Miami Heat: Pat Riley Gushes Over Udonis Haslem… Seals Deal On Return

Miami Heat: Udonis Haslem’s Return Is Bigger Than What Happens On The Court

It all boils down to a few things here. It isn’t about what he can do on the court at this point, as his three minutes and four points scored across one appearance last season indicates.

It’s much bigger than that for Udonis Haslem, the Miami Heat, and the man in charge of who is there or not, Pat Riley. It’s about sending a message, both with the move and through the move.

With the move, he continues to perpetuate the notion of the Culture. Talk about it all you want, but that’s only because you know it’s real, legit, and authentic.

Like every great thing of fortitude or strength, it has it’s chinks but at the end of the day, it’s as strong a foundation as any NBA franchise, team, and organization is built on. That’s also how he continues to send a message through the move.

Everything that the move stands for, the mumbo jumbo uttered in the aforementioned paragraph, Udonis Haslem embodies that as a man, a player, and as a teammate in that locker room. Just like every “great thing of fortitude and strength”, UD surely has his chinks or flaws because he’s human, but everything he has ever done, stood for, and represented is as strong of notions as can be asked for.

He understands what it means to work hard, to do that same thing every single day to get better, and then to do that to the best of your ability, for as long as you can, for as hard as you can, no matter what your role is in the situation, and only to achieve the ultimate combined end goal. There’s also the simplest, yet still complex, part of it all.

He’s a guy in the trenches with the other players. So there are things that he can say, that the guys in that locker room will only hear from another player, like him.

The particular instance above didn’t cause them not to finish losing that game or series, but it won’t always be that way and you need guys willing to do things like that. Pat Riley knows that though, which is all that matters.