Getty Miami Heat center Bam Adebayo and forward Kelly Olynyk celebrate against the Toronto Raptors.
He’s one of the loudest talkers on sports television and he just put the Miami Heat on blast. Well, it was more of a challenge than a dig.
ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith went on a lengthy rant about how much he loves and respects the Heat organization earlier this week before getting real. His message was a simple one: there are a ton of people that think last year’s NBA Finals run was a fluke, so they better start winning games.
Yes, he mentioned the Heat being ravaged by COVID-19 protocols and being down key players like Jimmy Butler, Tyler Herro, Goran Dragic, Avery Bradley, Meyers Leonard for long stretches. It doesn’t matter.
Miami Heat, people are all looking at you like you were a fluke like last year was just a one-hit-wonder. We’ve been talking about Brooklyn. We’ve been talking about Philadelphia. We’ve been talking about Milwaukee. Ain’t nobody thinking about y’all. Nobody thinking about the Miami Heat, so if you’re Jimmy Butler, if you’re Bam Adebayo, with your new max deal — if you’re Tyler Herro whose a stud, I love that brother — and you know how I feel about him and Duncan Robinson … Kendrick Nunn, I like you too. Iguodala is a statesman, of course. You picked up Avery Bradley … okay, you got this COVID thing to get over, I understand. But when you get your behinds back on the court, remember the expectation. People are looking at the Miami Heat and people are saying you all are flukes. What you gonna to do about it?
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Injury Update on Butler, Iguodala, Dragic
The Heat return to action tonight (Jan. 30) at AmericanAirlines Arena against the Sacramento Kings. The team issued a preliminary injury update and ruled three players out: Meyers Leonard (shoulder), Moe Harkless (thigh), Goran Dragic (groin). Miami also listed Avery Bradley (knee) and Jimmy Butler (health and safety protocols) as questionable, along with Udonis Haslem (personal) and Andre Iguodala (neck).
#SACvsMIA UPDATE: Dragic (groin), Harkless (thigh), Leonard (shoulder) & Silva (hip) have all been ruled out of tomorrow’s game vs the Kings.
Bradley (knee), Butler (health and safety protocols), Haslem (personal) & Iguodala (neck) are all listed as questionable.
“Our group has a great spirit and a big-time sense of urgency,” head coach Erik Spoelstra said. “It’s not a matter of that, it’s a matter of finding a way to be consistent throughout the course of the game — and, yeah, we do have to acknowledge there are a lot of moving parts and that makes it unique but you can’t make an excuse for it.
“You just have to continue to grind, to learn, to compete for each other, to get better. There are certain points to what we are and we just need to be more consistent with it. We’ll be getting guys back soon enough. It might be piecemeal. It might be one guy at a time but it doesn’t matter, they’re on their way, whenever.”
We’re back to work.
Iguodala Talks ‘Tech Hub’ in South Florida
Meanwhile, Iguodala made some headlines for his business ventures off the court. The All-Star forward has been an “angel investor and venture partner” at the Catalyst Fund, per Yahoo! Finance, and now advises the tech scene in Miami.
“Well, even before the pandemic hit, we’re starting to see smaller tech hubs kind of being formed throughout the country,” Iguodala said. “You even look on the East Coast, a place like Austin, talks of Cleveland even, especially with their special sector within precious metals, and companies trying to start up there. And then now you’re seeing it here in Miami.”
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