The knock on Bosh, of course, is that he’s soft as Charmin Ultra. But the truth is that he’s stopping opponents in the post. Overall, the power forward has allowed only 47 points on 67 post-ups against him this season, according to Synergy video data -- a rate that places him ninth among the league’s 62 qualified big men. He ranks even better in one-on-one isolations.

Bosh’s conservative style of play doesn’t lend itself to fan adulation, unlike that of his more electric competition. Stoudemire masks his deplorable defense with thunderous dunks, and his 26.4-point scoring average grabs our attention even though it’s spurred by outrageous shot volume, not efficiency. Garnett doesn’t have eye-popping numbers, but his visible intensity makes his strong defense more captivating to audiences. People pay to see their theatrics as much as their talents.

Given that it’s unlikely that Bosh will leapfrog Garnett, Stoudemire and Pierce in the fan voting, Bosh probably will have to rely on the coaches' vote to earn a bid. As part of league rules, each coach must fill out a ballot selecting two guards, two forwards and a center, with the top seven vote getters winning a spot on the team in addition to the starters whom fans select. With a weak lot of shooting guards, there’s a good chance that, for the second year in a row, the East’s All-Star bench will be dominated by big men. That boosts Bosh’s chances at landing a spot. Unless coaches harbor serious anti-Heat resentment, Bosh should garner more support than other forwards in the field, such as Josh Smith, Wilson Chandler or Carlos Boozer.

Paladin55 wrote:

crzymdups wrote:The only thing I take away from that article is that the ESPN dude felt compelled to make an argument that Bosh deserved inclusion over Wilson Chandler. nuff said.

Almost seems like he is considering Amare to be a center.

why not, our coach does

franco12 wrote:

Paladin55 wrote:

crzymdups wrote:The only thing I take away from that article is that the ESPN dude felt compelled to make an argument that Bosh deserved inclusion over Wilson Chandler. nuff said.

Almost seems like he is considering Amare to be a center.

why not, our coach does

no I don't think he does. I think he's using Amare at center cause he's the best man on the team to man the position. Same as when we had Lee. No one thought he was a center but, because of the makeup of the team he had to play it.

Coach and Walsh have both said we need a starting calibre center to, what else is there to say