How Good are these Guys? A Journeyman NBA Player

I hear the following statement and have to cringe: "Chris Bosh sucks." I heard that more than a few times during the season and the playoffs as well. He would usually follow up the bad game with a super game the next time out. So really, how good are they, these players in the NBA?

I was at the John Lucas workouts at the Rice University basketball practice courts a few years back watching the college players and the NBA players go through the drills. This was the place where aspiring collegians drafted from around the country would work on their games. Pros coming into a contract year would come to polish their chops hoping to hit the jackpot with a big contract. The highlights after the drills were done were the scrimmages.

Cutino Mobley was on one team and he was going against a major d-1 guard on a top twenty five team. Cutino Mobley was a very talented player but definitely not an NBA superstar. The guard he was going against was a player who might have been a marginal NBA player if he was not so injury prone. In fact, this guard was for sure better than any guard on my college team and most of the college guards we played against.

There is an unwritten rule that you don't get too hot and heavy in the scrimmages. The pros definitely don't want to risk injury for a meaningless game and neither do the collegians. However, the collegian got into Cutino's face a little too much and what happened next was ugly. Only it wasn't what you would expect.

Cutino Mobley took the young man to school. He demanded the ball every time down, and the pros always get it in these situations. Only he demanded the ball in the post. Instead of doing guard moves, Mobley abused the collegian down low. It was pretty crazy and it was like it was nothing for him. Cutino was getting fouled and just kept doing drop steps, slamming, just basic basketball moves that a big man would envy. All the moves were fundamental. He was getting fouled hard but it didn't matter. All the moves were basic non flashy moves. On defense he completely shut his adversary down. It was sad to watch because I know the young man.

The next time you hear some person say on a talk show that so and so is sorry, take it to the bank that he probably isn't. Because a pro like Cutino Mobley made an excellent college player look like a grade schooler. That's how good these guys are. And Chris Bosh definitely does not suck. He is most excellent.

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I almost have to laugh when I hear people talk about the college game being better than NBA basketball. This season was one of the best in recent years. We had great players in their twilight like Dirk Nowitzki and Kobe Bryant. We had superstars that were in their prime like Dwayne Wade, LeBron James, Amare Stoudamire, Carmelo Anthony and more. And the up and comers like Derrick Rose and Kevin Durant.

Yes, it is a long season. I get that. I also don't know how they play so many games. A 30 game schedule can break down a very good athlete. Most of these players will pay the price dearly later in life. The joints of the human body can only take so much pounding.

It is a shame the NBA season is headed for a possible prolonged work stoppage. This is even more so after such a great season. I get it. Unlike the NFL, the NBA is not a cash cow for many teams, especially the smaller markets. This is a sport that financially has to get some kind of grip.

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Everything that has been said and thought about the NBA playoffs has been written. Here are a couple of final thoughts:

I'm not going to pile on Lebron and the Heat. He has never been picked up for any problems we are aware of. It does strike me as strange that he does not move without the ball or have any kind of post up game. He had an old Jason Kidd on him and refused to back him down and shoot a mid range turn around. Hopefully he works on this. Everyone says he chokes...another thing I am getting tired of hearing. We all wish we could choke as well if this is choking.

Speaking of chokers, it wasn't that long ago that that label was put on Dirk. He has shed the label as well. As for me and most of you, I think I speak for us all when I think "I wish I was good enough to just be the last man on the bench of an NBA team playing in the championship."