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Bosh latest of Heat’s championship Big Three to chime in on Giannis-era remix
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- Bosh latest of Heat’s championship Big Three to chime in on Giannis-era remix
LOS ANGELES — It has become a rite of passage for the Miami Heat: The team reinvents itself and the Big Three weigh-in in unison on what Pat Riley has crafted as the franchise's next contending roster.
First there was LeBron James positing in the wake of the addition of Giannis Antetokounmpo.
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"My initial thoughts are it's going to be damn good," James said on his Mind the Game podcast of the pairing of Antetokounmpo and Bam Adebayo. He added, "We'll just see how it all comes together, which I think it will."
Then, last week, on his WY Network podcast , Dwyane Wade weighed in on what it will take for the Antetokounmpo-Adebayo pairing to work.
"It's a sacrifice that has to happen somewhere," Wade said, referencing his own step back for the Big Three era to work.
The latest to chime in was Chris Bosh, the third prime component of the Heat's Big Three era that included NBA Finals appearances from 2011 to 2014, and championships in 2012 and '13.
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Bosh offered his comments in a video post on X .
Arguably the most cerebral Heat player of the Big Three era — with all due respect to Shane Battier, Ray Allen and others — Bosh pointed to some of the similarities that he and Wade dealt with in accommodating James.
"I think if you look at the outlook of the team," Bosh said of the current Heat roster, "it's really interesting because they're trying to figure out their offensive continuity, their flow.
"It's a brand new team, especially with Giannis, a superstar, coming into Miami, demanding so much attention and demanding just a change of how things usually goes. That's a part of it."
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Already there have been accommodations from coach Erik Spoelstra, just as there were from Spoelstra during the Big Three era, in this case necessitated by a 0-4 start.
"I've lost four games in a row plenty of times," Bosh said. "But it's all about stopping the bleeding. It's not what happens to you. It's how you react."
In that regard, Bosh proved prescient, with the Heat winning their past two games, next to open a five-game western swing on Monday night against the Los Angeles Lakers at Crypto.com Arena.
"I think they can get Giannis a lot more active in the screen and rolls and pin downs, moving, get him in some screen and rolls," Bosh said of what has become more of the case.
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What makes this Riley remix different from the Big Three era is the presence of two prominent back-line defenders.
But Bosh said relying too much on Antetokounmpo and Adebayo to clean things up can also be a dangerous game.
"The defense, they've got to figure it out," he said, with the Heat most recently having yielded 125 points on .484 shooting to the Indiana Pacers in Friday night's 20-point NBA Cup victory at Kaseya Center. "Regardless of how you play on offense, if you play good defense, you still give yourself a chance.
"So they need to figure that out and really just take the challenge, mano y mano, and do their best to guard the guy in front of them, knowing that they have help behind them."
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During his run with the Heat's Big Three, Bosh reinvented himself into a 3-point-shooting center. Bosh said an adjustment, albeit a different one, might be needed by Adebayo.
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"I think Bam should be more aggressive, as well," he said, with Adebayo doing just that, coming off a season-high 27-point performance Friday night against the Pacers. "He's usually naturally a facilitator, getting to third, fourth situations, moving the ball from side to side, being that point forward, point center that they need. But I think in this team, he needs to be a little more aggressive."
The bottom line with the Heat's Big Three was complementary, supportive and alleviating for James. Bosh sees the same needed with Antetokounmpo.
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"Everyone is paying so much attention to Giannis, packing the paint, that they're going to have to loosen defenses up in some kind of way," Bosh said, "spread them out, get stops, most importantly, so they can get some fastbreak opportunities."
But, mostly, remain with the bedrock of what fueled the Big Three success more than a decade ago and then the Heat's NBA Final trips success thereafter.
"The Miami Heat way is all about, we always hear the culture. Defense is a huge, huge part of that culture," Bosh said. "So they're going to have to take the challenge, regardless of what happens on the offensive end."
A Hardaway wait
Tim Hardaway Jr. was not at Sunday's practice at Kaseya Center due to personal reasons, but is expected to join the team in time for Monday night's game against the Lakers. …
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Spoelstra, in his 19th year as Heat coach, turned 56 on Sunday, having worked the past 32 years with the organization.
"It makes me sound like a total gray beard," Spoelstra said with his self-effacing humor. "I always feel incredible gratitude for being able to stick around this long, and for them allowing me to stick around for this long."
Adebayo said that Sunday seemed like any other day with Spoelstra.
"He doesn't really like celebrating," the Heat captain said. "I don't know what his issue is. He doesn't like cake." …
Spoelstra said the timing of the trip worked out particularly well as a father.
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"I felt grateful that I was able to spend Halloween with the kids, when we've been out of town the last two years," he said.
