4 questions the Miami Heat need to answer this offseason
By Joe Lyon
How can you replace the irreplaceable? Figure out the new heart and soul of the Miami Heat.
One question the Heat are going to have to answer this offseason has an impossible answer, how do you replace the irreplaceable? For more than two decades, Udonis Haslam has defined what it means to be a player for the Heat.
Skeptics will say that his loss is not that big of a deal given that he hardly plays and that his impact isn’t directly seen on the court every night. However, players and coaches maintain that Haslem is important to the locker room and credit him for his leadership.
Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo will continue to embody the commitment to hard work and mental resilience that Haslem has brought to the Heat for decades. Ask Haslem, and Adebayo is the one to carry the baton. From ESPN’s Israel Gutierrez:
"“I want to pass the torch to Bam [Adebayo] as the next bearer of the culture,” Haslem says. “I want to continue to mold and help Jimmy be the champion that he deserves to be. And I just want to leave this locker room headed in the right direction."
Still, that’s a lot to heap on the 25-year-old Adebayo. Haslem’s day-to-day presence at the facility will be missed.