The Miami Heat took a tough defeat at the hands of the Dallas Mavericks on Tuesday. Without their resident superstar, Jimmy Butler, Luka Doncic came in and led his team to victory.
While that was an awful part of the week so far in Miami Heat land, it hasn’t been all bad or at least, off the court. Udonis Haslem has been feeling really chatty over the past day or so and it’s resulted in some really quotable quotes, to say the least.
In a now famously hilarious Jimmy Butler clip, where he was apparently talking to reporter, Ira Winderman of the South Florida Sun Sentinel, he expressed just how good… or bad that he thought Winderman was at basketball.
Udonis had a take on the incident. It was classic Udonis and content gold.
UD tells Ira he does not condone how Jimmy spoke to him the other day 😂 pic.twitter.com/GKhMKjRvRk
— Brendan Tobin (@Brendan_Tobin) May 4, 2021
As Udonis stated in the end, he had never seen Winderman’s backside, in other words, play basketball. However, the retort was almost as good as Udonis Haslem’s apology, as it sounds like UD when Winderman said his life was threatened in past locker room interaction with The OG, in the most loving way, surely.
While that was Udonis Haslem in a joking tone, the next quote and via Associate Press reporter, Tim Reynolds, wasn’t as laughable. Well, that’s at least the vibe you get from reading it.
Miami Heat legend, Udonis Haslem, doesn’t think this NBA legend was a real ‘tough guy’
While context is the hardest thing to garner from text-based communication of any form, social media, text messages, and some longer-form writings, it’s very imaginable here with UD. Udonis Haslem is and has always been a certain type of guy.
When he says something and on certain topics, take it at face value. That’s definitely the case here.
"More seriously, I made the mistake of asking UD about this year’s Hall of Fame class and particularly the toughness of Kobe Bryant, Tim Duncan and Kevin Garnett. He quickly corrected me. To him, only two of those guys were tough."
In case you can’t read between the lines, the guy that he’s most likely referring to is Kevin Garnett. While there isn’t any confirmation and may never be, there is a good chance that this is who he’s referring to, especially considering the whole Ray Allen to Miami fiasco, the fact that they had battles in the postseason, and considering that this fact of KG not really being as “tough” as he makes it seems is something that other NBA tough guys have talked about.
While that was a bit of a stern turn in things, they do get, kind of, lighthearted again. In this last example of Udonis Haslem feeling like talking a bit, he spoke on the topic of him getting a few minutes at some point this season.
The Miami Heat’s ‘OG’ isn’t all serious talk though, as he has takes on his potential playing time for the rest of the season.
In typical UD fashion, he plans to do the most with the least. Here is what he said and this time, directly from the guy he was, kind of, apologizing to for Jimmy Butler in Ira Winderman. With the way the Miami Heat have played, they could probably used what he’s hypothetically offering.
Udonis Haslem, yet to get into a game this season, "I'm sure Spo and our guys keep those things close to hand and understand the importance of that." And, "I'm sure Spo will figure out a way to get me in there for 5 seconds and I'll grab 10 rebounds."
— Ira Winderman (@IraHeatBeat) May 4, 2021
You just have to love Haslem. With the way that the Miami Heat played on Tuesday night, you need content like this to help you focus on other Heat related things.
Udonis Haslem is closing down on the end of year 17 and whether he comes back next year is still up in the air. That has been a question around this time of the year for the last several years and it’s always answered the right way, with UD coming back.
Could that spot be used for somebody who, perhaps, could provide something on the floor? Maybe.
However, is that more valuable that what UD provides… off of the floor? That’s a really good question.
With the way that Coach Spo operates though, with limited rotations and all, is he really taking a space from someone else? That’s also a good question but regardless of the answer, for as long as the Heat want Haslem around, it’s more than fine because he has an impact on the team.
He also has an impact on everyone else. That’s pretty clear based on the above quotes.