A discussion with Udonis Haslem on the state of the Heat, the young core and the future
The Miami Heat is preparing for its 21st playoff appearance, and Udonis Haslem has been a part of more than half of them.
The team captain and veteran forward is on the verge of his 13th trip to the playoffs — all with the Heat. Miami begins its playoff run Tuesday at 4 p.m., with Game 1 of its first-round series against the Indiana Pacers.
Before the start of the postseason, Haslem spoke to the Miami Herald about the state of the franchise and gushed over the Heat’s young core. The Miami native also touched on his approach to spending months in the league’s Disney bubble and why he’s still not sure whether this will be his final NBA season.
Haslem, 40, played in only four regular-season games, as he has taken on more of a leadership role as a mentor to younger teammates in recent seasons.
Here’s the Miami Herald’s Q&A with Haslem, with the start of the playoffs looming ...
How have you approached living inside the NBA bubble?
A: “For me, the first approach was to not just look at it like we were just coming here for basketball and that’s all it was going to be. I tried to look at it from a bird’s-eye view. I tried to relate it to when I went to Europe. It doesn’t have to be about just coming here and playing basketball. There’s so much other stuff that I can get done while I’m here in the bubble. I never get time alone, I never get any peace and quiet, so those are the things that I looked at first and foremost to kind of balance it out instead of saying we’re just going to be stuck there playing basketball.”
How have you kept your teammates engaged during this time away from home?
A: “Man, every day is different. You never know what you’re going to get in the bubble. For me, I really can’t prepare for the next day. You see what’s in the air, you see how the vibe is, you see which guy is up and which guy is down, you see what you need to bring at practice. It’s just a feel. I’ve been doing this for a long time, man. I kind of get a feel of what I need to bring and where I need to step in. Some days I don’t need to say anything. Some days I stand back and I let the young guys lead and I let Jimmy [Butler] run the show and I let Bam [Adebayo] and other guys make it happen. We preach leadership at all levels. So sometimes being a leader is not always talking or doing something.”
What does the Heat’s team room at Disney represent?
A: “It’s dope, man. It’s like being home. Once we walk in there, there are so many different pictures of everybody’s family and friends, experiences and vacations, and amazing and beautiful memories. I think when everybody steps in and walks in, they get a feeling of being home just for a second. It also gives me a good feeling about watching my teammates happy with their families. ... There are so many pictures and memories of my teammates and their families that I had nothing to do with. But as a true leader and as a friend of these guys, I’m happy to see those memories.”
Have you helped organize any team activities to help keep teammates busy in the bubble?
A: “We got golf going on. Guys venture out and eat lunch. I’m the guys that’s locked in. I don’t venture out very much. You’re not going to see me strolling around campus. You’re not going to see me hanging out with randoms and making friends. ... Coming into the bubble, I challenged myself to lock in, be focused and lead these guys. Whatever it takes. For me to be at my strongest, I just lock in. I don’t know, I’m a real mentally tough person. So when I put something in my head, man, you got to understand that’s what I’m going to do.”
Does this Heat team remind you of the team you were on as a rookie in 2003-04?
A: “That was a fun team, man. We had a balance of young guys, we had the guys who were in the prime of their careers, and then we had Eddie Jones and those guys kind of driving and steering a little bit and guiding us. I think that was the best thing about that team. I think everybody was willing to evolve and adapt to make that team work. That was probably one of the funnest teams I’ve been on. I do see similarities when you look at young and ambitious guys like Dwyane [Wade] and myself, and then you look at Tyler Herro, you look at Duncan Robinson, you look at Bam. We got all these young ambitious guys. These guys will be the future. These guys will be a part of something that has a championship tied to this Miami Heat organization in the future. I don’t know if I’ll be around to see it. But I know these guys will lead this organization to a championship at some point. I have no doubt about it.”
How valuable will this playoff experience be for the Heat’s young core?
A: “You can’t put a price on this. I told the coaches yesterday: Man, I’m probably more impressed by Herro in the bubble than anybody. The way he has elevated his game. It has nothing to do with just basketball, but we all know that a lot of people beat themselves before they even step out on the court in the bubble. I feel like a lot of people are already beat before they play any games or any minutes in the bubble because they’re beat mentally by what the bubble has challenged them with. So to watch him at such a young age be able to mentally beat the bubble, I’m just proud of him. As a vet, to watch him come into something like this and basically hit the ground running and pretty much take it by the throat and drive it and dominate it. He hasn’t missed a beat here in the bubble.”
Where does Duncan rank among the best shooters you’ve played with?
A: “Wow. It’s getting pretty hairy right now, to be honest with you. It’s getting pretty hairy right now. Duncan Robinson is making a strong push right now. We might have to close the gym one night and get this over with. It’s rough for me to call this out now. It’s rough, man. I’ve played with Mike Miller, Ray Allen, James Jones, Jason Kapono. I’ve seen some strokers. Let me tell you something, Duncan is in my top two. I’m going to leave it at that.”
I’ve had multiple people tell me that Kapono may be the best pure shooter to ever play for the Heat. Would you agree?
A: “Kapono had no wasted motion in his shot. He literally could grab it and stroke it literally in one motion. If I’m not mistaken, he was the first person I saw who would catch-and-shoot without setting your shot. Like catch and it’s like up. I can’t even explain it. Yeah, he’s one of the top guys. But my top guys would be Kapono, Mike and Duncan.”
What’s Jimmy like as a leader?
A: “He’s a leader by example. He’s a leader with his loyalty. He’s a leader with his actions. He’s a leader with his heart. He’s a leader with his passion. He’s a leader with his drive, the way he competes. And he’s a leader with the way he’s willing to listen and evolve. He reminds me a lot of myself as I continued to mature into the leader I am today. I had all the physical attributes, but I had to learn to evolve and listen. Part of being a leader is understanding the people that you’re leading and how they’re motivated, and understanding that everybody is motivated differently. That’s the part right now that Jimmy is working on and evolving at.”
Going back to Duncan, he’s shooting 45 percent on threes on a pretty high volume of attempts.
A:“Let me tell you something. I said it last night. I don’t give a damn who won the three-point competition. I know who the best shooter in the league is. I’ll tell you that right now. Hands down, I know who the best shooter in the league is.”
Stephen Curry may have something to say about that.
A: “I get it and I understand that. But the degree of difficulty of the shots that Duncan is taking and making now is like wow. I get it. Steph was one step across half court, but nobody is usually guarding him that far out. The degree of difficulty and what Duncan has to do to get open and get a shot and to be shooting that high of a percentage is incredible.
“If you see how people guard Duncan and how big of a part he has become for other teams’ scouting reports, and for him to shoot the ball at the rate he’s shooting it with the efficiency that he’s shooting it at. I haven’t seen anything like it. That goes for all the guys that I’ve played with. I’ll tell you that for a fact. I haven’t seen anybody shoot the ball with that accuracy at that rate and do what he has to do to get open, and has been challenged and harassed and run off his shot and triple teamed and grabbed and double teamed and still has been able to find a way to do what he has been able to do.”
Duncan’s story as an undrafted player just adds to the Heat’s list of success stories.
A: “I’ve watched Duncan grow so much, man. This is why I’m proud of Duncan. From where he was, the timid kid that maybe sometimes you had to ask to come out and play. You know he wants to play, but you have to ask him three or four times before he says yes. To now, the kid that is accepting all challenges. Not backing down from nothing, taking every open shot he gets and some shots that are not open. Just the overall growth and maturation and the testicular fortitude that he’s now establishing. I’m proud of him. For me, man, leading these guys is not always about watching them make shots. Sometimes I watch them grow as men. When I watch them grow as men, that’s just as satisfactory for me.”
You’ve made it clear how you feel about Bam. What do you enjoy most about him?
A: “There’s nothing better for me besides watching Bam at the All-Star Game win that Skills Challenge, then watching him share it with his mom. That was the biggest thing for me, you know. It’s life experiences. I always think about life experiences. He’s going to have a great career. He’s going to make a lot of money. But you never have another mom. So it’s always emotional when I think about Bam and his mom because my mom is not there. I think it’s beautiful, man. Because no matter how much success he has, his first love is his mom. That’s the same thing I always had. It didn’t matter how much success I had. It didn’t matter what I did. That lady was always going to be No. 1. No matter what he does or what he accomplishes, I see that same look in his eye.”
Has the extra alone time in the bubble allowed you to think about the decision you’ll face at the end of the season?
A: “Its like, how do you do a retirement in a situation like this? Do I do a Zoom call and just have everybody sign in? So it’s just something to think about. But right now, I’m just focused on driving this boat. Like my boy D-Wade told me, ‘Just play out every season and take your time and figure it out in the summer time. You earned that.’ So I’m going to play out the season and I’m going to figure it out in the summer time. I earned that. That’s how I’m going to do it every year. I used to worry myself toward the end of every year. ‘OK, what am I going to do? It’s getting close toward the end.’ I’m not doing that to myself no more.”
Whether you decide this will be your final season or not, do you feel like the organization is in a good spot?
A: “Definitely. For sure. 100 thousand percent. They’re in a good spot with the talent and everything. But there’s still a little something that I bring to the table. We still got guys working toward it. We teach leadership at all levels, man. These guys are definitely growing in that area and they’re pushing toward that. But it’s something about having championship habits every single day.
“They can tell you my impact more than I can. I see when these guys respond to me. I see how something I say can change the way they perform, and the way they perform changes the game. Then the way it changes the game, we end up winning. So I see the domino effect of what I’m able to do, you know what I’m saying. As long as I can continue to have that effect, I’m going to continue to drive these guys. Because I know there are times guys wanted to quit or guys wanted to shut it down or guys have been mentally or physically exhausted or messed up in the head, and I’ve made a call or I’ve pulled them to the side or I went to his room or we went to dinner or we just hung out. And then I see a completely new person, and I’ve seen that translate into wins for us as a team. So as long as I can continue to do things like that for us, man, I know there’s a need for me to continue to drive this and help these guys. That’s what it’s all about. I don’t have to do it the way coaches do it. I don’t have to do it the way that society thinks I should do it. I’m going to do it the way I want to do it.”
This year, your decision isn’t going to come in the summer. It’s probably going to come in the fall.
A: “You’re right. It’s going to be a while. I don’t know what I’m going to do, but I won’t force myself to even think about that until I have time to step away and really think about it wholeheartedly and fully.”
Haslem is among several Black athletes and entertainers who have partnered with LeBron James to fight voter suppression as part of “More Than A Vote,” which states on its website that its current priority “is combating systemic, racist voter suppression by educating, energizing, and protecting our community in 2020.”
“We continue to educate people on voter suppression and just the different things that are going on out there,” Haslem said.
This story was originally published August 16, 2020 at 1:49 PM.
