The two-time defending champion Miami Heat could have landed Evan Turner before their arch-rival Indiana Pacers ever had a chance of adding the now key reserve to their rotation.
The Miami Herald reports Heat management, led by president Pat Riley, turned down the chance to acquire the No.2 overall pick in the 2010 draft over fear what it could have cost them would not have been in keeping with the loyal and familial atmosphere the organization prides itself on fostering.
“All they had to give up was (Udonis) Haslem, who wasn’t even playing,” a source told The Herald. “The Heat didn’t make the trade at least in part because it didn’t like how the message contradicted what it was selling or what it might do to the locker room.”
Legend has it in recruiting LeBron James and Chris Bosh to join Dwyane Wade in South Beach in 2010, Pat Riley walked into a room and dropped all his championship hardware on a table, all the while preaching about the virtues of togetherness.
With Haslem being a career-long member of the Heat family, Riley and Company simply couldn’t justify jettisoning him at a time when the franchise is seeking to carve out its defining moment by virtue of seeking to earn the league’s first three-peat in nearly two decades.
Yes, it’s true Haslem wasn’t even part of the rotation when the opportunity came about. but the Heat understood his value in the locker room far exceeded any of that, knew that his teammates respected him for the millions he had sacrificed in salary over the years to remain part of the crew as much as anything he could have ever contributed on the hardwood.
In acquiring Turner, the Pacers gave up veteran forward Danny Granger, who like Haslem had only known one organization up to that point and was much counted on and respected among his teammates.
Think it’s just coincidence the Pacers have struggled as they have at no time in recent history since his unceremonious departure?
