Top 50: Chris Bosh, no. 13
The definitive ranking of the NBA’s best players.
by Justin Walsh
There’s not much to say about Chris Bosh that hasn’t been said. He’s from Dallas, he gets no respect for his skill-set and he looks exactly like a dinosaur. So let’s get to bra
ss-tacks.
He is thinking about free-agency. The general consensus in Toronto is that this year is make-or-break for his future in Toronto beyond this season. He wanted a better team.
GM Bryan Colangelo responds by completely changing the makeup of the roster, fortifying the midrange with athletic, solid forwards. He brings in a score-first guard in Jarrett Jack to bring a change of pace (in contrast to Jose Calderon) on the second team. He pulls a series of wild trades off to get the Turkish Jordan. He signs Bargnani to a long term deal, and then picks up Amir Johnson to bring hustle and athleticism to back him up.
This team is a series of yin-yang couplings, set for the next 3-5 years. The team looks better than it has in years. They are athletic, with a mixture of youth and veteran wisdom. On one end, you have DeRozan, the epitome of youth in the NBA. He’s charismatic, athletic, probably in over his head at this point. On the other end of the spectrum, you have Rasho Nesterovic- he’s an NBA champion, there to provide locker-room leadership and an example for the young-bucks to follow. Where’s Bosh? Somewhere in the middle, holding it all together.
…For now. Yes, Bosh noted he’s pleased with how coachable the team is, but there have been no kneejerk reactions to sign that contract with Toronto yet. He’s been there. He’s done that.
He’s in a unique situation. He can play coy and not answer the contract question without getting the “Hey LeBron, stop being a douche and answer the question,” treatment. Why? Because he’s not a super-star.
Bosh isn’t a top 5 player in the NBA. He’s one of the best 15 players in the NBA. He’s a franchise player. But he’s not a player that your franchise rides or dies on. Yes, there is a difference. See, Bosh is a player you can anchor your team around, give him max-contract money & expect him to help the community. But you need to put solid players around him to go deep in the playoffs. And you aren’t allergic to hearing trade offers. He’s 22 points, 10 rebounds, great in the locker-room. But he isn’t making Doug Collins sleep with his rookie card next to his bed like he probably does with that mint condition LeBron from Topps. He isn’t going to take over an entire series and give you the worst facial expression ever (Hey Kob’). That’s not a diss. He’s just not the droid you’re looking for.
Now that we have that cleared up, we move onto the trials and tribulations of being ‘’the guy.’’ Wait, what trials? If the team succeeds, he gets the credit. If they fail, surely that can be pointed to the fact that this team is almost completely new. The cats don’t even look at home in their jersey’s yet (remember how perverse AI in a Piston uni’ was?).
If he stays, he is anointed a loyal import to Canada, the crowd goes wild. If he leaves, you won’t see the Vince Carter-esque hate upon departure. Even without Bosh in the lineup, the Raptors have such promise in the next few years. Either way, Canada has mad hope for their Raps. Instead of having to worry about the drag of an entire country possibly dogging him all year, he focuses on his game. He puts on 20 pounds of muscle in the past 2 months. He’s gone from string-bean to get-big, ashy-to-classy, etc. What does this all lead to? Money. Max-Contract, G-5, Gordon Gecko quotes, wiping your ass with the Benjamins—the works.
Chris Bosh is going to get ‘the coin.’ He’s going to get paid an absurd amount of money to play basketball with his next contract. This is the last year Bosh will truly be dying for that cheese. After this, he’ll have that guaranteed contract. Anything after that is just for the game. So this is it. We’re going to see Bosh enter into his prime. He’s going to be better than last season. He’s going to be better than just about every power forward in the game this year. It may not get better than this, so let’s enjoy. Do you doubt Chris Bosh, the career 20 points-10 rebounds-80% from the line PF? Don’t.
When he was in Dallas, givin’ wreck at tournaments in HS, college scouts were enamored with his skills… but they fashioned him as a 4 year college guy, rotation player in the League. He was in the League after one campaign for Georgia Tech. When he entered the League, analysts questioned his ability to play in the post with his sleight frame. His career scoring average is 20 points per. 10 rebounds per. Now cats are questioning if he can make the next step & take a team deep in the playoffs. More doubters. We never learn.
Notes
• Rankings are based solely on projected ‘09-10 performance.
• Contributors to this list include: Jake Appleman, Brett Ballantini, Russ Bengtson, Toney Blare, Shannon Booher, Myles Brown, Franklyn Calle, Gregory Dole, Emry DowningHall, Jonathan Evans, Adam Fleischer, Jeff Fox, Sherman Johnson, Aaron Kaplowitz, John Krolik, Holly MacKenzie, Ryne Nelson, Chris O’Leary, Ben Osborne, Alan Paul, Susan Price, Sam Rubenstein, Khalid Salaam, Kye Stephenson, Adam Sweeney, Vincent Thomas, Tzvi Twersky, Justin Walsh, Joey Whelan, Eric Woodyard, and Nima Zarrabi.
• Want more of the SLAMonline Top 50? Check out the archive.
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Pau is good but KG , TD and Bosh are better
Dirk I won’t judge, because he really isn’t that much of a post player anyways, as good as he is.
Also, Tim Duncan is still better than Pau. Yao when healthy is better than Pau. How can you not have Dwight top 5 big men? With Yao out he’s clearly the best center right now.
He specified Yao when healthy. Yao is definitely going to play after this-coming season. Plus, he was never a speed player or a leaper, and his height won’t diminish, and his skills will come as he plays more, so I still see him as one of the best big men in the league.
And Patrick Ewing and Hakeem Olajuwon ARE American. Just because they were born in other countries doesn’t mean they aren’t American. Its called immigration… Actually, no people from America even originally come from the land if you trace their lineage, unless you’re Native American. Just saying.
this guy sucks
So, you know, you’re 100% wrong.
In fairness, I’ve never watched Kukoc play in Europe. HOWEVER, since he came into the NBA -IN HIS PRIME- and -NEVER AVERAGED OVER 20 POINTS- I’m going to say he would not make my top-whatever. It’s one thing to say Sabonis never really had a chance (he didn’t… he came into the league in his 30s and by then he had bad leg injuries) but it’s hard to argue we never saw “prime” Kukoc since he played for the Bulls since he was 24.
Not to say the dude was bad, The Waiter was ballin’– 18, 7, and 5 is all-star stats. But don’t feed me no “best player ever” nonsense.
BUT THAT’S ALL DIGRESSION REALLY— how many Bill Walton games have you watched?
Bill Walton pre-injury would school Sabonis so damn hard. Of course, a young cat like you would never understand NBA basketball, you grow up around all this flashy fast jump shooting FIBA basketball… so, yeah, I don’t expect you to understand!
And yes, I know I’m going to get crap from a Knicks fan for not adding Reed. So sue me.
Plus, you know, the whole Defensive Player of the Year and 14 rebounds a game and all.
I mean, you’re big on defense— isn’t the difference in offense between Gasol and Dwight just as big as the gap between rebounding and defense that Howard has over Gasol?
@justin…..: thanks.
I still would draft him over Gasol due to age and defensive superiority.
@Jukai….: so you won’t put money on it cause you ain’t stupid waiting howard to develop an offensive game(correct) BUT at the same time i am 100%…it’s ok. I thank you both of the fact that you reminded me the game of Tony Kukoc. I will give you a list of the most complete players of all-time(completely subjective) based on what i saw and i have understood about guys before 1980. by complete i mean: at least very good on both offence& deffence, good outside shooting, really good size-athletisism for their position, leadership abilities,winning tittles.
1)Jordan 2)magic(not great shooting but everything else phenomenal) 3) Kukoc 4)Bird (i thought about leaving him out for athletic reasons but check my Magic comment) 5)Wilt(i just thing that he could do whatever he wanted ) 6)KOBE 7)Isiah 8)West 9)Pippen 10)Penny(no titles but…) 11)Hakeem 12)Galis (i told you this is as subjective as it gets but he was that complete). That list doesn’t mean that i would take penny over Hakeem to build my national team(Hakeem&Sabonis are better players, penny is just more complete). ….Barely missing the cut: Manu, Webber, Oscar(not much of a shooter, inexcusable for a guard unless you are named Magic),Sabonis(not great ball handler, to lead a break for example).
@shem….:i think that i am biased many times.
@Justin..:NOW we are talking crazy talk…(at least i gave it my best shot)
Good night to everybody and thanks. (I’ll answer everything related tomorrow.)
Haha I said dumbsh!t.
Haha he is an actual dumbsh!t.
Spanny: Kukoc was pretty thin when he first got to the bulls:
http://www.interbasket.net/players/kukoc.jpg
http://www.zonade3.com.ar/fotos/tonykukocg.jpg
Also, Kukoc was a vastly underrated passer (the fact that he could average five assists with very little control over the ball was impressive, to say the least) but I think by comparing him to Magic, you’re just elevating one of your heroes from childhood. I don’t think anyone really thinks Kukoc passed like Magic.
2. LeBron
3. Wade or Paul.
But if this ranking is about projected performances, and Kobe has Gasol/Odom/Artest (all who made it on the list– one in the top twenty) and Lebron only has Shaq, wouldn’t Lebron simply be higher because of greater output?
Also, I’d say Wade needs to be second, but I know you’d lambaste me for that.
What are u gonna tell me next? Craig ehlo > michael jordan. Whatever ur smoking u should sell to the masses. At least then you’d be a rich retard
I think what would keep Wade down is the fact that he wont make it very far in the playoffs with the team he has… which seems sort of counterintuitive, since Kobe having people around him gets him farther into the playoffs… but them the way it works, and don’t let anyone tell you differently.
On Sabonis, yeah, if we’re talking NBA only, Divac was a superior passer. I remember Vlade averaging 5-something passes in his thirties– insane!
But if we’re talking overall, ask anyone… Arvydas was a great passer, and unfortunately, thanks to the USSR and their ability to execute all of his family if he played for the NBA any earlier, we’ll never know how well he’d play against the greats.
I will note though, at 31 and hampered by serious injuries, the dude averaged 23.6 points and 10.2 rebounds in his rookie post season… crazy!
@Cb34 What a useless post! No arghuments what so ever - just opinion! And at the end you just tell me your opinion is right ?! Has to be a joke…. Just for your information, Im not pushing divac, thats just how I see it! And the 2 things I remember Sarbnis for, is his physik (he was just a coloss -> rebounding) and his exceptional abili9ty to shoot the ball! I guess he was pretty much hyped back then, as he was really the first center (and the only one back then) to shoot threes…. As far as rookie-post-season stats… Does the name Matt Malony ring a bell?!
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