“If that mother****er went down”: Udonis Haslem boldly claims 11x NBA All-Star was more crucial than LeBron James during Big 3 era
The Miami Heat's Big Three dynamic of LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh was a nightmare matchup for most teams at the peak of their reign. However, Heat legend Udonis Haslem made a compelling argument on his "The OGs Show" podcast that Bosh was the team's most important player, more so than James.
Back then, the big three of the Miami Heat in the 2010s era won two NBA championships in back-to-back fashion. During their time playing together, certain adjustments had to be made for each to define their roles for the Heatles to work. In that context, Chris Bosh was seen as a versatile rotation piece.
"Everybody think that our most important player was Bron, our most important player, not our best player, was CB," Haslem said. "Because if Bron went down, you could bring in D-Wade. It's not the same player, but you're going to get similar results. ... We ain't have another CB. If that mother****er went down ... we ain't have another one of those."
Udonis Haslem's argument stemmed from the context that if the 11-time All-Star was sidelined with an injury, the Miami Heat didn't have a backup move in replacement of Bosh's capabilities.
Compared to instances when LeBron James was unavailable, they would run the offense through Dwyane Wade instead and the results were almost similar half of the time. The team's success was often predicated on the availability and unison of the three All-Stars.
However, Haslem is still of the notion that Chris Bosh was an integral piece to what made the Heat's engine run smoothly at that time.
Udonis Haslem argues that 39-year-old LeBron James is better than 29-year-old Giannis Antetokounmpo
During "The OGs Show" podcast episode, Udonis Haslem made an interesting comparison between LeBron James and Giannis Antetokounmpo.
"This is not knocking anything that Giannis does, man," Haslem said. "I watched after we lost that playoff series against Dallas in the playoffs, I watched Bron get in the lab and come back next summer the next year with s*** I never seen him do. I have not watched Giannis come back yet with s*** I ain't seen. I'm still waiting."
Despite the two NBA superstars already having a championship to their name, Haslem stood strong on the comparison made as he still sees Giannis Antetokounmpo's offensive versatility as lacking compared to LeBron James.
Similar to when James first arrived in the league, he was not seen as a reliable perimeter shotmaker as his game revolved around utilizing driving lanes and finishing through contact.
However, James made the necessary adjustments to his game to diversify his offensive looks and options, forcing the defense to adapt their coverages on him. Meanwhile, Udonis Haslem still views Giannis Antetokounmpo as a limited offensive player, outside of his athleticism and scoring under the basket.