Udonis Haslem says Miami Heat are better prepared to defend title than in 2006 – NBA News
The Miami Heat won the NBA title last season, but it was not the first time they did so.
Miami had also won the 2006 NBA championship, when Wade was at his peak and Shaquille O’Neal played the starting centre. However, the team that won the championship quickly fell off and crumbled. Miami had an awful season right
after their title winning campaign. They struggled for the next few seasons and it was only the addition of LeBron James and Chris Bosh in 2010 that revitalized the franchise.
Udonis Haslem is one of the veterans who was part of the 2006 championship winning roster, as well as this past season. And Haslem says that he clearly remembers how Miami fell off right after winning the championship back then,
and wants to be sure that they do not do that again.
“I think it’s not necessarily about being a different group. It’s about the right mindset. I don’t think with the ’06 team we really understood what mindset we had to come in with as returning champions. I think now we understand
what our mindset has to be because the level of expectation has been raised a notch, and we understand that,” said Haslem while talking to the Miami Herald.
What Haslem said does have a point, although it will be a great help that unlike the 2006 championship roster, the core of the present Miami Team is still in its prime. One of the best things Miami can take from the past season
was that they were able to figure themselves out as a team. They finally knew what worked for them and what made them successful, rather than trying different things on a routine basis.
Miami is definitely better prepared to defend the title this season than it was back in 2006.
Having said that, with the competition in the league this coming season, and the rise of teams such as the Brooklyn Nets and the Los Angeles Lakers, it is going to be a tough road back to the championship for the Heat. They are
prepared but have to do a lot of work before they can repeat their performance from last year.
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