The Heat

(1) 1997 Miami Heat (61-21)

That’s right, 60+ wins right here. And it’s by the teams that brought us the AWFUL Heat-Knicks playoff battles…Alonzo Mourning is the anchor, averaging 20-10 on a bruising team. Tim Hardaway had 20-3-9, and they acquired Jamal Mashburn (13-6-4) to finish out the year. Voshon Lenard had 12-3-2, PJ Brown had 10-8, while Bruce Bowen made his NBA debut, one game, one minute, and one block….Pretty good team here….

(2) 2005 Miami Heat (59-23) vs. (23) 2008 Miami Heat (15-67)

This team might have won it all if it wasn’t for an injury to Wade (24-5-7). Shaq was the real reason they were any good, coming over from LA to average 23-10. Eddie Jones had 13-5, Udonis Haslem added 11-9, and Damon Jones had 12-3-4…This was probably a better team the next year. Alonzo Mourning came over from New Jersey in a midyear deal, but didn’t do much of anything here.

Pretty delusional mess here in Miami….Wade played only 51 games, and amounted 25-4-7 in them. He was left without star power when Shaq (is he really a star still…14-8 is like a HUGE Zydrunas Ilguaskas….), was ditched in Phoenix, and they got back Shawn Marion (14-11….in 16 games…don’t be fooled, he IS on his downward streak….). Ricky Davis (HA!) had 14-4-3, and they only got 49 games from Haslem………..Hideous. You know what else is hideous? Guess who came from this. That’s right….Mr. Michael “Marijuana is my Friend…I Mean my Friend’s” Beasley.

(3) 2011 Miami Heat (58-24) vs. (22) 1989 Miami Heat (15-67)

Bosh (19-8), James (27-8-7), Wade (26-6-5). I don’t feel like getting worked up right now.

Irrelevant. I’ll spend about the same amount of time on this team as I did 2011….Year one of Miami is pretty bad…Kevin Edwards had 14-3-4, Rory Sparrow had 13-3-5, Grant Long had 12-8, and Rony Seikaly had 11-7, as did Billy Thompson. This team has more depth than 2011….

(4) 1998 Miami Heat (55-27) vs. (21) 1990 Miami Heat (18-64)

Zo played only 58 games (19-10), but they were fine, as they had Tim Hardaway (19-4-8), Voshon Lenard (13-4) and PJ Brown (10-9). Jamal Mashburn (15-5) played only 48 games.

A bit better than 1989…Glen Rice is a brand new rookie (14-5), and Rony Seikaly broke out for 17-10. Sherman Douglas added 14 points and 8 assists, and Kevin Edwards had 12-4, while Billy Thompson had 11-7…

(5) 1999 Miami Heat (33-17) vs. (20) 1991 Miami Heat (24-58)

Not a bad team…but this is the 1 seeded team that lost to the eighth seeded Knicks in 1999…Mourning had 20-11, Tim Hardaway slipped to 17-3-7, and PJ Brown had 11-7. Mashburn played 24 games.

Even better than 1990. Sherman Douglas had a great sophomore year, averaging 19-3-9, while Glen Rice (17-5) and Rony Seikaly (16-11) all formed a pretty good front 3.

(6) 2000 Miami Heat (52-30) vs. (19) 2003 Miami Heat (25-57) 

Alonzo had a pretty good year, averaging 22-10, and Mashburn actually played an almost full season, he had 18-5-4. Too bad for Miami, Tim Hardaway played only 52 games (13-3-7). PJ Brown had 10-8.

This got them Wade. Surprisingly enough, this team sucks! Eddie Jones played only 47 games (19-5-4), so Caron Butler was the leading scorer, with 15-5 a game. Brian Grant had 10-10…but nothing really to get happy about afterwards….

(7) 2006 Miami Heat (52-30) vs. (18) 1995 Miami Heat (32-50)

There’s the title team. A lot of player are relevant (probably just to me because this was my first season of seriously watching basketball…) This year, Wade had 27-6-7, and Shaq had 20-9. White Chocolate added 12-2-5, Antoine Walker had 12-5, Haslem had 9-8, Mourning had 8-6, and Payton had 8-3-3 while Poesy had 7-5. 

During the year, Steve Smith was dished out to Atlanta for Kevin Willis two games into the year. Glen Rice was the big leader this year, averaging 22-5. Kevin Willis had a good year after coming over, averaging 17-11, while Billy Owens had 14-7. Bimbo Coles had 10-3-7.

(8) 2001 Miami Heat (50-32) vs. (17) 2002 Miami Heat (36-46)

How did they win 50? Mourning was out most of the year, playing only 13 games, and Eddie Jones (17-5-3), Tim Hardaway (15-3-6), Brian Grant (15-9), and Anthony Mason (16-10) took over….not bad…but 50 wins?

This is a straight year matchup, so we go one to 2002. Mourning (16-8) would be gone next year, on to New Jersey (where he’d play 30 games in 2 and a half years…he retired at one point because of a kidney issue), but in the meantime, he didn’t do that bad. Eddie Jones added 18-5-3, while Rod Strickland had 10-3-6. Jim Jackson (in 55 games) had 11-5.

(9) 2010 Miami Heat (47-35) vs. (16) 1993 Miami Heat (36-46)

I don’t like really anyone on this team. Wade had 27-5-7, and Beasley had 15-6. Jermaine O’Neal hd 14-7…..

Glen Rice averaged 19-5, while Rony Seikaly amassed 17-12. Steve Smith (16-4-6) logged only 48 games this year, while Grant Long averaged 14-8.

(10) 2007 Miami Heat (44-38) vs. (15) 1992 Miami Heat (38-44)

Their title defense didn’t go real well…Shaq (17-7) played only 40 games, and Wade (27-5-8) played only 51 games….Haslem added 11-8…Pretty much everyone slipped down a notch this year…AND they got SWEPT by the Bulls….

This team also got swept by the Bulls. Glen Rice had a great season, averaging 22-5, while Seikaly had 16-12. Steve Smith had 12-3-5, and Grant Long had 15-8…not too bad….

(11) 2009 Miami Heat (43-39) vs. (14) 2004 Miami Heat (42-40)

Well, the average is above .500 now…not too bad, but the talent really does seem to lack around the middle…Wade actually PLAYED most of the year (how surprising…), and put up 30-5-8 this year. Michael Beasley had 14-5…as you can see, the talent is lacking around him….Marion (12-9) was dished out to Toronto for the 13-5 of Jermaine O’Neal (nice….). Haslem had 11-8….not a very good team…

This is our last Wade team, and we end with his rookie season. Wade debuted with 16-4-5, and had Eddie Jones (17-4-3) and Lamar Odom (17-10-4) helping him lead the way. Rafer Alston had 10-3-5.

(12) 1994 Miami Heat (42-40) vs. (13) 1996 Miami Heat (42-40)

Meh…not bad, but not intriguing….Rice had 21-5, Smith had 17-5-5, and Rony had 15-10….

Alonzo came over from Charlotte in a trade for Glen Rice, and he had his best Miami year this year, averaging 23-10…but had little help. Tim Hardaway (17-4-10) came over for less than 30 games to end off the year. No one really good consistently played other than Zo…

That’s the Heat….Zo, Rice, Rony, Wade….a lot of good players, but not talked about very much today (other than Wade of course…). Pretty good for an expansion franchise of only 23 years, one champ and a few semi-memorable players….

Ladies and gentlemen, your Miami Heat! Next, Kareem, and the Milwaukee Bucks!