• Andre Iguodala got honest about ‘Heat Culture’ to JJ Redick
• Iguodala believes it can negatively affect the confidence of players who are always stressed out
• Iguodala eventually embraced the culture in his stint with the team from 2019 to 2021
Andre Iguodala had a frank conversation with JJ Redick about his time with the Miami Heat, with whom Iguodala made the 2020 NBA Finals. Everyone usually brags about ‘Heat Culture‘ but Iguodala wanted to discuss the negative aspects of that very demanding culture in Miami, feeling that players sometimes get way too stressed, especially when they make mistakes.
(Starts at 50:09)
“I noticed that that stress of like just being locked in, it affects you when, like, ‘Don’t miss a wide-open shot.’ Because they work you. You workin’ out there. Like you work in practice harder than the game. I always tell the guys like, ‘Yo, the game is easy. We work too damn hard to be stressed on the court.’ But your brain is always locked in of like, ‘Don’t make mistakes’ sometimes ’cause you’re so locked in.”
Many players are built to thrive in a culture like this and many players often shrink. We know Iguodala fit in very well with the Heat, but it’s clear that he had to adjust his mentality for his stint with the franchise. He averaged 4.4 points, 3.6 rebounds, and 2.3 assists on the Heat before rejoining the Warriors to win another title in 2021-22.
He was also a championship-winning veteran when he got to the squad, so the pressure he felt wasn’t the same as a young player like Duncan Robinson.
Andre Iguodala Shares How Duncan Robinson Was Affected By Heat Culture
One of the biggest recent success stories from the Miami Heat was the emergence of Duncan Robinson. He became one of the best shooters in the NBA during the 2019-20 season and received a massive contract as a result. All his seasons since have been underwhelming, which saw him lose a rotation spot in the lineup.
Iguodala explained why that happened, as Robinson tended to get stressed every time he missed a wide-open shot.
“We missed a whole lot of wide-open shots. And I would look at Duncan [Robinson]. You know Duncan’s my guy. I love Duncan to death. Duncan missed a wide-open shot, you would think the world’s about to end. He was like, ‘No, I’m out here to shoot. I can never miss.’ “Now I love that mindset. … I’m like, ‘Duncan, if you miss a shot, that doesn’t mean we gonna stop passing to you.’ But I think there’s some correlation there.”
The culture demands excellence, so it is tough to fall short of providing that. Robinson lost his rotational place in the Heat lineup last season but earned it back in the playoffs.
He averaged just 6.4 points on 32.8% shooting from three in the regular season and improved to 9.0 points in the playoffs on 44.2% from three, looking like he could shed the reputation of having one of the worst contracts in basketball.
Andre Iguodala Jokingly Compared Joining The Heat Locker Room To Prison
If anyone still has doubts about it, Heat Culture is as real as it gets. It isn’t a marketing buzzword that features across the middle of the jersey. Iguodala was a 15-year veteran with three championships to his name when he joined the Heat, and he compared the experience to entering prison.
“When you go to prison, you get handed your orange suit and flip-flops. I got handed my jersey, practice jersey, practice shorts, and socks. Then you get your knee pads and mouthpiece… Once I embraced it, I’m like, ‘Huh, we do play harder than everybody in the league, and this does matter at the end of the year.’“
The Culture leads to winning, as we saw in the postseason last year. Iguodala has previously said he would build a roster with 95% Heat Culture on it to ensure winning.
Damian Lillard is sure he wants to come to Miami and be among a group that works this hard to win a title. There are good and bad, but it’s clear that if you join the Miami Heat, you have to go to war on the court.
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