After last night's game against the Kings, Miami Heat coach Erik Spoelstra joked that Udonis Haslem will "eventually ...be mayor of this town." Turns out that Haslem has actually given some thought to a political future, and may someday actually run for mayor of Miami. Watch out, Tomas Regalado.
"I plan on it. I hope so," said Haslem when asked about running for mayor. "I definitely know what I need to fix. The youth is where it starts at -- misguided, misled and also misunderstood. I'd definitely start at the bottom."
So who would be in a Haslem administration? Teammate James Jones, of course.
"Me and [James Jones] think about it," Haslem said. "If I run for mayor then somehow I've got to figure out a way to involve J.J. He's from the community as well and we both care a lot about this community, its youth and these kids."
Both Haslem and Jones are Miami-born-and-raised, 305-til-they-die types. Plus Jones has some administrative responsibility under his belt as secretary-treasure of the NBA Players Association.
Haslem wouldn't be the first NBA player to become a mayor of a big town. Current Detroit Mayor Dave Bing was an All-Star shooting guard for the Detroit Pistons. Kevin Johnson,a former Phoenix Suns All-Star, is also currently the mayor of Sacramento, California.
Of course, we just have to figure out if Haslem is planning to run for mayor of the City of Miami or Mayor of Miami-Dade. But before he wins an election, we'd really like to see him win another NBA Championship first.
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