The Miami Heat President Pat Riley had heartfelt words for all his star players who won the franchise its first championship. On the night Udonis Haslem’s no.40 jersey was retired, Riley also wished Shaquille O’Neal and Chris Bosh were at the Kaseya Center along with Dwyane Wade, Tim Hardaway, and Alonzo Mourning. They had their prior commitments but he made sure to acknowledge what they meant to the franchise.

“It’s his day today,” Riley said about Haslem. “It’s a sad day for me personally, it’s a great day for the city of Miami. Because above us are players who will go down in the history of this franchise as some of the greatest players that we’ve ever had. Obviously we hang their jerseys with their name on it … they’re right over here. We don’t have Chris Bosh and Shaquille O’Neal, but we’re going to put up another one.”

Riley got nostalgic over the team’s first championship led by Shaq, UD, D-Wade, Mourning, and Gary Payton. UD was largely considered a role player who didn’t stack up to the likes of Shaq and Alonzo. Riley dismissed all such assumptions. “I recall that game in the fourth quarter when everything was on the line. Besides having Dwyane Wade and Zo sort of dominate that game, in the fourth quarter, it was UD making three or four great jumpers or plays.”

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He went on to righteously say, “You remember every one of them that helped us win the first title.” Riley was glad to be able to honor Haslem’s understated but unmistakable contributions to the franchise in the presence of 20,000 spectators in the Kaseya Center. “Udonis Haslem, his force mattered and it counted and that’s one of the reasons why we’re hanging his jersey here today.”

Pat Riley made Udonis Haslem a rebounding force

A day earlier, Haslem was on The OGs podcast with a striking confession regarding his early relationship with the head honcho. “When you see Pat Riley, The Godfather, that was the first time that I was really intimidated.” For this reason, UD shockingly went two years without uttering a word to Riley. The first time he broke that ice, he thought Riley was about to scold him during the rebounding drill. But what he said was “Good job.”

UD, who sported his nickname, The OG and the number 40 in a necklace, brought back the same story. “Maybe you do remember,” he said in his speech. “that rebound in ’03 when the ball rolled to halfcourt and I was the only one to chase it. And you blew the whistle and you looked at me. You said, ‘Why didn’t you stop?’ I said, ‘Well, at that time, I didn’t hear a whistle.’ And you looked at me and you smiled.”

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That instance made Haslem chase every rebound. That’s why he’s the franchise’s all-time rebounding leader. Pat Riley has that impact. He might even successfully campaign for Udonis Haslem’s Hall of Fame spot. What do you think?

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