Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Top 10 who came back to stay
The phrase Heat Family is not taken lightly at 601 Biscayne Blvd. For years, Pat Riley has been known for taking care of his own.
Upon his arrival to the Miami Heat in 1995, Riley hired his former Showtime Lakers forward Bob McAdoo as an assistant coach, reunited with his New York Knicks scout Jeff Bzdelik, and when the Knicks would not allow him to bring in his Knicks assistant coach Jeff Van Gundy, he did the next best thing and hired Jeff’s brother, Stan Van Gundy.
While there have been differences over the years, hardly uncommon for an extended family, this also has been a franchise that routinely has cycled back to its own.
Throughout this 30th-anniversary season, the South Florida Sun Sentinel will look back at three decades of the Heat.
Today we look at 10 members of the franchise who spent time with the franchise in a certain role, moved on, and then came back — to stay — in a different role.
10. Anthony Carter
The parting arguably was as cold as any during the Heat’s 30 seasons. When Carter’s agent failed to notify the team by a July 1, 2003, deadline that the scrappy point guard intended to invoke his player option, the Heat immediately parted ways, first attempting to utilize the newfound cap space on an offer sheet to Elton Brand and then by signing Lamar Odom. But in 2016, when Carter lost his job as a Sacramento Kings assistant, the Heat hired Carter as an assistant coach for their developmental-league affiliate, the Sioux Falls Skyforce, where he continues to serve.
9. Glen Rice
Rice never played for Riley ... beyond the 1995 preseason, dealt on the eve of Riley’s first season as coach in the trade that brought Alonzo Mourning to South Florida. But when times grew tough financially for Rice, the Heat were there with a role as community ambassador, similar to the way the team reached out to Tim Hardaway amid his financial struggles.
8. Shane Battier
The Heat tenure, from 2011 to 2014, was relatively brief, but did help produce championships in 2012 and ’13, with his decision made to retire from the NBA after the Heat’s failed bid for a third consecutive title in 2014. Along the way, Battier pushed his analytic approach upon the team and was named the team’s director of basketball development and analytics last February.
7. John Crotty
The tenure with the Heat was short, limited to 48 regular-season games as a backup point guard in 1996-97. But he also contributed to the team’s breakout run to that season’s Eastern Conference finals, appearing in 15 playoff games. And then, like so many who got to experience South Florida as a player, he came back to stay, after five other NBA playing stops. He joining the Heat broadcasting team in 2004-05, working on radio and studio programming, and next season will join Eric Reid on the Heat’s television game telecasts.
6. Chris Quinn
A product of the Heat’s developmental program under the Riley regime when he arrived as an undrafted rookie point guard in 2006-07, Quinn offered hustle and diligence during the down years between the 2006 championship and the 2010 start of the Big Three era. Then after other NBA and international playing stops and time working with the coaching staff at Northwestern, he was brought back into the organization in 2014, serving first as an assistant coach, before being promoted these past two seasons to director of player development, while continuing to serve as an assistant to Erik Spoelstra
5. Juwan Howard
The goal was to have Howard in a Heat uniform in 1996, with a free-agent contract signed and delivered to the NBA office, which then determined a salary-cap violation. The power forward instead reupped with Washington. Howard did not wind up in a Heat uniform until 2010, sharing in the 2012 and ’13 NBA championships. He then transitioned into his current coaching role on Sept. 28, 2013.
4. Keith Askins
He was embraced for his grit-and-grind approach upon Riley’s coaching arrival in 1995 and arguably was among Riley’s most difficult cuts when he was released in 1999. Through it all, Askins finds himself in his 28th year with the franchise and second in the role of director of college and pro scouting, added to Riley’s coaching staff midway through that 1999-2000 season, working in Heat coaching or scouting roles since.
3. Tony Fiorentino
A holdover from the previous coaching staffs, Fiorentino was a member of Riley’s initial Heat coaching staff in 1995-96, served as an assistant coach for the Heat’s WNBA affiliate, the Miami Sol, during their three-year existence, and then returned in a broadcasting role, a member of the franchise for all 30 of its seasons. The tenure will continue, with Fiorentino being transitioned after this season to a community liaison role.
2. Ron Rothstein
He was named the franchise’s first coach in 1988 and guided the team through its first three seasons. After working as an assistant with the Pistons and Cavaliers after his Heat tenure, Rothstein returned to South Florida in 2000 to guide the Heat’s shortlived WNBA affiliate, the Miami Sol. He then served as a Heat assistant coach from 2004-14 before transitioning to his current broadcast role with the team.
1. Alonzo Mourning
The on-court embodiment of the start of the Riley era in 1995, it seemingly all was ripped away with the 2000 announcement of kidney illness. From there, there was a brief comeback and then an unsettling free-agent departure to the Nets. But then he returned to the team to share in the 2006 championship and later transitioned to a front-office role in 2009 upon his retirement, now the team’s vice president of player programs and development.