Shaquille O’Neal Refuses To Call Chris Bosh a Dominant Player Despite Udonis Haslem’s Bold Claim

Shaquille O’Neal once compared Chris Bosh to RuPaul after a heated Raptors vs. Suns clash in 2009. The two have moved on since then and there is no bad blood. Shaq even believes he was a good player, but not for the first time, he thinks Bosh wasn’t dominant like the other two of the famous Miami Heat trio- LeBron James and Dwyane Wade.

The big three of the Miami Heat led the franchise to four consecutive Finals appearances and won two NBA Championships. LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, and Chris Bosh are some of the most fierce trios the NBA history has ever seen. And while Shaq believes the ‘King’ and the ‘Flash’ are dominant, Bosh isn’t, and here is why. 

In the last few weeks, a few former Miami Heat stars like Mike Miller, Udonis Haslem, and Norris Cole, shared their narrative to explain why Chris Bosh was crucial for the team’s championship in the early 2010s. All three put their case forward to prove why the 11x All-Star was outstanding. However, Shaq believes Bosh was not a dominant center, but just a good one.

Mario Chalmers joined ‘The Big Podcast’ and in a segment of the episode, he shared about his defined role with the Miami Heat. It included finding the big three in the offense. Explaining his role he said, “When you play with dominant players you want to win and you know the easiest way to win is make sure the dominant player gets the ball so for me it was a little tougher having three dominant players but you know I figured it out, they kind of made my job easier.” However, Shaq chimed in and seemingly disagreed with Chalmers without naming Bosh at first.

He said, “Only two. Don’t do that”. Chalmers was adamant. The 37-year-old replied, “CB [Chris Bosh] was dominant. Come on”. Anyhow, Shaq had already made up his mind. He stood by his words and added, “Don’t throw my word around. Don’t say dominant. He was good”. This isn’t the first time, Shaq has left out Bosh from the discussion about Miami’s famed trio.

In 2011, during an NBA TV show, Shaq cheekily referred to the Heat having the “Big 2,” despite many calling it a Big 3 of LeBron James, Dwayne Wade, and Chris Bosh. His comments were made after Heat lost the finals to Dallas.

Diesel had his run-ins in the past with Bosh and even engaged in back-and-forth with him. After a 2009 Toronto Raptors vs. Phoenix Suns match, Bosh pointed out that Shaq wasn’t properly officiated. The four-time NBA Champion took an exception to this and said, “I heard what Chris Bosh said, and that’s strong words coming from the RuPaul of big men. I’m going to do the same thing I did before – make him quit. Make ’em quit and complain. It’s what I do.” 

Coming back to Shaq’s recent comments about Bosh not being “dominant,” Chalmers eventually gave in but said Bosh was “very very good” and was exactly the player the Heat needed back then. Interestingly, Chalmers was not the only one to say this.

Udonis Haslem said Bosh, not LeBron James was Heat’s most important player 

For starters, Haslem revealed on his podcast that Chris Bosh was more important to the Heat franchise than LeBron James was. He believes the scoring leader can be replaced, but Bosh couldn’t have been. Regarding this, only a few days back, in a bold claim, Haslem said, “Everybody thinks that our most important player was [LeBron James]. Our most important player, not our best player, our most important player was [Bosh]. If Bron went down, you could bring in D-Wade, it’s not the same player but you are going to get similar results of what you’re going to get out of the players…When we lost CB, we sustained as long as we could, but when he came back, we became unbeatable. ” Mike Miller followed suit.

Read more: Was Chris Bosh More Important Than LeBron James and Dwyane Wade? Analyzing Heat Legend’s Bold Statement

Miller, who played with the Heat from 2010 to 13, shared, “I’m telling you, if [Chris Bosh] stayed healthy, he’d still be playing”. Bosh helped the team reach four straight Finals in his initial few years. Moreover, with all the above statements put together, we can understand why the former Heat players consider Bosh dominant.

But, Shaq is not hearing any of it. What are your thoughts on Shaq’s words? Do you consider Bosh as a dominant center?

Read more: ‘Figuring Life After LeBron’: NBA Legend Chris Bosh Reveals How he Processed End of His Career