Where are they now - Chris Bosh

Well Chris had an off-night as the Raptors lost to the Heat 90-89. He ended the night with 4 points (1-8 shooting), 10 boards, and he finally missed his first 3-pointer of the year (now he is 3-4).

Here is a nice article about him from his hometown paper in Texas.

High-flying Raptor (12/15)
2 years after starring at Lincoln, Chris Bosh turning heads in NBA
09:05 PM CST on Sunday, December 14, 2003
By CHUCK CARLTON / The Dallas Morning News

NBA veteran Jalen Rose had just finished playing his fifth game for the Toronto Raptors and wanted to share an insight with an ESPN audience.

"I just want to tell people," Rose said, "Chris Bosh is for real."

The secret is out, as Bosh and the Toronto Raptors come to American Airlines Center to face the Mavericks on Monday.

The Lincoln product may force people to revise their view of the draft, the one that gave us glitzy LeBron James as the first pick and smooth Carmelo Anthony at No. 3.

"I think he probably already has," Toronto coach Kevin O'Neill said. "He's playing real solid basketball for a winning team. He's every bit as valuable to us as the other guys are to those teams."

Bosh, just 19, admits he has gotten a crash course in the NBA, but he has produced far more than the slow-developing second pick, Darko Milicic of Detroit.

Two years ago, Bosh was leading Lincoln to a 40-0 record and the Class 4A state championship.

Last year, he started and starred as a freshman at Georgia Tech in the proving ground of the ACC. Mavericks rookie Josh Howard, who played at Wake Forest, remembers Bosh "as the heart and soul" of Tech.

As a Raptor, he averaged 15.1 points and 8.2 rebounds during a 13-game stretch that ended Sunday with a 90-89 loss in Miami. Bosh was limited to four points Sunday, ending a streak of 13 consecutive games in double figures.

"It's all happened so fast," Bosh said. "I haven't realized how fast things have changed. I know it's been a real quick transition between high school and college and college to the pros. But it's probably been for the best."

So far, Bosh has adjusted to life in a new city and new country. He has played power forward and then moved to center. He has come off the bench and he has started. He has heard trade rumors and seen teammates dealt – all in the span of a couple months.

Bosh said the six-player trade with the Chicago Bulls was the most difficult.

The Raptors acquired Rose, Donyell Marshall and Lonny Baxter for Jerome Williams, Antonio Davis and Chris Jefferies.

"We met our new teammates the day before Philadelphia, and the next day, we're playing with them," Bosh said. "Even though you don't know them or their game, you have to find a way to win."

They did, and are 5-2 since the deal was made.

Donnie Nelson, the Mavericks' president of basketball operations, has followed Bosh's career closely since high school. He remembers Bosh as a Global Games standout who led his team to a gold medal against Yugoslavia.

Nelson loves Bosh's game and his mental makeup. But Nelson also remembers Dirk Nowitzki struggling as a rookie.

"I'm actually surprised he's putting up those kind of numbers this early in his career because with him, my guess would have been ... that he would have had more of a Dirk-type of existence," Nelson said.

At 6-10 and 228 pounds, Bosh remains thin despite adding 15 pounds from last season. Somehow he holds position inside. His shooting range extends to the 3-point line.

O'Neill thinks that eventually Bosh will be a prototypical power forward, although versatile enough to guard small forwards or centers.

Bosh faces other challenges. He's getting recognized more and more publicly, even in hockey-crazed Toronto. The different currency can be confusing, and he confessed that he didn't know what a loonie – the slang expression for Canada's $1 coin – was.

But he's a quick learner and has help.

His 24-year-old cousin, Adriene Mayes, a recent college graduate, is with Bosh in Toronto.

"She keeps things in order," Bosh said. "She regulates things around the house. She handles the business aspect, paying the bills. I can't imagine having to do that."

But who decides what to watch on TV?

"It's a mutual thing," Bosh said. "She's a big sports fan, too."

The only question with Bosh now is how good is he going to be and how soon?

"He's going to be a special player in the league," O'Neill said. "I said that from the time we drafted him and he played in the summer league. I don't know what point that's going to be. He's going to be a special player in time."