WASHINGTON – Udonis Haslem wasn’t near his cellphone when Dwyane Wade left a text message informing his teammate and brother for the first 13 years of their careers that he was leaving the Miami Heat to go play for his hometown Chicago Bulls. Haslem was shocked like many others, staring in disbelief as he watched the news scroll on his television, and then rushed to his cellphone to find the disappointing confirmation.

“My heart dropped,” Haslem told The Vertical.

Haslem has seen players come and go in his time in Miami. Alonzo Mourning, the fiery leader who preached work ethic and accountability, retired. Shaquille O’Neal, the Hall of Famer who gave Haslem the confidence that he could be the starting power forward on a championship team, was traded. LeBron James stuck around long enough to learn what it took to be a champion and went back home. But Wade was different. Wade was, like Haslem, supposed to be a Heat Lifer. Now, he was gone.

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“What do you say? I can’t complain,” Haslem told The Vertical. “We’ve had an amazing [13] years together. We’ve had a lot of success. We’ve grown together a lot. We’ve been there for each other a lot and we’ve made a bond that’s going to last beyond the game of basketball.”

As he was finally beginning to accept that he’d begin his 14th season without Wade, Haslem was again troubled by the news – just days before training camp – that another longtime running mate, Chris Bosh, failed his physical because of blood clots that prematurely shortened his previous two seasons. Pat Riley later stated that Bosh’s Heat career was “probably over,” leaving Haslem as the last man standing from one of the most polarizing and entertaining teams in NBA history.

“All the time I think about it – ‘The Heatles,'” Haslem told The Vertical about the Heat’s four-year, Big Three barnstorming tour that resulted in four Finals trips and two NBA championships and inspired numerous copycat attempts. “It was fun. It was an amazing experience. It was a blessing. It was a great thing. I’m always going to remember that ride that we took. I don’t think nobody is ever going to do it like that again. Even with Cleveland and the success that they’ve had. Even with the success that those guys have had out in Golden State, I don’t think anybody is going to be able to do it like that.”

The loud arrival of the league’s first player-built super team, replete with lasers, smoke and bold declarations of “not one, not two, not three …” championships was a stark contrast to its meek dissolution. James assembled another star-studded trio in Cleveland. Wade will spend the twilight of his career assisting Jimmy Butler. And Bosh faces an uncertain future. What they accomplished together won’t be erased.

Dwyane Wade and Udonis Haslem began their Heat careers together. (AP) More

“Did we win every championship? No. But we met every challenge,” Haslem told The Vertical. “Wish we could’ve won four straight titles. Everything else, no complaints.”

Haslem has no quibble with Kevin Durant for using his “power as a player” to add some duper to a super Warriors team, but he did hope that his former college coach at Florida, Billy Donovan, would’ve kept Durant in Oklahoma City. Durant was booed in his preseason debut in Vancouver and should encounter more fan displeasure this season. But Haslem doesn’t believe that Durant or the Warriors will face the same level of hatred the Heat experienced when James, Wade and Bosh were together.

“We were very disliked, from top to bottom, for whatever reason,” Haslem told The Vertical. “We were like the big bad wolves. Nobody wanted to see us do it. So it was really a me-against-the-world mentality that we had. We embraced it, for sure. We embraced it and we surrounded ourselves and we gave LeBron a family, because he was the biggest villain of all, for whatever reason.”

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