Inside The Heat

Gilbert Arenas Reflects On Udonis Haslem's Role As Enforcer On Miami Heat

Former NBA player Gilbert Arena said he used to get upset with his big men because they didn't protect him like Udonis Haslem

Shandel Richardson

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The past few weeks were about various NBA players showing their respects to retiring Miami Heat player Udonis Haslem. 

The latest was former NBA All-Star Gilbert Arena, who gave a "shoutout" to Haslem recently on his podcast. Arenas told a story of how he used to get upset at his big man teammates because they didn't have his back like Haslem did in Miami. 

Haslem was the enforcer for players like Dwyane Wade and LeBron James during his 20-year career. 

"The thing I loved about UD was he protected his stars," Arenas said. "And I used to argue with our bigs, 'We just hit Dwyane Wade, and you see what he did to me. We fouled Dwyane Wade; he chucked the hell out of me. Can we do it like [that]?' He used to set an example - if you hit Dwyane Wade, you hit LeBron, you hit anybody that's on this team, I'm coming."

Haslem's career could come to an end tonight when the Heat face the Chicago Bulls in the play-in tournament. If the Heat win, they advance to play the Milwaukee Bucks in the first round.

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Shandel Richardson covers the Miami Heat for Inside The Heat.

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Shandel Richardson
SHANDEL RICHARDSON

Shandel has covered the NBA since 2010, with previous stops at The Athletic and South Florida Sun-Sentinel.  He has covered six NBA Finals, one Super Bowl, the NCAA basketball tournament. He has also been a beat writer for the Miami Hurricanes and contributed on every major beat in South Florida since 2003, including the Miami Dolphins and Miami Marlins. He can also be read in the Sportsbook Review for gambling coverage from around the NBA. A native of Bloomington, Illinois, Shandel attended Southern Illinois University in Carbondale. He's also worked for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and Kansas City Star.  TWITTER: @ShandelRich EMAIL: shandelrich@gmail.com You can subscribe to our YouTube channel here Follow all of our Miami Heat coverage on Facebook here

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