NEW YORK -- Erik Spoelstra has a new catch phrase: "Welcome to our team." It serves dual purposes, as far as I can tell. It both highlights and deflects the most obvious storyline about the 2014-15 Miami Heat, as in, the guy who is no longer there.
After four consecutive Finals appearances and two championships, life without LeBron James has been a mixed bag thus far for the post-Big Three era Heat. They started 5-2, lost three in a row, lost Dwyane Wade to a hamstring injury and lost Luol Deng to a wrist injury. Chris Bosh plunged into a hopeless shooting slump, going 12 for 49 (.245) in those three straight losses, including 2 for 17 in a 91-84 home loss to Milwaukee on Sunday. He snapped out of it to a degree on Monday night, scoring 15 points on 5-for-11 shooting with nine rebounds as the shorthanded Heat beat the Brooklyn Nets 95-83 at Barclays Center.
Cue the SpoTrack.
"Welcome to our team this year and what’s necessary for us to win," Spoelstra said.
Wade is Wade, one of the most dominant shooting guards in NBA history. He had success before James got to Miami, and had success with him. Managing his 32-year-old body will once again be the most critical factor in how far Miami can go with this re-imagined group, minus LeBron.
But the fulcrum, the essential ingredient on both ends of the floor, is Bosh, who spurned a chance to join Dwight Howard and James Harden in Houston and chose to stay in Miami after James returned to Cleveland. A five-year, $118 million contract -- one year and $30 million more than the Rockets could offer -- was a significant variable in that equation. It's also something Bosh has been refreshingly honest about.
But on Monday night, he revealed to CBSSports.com another factor in his free-agent decision -- one that offered plenty of insight into just how stressful and transformative the Big Three's four-year championship gauntlet really was for him.
Money was a factor. Comfort level was another. But given a chance to insert himself into another Big Three as the third wheel with the Rockets, inviting all the attention and expectations that would've come with it, Bosh ultimately said: No, thanks. I'm good.
"I could see where people would think that’s an attractive site," Bosh told CBSSports.com, speaking of Houston, where half the NBA expected him to land back in July. "They were trying to win right away. And I was really happy to be touted that I possibly could’ve been out there. But you know, that doesn’t guarantee anything, and I know that. All that guarantees is a bunch of pressure."
Before you jump on Bosh for taking the easy way out, consider what the past four years were like for him. He was never the most important corner of the James-Wade-Bosh triangle, except when he missed an open jumper or flubbed a defensive assignment. He had to sacrifice and unlearn key parts of his game to adapt to the more dominant talents and personalities around him. For four years, every day in the life of the Miami Heat was like being on tour with the No. 1 artist in the land.
The perpetual chase, the championship-or-bust environment, the celebrity status afforded basketball's three-headed monster -- all of it wore on James, who spoke often last season of the mental fatigue of pursuing a fourth straight trip to the Finals. Everyone was so busy chronicling James' every word that they forgot to ask Bosh what he thought.
It wore on him, too.
"It’s incredibly difficult to win a championship," Bosh told CBSSports.com. "I know that, and I know it’s a whole process."
While the basketball world was obsessing over James' next move back in July, Bosh and his family were on a month-long vacation that included humanitarian work in Africa. Once James returned to Cleveland, Bosh handled all the due diligence on his own free-agent decision by phone from there.
"Bottom line, he enjoyed his four years in Miami and believes they can still compete for championships," Bosh's agent, Henry Thomas, told CBSSports.com.
But as Bosh himself alluded to Monday night, there was a lot more to it than that.
The Rockets had pushed all their chips to the center of the table in pursuit of Carmelo Anthony (who chose to stay in New York) and then Bosh, a perfect complement to Howard and Harden. With James gone and with Rockets GM Daryl Morey clearing the runway for Bosh to chase a third ring as the third wheel in his home state of Texas, it all seemed to be a fait accomplit. The Rockets sure seemed to think so.
"Did they?" Bosh told CBSSports.com. "... I think they’re still in contention for it even without me. It’s free agency. It’s a crazy time. It just kind of got crazy real fast and then it settled down completely."
It did so when Bosh chose to settle down in Miami, a place that he and his family have adopted as "pretty much our second home," he said.
"I’m familiar with people," Bosh said. "I know how to get to work. And if there’s traffic, I know the shortcuts. It’s those small things that I really love about the city and I love about being comfortable that guided me back. And you know, if you can make a couple of dollars on the side, then it works out."
Beyond the dollars, Bosh saw an opportunity to step out of the championship pressure cooker and recapture aspects of his game that had to take a back seat when sharing the floor -- and the stage -- with James and Wade.
"We have to get him in positions, all of us, where he can feel comfortable in making plays for the team but also for himself," Spoesltra said. "And he has to shoulder some responsibility to find ways to be aggressive. … He’ll work it out. He knows how to play the game. But more importantly, he doesn’t have to play the game that people think that he needs to play. He needs to facilitate. He needs to get us into actions. He needs to be our guy that we run offense through and then read the defense on when he’s able to attack and when he needs to get someone else involved. And I trust him as much as I trust anybody to do all those things."
Though Bosh's defensive impact was constantly underrated during the Big Three era, there's no mistaking how much his offensive personality had to change. With James and Wade dominating the ball, Bosh became the release valve -- a glorified spot-up shooter relegated to his formidable teammates' shadows.
"The post area I had to unlearn," Bosh said. "And yeah, now it’s a relearning process. It’s different. It’s learning what works and what doesn’t work. I’m doing things that I was trying to do four years ago and it worked back then, but now it’s not so much the case. It's dealing with the scouting reports again, dealing with guys playing me a certain way. It’s a different process, but I’ll eventually overcome it. I always do."
Instead of perpetually popping out to areas of the floor left unattended due to all the attention on James, Bosh is relearning how to fill the more orthodox role for a player of his skill sets -- operating at the elbow and high-post area, moving the ball, making decisions. Still, old habits die hard. Bosh estimated that his ratio of pops to rolls on screen-roll actions is about 70-30 this season. He understand that ratio needs to be closer to 50-50.
"He’s been a facilitator for us the last few years," Spoelstra said. "The ball’s in his hands, and it’s more of a requirement on this team for him to get us to second situations and get other guys involved."
Which brings us to another misperception of why Bosh stayed and how his role and impact should be measured.
"People have said that he needs to be the Toronto Chris Bosh, and I hope he’s a whole lot more than that," Spoelstra said. "And we need him to be a whole lot more."
Above all, when faced with another career-shaping decision this past summer, Bosh chose to be the Miami Chris Bosh. And really, who's to say there's anything wrong with that?
>> Want more NBA analysis? Power Rankings: Heat No. 13
