A look at Udonis Haslem’s birthday message for Bam Adebayo. And Goran Dragic takes up golf
Miami Heat center Bam Adebayo turned 23 on Saturday, and he received birthday wishes from teammates, former teammates, players around the league, friends and family.
But one that stuck out came from Heat captain Udonis Haslem.
Haslem wrote a lengthy message to Adebayo on Instagram on Saturday afternoon: “Happy Birthday Edrice “Bam” Adebayo....lol. At this stage blood couldn’t make your aggravating [self] any closer. You continue to mature as a basketball player, a black man, and you manage to get on my damn nerves all at the same time. And do them all extremely well at that. Lol. But I honestly couldn’t pick a better young black millennial to have around and set an example for my own kids. I don’t know why, but they still think I don’t know what the hell I be talking about when I say something. But they’ll listen to you? Baffles me. Lol. So I guess you help me just as much as I help you in some ways. What’s understood don’t gotta be explained. Enjoy ya day Edrice and keep making Moms proud...”
Among others who took the time to wish Adebayo a happy birthday was Washington Wizards star guard Bradley Beal, who has been linked to the Heat in trade speculation for the past year. Beal tweeted at Adebayo on Saturday: “Happy birthday bro! peace and blessings.”
The Heat is currently preparing for the resumption of the season at Walt Disney World with 15 of its 17 players. Adebayo and guard Kendrick Nunn remain in Miami, but the hope is they will join the Heat in Central Florida soon.
Before the NBA suspended play on March 11 amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Adebayo was in the middle of a breakout season. In his third NBA season and his first as a full-time starter, Adebayo is averaging career highs in points (16.2), rebounds (10.5), assists (5.1), steals (1.2), blocks (1.3) and minutes (34.4) on his way to earning his first All-Star Game appearance.
“His work ethic, determination, his persistence every day is allowing Bam to become a much better basketball player, and a player that doesn’t have a ceiling in my mind,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said recently.
THIS AND THAT
▪ Heat guard Goran Dragic is using his downtime in the NBA’s Disney bubble to take up golf. Dragic said he bought his golf clubs just a few days ago, and he posted photos from his time on the course Saturday with Heat shooting coach Rob Fodor.
”I never golf. I just bought clubs and I’m going to try it tomorrow for the first time,” Dragic said Friday.
▪ Heat forward Andre Iguodala is an investor in the Zoom remote conferencing platform, which has become a popular tool to hold virtual meetings during the COVID-19 pandemic. The NBA is using the Zoom platform to connect coaches and players at Disney with reporters for post-practice interviews.
“It has been pretty exciting, especially for the company,” Iguodala said of Zoom. “The company has done an amazing job of transitioning ... going to a lot of consumers using it to interact and communicate. Kids in school to workouts with teams. It’s doing pretty well on the investment side.”
▪ After taking Saturday off, the Heat continued its preparation for the restart of the season with a Sunday night practice. Miami begins its three-game scrimmage schedule Wednesday against the Sacramento Kings (8 p.m., Fox Sports Sun) at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex in Disney.
