toronto’s center, Andrea Bargnani was (with Rasho Nesterovic backing him up), and wasn’t playing against the opposing centers most nights.

He doesn’t provide any specific statistics to back up his claim, but I would bet my bottom dollar that the players whose stats he’s basing this little statement on weren’t being guarded by Bosh in almost all of those games.

Second, and this is far more important, he’s using these stats of these opposing “centers” and pushing the envelope in his statistical shenanigans by using their “per 48 minutes” average.

So, while Bosh averaged 24 points a game (PERIOD) last year, this guy is going to try and develop an argument that he wasn’t defending the player he was guarding well based on how many points he MAY have averaged if he had played the full 48 minutes of the game.

Talk about total BS.

The simple fact is, if you go and check the stats, or better yet, if you had watched most of the games (as I did), that Bosh played, you’d know that he is a supremely talented man-to-man defender.

Like any truly gifted defender, Bosh moves his feet well, and keeps himself between his opponent and the basket, not giving him much room to operate. He doesn’t reach very often, which is a definite no-no in the modern NBA, as most players will simply wait for you to do so and “run” into your reaching arm, drawing a foul.

He’s also a very gifted shot-blocker, who is able to anticipate his opponents moves well, and be at the apex of his leap right when the ball is about to leave his opponents hand, granting him the best possible chance of blocking the shot without being called for a foul.

Add to this the fact he’s a pretty damn good help defender as well, and then take into account he’s averaged over 22 points and nearly 10 rebounds a game for five seasons (24 PPG and 11 RPG last season), and it’s pretty obvious Bosh isn’t “a good, not elite, player in the NBA” but a damn superstar.

It’s precisely why, beyond LeBron James and Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh was the most sought-after free agent in this past Free-Agency bonanza.

Those GMs all knew and know what Bosh brings to the table, and they were and are impressed with what they see.

They realize that Bosh is a young, 26-year-old phenom who hasn’t even reached his potential yet.

Unlike many other talented post players in the NBA who are equally lauded to some degree, yet have never posted the numbers Chris has, such as Carlos Boozer and Amar’e Stoudemire, Bosh has never played with a top-tier point guard.

Carlos had Deron Williams, and Amar’e had Steve Nash. Chris had Jose Calderon, who, while a very decent point guard, has nowhere near the skill of Nash or Williams when it comes to setting up a power forward for an easy score.

There’s another part of this author’s argument that I feel falls flat on its face. However, on this, I’ll at least admit that I’m going against the conventional wisdom.

He states that Bosh’s statistical numbers should decline this coming year. He makes some relatively decent points, and most so-called “experts” would likely agree with his argument. However, there is a case to be made that his argument, even this part of it, is sheer balderdash (that’s a euphemism for BS).

He states that the Phoenix Suns averaged approximately 83 shot attempts this past season, and that if you were to take a look at the number of shot attempts taken by the “Three Kings” last year (57), it’s easy to see they’re bound to decline since no team is going to have three of its starters average 57 shots out of 83.

He also brings up the fact that Miami has tended to play a very “slow-down” game under Riley over the past decade, and posits this will add to Miami probably taking far less shots overall than even Phoenix did.

That sounds reasonable. In fact, that sounds damn intelligent.

Too bad it’s anything but.

First, it’s a given that teams over the past couple of decades have really begun to bring down the number of shots they’re taking, and that Miami has been one of the teams under Riley’s tutelage that have been masters of this “slow the game to a crawl” strategy in order to make it easier to win games with a less talented team.

However, anyone who thinks Riley (and by proxy, Eric Spoelstra) will be employing this kind of play with the talent they have on the South Beach Superteam is simply one of two things; completely and utterly ignorant, or out of their cotton-pickin’ mind.

Riley built this team to mirror the “Showtime” Lakers he coached during the 80s, and has his sights set on having this “dynasty” challenge the dominance of the Boston Celtics of the 60s.

I’m sure Riley is astute enough a basketball historian to know the reason those Celtics teams were so damn dominant, and his Lakers teams almost equally so, was because they ran the other teams out of the building.

I won’t get into all the statistics about this in this article, as I’m saving that for a “Crunching the Numbers” piece I’m working on that will be posted in the next week or two, but let’s just say that the Boston Celtics of the 60s, and to a lesser degree the Los Angeles Lakers of the 80s, were some run-and-gun teams that would make the Phoenix Suns (even during the Mike D’Antoni era) look like they were stuck in mud.

Riley knows that if you have the talent, you run the opposing team to death. I’m of the opinion we’re going to see this Miami Heat team average closer to a hundred shots a game, if not more. They’re going to redefine the NBA, so to speak.

Or better yet, you could say they’re going to bring the NBA back to its roots.

The “Three Kings” have already done that to some degree just by teaming up, recognizing that the “team” concept is the way to go, and not the recent “me” emphasis that’s been placed on the game by many of its players.

Chris Bosh is the perfect post player for this kind of team, and with the many passes for open looks he’s going to be receiving from LeBron, Wade, Chalmers, and Miller, I’m here to predict his numbers don’t decline, but actually go up a tick.

I could easily see Bosh average 25 points and 12 rebounds next year.

One thing the author of the article I’ve mentioned did correctly predict is Bosh being an All-Star Starter this coming year.

Even with that, though, he basically implied it won’t be because he’s deserving of it. My belief is that is sheer nonsense. Not only will Chris be an All-Star Starter, he’ll deserve it twice as much as any other power forward in the Eastern Conference not named Kevin Garnett, and will be far better than KG in my view.

So, while those who want to can look upon Bosh as nothing more than a “decent” player who’s riding the coattails of Dwyane Wade and LeBron James to a title and acclaim, I say he’s going to be an absolutely essential element in the Heat’s success, and will play like the “Superstar” he is for Miami.