Not drafted? Current players prove it’s not the end of the dream

MIAMI » There’s going to be dozens of players left out in the cold at next week’s NBA draft, players who will not hear their names called by the time the night is over.

Udonis Haslem knows how they’ll feel.

He also may be the example they’ll need.

Undrafted in 2002, Haslem — a Miami native who has spent his entire NBA career with his hometown Miami Heat — has been in the league longer than just about any other active player. He’s planning and hoping to sign this summer to return for a 16th season.

“My mind works differently,” Haslem said. “I know when one door closes, another door opens. That’s the way it’s always been for me.”

Out of the 57 draft picks that all went ahead of Haslem in 2002, only one — Nene — was on a roster last season. Haslem has outlasted almost everyone who was in the league when he arrived as a rookie in 2003 following a year in France; just 12 players who were in the NBA in 2002-03 remained on rosters this past season.

He’s one of many undrafted success stories in the NBA right now: Utah’s Joe Ingles and Philadelphia’s Robert Covington played huge roles for their respective teams reaching the second round of the playoffs, Miami’s Tyler Johnson is about to see his salary explode to nearly $40 million over the next two seasons, and Boston’s Aron Baynes became a pivotal part of the Celtics’ rotation this season while appearing in 100 games.

They’re all proof that if there’s enough skill, the NBA will eventually notice.

“UD would never get told no,” his longtime Heat teammate Dwyane Wade said. “I remember when I came in for my Heat workout before the draft and asked who the guy getting every rebound was and they told me, ‘That’s Udonis Haslem.’ And I didn’t even recognize him because of how much he’d changed his body. I knew right away that he was a guy I wanted on my team.”

Haslem was an underrated part of all three of Miami’s championship teams in 2006, 2012 and 2013. He barely sees the court anymore, appearing in only 30 games over the last two seasons. But he remains invaluable to the Heat for what he brings to the locker room and from a leadership perspective, which is why he’ll probably be on Miami’s roster next season.

“When you talk about culture and Miami Heat culture, you’re talking about Udonis Haslem,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “The way he keeps himself ready, the way he’s always working, the way that he’s a voice in our locker room, he epitomizes what it means to be a Miami Heat player. We tell people all the time, if you want to understand our culture, look at UD. He is our rock. He has the ultimate respect of this locker room.”

It hasn’t been easy. Haslem has reinvented himself more than a few times along the way.

Haslem was a 300-pounder during his college days at Florida, which explains why he went undrafted; he’s now chiseled, with nary a speck of visible body fat on his 38-yearold frame.

He was terrible with money when he entered the league; he still cringes at particularly wasteful expenditure — an ostrich couch — that he quickly ruined.