The Heat’s Biggest Strength No One is Talking About | Miami Heat New Look Roster

The Heat’s Biggest Strength No One is Talking About | Miami Heat New Look Roster

Can Miami be one of the best three-point shooting teams in the NBA? We break down how the Heat could boost their offense this season from behind the arc on today’s episode of Locked on Heat. [Music] You are Locked on Heat, your daily Miami Heat podcast, part of the Locked On podcast network, your team every day. All right, welcome to Locked on Heat, your daily podcast on the Miami Heat. Whether you’re tuning in on YouTube or on your favorite podcast app, thanks for making Lock on Heat your first listen every day. I’m Wes Goldberg, host of Lock on NBA Daily and Real Jam Radio here with Dave Mill. Both of us are credential heat media members who cover this team every day. And we have a great show for you today. We’ll continue our 252 series with a look at an alltime heat legend in a second. first David. I was uh I’m preparing my notes for a deeper dive into the youth offense and it it’s for a different show that we’re planning on doing for a different episode. And I came across this stat that I wanted to share because I haven’t seen Miami’s offense framed quite this way anywhere else. The Heat ranked 13th in three-point attempts last year. Not terrible, not a lead. The starters averaged 24 three-point attempts per 100 possessions combined last season. Not terrible, not elite. Right in the middle of the pack. We talk a lot about ways that Miami can improve on offense. And I think one way that they could do it is take more threes. You think about the ways this team was good with Jimmy Butler scoring out of the post, getting to the free throw line, isol elite ISO efficiency. That’s not this roster. And I’m looking at this roster, a New Look Heat roster, and I’m asking myself, what can this team be good at? Like, what can this roster itself? I don’t know if it’s going to be elite at any one thing, but if it was going to be elite at any one thing, what’s the thing? And I went back to three-point shooting. But let me know what you think. Like I think every offense to be at a high level, you have to do something at an elite level. And if we’ve, as we talked about at Nauseium, it seems like the last few years here, it just felt like Miami didn’t do anything on offense at an elite level. Is am I right to be maybe steering things towards three-point shooting or should I maybe be looking in a different direction? No, I I think we’ve we discussed this possibility before, but you look at Tyler Herro, Norm Powell, Andrew Wiggins, Bamead Bio, and Khalil Wear, and that’s what we project to be the starting lineup this year, and those are all capable three-point shooters. I think Wear of the five is probably the worst, and yet he does have that ability as a sevenfooter. So, you’ve got the potential for a five out offense, and I think that’s what we were expecting Eric Spolster to implement. that at the beginning of last season and then he wound up scraping that alto together. You know, we we saw him experiment with the idea didn’t really work mostly because you had Jimmy Butler on the team and he was kind of in and out of the lineup early on and a little disgruntled and so not to put anything necessarily on Jimmy or whatever he did last season, but that’s not the strength of his game. He’s talked about that before. He’s not just a three-point shooter. He wants to be able to attack, go downhill, bully his way to the paint. That’s where he feels more comfortable. This is a completely different offense. It’s not to say that anybody in that starting lineup can’t find other ways of scoring, but as far as the three-point shooting is concerned, it’s all something that they have in their offensive repertoire. And so now I think for the first time maybe since the big three era, you have the capacity for everybody to be able to stretch the floor and provide different opportunities to get wide open looks from the three-point range and then be able to attack the paint because of the defense being offkilter or thrown off to a certain degree where you have more opportunities for back door cuts, somebody going along the baseline, etc. Somebody attacking from the paint or from the wing area. There’s so many different things you can do with the offense because you have to have legitimate concerns about everybody being able to shoot the three-point shot. I think that’s right. And there’s a lot of ways to get into the three-point shooting. You mentioned, all right, getting downhill, attacking the basket. I think Norm Powell can help with that a lot. Jimmy Butler, for as few threes as he took, generated a lot of threes because he was able to put pressure on the paint and and draw double teams. And you look at this roster like who’s really drawing that kind of attention? Who’s putting that sort of downhill pressure on the basket? And I think the Heat would tell you everybody is supposed to do that. I would also say that’s probably not going to work. That doesn’t typically work in the NBA. It’s you kind of need one single advantage creator in the NBA. And again, we’re going to do a deeper dive, like a full episode on how Miami can reshape the offense, but we talked about Andrew Wiggins working out of the post a couple episodes ago. I think Bam certainly can do a better job of getting to the rim. Uh, I think somebody like Norm Pal, who is much more a north south guy than maybe any anybody else on the roster right now, who they just acquired, can also provide a lot of that. Playing in transition, that can also help. Again, we’ll do a deeper dive, but I’m looking at the team right now in terms of how many threes they’re going to take because you look at the quality like these guys can make shots. We know that even Bam was making threes out of the corner in the second half of last season. I know Tyler Herro and Norm Pal and Andrew Wiggins can make shots when they get them. Can they get them? Can they take them? And can they take them at a high degree? Because I’m almost at the point where I’m just going to say, you know what? I know that they’re hardest working, gnarly, like all this stuff like every possession matters and we value it and we we’re going to drain the shot clock out and we’re going to work and we’re going to work and we’re going to work until we get a good possession. I’m at the point where I’m like screw it. The math works. Go full James Harden Rockets. go full college basketball and put up these three-pointers. And I have a good sign, not to bury the lead here, David, but I have a really good sign that that could be what’s in store. I pulled up the numbers for the starting lineup. Three-point shots generated per 100 possessions. Okay, so I told you last year they took 24 three-point attempts per game or no, per 100 possessions from the starting lineup last year. That’s not enough. Not according to our let’s do the math thing. Tyler Hero averaged 12.3 three-point attempts per 100 possessions. And I’m using the per 100 possessions for people who don’t really like the advance. That’s just to normalize things. Okay? Everybody plays a different amount of minutes. I’m trying to normalize it across the board. So all the comparative numbers, too, are are averaged out for across 100 possessions. So they’re not going to actually take 12 three-point attempts per game. It’s going to be across 100 possessions. That’s how we’re normalizing things. But it’s still a qualitative way to look at this this stuff. Talah averaged 12.3 point uh three point attempts per 100 possessions. Norm Pal with the Clippers last year 10.8 per 100 possessions. Andrew Wiggins with Miami, I’m just pulling the Miami numbers from 9.1 three-point attempts per 100 possessions. Bam Adabio surprisingly 4.1 three-point attempts per 100 possessions. And Kell Wear 3.9. That’s our projected starting lineup. Now, if you think that Nicolovic is going to start over Kaware, perhaps even better. Nicolovic 9.1 three-point attempts per 100 possessions. But let’s stick with the Bamware lineup for now. That is an average of 40.2 three-point attempts per 100 possessions. And David, if you think that sounds like a lot, you would be right because that would have been number one in the league with a bullet last year. Boston led the league. Boston just spamming the three-point line, not doing anything other than just chucking threes. Led the league at 36.3 three-point attempts per 100 possessions last year from their starting lineup. And that would be Miami’s if everything holds, which obviously it doesn’t. This is not an exact science, and I’m not sitting here claiming that Miami is going to lead the league in three-point shooting attempts. But the point being is that this team is capable of it of capable of putting it up at a high volume and that the players that we project to be in the starting lineup not only are capable of it have done it as recently as last season. If Eric Spolzer goes to each guy in that projected starting lineup like I want you to shoot more threes. Tyler Herro could say I already shoot a lot of threes. Hey Norman Pal I want you to shoot a lot of threes. Cool. I was doing that in LA. I already shoot a lot of threes. Hey Wiggins I want you to shoot a lot of threes. Awesome. That’s all I was doing in Golden State and it’s all I was doing really in Miami when I got here. Hey Bam, I want you to shoot more threes. Cool. I was doing it towards the end of last year. Hey Kar, I want you to take more threes. Awesome. I would love to be doing that. Like this team takes a lot of threes and it’s kind of the thing nobody is talking about post Jimmy Butler. They have weirdly constructed a roster that for years with Jimmy wasn’t getting up a ton of threes. They did it a lot. They were ahead of the curve the first couple years, the dribble handoff game and Duncan Robinson and all that entire year and all that stuff and then it got away from them and then they were below the curve or behind the curve. Now I think we’re maybe going back to the other way of this where we have this is a roster that could thrive in terms of volume three-point shot taking. I just I want to believe I want to I see the numbers. I I I recognize it. I love the Rockets comparison. I was thinking that in my head, too. And I there’s something holding back though and that’s can Eric Spolster buy in? Does he see that vision and does he want that to be the case for his offense? Because as much as I think he leaned into what Jimmy dictating the offense because he was slowing down pace because he was a little bit more deliberate in his attack of the paint. Does Eric Spolster say, “You know what? No, this is my team, my vision, and what I want is a faster paced team, a team that just puts up three-point shot after three-point shot.” And I don’t I don’t know because Spo has been so versatile in terms of just completely different offenses that fit whatever personnel he has in there. Is that the vision for this team? Is is that the one that Eric Spolster is going to teach in training camp in terms of we’ve got these three-point shooters across the board here, not just in the starting lineup, but as you pointed out, Nikico Yovich, a guy who can be capable, we haven’t even talked about him, arguably maybe the best three-point shooter on the roster, and he he just maybe he gets play time, maybe he doesn’t. So, off the bench, yeah. Yeah. Does Eric Spolster lean into that and say, “This is going to be our new offense moving forward, a team that just puts up shots and then finds ways of also scoring in different ways generated off of those three-point looks.” Maybe. I mean, they have these numbers, too. I know that they’ve seen these numbers. Um, I I I think to your point, Eric Spolster has always done a good job being like Spo doesn’t want to play this specific way. He usually tailors his offensive scheme around his personnel. And if any team and any coaching staff needs to scrap the system that they’ve had the last couple years and install a brand new one, it’s this Miami Heat team, not only because the offense stunk the last couple years, but because the main driver of that offense is no longer on the roster. Right. And I I was just going to make that point. If you look at this roster and you know that Tyler Herro is the de facto point guard and growing as a playmaker, he’s still not your typical point guard who’s going to be setting up offense, nor is he the engine for this team really. So, what’s the best way of mitigating that role if you don’t have that player? You don’t need that player by just generating three-point looks. You’ve got five guys that can attack in different ways. You talked about uh the low post offense stemming from Wiggins, Bam, Khalil Wear. All those guys are capable passers out of the painted area and that’s how you look at it in that sense that you’re going to be generating offense from the three-point line without the need of a traditional point guard. It’s one way of kind of changing the roles to fit what your personnel are and leaning into that version of what skills they do have so you can create the offense that you need in order to thrive in the NBA. So, I’m looking forward to seeing it if it works out that way. And you hope that Eric Spolster is listening to this podcast. Uh, one way to create space when you’re not an elite athlete, you’re not going to create spa, like with Tyler Hero, you’re not going to create space getting downhill, driving to the basket, doing is to create space from outside, from the logo, from just shooting from 30 feet out. Like that is another way to create space. And we know that Tyler Hero and by the way, Norm Powell, these guys are capable of that. So, a deeper dive into Miami’s offense is coming up in a future episode, but we’re going to pause it there for now. We’ll put a pin in this conversation. 25 of 25 is next. Today’s episode is brought to you by Monarch Money. Most people can’t name all their financial accounts or even what they’re worth, whether it’s 401ks, properties, or investments. And we don’t have the full picture. You can end up leaving money on the table. And that’s why there’s Monarch Money. It’s an all-in-one personal finance tool that brings your entire financial life together in one clean, easy to use interface on your laptop or your phone. Monarch is built for people with busy lives. If you put off organizing your finances, Monarch is for you. Monarch does the heavy lifting for you. You can link all of your accounts in minutes, see clear data visuals, get smart categorization of your spending, and finally feel in control of your money without ever touching a spreadsheet. If you’re looking to save up for a big purchase or maybe something down the road that you think is uh, you know, let’s say college expenses or something along those lines, maybe the purchase of a new home, Monarch Money will help identify the ways that you’re spending money and help you achieve your goals faster and smarter. If there’s a way of saving some money here and there that can help you achieve your goal, Monarch Money is the tool to help you reach that more quickly. So, don’t let financial opportunity slip through the cracks. Use the code locked on NBA at monarchmoney.com in your browser for half off your first year. That’s 50% off your first year at monarchmoney.com with a code lockedNBA. We’ll be right back. [Music] Thanks for making Lockdown Heat your first listen every day. Hit that subscribe button on YouTube. Follow us on your favorite podcast app. This is our 25 of 25 series, looking back at the top 25 heat players of the last 25 seasons. Each episode, we’ll be taking an in-depth look at every player who made the list as voted on by us and our Lockdown Heat Insider community through the lens of what made them a definitive part of the franchise’s history. Checking in at number nine, the one and only Goran Dragitch. And not to be outdone now at number eight, Heat Culture himself, the OG himself, a man with a podcast in many different roles, it is Udonis Hasslam. Udonis Hasslam’s tenure with the Miami Heat is one of the most remarkable examples of loyalty and longevity in NBA history. Born and raised in Miami, Hasslam went undrafted in 2002 after playing collegiately at the University of Florida. He began his professional career overseas, but in 2003, he signed with his hometown Miami Heat as an undrafted free agent. the same summer that they drafted one Dwayne Wade. What started as an underdog opportunity turned into a 20-year career, making him the longest tenur player in franchise history, Hlam quickly established himself as a gritty, undersized power forward known for his toughness, rebounding, and defensive presence. In 2006, he played a a pivotal role in helping the Heat capture their first NBA championship, scoring 17 points in the decisive game six of the NBA finals against the Mavericks. He went on to be part of all three of Miami’s titles, serving as a steady presence alongside stars like Dwayne Wade, LeBron James, and Chris Bosch during the Heat’s Fame Big Three era that produced back-to-back championships in 2012 and 2013. Though his playing time diminished in those later years, Hasslam’s importance to the franchise only grew. He became the ultimate culture setter, embodying the quote unquote heat culture of discipline, accountability, and hard work that Pat Riley and Eric Spolster have built. Known as the team’s emotional leader and enforcer, Hasslam mentored countless younger players and was often described as the heartbeat of the locker room. Despite multiple opportunities to leave for more money elsewhere, Hasslam consistently took pay cuts to remain in Miami. His retirement in 2003 cemented his legac in 2023 cemented his legacy as not only a three-time champion and the franchise’s all-time leading rebounder, but also the definition of loyalty, sacrifice, and leadership within a single franchise. David, the highest he was ranked on our panel was four. The lowest he was ranked was 18. I had him at seven. You had him at five. What stands out to you about HLam? Why did you rank him fifth? I just don’t know that you can write the story of the Miami Heat without Udonis Hasslam being all over it. The fact that he’s joined the team in 2003 and has been part of every championship era. We talked last time during Goran Dragage about how he was the the kind of connecting thread through different eras of basketball. Nobody’s connected more eras than than Udonis hasn’t because he was here for 20 seasons. He was there for all the eras. He was here for everything. Like aside from the fact that he didn’t get to play with Tim Hardway and Alonzo Morning in the late 90s, right? Uh he was there and that’s basically it. Other than that, it was there from the rebuilding era. the first year Stan Van Gundy as head coach. Like he’s had three head coaches. There have only been three head head coaches for this team since Pat Riley took over in 95. He’s played for all three of them and that’s just Udonis has them. Like he’s just been there for everything. Uh he’s he’s just seen it all. I just all about Udonis. I just And to me when I think of Udonis and I close my eyes and imagine him playing, it’s still early Udonis. It’s cornro. Yep. Udonis. It’s him, you know, mouthpiece dangling out of the corner of his mouth, being angry, having hops, playing aggressively, undersized and as gritty as they get. And that’s what I remember. Everybody who join kind of joined on the fan bandwagon after the big three formation kind of pictures him as the older veteran where he wasn’t playing much of a role. He was coming off the bench. No, no, go back. Look at what Udonis did early on in his career. He earned that starting job alongside Dwayne Wade. He earned it. He earned it against playing alongside Shaquille O’Neal. He was as important a part of that championship as any other and uh he’s been a heck of a player for this franchise and to do that as an undrafted player, it’s unbelievable. His story is one of one and the respect that he has garnered throughout the league. Yes. Like I it’s just it’s unbelievable like that you that he fans would deem to insult his role or minimize what he’s the impact he’s had is bordering on sacrilegious because he is spoken of in hollow tones around the NBA. There are 450 guys, 449 if you look at it that way, and they all love Udonis Hasslam. And I, no one, nothing I think symbolizes that more than in the Orlando bubble when all the teams are playing and deciding what to do. Udonis spoke and everybody listened. And that’s the kind of power he has. He has that presence not just as a tough guy, not just as an enforcer as you mentioned, but as a voice of reason, as a voice of uh respectability, as a veteran presence, as a leader, not just in that team, around the city. There are so many stories that you could tell about Udonis Hasslam, and they’re all valid. Rumors for years that he was going to run for office for years. And they’re not And he’d win. And he’d win. He would win it on a landslide. I I love the story about Dwayne Wade early on his career getting his I think some jewelry stolen. Yep. And he told Ud said, “I got you, bro.” And next thing you know, within hours within 24 hours had the jewelry returned. Yep. It’s amazing. What a story. And he’s that connected. It’s like, you know what? I know the criminal element throughout this city to the point where you know what, I make a few phone calls. He was like a detective walking into a crime scene. and be like, “I know who did this. They put the they put the washcloth in the sink. I know exactly who did this.” Like, what a story. Like, and here he is like a millionaire basketball player competing for a championship. Yeah. And it’s all right. You know what? I I know everybody in this city. And he does, you know, like business owners. It’s just he is just such a part of the city. He literally has Florida on his back and there’s a tattoo of the state of Florida there. like you can’t be any more 305 than UT is. He’s the best. He’s absolutely the best. Um he is he uh for people who did dismiss him as having a roster spot late in his career, I just knew that you were a younger Heat fan. And not I don’t even like being mean to dismiss you like whatever. Maybe you had a point that a 40-year-old shouldn’t be whatever. But if you grew up with a Hasslam, I don’t care. You never questioned it. You’re like, “Yep, that guy could stay until he’s 60. I don’t give a bleep. That guy can stay as long as he wants. Um, right. There’s so much more that we could talk about. Um, we got to take a break here. We got trivia on the other side. We got our biggest what if moment. And I just got I got more waxing poetic about Hasslam at the other side of this break. Today’s episode is brought to you by FiveHour Energy. Caffeine just got a flavor upgrade because 5Hour Energy Shots deliver tasty caffeine in 17 bold flavors. 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Get the favorites you love or be bold and try something new in store or online at www.5ourenergy.com or via Amazon today. We’ll be right back. [Music] So, you mentioned when you close your eyes and you think about Udonis Helen, what I think about is I think about cornrows and I think about that baseline jumper, that 15T patented baseline jumper. And I remember as a kid practicing that in my driveway, more accurately, my cousin’s driveway. He had the basketball hoop and over and over I said, “Yeah, I probably can’t be Dwayne Wade, but I think I could probably hit this jumper about as much as Udonis Hasslam was my thought as a as a kid growing up in Coral Springs.” So, um, that’s that’s where I was. But I also want to talk a little bit about his because your point about his reputation around the league is so great and I can’t be overstated. I always said this about UD. He had the ultimate street cred among basketball players. And yeah, it was probably because he could find your stolen uh jewelry within a few hours of it happening. But it was also because of his story. He had the most credibility of any NBA player you could argue ever. And I’ll tell you what I I mean by that. If you were undrafted and wanted to make a team, Udonis Ham could talk to you about how to do it. LeBron couldn’t talk to you about how to do that. He was the number one pick. That guy was going to have a career for 10 years no matter what happened. Hlam said if you played overseas and you wanted to make it overseas and you wanted to make it to the NBA, UD could talk to you about that. If you needed to lose a bunch of weight and get in shape and get in prime shape, elite elite shape, UD could talk to you about that. I’ve been there. I did that. I went undrafted because I was fat. Then I got into the best shape of my life. Now I’m a starter and I I’m a champion. He won a championship in his third season. Yeah. You want to talk about championships and how to win them? He could talk to you about that. Udonis Ham was able to tell LeBron about how to win a championship when LeBron came in 2010 as an undrafted guy who had to play overseas for a year. Nobody ever had more. He could talk to every kind of player, no matter the path. You were poor growing up. I could talk to you about that. like he could talk to you about anything. Yeah. With the the most amount of credibility and that’s huge and that’s why he was on the roster for as long as he was on the roster. Uh are you ready for trivia? Yeah. I I just want to add you Whitesight, Duncan Robinson, Gabe Vincent, Max Truce, all of them with multi-year million-dollar contracts. None of them get that without UD. like UD’s presence and his ability to coach them up and tell them you do what you’re asked to do here, you’re gonna get paid. And do you know, and people kind of dismiss that, but do you know how important that is to build a team that has to shore up its roster with these undrafted players and that they’ve all found a way to thrive? like Assan obviously not an undrafted player but a guy who was virtually out of the league and he sacrifices and and and builds his career gets a hundred million dollar contract because of a guy like Udon is mentoring him and telling him you put in the work you’re going to get going to get paid and that means so much because he’s just been such an impactful influential guy within the course of that locker room it’s unbelievable. It’s time for trivia. I have three questions for you David. All right, man. Udonis Helman went undrafted in 2002. He had to prove himself overseas before joining the Miami Heat. Which European country did he play in before signing with Miami? France, baby. All right, very good. Uh, what fast food franchise does he own multiple locations of in South? I feel like I made these too easy. A couple of them, but uh, I know the one he’s most known for is Subway sandwiches. Ding, ding, ding. All right, this one I think is challenging. We’ll see if you get this one. Okay. All right. Hamlam’s number 40 was recently retired by the Miami Heat. Which two people does he credit as inspiration for choosing that number? Oh, that is a good one. Oh, I was there and I should have remembered this from his speech, but um Oh, what an interesting 40, huh? I’m not sure he mentioned it in his speech, but he has talked about it on the record. Okay. He might have talked about it in his speech. I don’t remember. Gosh, I I uh Shiki Rodriguez, his high school coach. No. No, I guess not. All right. Uh man, no. Somebody within the Heat organization. Yeah, I’m I’m not going to give you points for that. You have to be a little bit more specific, but uh yes, it is somebody affiliated with the Miami Heat is one of those people. Pat Riley. It’s not Pat Riley. Okay, I give up. It was his father’s number in high school. Okay. And former Heat player Tim James. Wow. Quote, I played AAOU with James even before that. Tim is a Miami legend, bro. He was doing he was the original Mr. Miami. He played for Miami Northwestern. Played for at the uh M as well. Yep. He had the opportunity to stay home and play in his hometown. He was the first to do it. So I’m always paying tribute to him. End quote. Should have remembered that. He has he has called out Tim before. I I I remember I remember Tim playing Northwestern. He was a all state basketball player. I think he might have been Mr. Florida as far as best player in the state. and then playing at University of Miami. What a great story. Uh James Jones, too, being another one of those guys that took that same route playing American High and then going on to M and coming back to play for Miami Heat. Uh let’s uh yeah, that’s interesting. Uh I know that he had an incredible impact on on UD and but I I’m I’m old enough and I I hate to date myself. I remember reading about the scandal associated with Udonis when he was playing at Miami High that they had like this incredible team of guys that were put together. None of them necessarily lived in the area where Miami High was. The Miami High Stinger is alongside other NBA player Steve Blake. You remember Steve Blake? Of course. How could I forget Steve Blake? Well, okay. Uh, yeah. So, him UD. I don’t even think UD was the best player on that team. Steve Blake played at UCLA, right? He ended up going to UCLA. Uh, I don’t I don’t remember. I want to say Maryland, actually. I think he might have been a Turk, but I don’t know that for certain, but it doesn’t matter. Yeah, you’re right. Maryland. Maryland. Okay. So yeah. Yeah. He’s he’s been a part Yeah. He’s been part of basketball forever. So, and you mentioned his high school coach. What was his name again? Um Shaky. Shaky Rodriguez. That was not his real first name, though. What was his real first name? It was uh Oh, I don’t know. I talked to him on the phone. He had a nickname Shaky. I did talk to him on the Shak. Why would you go by He went on the coach South Carolina? No, that’s Frank Martin. Frank Martin. Oh, that’s the other guy that Yes. Yeah. Frank Moore. Yeah, I So, uh, let’s get to some of our recurring segments. We’re gonna put, uh, we’re gonna hold the what if moment here for a second. Jersey worthy, obviously. Yes. Do you have a favorite Udonis Hasslam jersey? I think it’s to me it’s got to be the all black one, I think, for him. Not the all black one, just like the standard black one. Yeah, I could see it. Orange piping or whatever. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. Uh, the the Jones Badier Zoest. So, Udonis Hlam in his prime. No doubt. For sure. Are you kidding? Yes. Yes. Defensive backbone off the bench. You need a backup center. UD. He would be a center in today’s NBA for the record. Like he wouldn’t be playing power forward nearly as much even as undized as he was. Like I think that would have been fine. He’d have to work at a three-point shot though. Like it would be a tough call for 10 minutes a game. Play good defense. Rebound. What do you make? He would make the team better I think. But I like a slightly taller Haywood Heismith without the three-point shot. I don’t know. It would be a tough call. I’m not I’m not sure it’s as easy as you make it sound. Like I want to give him the benefit of the doubt because it’s not like he wasn’t just playing like three years ago, but I it’s uh he evolved also and he became a guy who was willing to shoot the three, but even in his prime, if you ask him, he’s always been able to shoot the three. He just wasn’t allowed to. So maybe in today’s NBA he would have shot the three. He shot uh for his career 12% from three. So, it’s not ex it’s not like exactly has a ton, but he was a he was always a good free throw shooter or, you know, above average free throw shooter. So, yeah. No doubt. Uh, his best year he averaged 12 points, nine rebounds. I would take 12 points, nine rebounds off the bench. Okay. You know what I mean? So, yeah. Sure. Uh, versus been this player against the player who came before him and ask if we got it right. Ulam over Goran Dragich. You and I both had him over Goran Dragich. No shade to Goran, but it’s UD. Come on. Yeah. Yeah. just because he means he’s longer career, he’s meant more for the team. This is our sliding doors moment. It’s a what if moment that could have changed the way that this player is remembered for better or for worse or could have changed the trajectory of his career. I don’t think that there’s a way that we remember Hasslam better, right? Like this was you play out Udonis Hamlam’s career a hundred times, this is the best version of it, right? Yeah. Like there’s not a better version of Hasslam’s career than the one we got. So unfortunately, you kind of got to go the other way that like would there what if it didn’t work out that way? There’s a to me a lot of exit ramps that he just drove right by. You know what I mean? And and and gets a lot of credit for that decision for driving by those exit ramps. The one that stands out to me, and maybe you’re you disagree with me, but the one that stands out to me more than anything, what if he signs with Dallas in 2010? I thought it was Denver. I thought it was Denver that was offering him the most money. But yeah, I thought it was Denver, but you’re absolutely right. It’s exactly what I was thinking. It was if he chooses not to like Dwayne, LeBron, let’s say LeBron refuses to take less money despite Dwayne saying, “No, we need UD on this team, bro.” And so it was the Mavericks, I’m sorry, it was the Mavericks and the Nuggets. They both offered him uh something around 30 plus million over five years, which was um it was roughly $14 million more than what Miami gave him. It’s a different vibe, right? Like, thank you for the seven good seasons you gave us, etc. We won a championship. No hard feelings, right? Right. Yeah. You got to go get your money. We totally get it. Sucks to see you go, but you miss so much after that. Uh, you miss Tyler Hanssboro getting clobbered. You miss his going neck nose to nose with David West uh and challenging everybody the way he did. like all the different moments stepping up when Bosch got hurt in the playoffs. Yeah, that was huge. Absolutely. Those things are necessary. Like that’s all part of UD’s story challenging Jimmy Butler on the sideline. Um I I don’t know. It would just be a completely different team. Like I don’t know that as much as you might want to dismiss what he did on the court and maybe you have an argument, I I still think that this team would be completely different had he left in 2010. So, he would have been part of the championship, but I don’t think he’d be as highly revered. So, that’s a great call. And if he joined Dallas instead of Denver. Oh, that’s an in won a championship there with the Mavericks beating the Heat and it would have been the ultimate. You chose style over substance. That would have been you had UD OG of the of the ground, salt of the earth, and you let him walk for the pomp and circumstance of the LeBron, the the Heels. You wanted the you wanted to win the press conference. You got LeBron, you got Dway, you got Chris Botch, but you gave up your soul to do it and then your soul came back and beat you in the NBA finals. It’s interesting for a hundred million reasons, but specific to UD, he becomes like this crazy polarizing figure for Heat fans where segments of Heat fans hate him because he beat us. He left and he beat us. Segment of Heat fans are just jealous because they wish that he was still playing for us and they’re pissed at Miami. They’re pissed at the Heat Organization for letting him walk, you know, like there’s so many different iterations of that. Uh my heart hurt just hearing thinking about the possibility. Like I I I it’s so it’s so funny. I like I I almost pictured like the introductory press conference and Durk talking about that he knows full well and his German accent that he knows full well how Udonis could be a pivotal player because he saw him in 2006. He did such a good job and he would talk him up so well and like Oh yeah. Has him guarded him in the 2006 finals. Absolutely. And then UD saying, “You know what? Now instead of guarding him, now I get to just guard him in practice.” And it’s just a camaraderie. Respect for Shut up. Make it stop. Make it stop. Uh I don’t like this timeline. I want to go back. Let’s go back to the current real timeline where Hasslam played 20 years in Miami. Uh, let us know in the YouTube comments your favorite Udonis Hasslam memory moment. What he means to you as a Heat fan. Um, you know, I think maybe more than anybody that we’ll do this for, what Hasslam means to you is maybe the most the biggest reason why he’s on a list like this, right? Like everybody else has the production, the bonafides, the resume. Has obviously has those things, but just not the level of some of these legit hall of famers who we’ll be talking about later on as we complete this list. But let us know what you think in the comments. Thanks for making Lockdown Heat your first listen every day.

Are the Miami Heat secretly cooking up an elite 3-point shooting attack?

Wes Goldberg and David Ramil break down the numbers behind Miami’s new-look roster and potential offensive overhaul before continuing their 25 Of 25 series with Udonis Haslem. #miamiheat #nba #podcast #heat

0:00 Intro
1:30 Heat’s new offense?
13:00 25 Of 25: Udonis Haslem

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