Miami Heat president Pat Riley believes that Chris Bosh’s career with the franchise is over, after it was revealed that doctors had found yet another blood clot in his body.
The 11-time All Star has been at Miami since 2010 and was part of the formidable ‘Big Three’ when he and LeBron James moved to South Beach to join Dwyane Wade, but his NBA career could now be under threat.
Speaking to Ira Winderman of the Sun Sentinel at the Miami Heat media day, Riley discussed Bosh’s career and moving forward with the team.
“I think Chris is still open-minded. But we are not working toward his return. We feel that, based on the last exam, that his Heat career is probably over,” he said.
“His health, playing and economics, it’s been health, health, health. Whatever the cap ramifications are, they are there, but we never ever thought about that.”
The 32-year-old made his own statement in regards to the blood clot on Twitter, the same day he assumed that his body would be healthy to participate in the Heat’s pre-season training camp.
The latest incident is said to be related to the previous two cases, and is set to once again sideline Bosh for an indefinite period.
While the clots aren’t life-threatening, Bosh will go back onto medication, after missing 97 regular season games over the past two seasons. Prior to this, Bosh had played in 65-plus games in all but one of the previous 11 seasons, averaging 18 points and 9.2 rebounds per game.
Financially speaking, if he is deemed unfit to play by an NBA specialist when the season commences in late October, his $75 million contract can be partially subsidised by the league’s insurance policy.
This also means that Bosh could be re-signed by another team on waivers, provided the team agrees to actually let Bosh play without risking his health.
It’s a fine line to walk for the Heat and Bosh.
As an athlete and NBA champion, Bosh wants nothing more to get back onto the court. As his team and, more importantly, the party that’s morally and financially liable for his safety, the Heat have taken every precaution possible before giving him the green light.
So where does Bosh go from here?
Very few teams will pick him up, considering the medical baggage that’s attached, so we can only hope that Bosh recovers well enough to get back on the court.
Team doctors had been working hard to find a compromise for Bosh to play while on blood thinners, but no solution became immediately apparent.
But let’s not take anything away from how he has transformed himself as a player over the past few years.
His development from interior scoring force to all-round offensive threat was further boosted by the emergence of Miami’s ‘Big Three’.
And after averaging 0.2 three-point attempts per game in his rookie season, the 6″11′ forward now averages 4.2 attempts per game, leading into what would’ve been his 14th NBA season.
Pat Riley has made is explicitly clear that Bosh’s career with the Heat is essentially over, but here’s hoping he can find a way back onto the court and isn’t forced to retire prematurely.
mushi
Roar Guru
There are some rumours that bosh and Miami mgmt (read: Pat Riley) havent been on the best of terms. Questions on why the same tests that cleared him previously now are detecting the condition are emerging. Now there are lots of reasons why that could be the case, and I'd give the medico's the benfit of the doubt. But it is interesting how badly Riley has handled the big 3 in Miami. Tough to see how he market's to the elite free agents as a "players" GM when the core of 4 consecutive finals appearances damned him with faint praise. Bosh is a great guy that should walk away if there is any health risk. He sacrificed the spotlight for team success and has enough cash to give his family multigenerational advantage if he's wise (which by all accounts he is)