NBA Free Agency: Top 5 significant free agent signings
4. Chris Bosh
Miami wanted the Big Three to stay. Maybe Chris Bosh got the message. If anything, he received the max deal he was looking for. Ironic considering he was willing to take less money to stay in Miami if LeBron stayed. He isn’t complaining though.
The 30-year old center agreed to a five-year, $118 million max deal to stay in Miami just hours after LeBron James’ announcement of him leaving Miami to return to Cleveland.
Bosh was nearly heading out of Miami as well and considering a four-year, $88 million deal with Houston, however after LeBron left, Miami opened the wallet for him, giving Bosh an additional guaranteed $30 million.
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While Bosh gets the $100 million-plus deal he was looking for, his numbers don’t necessarily prove that he was worth it.
Bosh’s scoring has declined steadily since the 2009-10 season (his last with Toronto) where he averaged 24 points-per-game. Since joining the Heat in 2010-11, he’s averaged, 18.7 points-per-game, followed by (in order) 18, 16.6 and 16.2 ppg last year, his lowest since he took his talents to South Beach.
He was also a non-factor during the Finals against San Antonio, grabbing just 11 total rebounds in the Heat’s three-straight losses, leading to the Spurs’ 4-1 series win over Miami.
The Heat continue to push to re-sign Dwayne Wade and Udonis Haslem in order to keep solid players around Bosh and are also engaged in talks with Trevor Ariza and Luol Deng to replace James at the small forward position.