Herm Edwards never played or coached basketball at a high level, but there's a reason the ex-NFLer's famous postgame rant is still so popular in the sports world.
That is because it's true. You play to win the game. Every game. No matter the stakes or the opponent.
At least, that's the point of the exercise. It's not competition if only one party is competing. Hence, you may play to win the game, but things aren't always going to turn out in your favor.
What then? What happens when the inevitable nature of sports as zero-sum games comes home to roost? What's an NBA player to do when he's not one of the fortunate few on the one team out of 30 that wins it all? What if he's not on one of the final two, or final four, or final eight or even the 16 that qualify for the playoffs in pro basketball? Does he just give up?
Not usually, no. Hardly ever, it seems.
In the NBA, as in any sport, there's far more to play for than lifting the Larry O'Brien Trophy, raising a championship banner or finding the right place to display a commemorative ring slathered in diamonds.
"It's incredibly difficult to win a championship," Miami Heat forward Chris Bosh told CBSSports.com's Ken Berger. "I know that, and I know it's a whole process."
Indeed, Bosh experienced seemingly every possible peak and valley associated with title contention during his four years as LeBron James' teammate in South Florida:
The periods of uneven play and overriding uncertainty, like during the Heat's 9-8 start in 2010-11. The long winning streaks, like the 12-gamer that immediately followed that shaky beginning or the historic 27-gamer that came together in 2012-13. The postseason epiphanies, like when Bosh's abdominal injury in 2012 sparked a small-ball revolution on South Beach. The sky-lighting flame of a shooting star, as in the team's back-to-back titles, and its eventual fade, as in the Finals shellacking this past June.
Bosh could've sought out such a roller-coaster ride this past summer after James took his talents back home to Ohio. Reports at the time had Bosh strongly considering a shorter, less lucrative contract to form yet another formidable Big Three, alongside Dwight Howard and James Harden, with the Houston Rockets.
"I could see where people would think that's an attractive site," Bosh told Berger. "They were trying to win right away. And I was really happy to be touted that I possibly could've been out there. But you know, that doesn't guarantee anything, and I know that. All that guarantees is a bunch of pressure."
Bosh and the Heat endured that incessant pressure throughout their four years together, from their bombastic introduction to the basketball world until their flameout at the hands of the San Antonio Spurs in the 2014 Finals. It wore on them to the point where the game itself wasn't quite as fun to play.
"It was great, you know, we went to the Finals four years in a row, and it was everything we wanted from that standpoint, but sometimes throughout that run, at certain times, it just wasn't fun," Dwyane Wade told Bleacher Report's Ethan Skolnick. "Individually, it was great having certain relationships and having my best friend here with me, but all of us didn't have fun all the time."That experience led Wade to re-evaluate his priorities—not that winning was no longer important, but rather, winning wasn't the only thing.
"I think now I'm at the point where I want to enjoy the game," Wade went on. "Because once I've won three championships and been so successful, you've got to have something to play for. And I want to be able to play for my teammates and just the joy of the game."
The joy of the game. In other words, playing because it's fun—something that the game wasn't always for Wade when everything the Heat said or did was being dissected a gajillion times over. Basketball may be more fun when you win, but chances are, you won't be able to sustain a winning environment if those within it aren't enjoying the process to some extent.
And not just on the court either. For Bosh, the comforts of his adopted home in Miami played a pivotal part in his decision to stay put.
"I'm familiar with people," Bosh also told Berger. "I know how to get to work. And if there's traffic, I know the shortcuts. It's those small things that I really love about the city and I love about being comfortable that guided me back. And you know, if you can make a couple of dollars on the side, then it works out."
More than a couple of dollars, in fact. The deal that was reportedly on offer from the Rockets (four years, $88 million) was shorter and less lucrative than the one Bosh ultimately inked with the Heat (five years, $118.7 million).
It'd be tough to blame Bosh, though, if he did have second thoughts from time to time. His Heat, at 13-15, are hanging on for dear life in the weak East amid a flurry of injuries. The Rockets, meanwhile, are a robust 19-7, good enough for fourth place in the wild West.
The same goes for Carmelo Anthony, who's not been shy to share how close he came to ditching the New York Knicks for the Chicago Bulls this past summer.
"It comes down to winning at the end of the day, and that's what they're about. So that's what I like," Anthony said of the Bulls in his documentary, Carmelo: Made in New York, on MSG Network (via ESPN New York's Ian Begley). "For them to hit everything right on the nail, first time at bat, that's hard to do. That was impressive."
Source http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2307974-theres-more-to-life-in-the-nba-than-winning-championships
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