Now Bosh is returning to represent the Heat for a fifth straight All-Star Game in the midst of entirely different kind of change. Gone along with James' for Cleveland are any realistic dreams of playing for another title this season. Departed, too, is the calliope music and the circus atmosphere.
"There's a part of all that stuff that I don't miss at all," Bosh said. "Of course, playing for the highest stakes, competing all the time as the team that every else was trying to take down, going all those years all the way into June and being one of the last two teams still playing, that's exciting, that's great. "But without all of the whole show, the game can still be fun. We're not having a lot right now, but it's a different kind of fun. We're not living up to our potential right now."
After beating the Knicks Monday night to end a three-game losing streak, the Heat are 22-29 and back to the No. 8 seed, hanging onto the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.
"There's still a lot more of the season left, plenty of games, a lot of opportunity to get ourselves back to playing right and do what we want do and that's what you have to hang your hopes on when you come to the gym to work every day.
"But you do get accustomed to winning and when you're not winning things get a little bit more difficult. Dealing with injury and all these things, it makes it tough."
"I think we all were looking for a new challenge," Bosh said. "I didn't know it would come like this. You gotta be careful what you ask for sometimes. I'm just trying to make sure I respond properly. I have to make sure I'm coming out and competing every night and doing my best to be a good leader for this team."
The years slip by quickly and Bosh is in his 12th NBA season as he approaches his 31st birthday next month.
"It's weird being the old guy," he said. "We were an older team before, but we had this well-rounded veteran group of guys that had been around for a while and now it's changed to these guys that haven't been in many situations, if any.
So it's a lot different, but I enjoy the challenge. I just try to make sure I'm a good role model and make sure they know what a good vet is, because this is a lasting impression that our rookies get."
"His experiences from Toronto and the last four years have helped him," said coach Erik Spoelstra. "He has to do a lot more leading, a lot more coaching from the player position, because our level of experience is a lot different than it has been the last four years.
"I like to see him in this role where he has to do something new and he has to grow to impact the game. He's been great with that. He understands that this is a team that has to roll up its sleeves and do a lot of work.
"We can't try to short cut it and you have to stayed focused on the process of ours, through the injuries, through the missed games, through the process of playing a lot of young guys. It's an opportunity to grow and for him it's an opportunity to grow as a leader."
That means lead a team populated with green talent growing in the right direction. "We gotta be on our 'A' game," Bosh said. "Even that doesn't guarantee anything.
That just gives us a chance. That doesn't mean the shot's going to fall. It doesn't mean that we're gonna make the right play every time. It means we have to focus in on the right game plan and the right plays or we're not gonna be successful."
It's meant Bosh trying to show some of the ropes to Whiteside the way he once did with a young DeMar DeRozan before he left Toronto.
"I think I know more what I'm doing now," Bosh said. "I think with DeRozan I was still trying to figure some things out. I try my best to influence him. You've to ask DeMar if I did a good job or not. Hey, he might tell you I stunk.
"Here, if I see anything, if I feel that I can add my two cents, that's what I try to do. I don't tell guys how they should play or what they should do. I just try to work off if I see something that's gonna help them out or something that works with their natural ability, I try to emphasize that.
"Sometimes guys don't know what they're capable of. I just try to make sure they're aware of it and make sure they work hard. That's what it's about. You have to work hard in this league if you want to be successful. A lot of people think you just show up. It's not like that."
"There's never any regrets," he said. "Because even when you're winning there's stress. If you're losing, it's stressful. If you're winning, it's stressful. The NBA's all about stress. It's just how you manage it. It would have been more of a show, more of a scene and that comes with stress too. It's all in how you take it, really."
http://www.nba.com/2015/news/features/f ... fe-on-team
