Chris Bosh Believes Owners And Players Will Get To A Solution Very Quickly, Proclaims Heat Must Own Up To All Their Talk

There hasn’t been a sense of optimism on the NBA landscape when it comes to the current lockout in place, but Chris Bosh would like to think so. The Miami Heat forward believes that both sides need to get talking again obviously, but sounds confident that a deal can be struck quickly. Bosh does not want to hurt the fans by missing games and he doesn’t sound like he is in love with the idea of playing in Europe either. The former Georgia Tech standout believes playing in Europe may put NBA players in a perplexing position once a new CBA deal is struck during the time some players are playing overseas.

As for Bosh’s opinions when it comes to last season, it sounds as though he’s at peace with falling just short of the NBA Championship, but he’s not over all the media scrutiny. Bosh still contends he was stunned by all the attention the Heat got for “The Decision,” and all the promises they made to their fan base when it came to how many championships they would win. It’s hard to believe that members of the Miami Heat could still feel this way, but Bosh asserts that this will only make his team stronger in the long run. For the first time in awhile a professional athlete was also open about how criticism hurts him personally and that it affects if he’ll watch SportsCenter at night after a loss. Chris Bosh was very candid about these truths in his interview with ESPN Radio.

Chris Bosh joined ESPN Radio with Scott Van Pelt to discuss the current state of the NBA lockout, the amount of NBA players he thinks will go to Europe to play basketball because of the lockout, the most surprising thing that happened in his first season with the Miami Heat from his perspective, owning up to the “The Decision,” and last year’s free agency sweepstakes for the Miami Heat and caring about where he sits in the grand scheme of perception on this Miami Heat team.

Any idea or inkling about where things are in the NBA lockout as we speak?

“Well I mean usually I am more of a…I’m always looking at the brighter picture. I’m always positive. I have a positive outlook on everything. I think everybody just needs to talk. There’s always issues especially in business. This is a business at the end of the day. We don’t want to hurt our fans by them missing games and I don’t think anyone wants to miss games. We just have to get everything on the table and kind of come to a middle ground, but sometimes it’s difficult. Business is always difficult and I’m sure we’ll get to a solution very quickly.”

If I were to ask you a multiple choice questions about the number of NBA players going overseas because a lot of guys are talking about, thinking about, investigating about it. Would you say there likely will be a few or more than we might expect?

“I think a few. I think a few. Only because you never know what is going to happen. I mean we could strike a deal tomorrow. Then what happens? It’s as soon as you leave, you land in Europe, and it’s like well yeah while you were gone we struck a deal and you gotta come back. I think just because of that that’ll keep guys grounded and you know staying in shape and everything and making sure we are ready for the call whenever it comes.”

What was the most surprising thing about your first season in Miami last season?

“I think the most surprising thing without a shadow beyond a doubt was the media coverage, the attention, and really just the response from a lot of people. When we were playing on the road it was like ‘man they are really against us right now.’ ”

Looking back on last year’s free agency and “The Decision,” do you look back and think it could have been done differently or do you just own up to it?

“I say you own up to it. We all make mistakes. I think anybody would be kidding themselves if they thought they were perfect at anything. I mean why change it? We’ve already went through with everything. Whether good or bad, whether it was a good decision or bad decision, or we should have done this, could of done that, if we would of done this. We are here now. Everything has happened, so let’s just own up to it. Yeah we did it. Yes. If it was a mistake? If I see it as a mistake and here’s the reasons why, but here’s the reasons why it is going to help us in the long run.”

Do you care where you sit in the grand scheme of perception on this Miami Heat team compared to LeBron James and Dwyane Wade? Does any of that eternalize with you?

“Well, I mean we are human. That stuff kind of bums you out a lot. You try to have thick skin. You have thick skin then. You eventually reach your tipping point where it gets to you. [Scott Van Pelt: Was there a tipping point?] Yeah I mean we reached that. I know me, myself, I reached it a bunch of times because it’s like I like watching SportsCenter or something like that. I may chose not to watch it tonight because we didn’t do too well. I used to watch it as many times, but that’ll get cut down a little bit because I can assume what is going to be said and what is going to happen, so I just let it roll off. At the end of the day we are going to be…like I said it’s hard, it’s tough, but it makes you better. That’s all I really care about.”