Connecting BlogConnecting People Through Blogs

This past Wednesday on November the 17th , the Phoenix Suns decided to “take their talents down to South Beach” and take on the Miami Heat. It was a casual mid-week game in the NBA, between two NBA basketball teams who both have great, long time point guards that the fans of Phoenix and Miami both love dearly in Steve Nash for the Suns and Dwayne Wade for the Heat. While the game itself was casual, the fans in attendance was anything but not.

Normally the AP is very good about recognizing stars and those friends and family members who have some form of relation to the stars. Well someone must have fell asleep at the wheel in Miami, as they failed to recognize one of their big NBA stars fiancee. This would be understandable if we were talking about one of the Heat players who is not considered a part of the Big 3 in the Southern Sunshine State. When it comes to D. Wade, LBJ, and CB; you would think a respected source like the Associated Press, would have all their bases covered. This did not happen on Wednesday when the Suns showed up to play the Heat. Indeed the AP would fail to notice that Chris Bosh’s lovely fiancee was in attendance and would even add salt to the wound, by acknowledging her, but still not recognizing who she really is and will one day be. Here is the photo taken by the AP in Miami and below is the exact words the AP had to say about Chris Bosh’s fiancee:

AP Photo

Tennis player Serena Williams, left, watches an NBA basketball game between the Miami Heat and Phoenix Sun in Miami Wednesday, Nov. 17, 2010. The person at right is unidentified.

I believe the person on the right is Adrienne Williams, who is the fiancee of Miami Heat forward Chris Bosh. I knew Chris Bosh, when he was playing 40 miles south of me in Atlanta, Georgia for the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets. Coach Paul Hewitt of G.T. would be the head coach, who was able to persuade the tall, lanky forward from the Lone Star State of Texas, to come East of the Mississippi River and play for the G.T. Yellow Jackets in the A.C.C. or Atlantic Coast Conference in NCAA college basketball. A year later, Bosh would find himself playing North of the Border in Canada for the Toronto Raptors NBA team. The past few years, the Raptors have been able to attract some high flyers like Sonny Weems and Demar Derozenfrom USC. It would have been interesting to see this Toronto team develop, but the former high school standout from the Texas basketball program, would give up on his Canadian team and would decide to fly Southfor the winter, along with Lebron James and join Dwayne Wade in Miami.

The Toronto Raptors just beat a good Houston Rockets team Friday night by a score of 106 to 96. They were led by their young center Andrea Bargnani with 26 points. For those Raptor fans who miss Air Canada or better known as Vince Carter, who is Vinsanitywith his high-flying dunks. They now have the Southern California kid who can leap out of the gym in Demar Derozan. Perhaps Javelle McGhee of the Washington Wizards and Josh Smith of the Atlanta Hawks are the only two NBA high flyers, who could out jump Derozan. This guy has some serious hops and he is still very young. Looking at the current Raptors roster, they have a solid core of young players in center Bargnani, forward Sonny Weems, guard Demar Derozan, and coming off the bench forward Amir Johnson. Then a solid mix of veteran players like Leanardo Barbosa, who is one of the fastest players in the NBA, and players like Reggie Evans, Linas Kleiza, and Jose Calderon; you have a tough NBA team. This is a great mix of youth and veteran players for this Toronto Raptor team. All of these pieces in place now and a point guard who played very well Friday night with8 assists in 23 minutes of action against the Houston Rockets. Who is the point guard I am speaking of? Oh, this is the same point guard Chris Bosh played with at Georgia Tech in the ACC and his name is Jarrett Jack. This Raptor team is going to win a lot of games without Bosh, but if they had a defensive presence like Bosh in the paint to play with their big man Bargnani. Then late in games you would have a post player in Chris Bosh to score buckets around the block or in the paint; while still having to respect his mid-range jumper. Imagine that, with the speedy Barbosa, who is another go-to-player late in games, who can drive to the basket or take the long jumper for 3.

After the Toronto win in Orlando, they did get their chance to beat Chris Bosh and the Miami Heat. It was a very close game in Miami and the Heat did manage to win by 9 points, with the final score 109 to 100 in the Heat’s favor. But keep in mind, this game was played in SouthFlorida, it took place the next day, after a road game in Orlando with a tough Magic team, and the Raptors did not have two of their starters Linas Kleiza and Reggie Evans or their speedster Leanardo Barbosa. Once again, the AP in the Miami area would make a dumb statement and would go on to say this about the Toronto Raptors and Chris Bosh:

AP in Miami - And in between, LeBron James and Dwyane Wade showed the Raptors why Bosh wanted to be with them in Miami.

No, if Bosh really looks at it, he would see the Toronto team in the National Basketball Association is a much more talented and deeper team. They are much more ready to play a 7 game series in the playoffs, against another good NBA playoff team. The Miami Heat project has been a huge disappoint to this point and this 3 headed monster doesn’t appear to have the stamina to keep up with another NBA playoff team, in a 7 game post season series. Lebron James didn’t even get 1 month under his belt yet and was already complaining about his role on the team and the high number of minutes he was having to play. Some guys who actually like to play basketball and are team players, treasure the time they get on an NBA court. They would never complain about playing too many minutes. Not only does Lebron look at basketball as a job or work for him, but he is not tough and doesn’t have the endurance to keep up with good NBA teams in the post season action.

Dan Gilbert (owner of Cavaliers) said the Cleveland Cavaliers would win a NBA championship before the Miami Heat would. I will pick up on his direction and words and will go one step further. Since he thinks LeBron’s former team will do better in the next few years, compared to LBJ’s new team. I will say that Chris Bosh is in the same boat; which Dan Gilbert put LeBron James. I will say Chris Bosh’s former NBA team, the Toronto Raptors will win an NBA championship before the Heat or they will win more regular season and post season games; than the Heat over the next several years; while Bosh sports the Heat Jersey in his NBA locker.

3 good players can only take you so far and when one is already crying about minutes played like LeBron is doing in Miami and the young NBA season is not even a month in the books yet. This spells big trouble for James and Bosh in Miami and a deep team like the Raptors; who also have some amazing athletes on their side, like Derozan, Weems, and the speedy Barbosa. One healthy Toronto Raptor team, will run the boys down in South Florida out of the gym on any night they want to get together and play a little B-Ball.