Chris Bosh Will Always Be One of the Greatest Heat Players Ever

Real Miami Heat fans miss Chris Bosh. A lot. More than someone should miss a professional athlete. Sometimes they watch YouTube videos just to get a fix of Bosh draining jumpers in a Heat uniform.

Oddly, Bosh urges aren't so dissimilar to nicotine cravings after quitting. Your body misses something, but it takes a minute to figure out exactly what. In fact, Heat Nation might be ashamed to admit it, but many miss Bosh even more than they miss Dwyane Wade. Wade saw his Heat career out. Everyone pretty much agreed little was left but a couple of years of sitting in a rocking chair.

Bosh, though, was robbed of a half-decade of Heat basketball. We'll never know what last year's team could have been with him in the lineup.

It might be unhealthy just how much we miss watching the spit-covered-roar Bosh let out after one of his classic straight-ahead three-pointers that led to the opposing team's coach calling an immediate timeout to quiet the crowd. As the months pass since Bosh last wore that No. 1 uniform for the Heat, people seem to mention his medical-induced retirement less and less.

But for many true fans, it will be a long time before they get over the fact that blood clots robbed Miami of witnessing Bosh's prime years. It doesn't seem right, but at the same time, the fact that it happened in Miami and has allowed Bosh to spend so much time with his beautiful family seems perfect. Life has a weird way of evening it itself out, and maybe trading a couple of years of playing basketball for being around daily as his children grow up was how things were meant to be.

After an entire year, it's really just setting in that he's no longer part of the organization. Even as he battled medical scares his last few seasons, Bosh was at the very least one of us. He was on our team. People cared about him and asked questions about his return to the court even if it seemed unlikely.

Now the acceptance of the breakup is setting in. Bosh is never coming back. All of those happy days of postgame video bombs and Bosh sound bites are over. Now the only snippets Heat fans get of Bosh's infectious personality are via his social media. It's like checking in on an ex who lives in Hawaii.

So before he becomes nothing more than a character shown on poor-quality highlight videos to the next generation of Heat fans, take another moment to recognize how important he was to the Heat culture and what a vital piece of the puzzle he played in two championship Heat seasons. Remember what a vital piece of Miami culture he was, from starring in his very own (unauthorized) film festival and gonzo animated feature to gracing our TVs with his surprisingly adept Spanish skills.

Never forget him. Never take for granted what he sacrificed for the Miami Heat during the most polarizing run any team has had in sports history. Never forget the joy he brought to so many stress-filled November nights during a long stretch of tension-filled basketball.

The truth is, as short as his stint on the court was, we should always remember Chris Bosh as one of the greatest Heat players ever.