The Miami Heat have a problem that could take years to fix. They've overpaid for overrated Chris Bosh. The ex-Toronto Raptors forward, who's never won a playoff series, is coming up short as a member of Miami's so-called Big Three. Bosh's weaknesses have forced Dwyane Wade and LeBron James to shoulder a heavier burden than they signed up for and that's contributing to the slow start of the Heat.
The biggest weakness in Bosh's game is his lack of heart. In Thursday's loss to the Boston Celtics, Bosh watched in awe as Rajon Rondo elevated and rocked the rim in his face. He didn't even put up a hand to disrupt Rondo, let alone give him a hard foul. Rondo shoots 52% free throws and everyone in the league knows it. Even so, Bosh let him waltz through the lane uncontested and untouched.
Bosh's heart failure leads to soft and ineffective defense. Tuesday night, Utah Jazz forward Paul Milsap destroyed Bosh for a career high 46 points on the way to giving the Heat their first home loss of the season. Bosh managed a quiet 17 points in 41 minutes of action.
During the Heat's second loss to Boston, Bosh was repeatedly pump faked in the air by Kevin Garnett who burned him for 16 points on 6-8 shooting. Garnett also outrebounded Bosh 13-7.
In the Heat's loss to the New Orleans Hornets, Bosh had one rebound in 34 minutes. One. Every other big man who played in the game, including Hornets' reserve D.J. Mbenga, managed at least two rebounds. Even the Heat's 6'1" three-point specialist Eddie House grabbed two boards in just 18 minutes.
Over the summer, some basketball reporters and fans suggested that the Heat would break the '96 Bulls' record 72 win season. That appears unlikely, so now the same hype-meisters have backpedalled into the excuse that the Heat will need time to develop chemsitry. That might explain Bosh's drop off in scoring, but rebounding and defense are about effort and desire and Bosh is lacking in both.
Amar'e Stoudemire is learning to work with new teammates in New York and yet he's outrebounding Bosh by two full rebounds, 8.0 per game to 6.0. He's also besting Bosh in blocked shots, 1.8 to 1.2 per game.
David Lee has an impressive 11.3 rebounds with his new Golden State Warrior teammates. That's almost double Bosh's numbers. Lee also edges Bosh in steals per game, 1.1 to 0.7.
Even Jazz newcomer Al Jefferson is crushing Bosh on the boards. Jefferson is averaging 9.3 rpg and adding 1.4 bpg, both better than Bosh.
Bosh's 6.0 rpg is 56th in the NBA (Joakim Noah leads with 13.9). He's 105th in rebounds per 48 minutes with 8.6 (Kevin Love leads with 21.6).
Among his Big Three brethren, Bosh has fallen off the hardest. While LeBron's scoring has dropped, he's having a career year with 8.7 apg. His rebounding average has only dropped slightly below his career average of 7.0 rpg. Dwyane Wade is scoring a steady 24.0 ppg while averaging a career best 5.8 rpg.
Bosh's 6.0 rpg is 1.4 rebounds worse than his previous low from his rookie year. His 14.8 ppg is a huge dropoff from the 22.8 he's averaged over the last five seasons.
Even among his role playing Miami teammates, Bosh's numbers are low. Backup power forward Udonis Haslem is averaging 8.4 rpg in 26 minutes. Centers Joel Anthony and Zydrunas Ilgauskas both average more rebounds per 48 minutes than Bosh.
Blocks per game is the only category where Bosh leads the Heat. He's tied with Anthony at 1.22 bpg. Anthony clocks half the minutes that Bosh plays.
The numbers show that the Miami Heat are paying Chris Bosh the same as LeBron James and more than Dwyane Wade while Bosh is carrying a small fraction of the workload. If he's not getting as many touches in offensive sets, he should be going after more rebounds and wreaking more havoc on defense. His recent play against the Celtics, Jazz and Hornets shows that Bosh is up for neither challenge.
The Heat are on the hook for six years and $110 million of mediocrity in the paint unless Bosh finds it in him to do more than dance during midsummer pep rallies. The only major free agent of 2010 who has done less than Bosh this season is Carlos Boozer and he has the excuse of not playing a single game. For now, Miami's Big Three are more like the Dynamic Duo with one big soft overpaid problem holding them back.
