Some of my greatest most youthful memories involve throwing alley-oops from Rice to Seikaly while trying to stop Horace Grant and Scottie Pippen. Even without Jordan’s likeness allowed to appear in those 1990s video games, for some reason I still wanted to beat the Bulls.
So with a new NBA Jam set to hit the shelves, the obvious Heat options include LeBron, Wade and Bosh (video game heaven), with two legends available -- Seikaly and Rice. Assuming this new NBA Jam allows 3-on-3 play, I can’t wait to sub out Bosh for Seikaly and give Rony the Dream Team he deserves for sticking it out with Miami in its earliest days.
So this seems as good an excuse as any to bust out the all-time Heat lineup.
C - Alonzo Mourning (1995-2002, 2005-08) This one is obvious, despite a pair of dominant seasons from Shaq. Mourning was the heart of the team for years, and was only hitting his peak when he was struck down with kidney disease. A year after finishing runner-up to Karl Malone in MVP voting, Zo was arguably the best player on the 2000 Olympic team, and I was really looking forward to seeing what the Heat could do after acquiring Eddie Jones, Brian Grant and Anthony Mason to pair with Mourning and Hardaway. Heat fans just don’t have that connection with Shaq, even with the title (which he probably wouldn’t have won without Zo’s presence anyway).
PF- Udonis Haslem (2003-present) Until a year or two ago, I probably would have given the spot to P.J. Brown in what is easily the Heat’s all-time weakest position. Pat Riley always used a solid role player at the power forward spot to pair with a dominant center. Lamar Odom is actually the most talented power forward to play for the Heat, but he only landed in Miami for a year. After seven seasons with the Heat, Haslem has proven to be the ultimate pro, playing gutsy, ego-less basketball and taking smaller paychecks to stay with his hometown team. Of course, after a few years in Miami, Chris Bosh should grab this spot.
SF - Glen Rice (1989-1995) Rice was everything to the Heat in the early days, giving Miami its first borderline superstar. He stepped up in big games, scoring 56 points in a nationally televised game against Orlando (the Heat’s only national TV game that season, and one of Rice's last games in a Miami uniform). Rice was a slasher and a shooter who was just coming into his own when Miami made the tough (but right) call to trade him for Mourning on the eve of Riley’s first season in Miami. Sadly for Rice, he will be edged out by LeBron in a few years and delegated to Miami’s all-time bench.
SG- Dwyane Wade (2003-present) I’ll never forget when the Heat duked it out with the Raptors in the 2003 season finale, with the winner getting the 5th pick in the draft, and the loser coming out with the 4th. I wanted the Heat to lose so they could draft Chris Bosh, but of course they won and wound up with Wade. Admittedly, I thought at the time the Heat should have drafted T.J. Ford because they needed a true point guard and they already had Eddie Jones at the 2-guard spot. Wade was a tweener, and somewhat of a surprise pick at No. 5. Well, the Heat have Bosh after all, and Wade has turned into not only one of the Heat’s all-time best players, but he is on his way to the NBA Hall of Fame.
PG - Tim Hardaway (1996-2001) Hardaway still reeked of a possibly washed up player playing over his head when the Heat traded Kevin Willis to the Warriors for Hardaway, and Timmy started to play well at the end of the ‘96 season. Then, against the 72-10 Bulls in the playoffs, Hardaway busted out for a 28-point first half performance. Miami lost the series, but played Chicago tough in all three games of the sweep. Still, Riley explored signing Gary Payton, and even Chris Childs, before settling on bringing Hardaway back. Hardaway responded by turning into one of the league’s most clutch players, landing on a All-NBA First Team and excelling at point guard for a memorable late 1990s Miami team.
THE BENCH
C - Shaquille O’Neal (2004-2007) For nostalgic purposes, I’d love to put Seikaly here. But Shaq played in Miami long enough, and helped lead the team to a title, so he deserves the spot. You can’t hold a guy down just for being an asshole.
PF - PJ Brown (1997-2000) It’s amazing that PJ Brown was only in Miami for four seasons, because he had a Haslem-like impact on the team (and he flipped over Charlie Ward, in one of my favorite moments in NBA history).
SF - Jamal Mashburn (1997-2000) He never quite lived up to his hype, and he gave up a potential game-winning shot in a playoff game against the Knicks to Clarence Weatherspoon, but Mashburn was a solid No. 3 option to Mourning and Hardaway in his years on the Heat.
SG - Eddie Jones (2000-05, 2007) Jones was supposed to be the Heat’s missing link when they traded Mashburn to acquire him. But he had bad timing, showing up when Mourning was injured and then leaving right before the championship. He was solid for Miami, but never lived up to the max contract.
PG - Steve Smith (1991-94, 2005) It’s easy to forget Steve Smith the Heat player, but at the time you could even argue that he had more potential than Rice. Smith was Penny Hard away a few years before Penny -- a shooting guard that was going to be converted into a tall playmaking point guard. He ended up as a career 2-guard, and despite all the Heat’s success over the years, Smith -- a natural shooting guard -- is probably the best point guard after Hardaway (sorry Brian Shaw, Sherman Douglas, Jason Williams and John Crotty).
HONORABLE MENTION:
Dan Majerle, Brian Grant, Voshon Lenard, Rony Seikaly, Grant Long, Ike Austin, Caron Butler (too short of tenure), Lamar Odom (see: Butler)
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