I was going to call him the Big Pillow. Sure, I am a die-hard Heat fan, but I try to be objective when analyzing my team. It has long been questioned what Chris Bosh’s contribution would be towards this team. We all know he can score and has great range and mobility for a big man but he will never play with his back to the basket and will never be known for tough, physical defense. He may resemble Kevin Garnett in build, but his game is not like his.
Throughout this series, Bosh has gone hot and cold. Most notably, in game three when Bosh was basically non-existent while Kevin Garnett, Bosh’s charge, exploded for 28 points. The association of the word “soft” with Bosh started to flare up.
Rightfully so. Bosh hasn’t played particularly tough defense night in and night out, but instead needs help from the Heat’s best front court defender, Joel Anthony. Even tonight, Bosh was looking lost out there: lost in the flow of the offense and not contributing much at all. Then, all of a sudden, he started hitting shots. Outside shots, fade aways. Eventually, he got a little more confident and started his trademark roar when getting some good looks.
Yet, none of his baskets were as important as his last one – a tip that came off a miss from a Lebron James fadeaway that gave the Heat a huge lift to seal the victory in OT. The Heat were only up by three at that point, and Bosh’s tip gave him 19 points and 11 rebounds on the night. Bosh had previously admitted that the emotions and intensity of game three may have been too much for him. Tonight, he dispelled that as did the Heat, who finally closed out a game on Boston’s floor in victorious fashion. Back to Miami, with a 3-1 lead, the Heat will now look to end the series. Meanwhile, the Hawks and Bulls are knotted up 2-2.
The Heat have several options on the table. They are reportedly looking at Jamaal Tinsley, who would be an affordable addition to the Heat’s roster as he would provide a veteran point guard at roughly $1 million – which raises the total cost to $2M when considering the luxury tax penalty. He would compete with Mario Chalmers for the starting spot and provide more depth. Milwaukee Bucks restricted free agent Ramon Sessions remains available, but reports are that the Knicks are leaning towards extending him an offer which means the Heat’s chances to nabbing Tinsley increase.
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2010 Free Agency: Building for This Moment
The Miami Heat have quietly been building for this 12:01 July 1st deadline for years. Yes, years. Ever since they won the 2006 title, you could say.
Sure, the Heat fielded a competitive team to try and repeat for 2006-2007 season, but the Bulls had other plans that season, sending the Heat out of the playoffs in the first round. It was clear Miami’s championship runs had finished with that squad. It was, after all, the acquisition of Shaquille O’neal that lead to Miami’s title runs during the mid 2000′s.
Coming off the heals of a successful 2003 campaign that watched a young team built around Caron Butler, Lamar Odom, and a young rookie Dwyane Wade, the Heat pulled the trigger and gambled it all for Shaq. The architect? Pat Riley. In fact, every significant run the Heat franchise has made has been done with Riley’s sleight of hand.
He is why Miami is in the best position to control this off-season with over $45M in salary cap free to spend. The potential of this offseason is also why Riley curiously said that coaching was not something he would rule out – much to Erik Spoelstra’s surprise. Riley also is the reason why Miami is a legit destination for Lebron James; some even go so far as to put Chris Bosh in Miami despite the impossibility of a sign-and-trade.
This is not something that happens without foresight. Pat Riley has had to shrewdly keep in mind this offseason when acquiring players. Take James Jones’ contract. He had an option for over $4.5M – but it was a team option. Riley had to final say on whether or not to extend James’ contract and since they needed the extra cap space, the answer was “no, thanks”.
Daequan Cook is a solid, promising shooter off the bench. His contract, however, got in the way. Riley shipped him off undervalued, to be sure, along with the 18th pick to get out of the first round for the 32nd pick. Clearly no one would make that deal – unless you are Pat Riley and you have a plan.
Now, the plan is a tough one, but one that Riley has been looking forward to for years. He has to re-sign Wade, and to do that he has to convince him Miami is the place to be. Which means, Riley has to make a splash right away – either a sign and trade for Chris Bosh or a straight up signing of either Carlos Boozer or Amare Stoudemire. Toronto has scoffed at the idea of getting Michael Beasley, Mario Chalmers, and Joel Anthony in return for Bosh, but they are open to getting a trade exception (about $16M!) and their first round pick back (which was dealt as part of the Jermaine O’neal deal) so don’t rule them out.
Then, after all of that, King James awaits. Perhaps he stays in Cleveland and nothing happens. But most likely, he is waiting to see how things will shake out. If the Heat can keep Wade, land a marquee power forward, then Riley has everything in place to pull off yet another major acquisition: his biggest yet. Alonzo? Shaq? Drafting Wade? Signing Lebron James just may trump all of those considering all the competition out there – but it wouldn’t have been done without a solid plan and vision in place running on years of creation.
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