Chris Bosh, a telling quote, and the Bosh-KG comparison
But, let’s be honest, the comparison only goes surface-deep.
While Garnett certainly has his faults — an unwillingness to be the unquestioned go-to guy, for one — he has always been a player who’s helped take his team to a higher level. Whether it be by hyping up his teammates with his ethereal passion for the game, being positioned perfectly in help defense, or finding an open teammate with an unselfish pass, KG has always, without fail, carried his teams to heights they would not have reached without him.
Sure, KG took awhile to get out of the playoffs’ first round, but how far would a team starting Rasho Nesterovic, Kendall Gill, Anthony Peeler, and Gary Trent for a combined 172 games have gone without KG? (Seriously, look it up. That’s the 2002-2003 Timberwolves, a team that won 51 games in the superior Western Conference. The next year, with Trenton Hassell, Michael Olowokandi, and Ervin Johnson combining to start 146 games — not to mention the immortal Mark Madsen starting 12 — KG took the Wolves to the Western Conference Finals. You can say what you want about KG not being clutch, but don’t say he was the reason for his teams being bad… you can’t do it.)
While KG was always a fierce leader who inspired his teams to better days, Bosh might be the single biggest reason his teams don’t win ballgames. I’m not trying to say he’s a bad player, or that he hurts his team, but how far can you go with Bosh as your best player? He doesn’t play much (any?) defense, is softer than a nice beach underneath your bare feet, and doesn’t have the same mindset KG has of sacrificing his own game to help his team. Honestly, watching Bosh play, I don’t know why a team would ever offer him a maximum contract; You can win games with Chris Bosh as your best player, but I am thoroughly convinced Bosh will never be the best player on a championship team. He just won’t. He doesn’t have the tenacity, the heart, the toughness, or the ability to raise his teammates’ play. I’m sorry, Toronto fans, but that’s a fact.
Anyway, I wrote this post just so I could show you a quote from Bosh in the Boston Globe. So here it is…
In one fourth-quarter sequence, Bosh said he wanted Bargnani to swing the ball to the weak side for an open 3-pointer. Instead, the ball was stolen from Bargnani.
“I don’t pass for no reason,’’ Bosh said. “If I pass the basketball, it’s because I see something that nobody else sees. I think if he would have passed the ball, we would have had an open 3-pointer.’’
Could you ever see Kevin Garnett throwing his teammate under the bus like that, or saying he doesn’t pass for no reason? What ever happened to team play, Chris? In all his years in the league, I don’t think I’ve ever heard KG say a single bad thing about any one of his teammates. He’s started alongside the likes of Mark Madsen, Ervin Johnson, Michael Olowokandi, Dean Garrett and Cherokee Parks, but I still have never heard Garnett say a single disparaging remark about any of them.
But that’s a huge part of what makes KG so special. Whatever itis that makes a player do anything he can to help his team win, including having their backs in postgame press conferences, Garnett has it.
And Chris Bosh, for whatever reason, doesn’t. Yes, he could still develop it…
But I wouldn’t hold my breath, and I damn sure wouldn’t offer him a max deal.
As for Garnett?
Come back, damn it!
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Around the NBA, Celtics Blog, Featured | Jay King | January 11, 2010
Is KG a better player than Bosh. Absolutely. But I do think that quote above may have been taking out of context & let's not forget KG making Big Baby cry. As for everything else, yes I do agree the KG is the better player, but one does wonder what KG would we see now if he didn't have a quick turn of fortune by going to the Celtics.
Would I give Bosh a max contract. Ideally no, but almost the same can be said about KG not being able to win as the best player on the team. It was Pierce was obviously the best player (w/ KG a close second). But KG all day over Bosh & that's coming from someone from Toronto.
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You're right, Jay, Pierce was absolutely Boston's best player during their championship season, but Garnett was the leader who got EVERYBODY (especially Pierce) to buy into the idea that defense wins championships. Without KG, Pierce and Allen were belwo-average defenders, but he willed them by the force of his personality to value defense above all.
Things could change, but I haven't seen Bosh either understand the value of defense, or impress upon his teammates its value. Toronto is an embarrassing defensive team and it all starts with their leader, Chris Bosh. Bosh is still young, so that could change, (like it did for Pierce), or he could be the next Amara Stoudemire. Great offensive talent, couldn't give two shits about D.
P.S. I love Toronto Raptors fans, and pray for both our sake (C's fans, Raptors fans) he is not traded to LA for Bynum, because with that talent in LA, defense would not matter.
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Jay, I think you're completely wrong about Pierce being that team's best player. Best offensive player? Yes. But most valuable or best all-around player? No. Without Garnett, that team doesn't come close to winning the championship, or win nearly as many as 66 games.
Did Pierce have the best postseason? Yeah, he did. But it was Garnett who spearheaded the defense and led the way to an unselfish offense.
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Waddup King! I guess we can argue all day on not only who we each consider as being the best but also as what constitute as "being the best", but that would really get no us where. I was just trying to make a case on "what if" KG never went to the Celtics and remained surrounded by mediocre players in Minnesota. Would we would look at him differently & maybe not put him on a much higher ranking than Bosh.
As for @CTownTKing, yes Toronto's defense is embarrassing lol. Not one game passes by where I wish they would play with at least a tenth of the defensive intensity as the Celtics do.
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Even when KG was in Minnesota, he was always regarded as a terrific defensive player and his teams made the playoffs every year in a tough Western Conference. Bosh's teams don't make the playoffs in the East, and he couldn't stop my dogs in the post. He doesn't lift his teammates to another level, which I feel is always something that KG has been able to do. Even when his teams were only getting into the first round, there's no way they should have even been there.
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There's no doubt that KG was regarded as all the things you mentioned. All I am saying is that people do look at players differently (no matter how great they are) when they win a championship. The lists goes on of legendary players who are look at a bit differently because they never won a ring. There was a point where KG was questioned at no fault of his own because his team couldn't win in the playoffs.
BTW, you must have some pretty big dogs lol. But it is really sad how Bosh too often gets outplayed by mediocre players.
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I agree KG would certainly be looked at differently had he never won a championship. But, still, he was far better than Bosh and a far more complete player even when he couldn't get out of the first round.
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