Heat’s Adebayo urges perspective about the moment Haslem launched an F-bomb about Bill Russell
Fortunately, when the Miami Heat announced last week the date next month that the team would retire Udonis Haslem’s No. 40, it wasn’t a game against the Boston Celtics.
As it is, the Heat also are probably better off not having another game at TD Garden during the regular season.
As part of a freewheeling, spontaneous and largely humorous interview with Heat center Bam Adebayo during his podcast, Haslem wound up discussing a moment last season against the Celtics when Haslem took over the huddle after Heat guard Kyle Lowry had addressed the team.
“We’re playing Boston, so you know his feeling,” Adebayo related of Haslem on The OGs podcast that is co-hosted by former Heat forward Mike Miller. “So, dog, we’re in the huddle, Kyle comes in there, he gives his pregame speech. So, at that time, and, you know, they retired like Bill Russell’s jersey for everybody in the league. So they have ‘6’ in our rafters. And this man is going off.”
And then Haslem let loose, in the middle of the huddle, in no uncertain terms other than anti-Celtics terms.
“F- – – Bill Russell.”
As in Bill Russell the late Celtics Hall of Fame center. As in Bill Russell, the civil-rights activist honored numerous times for his advancement of racial equality, including the Presidential Medal of Freedom. As in one of the most respected players in league history, an 11-time NBA champion.
For Haslem, who retired after last season, it was a moment meant to further evoke anti-Celtics fervor within the Heat inner circle during the huddle, a moment that had remained a private moment until Adebayo guested on the second episode of the podcast Haslem debuted earlier this month.
In retelling the story, Adebayo was attempting to accentuate the passion Haslem delivered as team captain, the single-mindedness that will have his No. 40 ascending to the Kaseya Center rafters on Jan. 19 when the Heat host the Atlanta Hawks.
As Haslem interjected during that huddle – he reiterated during the podcast – the moment wasn’t about Russell or any legacy, but rather that a Boston Celtics number was hanging over that moment.
“Tell me when you’re going to see a Miami Heat jersey hanging in Boston?” Haslem interjected on the podcast as Adebayo spun the story, amid laughter from Miller, Haslem’s roommate and teammate at the University of Florida.
As it is, the Heat have retired No. 23 and hung a banner honoring Michael Jordan, who never played for the Heat, but did have Chicago Bulls playoff success against the Heat.
No sooner was The OGs podcast released than Haslem’s comments were aggregated, but aggregated in a way that shed the respect Haslem offered for Russell throughout the interview.
During the conversation with Adebayo and Miller, Haslem also said, “I got to apologize. It wasn’t about Bill. It was just about the rivalry, about how I feel about the Celtics. But I will not take back my statement. You will never see a Miami Heat jersey or a Miami Heat player hang right there (at TD Garden).”
Ahead of the Heat’s five-game trip opening with Thursday night’s game against the Golden State Warriors at Chase Center, Adebayo was asked about the fallout from the podcast.
“Listen, I knew it was going to happen,” Adebayo said of the F-bomb from Haslem, who now works as a Heat executive while also practicing and sometimes traveling with the team, “but I had to share the story, just because we know how passionate UD is, all of us who’ve been around him. He’s really passionate about us. And he’s passionate about who talks about us, how they talk about us.”
Even if, in the moment, in that pregame huddle, it caught Adebayo as a bit extreme.
“In my mind,” the Heat center said, “I was like, ‘Did he play against Bill? What is up with the animosity? What does Bill have to do with it?’ ”
Russell retired from the NBA in 1969. Haslem was born in 1980.
Haslem stressed during the discussion he has no animosity toward current Celtics and Heat rivals such as Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown, but rather how so many former Celtics, including Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce, repeatedly over recent years have diminished the Heat’s championship accomplishments.
Adebayo said the Russell story was shared to show the degree of passion that endures within Haslem, 43, well beyond his three championship seasons and 20 years with the Heat.
“I felt like it was a great story to share,” Adebayo continued, “just because it was him at his utmost motivating but, slash, just him being himself and just explaining.
“We all respect Bill Russell for what he’s done for us as players and as Black people and all the stuff he had to go through – just to clear that air, before people started talking about that. We all know we respect that man.”
In his heart, Haslem said he has made amends, with Russell having died on July 31, 2022, with the NBA shortly thereafter having each team honor Russell with the retirement of No. 6.
“Me and Bill have made peace,” Haslem said. “I apologize to that. Sometimes you say things you don’t mean, I was in a moment trying to get everybody ready.”