Former Miami Heat veteran Udonis Haslem received some backlash recently for his comments about Chris Bosh being the most important player of the Heat Big Three era. On Wednesday, instead of walking back those comments, he doubled down on them and explained why the fans didn't really understand what he was trying to say.
"LeBron was the best player on the team, the best player on planet earth," said Haslem on 'The OGs' podcast . "The most important player on our team was Chris Bosh because of the matchups he created. A lot of times when Bron and DWade need to get into that paint they were attacking the paint. Now when you got a guy like Chris Bosh to space the floor it gets the five man away from the basket and that just allows LeBron and Wade to be their best version."
Chris Bosh was very much the third option for the Heat. The 13-year veteran spent six seasons with the Heat before retiring early due to blood clots. In Miami, Bosh had a modest stat line with averages of 18.0 points, 7.3 rebounds, and 1.8 assists per game on 49.6% shooting.
Bosh was a menace on defense and was Miami's primary rim protector throughout his tenure there. But as Haslem mentioned, Bosh's most valuable attribute was his ability to hit long-distance shots. By the end of the 2012-13 season, he was up to 2.8 attempts per game from deep.
In many ways, Chris Bosh was one of the first modern "stretch bigs" in the NBA. Unlike Dirk Nowitzki and other old-school big men shooters, Bosh added the three-pointer to his game so he could stretch the floor for LeBron James and Dwyane Wade. Considering Bosh won back-to-back titles with this strategy, it's hard to argue that it was anything but effective on the court.
Miami Heat Big Three Almost Never Happened
LeBron, Wade, and Bosh made history together, and their titles in 2012 and 2013 remain the final time that the Larry O'Brien trophy was brought to South Beach. But while their run has become infamous over NBA history, it's a partnership that almost didn't happen.
According to the testimony of Dwyane Wade, he and James almost joined the Chicago Bulls that summer to seek an agreement with Derrick Rose and Joakim Noah. Of course, such a move just wasn't in the cards for the star duo, and they decided to just join forces in Miami instead.
As for Bosh himself, he was heavily recruited that summer as one of the league's top big men and it wasn't until a meeting with Pat Riley that he was sold on joining the franchise. As the story goes, Pat Riley pulled out one of his championship rings, and it was enough to sway Bosh into a multi-year deal.
There are a lot of different ways that the summer could have ended for the Miami Heat but they came out as the biggest winners by far that year by adding two superstars alongside their own basketball champion.
Had it been anyone else, who knows how that run might have played out for the Heat, and who knows how Bosh would be remembered today if not as a legendary champion and one of LeBron James' all-time best teammates?
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