Miami Heat: Udonis Haslem may have had to ‘put hands’ on Michael Jordan
The Miami Heat are built on a few things. That grit, determination, and toughness are things that Udonis Haslem personifies every day of his life.
The Miami Heat are a team that will not be outworked. You will never be more physical than they are.
You will also never out tough them either, as they are trained, built, and prepped for battle each and every day. It doesn’t hurt that at the very top, the voice of reason is a guy who’s nickname is synonymous with the toughest of the toughest bosses, The Godfather.
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It also doesn’t hurt that they are led from the coaching position by a man that is obviously as tough as nails, with Erik Spoelstra having to fight and claw his way to the top. Throw in the fact that one of the toughest, roughest, and most in your face guys in the league in Jimmy Butler now resides and works there as well, and you have the recipe for one tough cookie.
Lastly though and perhaps most importantly for these purposes, the man that we all call the OG is one of the toughest guys you’ll find anywhere and the tone-setter for what we know as the Miami Heat Culture. This man is UD, Udonis Haslem.
Udonis Haslem is not only one of the toughest guys to come through the Miami Heat system, but he is arguably one of the toughest guys to have ever played in the league. In example and from a physicality and aggression standpoint, there is no era that UD couldn’t have played in. Speaking of those eras though, here is what he said about if he had played in a certain era and with a certain player.
https://twitter.com/ESPNNBA/status/1260240422955356162?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Etweet
Although Udonis Haslem is a winner’s winner, he is not with the shucking and jiving. Speaking to ESPN’s Richard Jefferson, the OG let it be known that he would have had to stick up for himself if he had played with His Airness, Michael Jordan.
It is a well-known fact that Michael Jordan berated his teammates at will, but he did so to motivate them and the Miami Heat lifer gets that, but when you are put together like Udonis is, it’s just what would have happened. He even expresses how he has encountered situations of the ilk in the past.
"“And I’ve definitely … I’ve exchanged words with Dwyane, I’ve exchanged words with Shaq, I’ve exchanged words with Bron, like you know, when you’re fighting for a championship, like, things happen. Things come out, you know, emotions go overflow, you got alpha males involved, but we never do the name-calling.”"
Fair enough UD, fair enough. That’s probably how some of those aforementioned spats with former teammates ended up as well. Outside of perhaps Shaq, for obvious reasons, who would want that smoke?
Next. LeBron James would have dominated in the 90’s too. dark
Exactly, nobody with a semblance of intelligence. Either way, we are glad he is on our side and we hope he stays there, for at least one more season. The OG deserves a proper send-off.