Iguodala’s playoff know-how valuable to Heat
When the Miami Heat entered AdventHealth Arena at Disney’s Wide World of Sports Complex on Tuesday for Game 1 of its first-round series against the Indiana Pacers, it did so with a roster that had combined to play in 511 postseason games.
But without the February trade that brought Jae Crowder, Solomon Hill and Andre Iguodala to Miami, that number would have been much lower.
Iguodala, 36, arrived to the Heat with 145 playoff games under his belt. He’s also one of just two players on the roster who has NBA Finals experience after winning three championships with the Golden State Warriors in 2015, 2017 and 2018 — longtime Heat forward and team captain Udonis Haslem is the other.
“That’s one of the big reasons why we made this move,” coach Erik Spoelstra said of acquiring Iguodala. “We have great veteran, built-in leadership, guys with veteran experience. And then we have this exuberance of youth, the guys that haven’t been here, but we rely on them. So you need the right kind of experienced veterans that have played deep in the playoffs. And that’s why we so highly sought after not only Andre, but Jae, and even Solo, in bringing in what we felt we needed with our young group, in addition to Jimmy [Butler] and UD and Goran [Dragic].”
It’s that roster balance the Heat hopes translates into a deep playoff run this season with the help of its veteran experience, while also proving to be a sustainable winning formula for years to come because of its youth.
Starting center Bam Adebayo entered this year’s playoffs without a postseason start. Four other members of the Heat’s rotation — Tyler Herro, Derrick Jones Jr., Kendrick Nunn and Duncan Robinson — entered Tuesday looking for their first NBA playoff action.
“The culture that we have, the guys have been prepared for these moments throughout the year,” Iguodala said. “It’s just the culture of the
Heat, that hardcore prep that they have throughout the season. It’s natural, it’s not this huge overhaul of very intense prep in the playoffs. It’s just within their DNA now. It’s being built from the culture. So the guys know what they have to do. The guys know their matchups and other guys’ matchups. Now it’s about them getting that experience and learning from it.”
The Heat’s veterans will try to help accelerate that process.
“I feel like we have a good amount of experience that can lead them along the way to help them pick up on things a little bit quicker,” Iguodala said. “Jimmy, myself, Jae Crowder, we’ve been through a lot of battles. We understand how to have guys’ backs within the game. So whether it’s helping a guy — normally it would linger for two or three games and now it might linger for two or three minutes just because of the experience we have and knowing how to have their back with each guy individually. So we know how we approach Bam might be a little different than how we approach Duncan. Ultimately, confidence plays a huge role in this. That’s a big part of my role.”
ADVICE FOR BUTLER THE BARISTA
Iguodala, who is a venture capitalist off the court, offered his opinion on the coffee business Butler is running from his Disney hotel room in the NBA bubble.
Butler brought a French press and other coffee equipment to Disney, and said he’s selling it for $20 a cup.
“I’m looking for a sample,” Iguodala said with a smile. “Usually when you start a company, you give out free samples to give the community a little taste of what you’re offering to the consumer.
But his approach and his go-to-market strategy, I don’t think it has quite been there. It’s good marketing in terms of his branding and his name, but people need to have access to the product and they want samples. You see a lot of different companies out there, they give you a sample size and you gravitate toward it. I think he’s trying to build a monopoly, and we don’t know what’s exactly coming from it. So I’ll help him on the strategic size, but I need a couple points on ownership.”
The NBA formally announced the order for the Oct. 16 draft, with the Heat slotted to pick 20th overall in the first round.
Miami does not have a second-round pick, as its
No. 50 selection is currently held by the Atlanta Hawks.