LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. — It didn't take Jae Crowder very long after joining the Miami Heat to figure out who the veteran leader of the team was.
"Udonis Haslem," he said.
Correct. But who was the person that taught Haslem how to be that locker-room voice, that sage, "the O.G." as the Heat call him?
That would be Corey Crowder. Jae Crowder's father.
Haslem and Jae Crowder are now Heat teammates, competing in the Eastern Conference finals against the Boston Celtics. Corey Crowder is living in Fort Myers, Florida, a couple hours west of Miami, a couple hours southwest of Lake Buena Vista — the site of the NBA's restart at Walt Disney World.