The Forgotten Triplet

All the talk this NBA offseason was about the Big Three. Lebron James, Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh were supposed to join together to create a super team that could leap tall buildings in a single bound. The Heat were supposed to dominate the NBA with these three “superstars”. While they’ve been one of the better teams in the NBA, they haven’t been as dominant as some people (and especially Miami residents) presumed. But the Heat’s lack of dominance is not the focus of this post.

When three “stars” join together on one team, they obviously need to learn how to co-exist with each other on the court. They need to learn to share the ball, and understand that sometimes the offence won’t run through them. They can’t all be “The Guy” anymore.

Enter Chris Bosh.

In my mind, no player has suffered as much as Bosh has since joining the Heat. In Toronto, Bosh was the alpha dog. The Raptors looked to him whenever they needed a score, he was the statistical and emotional leader of the team, and he was the go-to guy in every sense of the phrase.

That player is now long gone. Instead of Bosh the leader, we are now left with Bosh the third banana. He’s not only the third option, but a very lengthy third option at that. The Heat is Lebron’s team, with a minority ownership going to Dwayne Wade. Bosh barely even has a few stocks.

Bosh has always been best with the ball in his hands. He’s too big for small forwards to handle, and too quick for most Power Forwards. Off the dribble and in the block, he’s extremely difficult to guard. In Toronto, the system was made for him. Everything ran through Bosh, and he was the unrivalled leader of the team. Bosh gained a reputation as one of the best players in the NBA (top 10 in my mind, as a Raptor).

Now Bosh is nothing but a complementary player. The Heat don’t rely on him nearly as much as they rely on Lebron and Wade, and Bosh rarely has plays run for him. He’s forced to play off the ball a lot, where main talents as a player are wasted.

Bosh’s player efficiency rating (a revolutionary stat used to determine a player’s overall value) has dropped from 1^st in the NBA among PF’s last year, to 17^th this year. His Estimated Wins Added has also dropped from 17 games last year to only 7 this year. Basically, these stats show just how much Bosh’s value has decreased. His importance as a player has dropped heavily in just one year, and for the Heat, he’s become just another run of the mill power forward.

While Bosh will have a much better chance at winning an NBA championship in Miami, he will never develop into the same kind of star as he would have in Toronto. He will always play third fiddle to the two big dogs on his team, and a lot of his potential will be squashed. Sure, he may end up as an NBA championship, but never as “The Guy”.

Let this be a lesson to other NBA alpha dogs. Just because one star decides to “take his talents to South Beach”, doesn’t mean that all others have to follow him.