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free encyclopedia
The Miami Heat (or the Miami HEAT
as the display name is officially rendered) are
a National
Basketball Association team based in Miami,
Florida,
USA.
Home arenas
- Miami
Arena (1988-1999)
- American
Airlines Arena (1999-present)
Rothstein years
In 1987, after some influence from
Billy
Cunningham, the NBA voted to expand itself by
adding four new teams. The Miami Heat came into
the NBA for the 1988-89
season with an unproductive first year reflecting
a roster full of young players and journeymen. Among
the players on the inaugural roster were first round
picks Rony Seikaly and Kevin Edwards, fellow rookies
Grant Long and Sylvester Gray as well as NBA vets
Rory Sparrow, Jon Sunvold, Pat Cummings, and Billy
Thompson. The team started out the season by losing
its first 17 games, an NBA record. The team ultimately
finished a league-worst 15-67 under former Detroit
Pistons assistant coach, Ron
Rothstein.
Original Heat logo used from 1988-1999
In the 1989
NBA Draft The Heat picked Glen
Rice from the University
of Michigan in the 1989
NBA Draft in the first round and Sherman
Douglas of Syracuse
University in the 2nd round and also moved from
the Midwest Division to the Atlantic
Division for the 1989-90
season. However, the Heat continued having problems
in the NBA and never won more than two consecutive
games, en route to a 18-64 record.
The 1989-90 season saw Miami have
the #3 pick overall, only to parlay via two trades
(first with the Denver
Nuggets and later with the Houston
Rockets into getting the numbers 9 and 12 picks,
with which Miami selected Willie
Burton of the University
of Minnesota and Alec
Kessler of the University
of Georgia. Neither of which panned out long-term
for various reasons. Burton because while he was
a small forward in college, the Heat insisted on
playing him at shooting guard, and Kessler due to
injury problems as well as not being physical enough
to be a quality NBA power forward.
While Rice, Seikaly and Douglas
all showed improvement from the previous year, Miami
still only went 24-58 and remained in the Atlantic
Division basement, with Rothstien resigning as Head
Coach at the end of the season.
Loughery years
Rothstein resigned before the 1991-92
season and the Heat picked Kevin
Loughery, an NBA coach with 29 years of experience
both as a coach and a player, to be their new head
coach. For the 1991
NBA Draft, the team selected Steve
Smith from Michigan
State, who provided an agile guard to a more
matured Heat team. With the help of rookie Smith,
Rony
Seikaly, and a more experienced Glen Rice, the
Heat finished in fourth place in the Atlantic Division
with a 38-44 record and made the playoffs
for the first time. Playing the league-best Chicago
Bulls, the Heat were swept
in three games. Steve Smith made the NBA All-Rookie
team and Glen Rice finished 10th in the NBA in scoring.
The 1992-93
NBA Season included the additions of draft choice
Harold
Miner of the University
of Southern California as well as trading a
1st round pick (which would turn into the #10 overall
pick the following season) for Detroit Pistons forward/center
John
Salley. While Salley's addition was first met
with optimism because of the role that he played
on two championship Detroit
Piston squads, it became apparant quickly that
Salley was a quality role player for a good team,
but not a quality player for a mediocre team like
Miami was at the time. Salley would eventually have
his playing time diminish, ultimately resulting
in him being taken by the Toronto
Raptors in the 1995 expansion
draft. As for the season itself, it started
off poorly, with Smith missing time with a knee
injury and Burton being lost for most of the year
with a wrist injury. Upon Smith's return, Miami
posted a winning record in February and March, but
it wasn't enough to dig themselves out of the 13-27
hole they began in. They finished 36-46 and would
not return to the playoffs.
A healthier squad fared better in
1993-94, posting their first-ever winning record
at 42-40 and returning to the playoffs as the #8
seed versus the Atlanta
Hawks. Atlanta rallied from a 2-1 series deficit
to win the best-of-5 series. After that season,
Steve
Smith would be selected as a member of Dream
Team II, the collection of NBA All-Stars who
were selected to compete in the 1994
World Basketball Championships in Toronto.
In 1994-95,
the team overhauled their roster, trading away Seikaly,
Smith, and Grant
Long. In return, the Heat obtained Kevin
Willis and Billy
Owens.
Also, at this time came a power
shift in Heat's front office. On February 13, 1995
the ownership interests of Billy
Cunningham and Lew
Schaffel were bought out by the Arison family,
who to that point in time had been silent partners
in the day-to-day operations of the franchise until
the buyout. Mickey
Arison was named Managing General Partner, with
Arison's first act as MGP removing Loughery as head
coach the next day and replacing him with Alvin
Genrty on an interim
basis to try and shake up the 17-29 Heat. Gentry
went 15-21 for the remaining 36 games of the season
for a 32-50 record overall, 10 games off the previous
year's mark.
Riley years
In the 1995 offseason, the Heat
hired Pat
Riley from the 1980s Los
Angeles Lakers and the 1990s New
York Knicks to be their new president and coach.
Riley was the mastermind behind the blockbuster
deal that sent Glen Rice and Matt
Geiger among others, to the Charlotte
Hornets in exchange for All-Star center Alonzo
Mourning. In a flurry of midseason deals, Riley
acquired several players including Tim
Hardaway, Chris Gatling and Walt Williams. The
Heat finished with a winning record with Mourning
among the league leaders in scoring and rebounding
but lost in the playoffs in a 3-game sweep against
the 72-10 Bulls. The following season, the Heat
finished with a franchise-best 61-21 record with
new additions, Dan
Majerle, P.J.
Brown, Jamal
Mashburn, and Voshon
Lenard. They were ousted from the playoffs by
the Bulls for the second consecutive year, this
time in the Eastern Conference Finals .
The Heat celebrated their 10-year
anniversary in the 1997-98
season and captured their second straight Atlantic
Division title. However, in what would become a
heated rivalry, the Heat lost in the first round
against coach Riley's former team, the New
York Knicks. The next year, a lockout-shortened
season, provided identical results with the Heat
losing to the Knicks.
As a result of their success on
the court, the Heat moved into the American Airlines
Arena in 1999 with seats for over 20,500 fans. The
Heat again lost in a deciding Game 7 to the Knicks
by a single point. The subsequent season, the Heat
missed Mourning for 69 games, due to his diagnosis
of a rare kidney disorder. They managed to win 50
games with help from Eddie
Jones, Anthony Mason and emotional leader Tim
Hardaway, but lost in the first round of the playoffs.
Van Gundy years
However, the Heat's line-up changed
in 2003. Pat Riley stepped down as coach of the
Heat to focus more on being team president and promoted
assistant coach, Stan
Van Gundy to the head coaching position. More
changes occurred when the Heat drafted Dwyane
Wade in the 2003
NBA Draft, and signed troubled players Lamar
Odom and Rafer
Alston. Odom revived his NBA career by averaging
over 17 points per game. Wade brought energy to
the team and broke many rookie NBA records, while
being compared to other rookie superstars, Carmelo
Anthony and LeBron
James. The Heat found themselves in the 2004
NBA Playoffs, where they lost to the Indiana
Pacers in the conference semifinals.
The Heat acquired Shaquille
"Diesel" O'Neal on July
14, 2004
in a historic trade with the Los
Angeles Lakers in which Miami shipped Lamar
Odom, Caron Butler and Brian Grant out west. Wade
and O'Neal worked well as a pair and each solidified
their position as NBA elites with both averaging
over 20 points per game. The season also reunited
several former club members. Ron Rothstein, the
Heat's inaugural head coach, became their assistant
coach and both Steve Smith and Alonzo Mourning rejoined
the team as role players. The Heat advanced to the
Eastern Conference Finals but lost to the Detroit
Pistons in Game 7.
Riley returns
After an 11-10 start and with O'Neal
hurt, Riley became coach of the Heat for the second
time on December 12, 2005, after Van Gundy stepped
down due to personal and family reasons. The team
went on to win its first three games under Riley
until losing to LeBron
James and the Cleveland
Cavaliers. The Cleveland loss encouraged the
Heat to finish up the month of December strong.
They concluded the month with 4 wins and 2 losses.
The Heat though were still criticized for not being
able to beat the top caliber teams of the NBA. This
criticism though would just grow more and more on
the Heat come the month of January. Although they
finished the month of January with 10 wins and 5
losses, they still could not beat the top tier teams.
They suffered a loss to Detroit in late January,
and in February getting blown out by Phoenix twice
and losing to the defending NBA champion San Antonio
Spurs. The month of Febuuary has thus far been very
succesfull for the Heat and are currently on a 6
game win streak which began with a crucial victory
over the Eastern Conference powerhouse Detroit Pistons.
Dwayne Wade has been electric and Shaquille O'Neal
has stepped his game up in a tremendous fashion,
helping the Heat resurge and become the team which
Pat Riley was seeking at the beginning of his tenure.
Trivia
- Rory Sparrow made the first basket in franchise
history.
- Harold Miner won the Slam Dunk contest twice
(1993, 1995) as a member of the Heat.
- For seven games in the 2005-06
season, the Heat will wear 1971-1972 Floridians
jerseys as part of the NBA's Hardwood Classics
series. Additionally, the Heat dance team will
also wear the Floridian bikinis and white go-go
boots during these games. [2]
- During the 2004-2005 season, the Heat possessed
the Top 3 draft picks of 1992
NBA Draft...
-O' Neal who was drafted 1st to
Orlando
-Mourning who was drafted 2nd to
Charlotte
-Laettner who was drafted 3rd to
Minnesota
Players of note
Not to be forgotten
Retired numbers:
(The Heat retired number 23 in tribute
of Jordan's contributions to the league, despite
the fact that Jordan never played for the club.)
See also
External links
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