Bosh in the mood to see his jersey raised in Miami
MIAMI— Chris Bosh is making a lot of music these days. He drinks beer and thinks about making more beer. He sketches. He paints. He plays with his kids. He has even learned how to use a wrench. He is also happy and healthy. And finally, the former Toronto Raptors star made peace with the devastating way that blood clots ended his NBA career without warning and when he was still in his prime. The Miami Heat will retire his No. 1 jersey on Tuesday night.
Bosh just hasn’t been in the mood to celebrate his career, until now.
“It’s very awesome,” Bosh said. “I thought I had more time, but in the time I gave it was still worthy enough to have the organization and the great Pat Riley consider this. Pretty cool.”
Bosh played 13 seasons, the first seven with Toronto and the last six in Miami. He averaged 19.2 points and 8.5 rebounds, was an all-star 11 times and won two championships. There have been 30 players in NBA history with 11 all-star nods — 23 of them are in the Basketball Hall of Fame, and the other seven aren’t yet eligible.
They will all probably be there one day, Bosh included.
Bosh’s first known battle with blood clots came during the allstar break in 2015, when he felt ill during a vacation with Wade and others. Days later, he was ruled out for the rest of the season. He returned the next year, performed at a high level again — but knew as soon as he got to Toronto that something was wrong with his calf.
Another clot was found. Bosh never played again. He wanted to and was estranged from the Heat for a long time. The rift only started to close after a three-hour lunch with Heat president Pat Riley. The Heat told Bosh they weren’t budging, that they cared too much about his health to let him play.
Bosh got the remaining $52 million (U.S.) on his $118-million contract. In the financial sense, he was made whole. But he never learned why the clots kept happening. And a year ago, at the all-star weekend in Los Angeles, Bosh’s wife Adrienne had enough — she pulled her husband aside, told him to end his self-described “pity party” and start enjoying being around the game and his friends again.
“I feel great now,” Bosh said. “Things are great. Things are really, really good.”