Twenty questions with Udonis Haslem ahead of his Miami Heat jersey retirement ceremony

Udonis Haslem isn’t the most talented player in Miami Heat history. He’s not even the second or third-most talented player in Heat history.

But Haslem is a Heat icon because of everything he stood for and represented as a Miami native who went undrafted in 2002 before spending his entire 20-year NBA career with his hometown Heat. He played a role on each of the franchise’s three championship teams in 2006, 2012 and 2013, while becoming the only undrafted player in NBA history to lead a franchise in total rebounds.

Haslem’s unique NBA career will forever be immortalized when the Heat retires his No. 40 jersey in a halftime ceremony during the Heat’s matchup against the Atlanta Hawks at Kaseya Center on Friday (8 p.m., Bally Sports Sun). The extended halftime to honor Haslem is scheduled to last 25 minutes.

Haslem, who retired at the end of last season, will become just the sixth player to have his Heat jersey retired. The others on that list are Alonzo Mourning, Tim Hardaway, Shaquille O’Neal, Chris Bosh and Dwyane Wade.

“I think it’s huge for not just me, but for my family and obviously for the city of Miami,” Haslem, 43, said. “Being a hometown kid and not doing it the traditional way. Having to go through a lot of adversity, not being drafted, not being maybe what people would consider a household name or whatever.

“So for me, I think, there are going to be more kids that are going to look at my story and be able to relate to my story because everybody can’t be a LeBron James or a Kevin Durant. Most people are going to have to be somebody like myself, who has to overcome obstacles and has to work for a lot of things.”’

Ahead of Haslem’s jersey retirement, he answered 20 questions from the Miami Herald in honor of his 20-year career with the Heat:

1. You’re an undrafted player who’s getting his jersey retired by his hometown team. Has it hit you yet?

“It’s still crazy. I’d be lying if I said when I first started this journey years ago when I was picked up by the Miami Heat after going undrafted that I saw myself having my jersey retired 20 years ago. It’s just a testament to focusing on being your best version, coming to work every day, putting your best foot forward, working to be the best version of yourself, not accepting mediocrity, not accepting what people’s version of what you should be or what you should do, and always just believing in yourself.”

2. What would you have said if somebody told you in 2002, when you went undrafted, that your jersey would be retired by the Heat 22 years later?

“I mean, I would have never guessed it. For me, though, I already had a chip on my shoulder. But I think [going undrafted] created an unbelievable chip that I just never lost. Even when I won a championship, I never lost that chip. I never forgot that I was undrafted. There was always a guy who I saw that was drafted in my class or something like that. I think that drove me more than anything.”

3. Who is your favorite Heat teammate of all time, not including Wade?

“It’s got to be Bam [Adebayo]. Because it’s one of those things where I saw so much of myself in Bam coming into the league. Obviously, he was drafted and I wasn’t drafted. But just the work ethic, the way he approaches the game, always having a chip on his shoulder, always feeling like he has something to prove. I understand that mentality, I understand how that feels. And then, honestly, Duncan [Robinson]. Duncan has always been one of my favorite players. I’ve always loved watching Dunc, his work ethic, the way he’s grown to the player he is now. I tell Duncan all the time, he’s one of my favorite players.”

4. Which of your 20 NBA seasons is your favorite?

“Last season. I couldn’t have asked to go out on a better note. The ride, the journey was unbelievable. I have nothing but gratitude for the way I was able to land my own plane. Not often do people get to land their own plane. A lot of times you don’t get picked up or you just don’t get that call. I got the opportunity to land it the way I wanted to land it. I got the opportunity to play my last game at home. I obviously played well. Then I got an opportunity to be a part of the NBA Finals in the last season of my career. Could I split hairs and be mad that we didn’t win it? Yes, I could. But this will probably be one of the only times in my life that you’ll see me be OK with not winning a championship. It was a hell of a season. I’ll never forget that season, man.”

5. That season was almost a microcosm of your career, right?

“Hands down. It embodied everything I’ve been through, everything I’ve overcome. A lot of teams have embodied my mentality, but that team really embodied my journey and it was amazing to see us succeed. Winning Game 7 in Boston, the way we went through Milwaukee in a No. 1 vs. No. 8 seed matchup. I’ll never forget last season. When you talk about just people around the world that have been overlooked or who have been told they weren’t good enough, I think we represented more than just a basketball team in that particular season.”

6. Which of your three NBA championships is your favorite?

“The first is always going to be my favorite. For me, the role that I played, obviously, starting the whole time. ... But I think for me, that was the first time that I was able to actually exhale. I finally felt like I arrived in the NBA and I was worthy of being on an NBA stage with these people. Because up until that point, I just felt like I was constantly just trying to prove that I even belonged to have a seat at the table.”

7. When were you closest to leaving the Heat during your career?

“Probably the time when the Big 3 came. I think that would be the closest. The financials just didn’t work out. At that time, I was in the prime of my career. You’re talking about 28, 29 years old. They didn’t have anything but the minimum until Dwyane called Bron [LeBron James] and C.B. [Chris Bosh] to make those sacrifices. The only thing the Heat had was the minimum. There’s a difference between sacrificing and being crazy as hell and a damn fool. I can sacrifice, but I can’t take the minimum when I’m in the prime of my career.”

8. Do you ever think about how different your career would have been if you had left the Heat at that point?

“I definitely think if I leave that I don’t have the career that I had. I think I might have made a little more money, but I think I don’t have the respect that I have around the league. I don’t have the impact that I have with the younger generation and the next generation, and even with the older guys that I played with. So I think it would have affected definitely the way I’m viewed, the respect that I have, the position that I hold in the NBA and in this organization. I think it would have changed a lot of things on the outside and not for the better either, for the worse.”

9. What’s something about you that people may not know, but you want them to know?

“I’m actually a pretty chill guy. I think everybody looks at me on the basketball court and sees me as a competitor and how intense I am. But I’m actually a really chill laid back very, very calm person. When I step on the basketball court, that’s a different person. I think that’s what people need to understand.”

10. What’s one philosophy you live by?

“Stay ready, so you don’t have to get ready.”

11. How do you define Heat culture?

“Heat culture is whatever you can believe in that helps you be selfless and pushes you toward your best version without understanding on the other side what the impact might be. There’s no guarantees. It’s not going to guarantee you’re going to get playing time, it’s not going to guarantee you’re going to win, it’s not going to guarantee you’re going to get the role that you want, it’s not going to guarantee you’re going to get the shots that you want. But what can you believe in that’s going to get you to sacrifice all those things? For me, it was always that I never wanted to be the guy who let people down. I wanted to be the guy that people could depend on every time. So my work ethic and just the fact that I was scared to let the guys around me down, that drove me to be invested in Heat culture more than anything. For some guys, it might be their family. So Heat culture is what can you focus on that can get you outside of being the human condition of selfish as [expletive]? What forces you to be selfless? What forces you to be accountable? What forces you to push yourself beyond that 1 percent of everybody else?

“What pushes you to that point of desperation that you’ll do anything to be your best version and you’ll be the nastiest and you’ll be the toughest and you’ll be the hardest working and you’ll be the most accountable and you’ll be the most loyal. What pushes you to be that? That’s what you have to tap into and that’s what you have to find to be a part of this culture. Because you walk in here, everybody is fighting for something. So if you’re not fighting for anything in particular, you’re going to stand out like a sore thumb and you’re probably going to get outworked and overwhelmed because everybody in here is fighting for something. When you get in here, we immediately find out what you’re fighting for and what it means to you.”

12. Is that process on the player or those around the player within the organization?

“That’s on the player to be accepting when we point those things out. But it’s on us. When you get here, it’s on us to find out how the culture can help you and how we can help you inside the culture. Then once we find that out, you got to be willing to accept it because now we’re going to push those buttons and we’re going to push you to be your best version.”

13. Is there one player during your career who you just didn’t like?

“I don’t have any problems with him. But once again, there’s stuff that K.G. [Kevin Garnett] says out of his mouth that’s the most disrespectful stuff I’ve ever heard somebody say. He never says it to me, it was always to somebody else. But it just always bothered me, how disrespectful he talked to people on the court.”

14. When people look back at your playing career, what do you want them to say?

“Obviously, he wasn’t the most famous Heat player, but he was probably the most loved. He probably wasn’t the best, he probably won’t be in the Hall of Fame, but he was the most beloved Heat player to ever come through the organization because of my connection to the city, because of my connection to the people, my connection to the common man, the sacrifices that I made. I am Miami. You can’t think about the Miami Heat without thinking of, obviously, Pat Riley, Alonzo Mourning, Dwyane and now myself.”

15. You’re doing a lot in retirement. Are you busier now than when you were playing?

“Yes. Ten times more.”

16. What has retirement been like?

“It’s the first time that I’ve had to manage my schedule. I had to get an assistant. I’ve never had to have an assistant. Obviously, everything took a back seat to basketball so you knew where I was going to be, when I was going to be there and then you kind of got to play off of that. Now it’s like my schedule is wide open and I have to manage things. I have to manage time to be at the arena with the Heat, but I also have to manage time for TNT and Turner and I have to make time for my affordable housing projects, I have to manage time for everything.”

17. You were recently hired by the Heat as the vice president of basketball development, but you initially had interest in joining team ownership. Is ownership still a goal for you?

“I’m still working on it. It’s not an easy task, but that’s still the goal. That’s the ultimate goal. That’s the main goal. An executive position is amazing. I love it and I’m loving what I’m doing. But make no mistake about it, the major goal is to be a part of ownership and that’s the end-all be-all for me.”

18. Would you ever run for political office in Miami?

“Man, you know what, people talk about that all the time. I don’t know why they say that. No, I got to sleep at night. I don’t want to mess with politics. I like my sleep.”

19. You won’t have your parents at the jersey retirement ceremony after their passing. But what do you think they would say in that moment to you and what would you want to say to them?

“That’s really tough. For me, I just lost my step-mom a few weeks ago. So I don’t know. I’m still trying to figure that one out. I’m sure they’re happy and I’m sure they’re smiling. All I can say is, thank you. Thank you. My dad, for one, you talk about somebody who just never believes they can lose. My dad just always believed in himself and he believed in me when nobody else did. So the unbelievable belief that I had in myself to overcome and overachieve, when I’ve been down so many times to get up and keep going, I get that from my dad. My mom, talk about somebody who struggled with drug addiction and homelessness and really cleaned herself up just so she could be a part of my life and impact my life, she showed me what true grit is. And then my step-mom, somebody who is selfless. So many people are selfish, but you talk about somebody who’s selfless. She really opened up her doors to a kid who wasn’t hers and treated him as hers and gave them everything and then some so they could be successful. I’m thankful for everything all three of them have contributed to this process and I wouldn’t be here without them.”

20. Do you expect to cry at your jersey retirement ceremony?

“No, I’m not going to cry. I think, weirdly enough, after losing my step-mom, I’m kind of numb. So I doubt I’ll cry. It doesn’t mean I’m not thankful. But I think I’ve shed enough tears. I lost my pops not even three years ago, I lost my mom and I just lost my step-mom. So for me, it’s weird right now. I’m in this numb space right now. I’m definitely going to enjoy it and I’m thankful, but I don’t think I’m going to cry.”