khandor’s sports blog

Bryan Colangelo made a serious mistake when he went public with comments which targeted the character of Chris Bosh and revealed the GM’s perception that the team’s former franchise player had allegedly “checked out” last season, sometime after returning from the mid-season all-star break … with his mind already set on not returning to Toronto, as an UFA this summer.

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Bosh says he always played hard

“I play this game as hard as I can every time I step on the court,” Bosh said. “On the back of my jersey it says ‘Bosh’ … The Boshes are hard workers. We have a lot of pride in what we do, in our jobs and in life.”

The Raptors fell from a playoff position at the All-Star break into ninth place in the Eastern Conference at the end of the season. Bosh and former Cleveland star LeBron James(notes) then joined Dwyane Wade(notes) in Miami as free agents this summer.

That ruffled feathers in Toronto and Cleveland, with Colangelo suggesting that the decision for the three stars to play together had been “brewing for a while.” He suggested the threesome started firming up their plans while representing the East at the NBA All-Star game.

Bosh claims he was still intent on getting the Raptors into the postseason.

“What’s so significant about the All-Star break? We were in the playoffs. And I wanted to play in the playoffs,” he said. “That’s all I thought about every summer.”

Bosh also clarified comments he made recently in the Miami Herald in which he called Toronto “different.” He said he didn’t mean that as an insult to the city.

“Toronto is different,” he said. “For one, it’s a different country. If you don’t know you’re in a different country when you land then something is wrong with your senses. That’s not to say that Toronto is not a great metropolitan city. It is a fantastic city.

“Different is not bad. I’m different. That doesn’t make me bad.”

Bosh also claimed his decision to leave Toronto was at the end of a long process and not something he had committed to before the offseason.

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When first asked by a visitor to this blog to provide an accurate interpretation of the comments which Chris Bosh made in his interview with the Miami Herald, about the city of Toronto being “different”, this is what was written by yours truly:

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Franchise without a face

khandor Says:
July 28th, 2010 at 3:29 pm

dg,

re: “Toronto’s a great place, a fantastic city,” Bosh told the Herald. “It’s a metropolitan area, but you could tell you’re somewhere different. You could feel it, you could look at it, you can smell it. Everything. All your senses tell you you’re somewhere different.”

Whoever perceives this quote … with which I am quite familiar … to be a slag of some kind towards the great City of Toronto, or Ontario, or Canada, in general, might just have a feeling of insecurity regarding how “they” happen to feel about each of these things themselves.

From my perspective, I have no such insecurity.

What Chris Bosh said in those words is precisely true … and a ringing endorsement for the great City of Toronto, which is indeed “different” from other places and cities in the United States of America.

The key word to understand [there] is that to people like Chris Bosh … e.g. like the Great Bill Russell and Charley Rosen and scores of other well known celebrities … “different” does not equate with/mean “inferior”.

In fact … in many cases … “different” can and does equate with/mean:

at least as good, if not straight-up better

that still takes some getting accustomed to

because it simply isn’t THE SAME as home [i.e. what you are used to, whether it's actually "inferior", or not, in comparison].

Readers here should trust that I know very well the “differences” between living and working in Canada and ‘the good ole USA’.

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Kudos to Chris Bosh …

1. For now clarifying the full meaning of his remarks to the Miami Herald, concerning the great City of Toronto;

2. For being a stand-up, straight-up person … of sound character;

and,

3. For completing the initial phase of his pro career, as the most accomplished player in the 15-year history of the Toronto Raptors franchise.

For those who still question the sincerity of Chris Bosh’s efforts, on behalf of the Raptors last season … including Kelly Dwyer, who really should know better, given the amount of basketball he’s watched, over the years … understand that this may say more about the specific way in which “you” happen to look at the world than it does about the character, values and basketball ability of the team’s former Captain. 

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PS. Going forward from here … If you were a high end player, in the NBA, and an unrestricted free agent, why on earth would you now be eager to work for a President/GM who says these types of malicious things, after-the-fact, about a player/person like Chris Bosh, once he’s decided to work for a different employer? 

PPS. If/when the Miami Heat eventually win their multiple NBA championships … with Dwyane Wade, LeBron James and Chris Bosh, as key foundation pieces … it will be yet another sad series of days for the Toronto Raptors franchise.

Related:

NBA Free-Agency Breakdown

The new owner of the New Jersey Nets gives others a much needed lesson on the values associated with actual sportsmanship.

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Roundup: NBA team owner backs LeBron James’ decision

What surprises me is the amount of negative commentary directed at the three top free agents (especially LeBron James) who decided to play on the same team and to create a great franchise together. Of course, any club owner dreams of having those players, including me, but all questions of how the announcements were made aside, I respect their choice, and no one has the right to judge them.

I want to say that I support LeBron, the best athlete in the NBA. He had a truly difficult choice to make. Any move he made was sure to be viewed as wrong, and to leave many unhappy fans. Basing his decision on achieving results on the basketball court shows that the sportsman won the day, not the showman or the businessman. What is wrong with that?

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Kudos to him for acknowledging what “the game” is really all about.

Yesterday’s addition of the lone-NBA-surviving-member-of-the-original-Fab Five-of-hoop, means that the roster is now almost complete for the Axis of Evil [aka, The SuperFriends of South Beach]:

1 Mario Chalmers, PG

2 Dwyane Wade, OG/PG

3 LeBron James, SF/PF/OG/PG

4 Udonis Haslem, PF

5 Chris Bosh, C/PF

6 ? [Carlos Arroyo, PG]

7 Joel Anthony, PF

8 Mike Miller, OG/SF

9 James Jones, SF

10 Zydrunas Ilgauskas, C 

11 Juwan Howard, PF/C

12 Jamaal Magloire, C

13 Dexter Pittman, C

With a first-class owner providing the bankroll, i.e. Micky Arison, a terrific young coach at-the-helm, i.e. Erik Spoelstra … and the legendary Pat Riley pulling the strings behind the curtain … it is going to be very difficult indeed for any other outfit in the Eastern Conference to stop the Miami Heat from returning to the NBA Finals next season [and, for the foreseeable future].

Señores, enciendan sus motores!

In the annals of the NBA, Rudy Tomjonovich is famous for uttering these words:

Rudy T. was, in fact, 100% right when he made that observation.

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But …

What do the hearts, and minds, and words, and actions of a NBA Championship-winning organization really, truly look, and sound, and feel like?

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Transcript of Media Room Interview with Bosh, James and Wade

Q. Dwyane, could you talk a little bit about the role that Pat Riley played in putting this whole thing together, and do you think he got as big a charge out of this as he did coaching a team to a championship?

DWYANE WADE: You want me to give Pat Riley more credit and more credit and more credit? He’s already in the hall of fame, what else do you want? (Laughter).

You know, as I said from the beginning, I had a lot of trust in Coach Riley. We have four years in a row here where it wasn’t pretty. We failed to win some ball games, but all along I had a lot of confidence in him as a man. He looked me eye to eye and told me that he was going to do it. He was going to get it done. And we wasn’t going to be down forever. Of course, I had to go through this process, but all along I believed him. So what he did, what he continues to do is make sure that with the opportunity that Micky Arison has given him to put this organization first class and at the top of the heap, he makes sure every opportunity he gets he does it.

And I believed him.

I’ve been here when he made one of the biggest trades in NBA history with getting Shaq down here and then also getting Jason Williams, Antoine Walker and James Posey and Gary Payton and those guys down here.

So he’s proven. And he once again, he did something miraculous. So I’m sure he will have his own one hour ESPN sit down to talk about how great he is. (Laughter) but he is great. And we’re glad, and I’m happy, and I think LeBron and Chris is going to see this, to have the support that we have in Mr. Pat Riley and Mr. Micky Arison is second to none.

And I told them as soon as I heard the comments from Cleveland, I told LeBron, I said, you know, I’m happy that you’re here, I’m really happy you’re here because we have a first class organization. And we have an owner that would never do that, no matter what you do. So he made the right decision. And it’s because of those guys.

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Unfortunately, the world is filled with people who, for one reason or another, are fearful of taking the specific steps required to be great at something.

This is not the case with the Miami Heat organization:

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Unless the NBA team which you support has its own designs on re-creating an atmosphere LIKE THAT, for itself, it is simply wasting your time, while it blythely goes about the business of making copious sums of money for its owner[s].

PS. Raptors fans who decide to boo Chris Bosh, when he returns to play in Toronto, will simply be displaying their own lack of class.

Related:

King and Co. guilty of only dreaming big

During the latter stages of Chris Bosh’s tenure in Toronto, there were a number of highly vocal Raptors fans who suggested that he was someone without the type of “leadership skills” other great players respect.

For the benefit of those people:

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Bosh’s decision pulled things together for Heat

“When Chris was in high school, he didn’t even say he was the best player on his team,” said Georgia Tech coach Paul Hewitt, who had Bosh on his team for one year before the then-teenager jumped to the NBA. “And they went 40-0 and won a national championship. That’s who he is. It’s not about who gets credit for what.”

Playing in Toronto wasn’t exactly been a path to superstardom for Bosh. The Raptors—who have ravenous fans in their own city—simply haven’t drawn much attention in the United States, mainly because of a lack of postseason success (Bosh has never reached the second round of the NBA playoffs) and that they’re just not on television as much as the glitzier clubs.

That’ll change now. Oddsmakers in Las Vegas already are saying the Heat are favorites to win the 2011 NBA title.

“Just with us coming together, it’s going to be out there,” Bosh said of the immediate pressure to win. “So we just have to be prepared for that and we have to stay behind each other, keep each other standing tall and just support each other and that’s all it’s about. When you’re having tough times, you rely on your friends, you rely on your teammates to pull you out of it.”

Bosh might only seem like the ‘other guy’ in this Heat star cluster.

No, he doesn’t have the MVP trophies like James and the championship ring like Wade. Make no mistake: He can play.

Bosh is one of only three players with at least 10,000 points, 4,500 rebounds and 600 blocked shots over the last seven seasons, joining Kevin Garnett(notes) and Tim Duncan(notes). He’s averaged a double-double in three of his seven years, and coming off a season where he put up career-highs of 24.0 points, 10.8 rebounds and 52 percent shooting.

And James is already letting Miami know, this team isn’t being built as a one- or two-man operation.

“This is not just all about D-Wade and C.B. and LeBron,” James said. “It’s about the whole team. It’s about the whole organization, starting from the top to the bottom.”

Bosh has been at the bottom for too long, never getting remotely close to an NBA title.

In Miami, thanks to his decision, he’s got that long-awaited chance to finally see the top.

“We just have to take that chance,” Bosh said. “And we were not afraid to be great. So we’ve jumped in the water. Now it’s time to swim.”

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It is going to be very interesting to see how Chris Bosh is characterized by the US media moving forward from this point.

From the perspective of yours truly …

There are very good reasons why the USA Men’s National Team failed to win the Gold Medal at the 2006 World Championships but were then able to redeem themselves, 2 years later, at the 2008 Olympic Games …

i.e. which include the presence of Kobe Bryant [OG] and Chris Bosh [C/PF] on the Redeem Team 

and the following two entries …

* De-constructing the mystery that is Chris Bosh

* Chris Bosh’s strength … as a player and a person

were written on this blog, well before others in the basketball community first began to recognize what a player like CB4 … if he’s used correctly … actually brings to the table for the he team he plays on, when afforded the opportunity to work with other like-minded individuals who are fervently committed to the concept of making sacrifices in order to win championships:

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Miami Heat meets with Amare Stoudemire, Chris Bosh

Hours after Wade met with the Bulls, Bosh, another of the Heat’s top targets, met with the Heat’s delegation in Chicago. It’s possible that Wade could call off his future visits if Bosh commits to the Heat. Moments before his meeting with the Heat, Bosh posted, “looking forward to seeing what Miami has to offer” on his Twitter account. After the meeting with the Heat, Bosh tweeted, “Pat Riley is very passionate about winning.”

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Chris Bosh is a special player, in the NBA, and those Raptors fans who chose to only see “weakness” when they looked at his body of work, as the captain for Toronto, just might be eating some serious crow over the next several seasons.

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BTW …

When a man like Pat Riley speaks about “winning”, he is not just talking about “the winning of a relatively high number of regular season games and being competitive with some of the other above .500 teams in the NBA”.

When Pat Riley speaks about “winning”, and

Chris Bosh cites Pat Riley’s passion for winning, and

D-Wade speaks about “winning”, and

LeBron James speaks about “winning”,

they are making reference to “the winning of multiple league championships.”

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As opposed to the type of long term goals which have been discussed in Toronto for much of the last 7 years …

as the franchise continues to “evolve”.

Against almost all the odds … with disparate sirens calling the names of each of his respective targets to other destinations across the league - i.e. to New York, Chicago, New Jersey, Los Angeles, Toronto, Dallas, Houston and Cleveland - Pat Riley, architect of the Miami Heat, has now pulled off one of the all-time great managerial “plays” in the annals of the NBA by retaining and, then, acquiring the services of …

not just one,

not just two,

but,

in fact … 

three of the very best players in the league:

Dwyane Wade, OG, 6-4, 220
2003, No. 5 [overall] Draft Pick
2006, NBA Finals MVP
2006, NBA Champions [Miami Heat]
2008, USA Men’s National “Redeem” Team, Gold Medal Winner 
6-time NBA All-Star

Chris Bosh, C/PF
2003, No. 4 [overall] Draft Pick
2008, USA Men’s National “Redeem” Team, Gold Medal Winner 
5-time NBA All-Star

LeBron James, SF, 6-8, 260
2003, No. 1 [overall] Draft Pick
2008, USA Men’s National “Redeem” Team, Gold Medal Winner
2009, NBA MVP
2010, NBA MVP 
6-time NBA All-Star

to form the foundation of his TEAM, in Miami, for the next decade.

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A terrific biblical quotation reads like this:

“If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.”

Corinthians 1:1-13

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For those who can truly appreciate what goes into the building of a championship-winning organization …

It is going to be a great deal of fun to watch how this construction occurs, in South Beach, over the next few years:

given some of the other top teams in the NBA at the moment [e.g. the Lakers, Celtics, Magic, Jazz, Blazers, Thunder, Bulls, Hawks, etc.

For those who would choose to vilify others for the choices which they make in life, in pursuit of happiness, fulfilment, and the realization of their personal objectives ... hopefully, they too will take a step back, gain some badly needed perspective:

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We Are All Witnesses

Last Saturday, me and a few friends of mine went on a hike. We were led to believe it would be a three-hour day hike, but we ended spending nearly all day climbing up a freaking mountain. It was miserable. At some point during the hike/climb, I realized that a goal-oriented view of hiking makes very little sense. Was the moment I was working for the moment I got to the top of the mountain, only to realize I was now going to have to scramble down this freaking thing? Was it the moment we got to the car, too exhausted to do anything but drive to the nearest gas station, buy a bunch of Gatorade, and drink it in silence? Was it when we got home and finally got to shower? Which one of those moments was supposed to make the whole miserable experience worthwhile? Was it when we could tell very unimpressed people that we climbed a relatively small peak?

The answer, of course, is none of them. If you don’t enjoy the process of hiking/climbing mountains, there is no way to justify the activity. Professional cyclists often talk about how the love of suffering itself is something all good cyclists must have on one level or another. More and more, I feel the same way about being a sports fan. If you’re waiting for that one game, one moment, one play, one championship, three championships, that will make all that suffering go away and let you feel nothing but warm inside when you think about your favorite players and teams, I suggest taking up quilting. To be a die-hard fan is to suffer. You just have to enjoy the little victories that you find while you’re suffering.

Maybe you believe that all the great things LeBron James did in the last seven years were just a dress rehearsal for the moments when he ultimately failed to deliver. Maybe you believe that all the good things you thought about LeBron over the years were revealed to be the products of deceit when LeBron started acting like a jackass who believed himself to be bigger than the game this summer. I suppose those are valid viewpoints. They do not happen to be my own.

For the first two years of his career, LeBron James was perhaps the most exciting prospect the game has ever known. For the next three years of his career, LeBron was an underaged MVP candidate who gave the Cavs a fighting chance at a championship. For the last two years, LeBron has been a dominant individual force who turned the Cavs into true championship contenders. For the last seven years, Cleveland basketball has been something to feel good about. When you think about it, that’s something.

If LeBron does decide to stay tomorrow, it will still never be the same as it was before; LeBron is no longer the golden child, and the Cavs won’t have the buzz around them that they once did. If he does leave, it will be one of the lowest moments in the history of one of the most tormented American sports cities. Either way, an era will officially end tomorrow.

The seven seasons that made up the (1st act of?) the LeBron Era in Cleveland ultimately ended in disappointment, failure, heartbreak, misery, doubt, bitterness, and plenty of suffering for everyone who lived and died with LeBron and the team he led. Personally, I wouldn’t trade those seven years of watching LeBron play for anything in the world.

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and then continue to live their own life to the best of their ability, in a positive and constructive way, while trying to help others achieve their dreams.

"Life is fast; and, things happen quickly."
- Derek Fisher

For men like Micky Arison, Pat Riley, Erik Spoelstra, Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh and [now] LeBron James, it truly is never about “the money” but, rather:

1. Finding;

2. Developing; and, then, 

3. Making a full commitment to, “The Winner Within,” arm-in-arm with a band of like-minded brothers having The Right Stuff that champions are made of.

Kudos to each one for being willing to try to make this happen TOGETHER … against all-comers.

PS. To the other serious “players”, in the NBA: The stakes have just been raised!

PPS. To those with feint hearts, and/or a general lack of commitment: Best you think about completely getting out of the game. 

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Related:

Others can choose to hate him, if they wish; that’s their right, as fans and  paying customers.

The facts are these, however:

1. Chris Bosh was a loyal, hard-working, team-oriented employee of the Toronto Raptors for a span of 7 full seasons, during which it was the team’s upper management that consistently let him down, not the other way around;

2. Chris Bosh signed to a contract extension with the Raptors on July 15, 2006 because he felt that the situation in Toronto, at that time, working under the direction of Bryan Colangelo, the team’s new President/GM, was the best fit for him, in terms of being able to develop as an elite player and compete for a league championship in the not-too-distant future.

3. The personnel decisions made by the Raptors over the last 5 seasons:

2005-2006, 2006-2007, 2007-2008, 2008-2009 and 2009-2010

have now shown Chris Bosh that the Raptors do not know how to build a championship calibre franchise.

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“I’m a winner. Dwyane’s a winner. We are going to bring winning to Miami.”
- Chris Bosh [July 7, 2010]

It was many months ago that you were first told by yours truly:

If Chris Bosh eventually decides not to re-sign with the Raptors it will be, primarily, because he no longer trusts, believes, and thinks their organization is fully committed to and capable of building a league championship-winning operation.

Unfortunately, that observation … stated here, in public, well in advance … has now turned out to have been 100% accurate.

For a person like Chris Bosh, it was never about the money.

Kudos to him for making a sound decision about his future career.

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PS. Anyone who would try to tell you that Toronto, as a world-class cosmopolitan city, is not a place where Prime Time NBA players actually want to play is simply clueless. THE MAJOR PROBLEM which the Raptors have isn’t connected to this myth at all. Until this franchise implements a new paradigm which prioritizes The Winning Of A League Championship and, then, makes a whole series of better [i.e. more sound] long term personnel decisions, regarding such things as who they decide to hire as their President, GM, Assistant GMs, Director of Scouting, Direct of Player Development, Scouts, Head Coach and associate staff, etc., there will be no significant improvement in their on-court performance.

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Related:

Stark differences between what Pat Riley and Bryan Colangelo represent

Don’t put the blame on Bosh

If LeBron James [SF] and Dwyane Wade [OG] were to re-sign with their respective teams …

in a similar way to what:

i. Joe Johnson [OG, Atlanta];
ii. Paul Pierce [SF, Boston]; and,
iii. Dirk Nowitzki [PF/C, Dallas];

have each done already …

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Cleveland … with Dan Gilbert, Chris Grant, Byron Scott and LeBron James, for a 6-yr maximum contract, but without Dwyane Wade, Anderson Varejao/JJ Hickson, Delonte West and Anthony Parker?

New Jersey … with Mikhail Prokhorov, an unknown GM after July 15, Avery Johnson, Brook Lopez, Devin Harris, Courtney Lee and Terrence Williams, for a 6-yr maximum contract, but without LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and, possibly, Derrick Favors?

New York … with James Dolan, Donnie Walsh, Mike D’Antoni, Amare Stoudemire and Danilo Gallinari, for a 6-yr maximum contract, but without LeBron James and Dwyane Wade?  

Chicago … with Jerry Riensdorf, Gar Forman and Jim Paxson, Thom Thibodeau and Derrick Rose, for a 6-yr maximum contract, but without LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Joakim Noah and Luol Deng?

Miami … with Micky Arison, Pat Riley, Erik Spoelstra, Dwyane Wade, Mario Chalmers [PG], Michael Beasley [PF] and, quite possibly, Udonis Haslem [PF], Dorell Wright [SF], Carlos Boozer [PF/C], Mike Miller [OF] and Dexter Pittman [C], for a 5-yr, slightly less-than maximum contract [with the Heat then holding your 'Bird Rights'], but without LeBron James?

or,

Toronto … with MLSE, Bryan Colangelo, Jay Triano, Jose Calderon, DeMar DeRozan, Hedo Turkoglu, Andrea Bargnani, Jarrett Jack, Marco Belinelli, Sonny Weems, Ed Davis, Solomon Alabi, Marcus Banks, Reggie Evans and Amir Johnson, for a 6-yr maximum contract, but without LeBron James and Dwyane Wade?

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The simple facts are:

1. Toronto is a world-class, cosmopolitan city of considerable reknown [i.e. unlike Cleveland];

2. Chris Bosh has always wanted to re-sign with the Toronto Raptors, if their team was [i] willing to offer him a maximum contract, and [ii] continually upgrade its roster, with him as a centre-piece, in an effort to become a legitimate contender in the Eastern Conference;

and,

3. Chris Bosh is not someone whose has prioritized “winning” … to this point, in his career … above all else, in his life, including, for example:

Trust

Honesty

Creativity

Mutual Respect

Hard work

Teamwork, and

A Commitment To Achieving Excellence.

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Update:

Wade, Bosh choose Miami

     vs   

One has a slew of NBA Championships to his credit, thus far.

The other, to this point, has none.

One has been a highly-rated college player, a solid NBA role player, a lauded head coach, a reknowned motivational speaker/author and ‘Leadership Expert’, and is now a well-regarded Team President.

The other is a 2-time recipient of the NBA’s EOTY Award.

One represents an “individual” principal owner with exceptionally deep pockets who has already put together 1 world championship team and is willing to pay the asking price to become a legitimate contender, once again.

The other represents an ownership “group” that … despite a diverse set of financial holdings … has as its primary objective the making of a healthy profit for its corporate stakeholders.

One speaks definitively, peppering his everyday language with words and phrases like these:

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Riley’s master free agent plan started years ago

“I think it will be equivalent to a space shuttle launch,” Riley said back in May, shortly after the season ended and the Heat summer of 2010 began. “Everybody who’s covering the day it’s going to get launched, you never know [how] it is until they hit the button. When they hit the button, a lot of things explode down underneath to lift the rocket up.”“We have been in this for two years.”

“I know what I’m going to do.”

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The other … although equally polished, in his own way, from a media-savvy perspective … is more prone to use words and phrases like these:

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Bosh likely to leave Colangelo says

“We will get to a point where there’s a conclusion to this one way or the other. It’s the perfect storm for Chris Bosh to leave and unfortunately we’re possibly going to be on the short end of that, but we will evolve. We will have to evolve and move forward.”

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The question is …

Q1. If you were to put yourself in the shoes of a relatively youngish, talented, marquee player in the NBA, for which of these two General Managers and, therefore, their respective owners and organizations, would you choose to work during the next crucial middle - i.e. maximum performance - phase of your professional career, as a world-class athlete?

A1. If your No. 1 priority, as a professional athlete, truly is having the opportunity to win-it-all … then, it isn’t really even a contentious debate.

There are several reasons why yours truly is a fan of Udonis Haslem; both, the player and the person …

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Season’s doubters become fuel in Miami Heat’s final stretch

Heat co-captain Udonis Haslem has collected various criticisms of his team this season in much the same way he has hauled in rebounds.

There’s relentlessness with his approach in both areas. So don’t even bother reminding Haslem of some of the questions that faced the Heat at the start of the season — or the skeptics who posed them.

He knows them all.

With the Heat (43-34) peaking as it heads toward the playoffs and carrying the league’s longest active victory streak into Wednesday’s game against Philadelphia, Haslem is among several Miami players who remain motivated by the doubters.

“They didn’t give us a chance at all,” Haslem said, referring to several NBA season-preview articles, analyst and websites. “So don’t soften it up now by saying that they weren’t sure what we’d do. They flat-out said we wouldn’t make the playoffs. Get it right. I remember seeing all of it.”

The Heat has won eight in a row and 14 of its past 17 games. Miami clinched a playoff spot for the sixth time in seven seasons with Toronto’s loss to Cleveland on Tuesday night.

Several Heat players have revisited some of the 2009-10 season projections.

In ESPN.com’s season preview, four of 10 “expert” analysts picked Miami to miss the playoffs and only two had it finishing as high as fifth, a spot the Heat holds with five games remaining.

An NBA.com preview projected Miami to finish 41-41 as the eighth and final seed in the East, and to lose to Cleveland in the first round. Most previews raised concerns about the lack of upgrades last summer and questioned how much veterans such as Jermaine O’Neal and Quentin Richardson had left.

Although Miami can finish no higher than fifth in the East, where it ended last season, the team already has matched last season’s victory total.

Proving some naysayers wrong has been all about resolve, Haslem said.

“One thing we can say is, through the good and bad this year, we stayed together,” Haslem said. “Through all the trade rumors, all the free agents we’ve got, all the pieces they said we didn’t have, through who should start and between me and Mike [Beasley], we always stayed together. We never had none of those issues in-house. All that talk was on the outside. It wasn’t in here.”

———-

… not the least of which are related to:

1. His unrelenting, spirit, willingness and ability to rebound the basketball;

2. The personal discipline he showed while losing 60+ lbs between his first season of professional basketball in Europe [after a 4-yr stint at the the University of Florida] and his first year with the Miami Heat;

and,

3. The series of quotations listed here;

each of which speaks directly to his level of toughness … i.e. mental, emotional, and physical … and commitment to succeed in life.

Unlike plenty of other so-called NBA experts …

Miami fails to build on Flash [Sep 16 2009]

Break up the Heat [Nov 11 2009]

this corner had the Miami Heat pencilled in for a guaranteed spot in this year’s Eastern Conference playoffs … along with Orlando, Boston, Cleveland and Atlanta … from as far back as last summer, with the only proviso being that Dwyane Wade can, in fact, stay relatively healthy for the entire season. 

8 months later, this is precisely what has happened.

When certain individuals in the on-line hoops community ask for the presentation of “tangible evidence” in support of an opinion-based perspective on a specific topic, proffered in advance, it should simply be a given that:

“The proof of the pudding is always in the eating.” 
- khandor

———-

PS. Those who thought the Heat’s player roster this season would simply be too weak, overall, to maintain their position from last year, relative to the other quality teams in the Eastern Conference, simply do not understand how the NBA game actually works … to the extent they think they do. 

1. Top Notch “leadership” is crucial to the success of a NBA franchise.

The Heat have this … in spades … in the form of Micky Arison, Pat Riley, Erik Spoelstra, Udonis Haslem and Dwyane Wade.

2. Individual pieces which actually fit together well … such that the whole is greater than the sum of the isolated parts … is crucial to the success of a NBA franchise.

The Heat have this … in hearts … in the form of:

3. Already knowing what it takes to win big in the NBA … e.g. winning the league championship, or reaching the Finals … is crucial to the success of a franchise.

The Heat have this … in diamonds … in the form of their 2005-2006 NBA championship.

4. Quality Depth throughout the roster … with, at least, 1 “superstar” player, plus several other “star” players [i.e. up-and-coming, current or former], plus a plethora of highly serviceable ”role” players … is crucial to the success of a NBA franchise. 

The Heat have this … in clubs … in the form of:

Superstar Player
1. Dwyane Wade, OG [current]

Star Players
1. Jermaine O’Neal, PF-C [former]
2. Michael Beasley, PF [up-and-coming]
3. Mario Chalmers, PG [up-and-coming]
4. Dorell Wright, G-F [up-and-coming ... whose individual development this year has keyed Miami's success]

Role Players
1. Udonis Haslem, PF [multi-dimensional]
2. Carlos Arroyo, PG 
3. Quentin Richardson, G-F 
4. Joel Anthony, PF-C 
5. James Jones, G-F
6. Jamaal Magloire, C
7. Daequan Cook, G
8. Yakhouba Diawara, F

In general, individual player “production levels” in basic game-stat categories …

e.g. Points Scored, FG%, 3FG%, FT%, TS%, eFG%, Rebounds, Reb%, Ast, Ast%, Steals, Blocked Shots, Def, and Usg, etc. …

although certainly useful, simply does not present an accurate picture when it comes to assessing, in advance, the real life strengths [and weaknesses] of a specific NBA team, relative to the other franchises in the league.