SPRINGFIELD (USA) - The great ones all have one thing in common.
They do whatever it takes to win.
Cue Chris Bosh.
As part of USA's Redeem Team, which is being inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame this year, Bosh had to focus not on scoring, despite having just averaged 22.3 points per game in the NBA with Toronto.
He had less celebrated tasks.
"I didn't lead the team in points," he said. "I didn't start every game.
"But I knew exactly why I was there. I was there to rebound. To switch. To help. To connect."
Bosh had no qualms about doing the work that often goes unnoticed.
Had he not, the USA would not have achieved their aim of reaching the top of the podium of an Olympic Games or World Cup for the first time since the 2000 Summer Games in Sydney.
Bosh and his USA teammates did what they needed to do to beat Spain in the 2008 Olympic Gold Medal Game in Beijing.
It's one of his greatest accomplishments in basketball, to have had a crucial role in that famous team.
"TO THE QUIET LEADERS OUT THERE DOING THE INVISIBLE WORK: I SEE YOU." - Bosh
Bosh went on social media to express how important his experience was with USA Basketball after the announcement that the Redeem Team was headed for Springfield.
"I was there to make the stars shine brighter by doing the things that didn’t show up in the box score," he said.
"I was there to make the stars shine brighter by doing the things that didn’t show up in the box score.
"Some call that invisible work. I call it purpose."
Bosh had not played on the USA team that lost three times at the Athens Olympics, a side that ultimately claimed the bronze medal.
He was in the USA team at the 2006 FIBA Basketball World Cup, however, which fell 101-95 to Greece in the Semi-Finals. That American team also won the Third-Place Game, intensifying the desire for all involved with the USA to win the gold in China.
Bosh, who also won a couple of NBA titles with the Miami Heat and was an 11-time All-Star, was inducted to the Naismith Hall of Fame as a player in 2021.
He is just as excited to have played an important role in one of the greatest USA Olympic teams of all time.
"To be inducted again, this time with my brothers, means more than I can say..." he said. "To the quiet leaders out there doing the invisible work: I see you."
FIBA