Former star and current front office member for the Miami Heat in Udonis Haslem has been making the rounds at ESPN on various shows giving his thoughts on multiple topics within the world of basketball. While on an episode of “First Take” Friday, he was asked which team is the biggest threat in the Eastern Conference to the defending champions Boston Celtics and you can probably guess what his answer was.
Yes, he would say the Heat have the best chance with a core of main stars like Jimmy Butler, and “young superstars” like Bam Adebayo and Tyler Herro, plus he mentions other players like Duncan Robinson, Tyler Herro, Jaime Jaquez Jr., and Nikola Jovic. The response he gave was part in frustration as he asked why no one ever talks about the Heat when discussing the teams that can beat the Celtics.
“I'm tired of this. Duncan Robinson. Terry Rozier. Jimmy Butler. A young superstar in Bam Adebayo. A young superstar in Tyler Herro. Jaime Jaquez Jr. Niko Jovic. Why don’t nobody ever say the Miami Heat?” a passionate Haslem said on the ESPN morning show Friday. “The last four of five years, it’s come down to the Miami Heat or the Boston Celtics. Milwaukee stuck themselves in there, but it’s come down to the Miami Heat or the Boston Celtics. And we got La Spoelstra Nostra.”
Haslem says a “healthy” Heat team can challenge the Celtics
While there is no doubt people will say Haslem has bias since he has been with the team for 20 seasons and is a current front office member as said before, history is on his side as Miami has been the team to thwart Boston in the past. The two rivals have met in the playoffs in four of the last five seasons where they are tied 2-2 in those series.
“So I’m sitting here asking, why don’t nobody ever say the Miami Heat?” Haslem continued on ESPN's “First Take” as he is now the Vice President of Basketball Development for Miami. “A healthy Miami Heat is the team that can challenge Boston because we’ve done it the last four out of five years. I’m sick of this, man. This got to stop, the Heat hate got to stop.”
Host of the show Molly Qerim would give a response to Haslem saying there is no hate towards the Heat when discussing the teams that can beat the Celtics next season. She would question the team with the continuous speculation of the situation surrounding their main star in Butler.
“It’s not Heat hate,” Qerim said. “We don’t even know if you’re going to have Jimmy Butler.”
Is Qerim's concern about Butler valid?
The concerns surrounding the Miami's top player in Butler started when it was reported that he is seeking a two-year contract extension worth around $113 million. In response, Heat President Pat Riley was non-committal during his end of season press conference last May.
“Well, you know, we don't have to do that for a year and so we have not discussed that internally right now but we have to look at that and then making that kind of commitment,” Riley said.
“Well, I mean, if you request we can either accept or we can say we're going to think about it,” Riley said. “We've not made a decision on it and I think you can make too much out of this. You still got two years left on the contract. Theoretically he's got a player option. But that's something that we have to give some real thought to based on a lot of factors. I don't want to go through the litany of factors right now because they all go up into different hypotheticals, but yeah, that's a big decision on our part to commit those kinds of resources unless your somebody who's really going to be there and available every single night, that's the truth.”
Haslem confident Butler will be back with Miami
However, Haslem would refute Qerim's concern about Butler as he was confident that he will be back next season with the Miami as it will be sixth season with the team. The former player would also question if people not mentioning the Heat as a threat is not “sexy” enough of a pick.
“We do know we’re going to have our best player,” Haslem said. “You ain’t heard us say he’s going somewhere. We just hear y’all saying he’s going somewhere. Ain’t none of us ever saying he’s going somewhere. So what, is it not sexy enough for y’all because all we do is win? Because we win with guys that y’all don’t know.”
Heat and Celtics rivalry ignited after NBA Finals
Even after the Celtics won their 18th championship, which is a NBA record, there have been some shots aimed at the way of the Heat. Besides having traveled to Miami to celebrate their title win, former player Brian Scalabrine asked Boston star Jayson Tatum about the trip to Miami where the 25-year old had a snarky response according to ClutchPoints Celtics reporter Daniel Donabedian.
“You guys have been on a lot of trips to Miami,” Scalabrine said. “A lot of hard-fought trips to Miami. Was this one a little sweeter taking that trip down?”
“They always easy,” Tatum answered.
Tatum's response is no doubt made in jest as history would say otherwise as Miami met Boston three times in the Eastern Conference Finals where the former won twice and even in the third in 2022, it came down to the last shot. Haslem would echo the same sentiments saying that Tatum must have been “still drunk” from celebrating his first championship.
“I think he’s still drunk from the party,” Haslem said. “He’s gotta still be tipsy from the party, there’s no way he could believe that. It’s OK, that’s what he’s supposed to say. Congratulations to the Boston Celtics. I ain’t gonna be no hater, we understand they’re the champs. We’re going to get fully healthy, then we’ll see what happens.”
In any sense, it was easy for the Celtics this last playoffs as they beat the Heat in five games in the first round where they were missing Butler for the whole series due to an MCL sprain. Miami is trying to improve after a second straight eighth seed finish where they had a 46-36 record.
Follow Us
Subscribe