AT 37, CHRIS BOSH is one of the five youngest Hall of Fame inductees in NBA history. Even though his career was cut short due to a blood clotting condition, Bosh still managed to carve out a legacy as an 11-time All-Star, a two-time champion and an Olympic gold medalist.
But his impact is more than bullet points: As a hyper-skilled and quick big man with a feathery jumper, Bosh epitomized the transformations of frontcourt players who have turned the NBA inside-out over the past two decades.
His career began in 2003 and ended prematurely in 2016. During that time, the NBA went through massive stylistic changes. So did Bosh.
As a rookie, Bosh entered a physical league dominated by Shaquille O'Neal and Tim Duncan in the paint. Bosh fit right in. He departed a league dominated by Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant from the edges. He still fit right in, thanks to his abilities to morph his game in the midst of his prime.
"I was watching Hardwood Classics on NBA TV and they were showing a game from the early 2000s and it was so funny watching everyone play inside the 3-point line," Bosh says. "Nowadays, it's five out and everybody has to be able to shoot."
As one of the most decorated big men of his era, Bosh was a power player in the pace-and-space revolution. Guards and wings had been playing fast and scoring from the perimeter for decades -- bigs were not. Bosh helped usher in a new era for NBA bigs on both ends of the floor.
BOSH BLOSSOMED INTO a star with the Toronto Raptors, but he will go down as a game-changer because of his time with the Miami Heat. Not only did those rosters boast LeBron James and Dwyane Wade -- two of the most explosive attacking scorers of the era -- they had Bosh, one of the most talented and versatile bigs in the league.
Bosh's combination of speed, strength and skill in the frontcourt allowed head coach Erik Spoelstra to open up the floor and attack opponents on both ends in profound ways.
"I give Spo credit for having the vision to be spread on offense," Bosh says. "He wanted to run fast. He wanted to create those mismatches to take advantage of our speed on offense and on defense."
The Heat were not only one of the league's first superteams, they were also harbingers. After they lost to the Dallas Mavericks in the 2011 Finals, they changed their approach, which meant big shifts for Bosh, and the NBA in general.
"We learned our lesson in 2011," Bosh says. "After that, Spo was like, 'We're playing spread, we're playing fast, and Chris, we want you more at the 5.'"
According to Basketball Reference estimates, Bosh spent 86% of his minutes at power forward in 2010-11, when the Heat came up short in the Finals, and just 14% of them at the center position. In 2011-12, those numbers were 49% and 51%, respectively, and the Heat won it all. The next season, Bosh spent 100% of his minutes at center, and again Miami won the title.
Bosh's shift to the 5 wasn't the only big change that helped Miami get over the hump, but a decade later, it's become a symbolic moment. Those Heat lineups that paired Shane Battier at the 4 and Bosh at the 5 were unorthodox at the time but would be commonplace today.
As pioneers of smaller lineups, Bosh and Battier didn't always love the experience. Simply put, they got beat up -- especially against teams still playing traditional lineups with two bigs.
"We didn't like it, we were taking lumps. Let's say we're playing Memphis. I got Marc Gasol and he's got [Zach Randolph]. Pick your poison," Bosh says while laughing. "You're going home with a black eye, and that's even knowing you won the fight."
Bosh could defend almost anyone in the league during his prime. He could dance on the edge with point guards such as Tony Parker and he could also bang with bigs like Marc and Pau Gasol in the post. That versatility enabled Miami to build a signature defensive culture that intimidated the league.
"We were hanging our hat on defense," Bosh says. "We wanted to be tough."
The Heat were a top-10 defense club in each of their title runs.
Miami was infamous for blitzing ball handlers on pick-and-rolls, and Bosh was one of the primary attackers creating chaos since he was often defending opposing screeners.
"We wanted to use our speed to put two to the ball and let LeBron, [Mario Chalmers] and [Wade] play the passing lanes," Bosh says. "We wanted to use our length to maul the ball. At the time, there were a lot of screen-and-rolls, so having that ability to show and to blitz and to get after guys."
At 6-foot-11, Bosh's speed, agility and feel for the game enabled those tactics to work. Most players his size could not have been effective in containing pick action on the perimeter. Bosh was, and his defensive mindset blended aggressiveness and confidence.
"I was able to contain it. Not get split. Call audibles," Bosh says. "I'm not gonna watch James Harden or Tony Parker come at me. I was gonna just jump on top of the screen and go get them instead."
BOSH BACKED UP his swagger on the floor, and his defensive presence was a huge reason that Miami won those two rings, but he also made sacrifices on offense.
Bosh made hay on the right block early in his career with the Raptors, posting up to get buckets the old-fashioned way. As a lefty, he was tricky to defend and he initially became a perennial All-Star by using the tried and true interior choreography established by legendary center George Mikan.
But as Bosh joined forces with James and Wade, he had to abandon that old-school approach. He was no longer the featured player in the offense like he was in Toronto. He had to become more of a screener and learn how to thrive off the ball and away from the rim.
"It's like being an only child who all of a sudden has two brothers. I had to share," Bosh said in 2014. "It's like, damn, I didn't think it was gonna be like this. I just thought it was gonna be a little easier."
Bosh got fewer touches. His low post play diminished, and his shot charts show that his opportunities near the blocks and along the baseline took a hit.
But what he lost in terms of volume, he made up in efficiency. He became one of the most effective elbow jump-shooters in the game.
His ability to hit 18-footers became a cornerstone of the team's pace-and-space tactics. The combination of James' and Wade's attacking skills and Bosh's midrange game made the offense almost impossible to defend.
James and Wade punished teams that stuck on Bosh after screens. Bosh punished those that didn't.
EVENTUALLY, BOSH BECAME a key participant in the league's 3-point revolution. That revolution, however, didn't happen overnight.
"There was a perception that anyone shooting 3s was kind of soft," Bosh says. "And the way the styles of coaching were, it was like, 'Hey man, what the hell are you doing?'"
Bosh could always shoot well. He made 48% of his 3s at Georgia Tech, but it took Bosh a long time to start hitting 3s in the pros.
"[Former Georgia Tech head coach Paul Hewitt] gave me that freedom. It just changed when we got to the league," Bosh says.
Bosh tried 13 3s total during his first All-Star season in 2006 with the Raptors. He recalls being left open at the top of the key all the time in Miami and regrets not letting it fly more often earlier in his career.
"It's fascinating looking back at it," Bosh says. "I was the first pass in the offense. I'm at the top of the key and the defender is at the free throw line. I can shoot that shot, but at the time I didn't even know how to handle that. I was like, 'Man, I should shoot this,' but I just kept passing instead."
By the end of his tenure, Bosh had the green light to shoot those open 3s and he became one of the best stretch bigs in the league.
During the 2011-12 regular season, as the Heat were fighting for their first title, Bosh never attempted more than three 3s in a single game. Between 2011-12 and the end of his career, Bosh's 3-point activity increased by more than 700%.
The catalyst: Game 7 of the 2012 Eastern Conference finals.
Bosh, who had just returned from injury in Game 5, came off the bench to make a trio of huge 3s in the deciding game against the Boston Celtics. He went 8-of-10 from the floor, including 6-of-8 outside of the paint, scoring 19 and making some of the night's most impactful shots, including two 3s in the fourth quarter that helped seal Miami's trip to the Finals.
Yes, defense wins championships. But the 2010s taught us that 3-point shots do, too.
Bosh was maturing into one of the best stretch bigs in the game when his career was cut short. He believes he could still be playing today, stretching out defenses and hitting 3s as well as any big in the league. Watching Carmelo Anthony and James, his friends from the 2003 draft class, justifies those beliefs.
But instead of stretching the floor for another superteam like the Los Angeles Lakers or Brooklyn Nets in the late stages of his career, Bosh is going to Springfield.
Today's stretchy centers like Nikola Jokic, Karl-Anthony Towns and Kristaps Porzingis fire away from beyond the arc anytime they can. They can thank Bosh for helping to open up the floor.
"Players eventually just had to have that click," Bosh says, "and say, 'Just shoot it.'"