I updated the Post Moves of the Month for January and February 2006. February’s move was posted early because I saw Chris Bosh do it down the stretch vs. Portland and was fairly impressed. He came high ball side, drove the lane, and finished with his left hand. Bosh is continually in the process of improving himself and has become one of the top forwards in the league.
Bosh’s game isn’t perfect; he sets mediocre screens and needs to add range to his jump shot. In crunch time in the Trail Blazers game, he committed two faux-pas: neglecting to box out Zach Randolph and failing to get open on the game’s final play.
(By the way, Sam Mitchell should have used a play with more options — the Raptors almost committed a five second violation and settled for a low percentage shot. For example, if Bosh had down-screened for Mike James on the weak-side, Morris Peterson flashed to the corner, and Matt Bonner flared to a shooting spot, the Blazers would have needed to defend the entire court and could not have doubled Bosh inside. Secondly, Jalen Rose was shooting well and would have been a viable option for a return pass after he inbounded the ball and stepped on the court. Hindsight is 20/20 although at the time I was confident that Rose was going to take and make the shot.)
Chris Bosh’s name is floated in discussions about the Eastern Conference All-Star team, Team U.S.A., and possible Los Angeles Lakers free agent signings (and desevedl so). It won’t happen but four of the top 5 picks in the 2003 N.B.A. Draft may represent the United States at the Olympics. It was considered a weak pick at the time but the Detroit’s selection of Darko Milicic looks absolutely terrible now. I don’t think Toronto made a poor pick — choosing Bosh over Dwyane Wade is reasonable due to what the team needed and position scarcity.
One can only assume that when he selected Darko as the second pick, Joe Dumars was taking the same bad acid that Rob Babcock dropped when he chose Rafael Araujo in 2004. Carmelo Anthony is better than Milicic (because he actually plays) but perhaps Dumars felt that Tayshaun Prince filled the 3-spot better for defensive and chemistry reasons. Maybe Dumars passed on Flash because he wanted Rip Hamilton to be the man. OK. But if Detroit had taken Bosh, they would be unstoppable (they may be unstoppable now). No team in the league could match up with a frontcourt of Bosh and Rasheed Wallace in the fourth quarter (San Antonio can match up with them now but would be unable to touch that lineup). Furthermore, the upcoming free agency of Ben Wallace would not be a problem. Truly, it was an atrocious selection that should go down next to choosing Sam Bowie instead of Michael Jordan among the worst draft picks of all-time.
In closing, I really appreciate how Chris Bosh rolls. It seems like the career of Alvin Williams has reached its conclusion so I need a new favourite player in the Association. Bosh hasn’t reached the level of Alvinsanity yet, but he has potential.