Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Heat’s history filled with plenty of hardware
MIAMI — The ballots are due over the next week for the NBA’s annual awards.
While Wayne Ellington for the Sixth Man Award is a stretch, as is Josh Richardson for Defensive Player of the Year, Bam Adebayo could conceivably get votes for the All-Rookie teams, as could Erik Spoelstra for Coach of the Year. To the Heat, in the void of a true superstar, 2017-18 never was about playing for hardware. But over the franchise’s 30 seasons there have been awards that have spoken volumes about the direction and culture of the franchise. Throughout this 30th-anniversary season, the South Florida Sun Sentinel has looked back at three decades of the Heat, at the men and the moments that have made this an exhausting, exhilarating and enduring ride.
Today, going into awards season, we look at the top 10 most meaningful awards earned to date by members of the franchise.
10. P.J. Brown, J. Walter Kennedy Citizenship Award (1997)
This was the first time the Heat won a major civic award, with Alonzo Mourning becoming the franchise’s second and only other recipient, in 2002. The award is presented annually to a player, coach or athletic trainer who demonstrates outstanding service and dedication to the community. Dwyane Wade is among five finalists for the honor this season.
9. Dwyane Wade, first-team All-Rookie (2004)
While Rookie of the Year was out of the question in the same draft class as LeBron James, Wade was a unanimous All-Rookie firstteam selection (along with James and Carmelo Anthony) after stepping in at point guard and averaging 16.2 points, 4.5 assists and 4.0 rebounds per game, helping the Heat overcome a 5-15 start to close at 42-40 and earn homecourt advantage in the first round of the playoffs.
8. Rony Seikaly, Most Improved Player (1990)
At a time when the Heat were looking for any positive publicity, after 15-67 and 18-64 seasons, Seikaly emerged as the franchise’s first winner of a major postseason award, improving from 10.9 points, 7.0 rebounds and 1.2 blocks as a rookie in the Heat’s inaugural 1988-89 season to 16.6 points, 10.4 rebounds and 1.7 blocks in his second season, finishing sixth in the league in rebounding in 1990.
7. LeBron James, Most Valuable Player (2012)
There already had been MVPs with the Cavaliers in 2009 and ’10, but this was different. This was James, after being humbled in the 2011 NBA Finals by the Mavericks, reinventing himself in the offseason by working with Hakeem Olajuwon and unveiling a post game commensurate of someone his size. The final averages for the lockout-shortened season were 27.1 points, 7.9 rebounds, 6.2 assists, shooting 53 percent from the field.
6. Pat Riley, Coach of the Year (1997)
It took only two seasons as coach for Riley to push the Heat to the top of the standings. A year after going 42-40 in his first season with the team, Riley guided the Heat to a 61-21 finish and the franchise’s first division title, back when that actually meant something. It was the third Coach of the Year award for Riley, after being honored for his work with the Lakers in 1990 and Knicks in 1993. He remains the lone Heat coach to win this official league honor.
5. LeBron James, Most Valuable Player (2013)
James won his first MVP award with the Heat during the lockoutshortened 2011-12 season. But it was his performance in 2012-13 that sparked the Heat to a franchise-record 27-game winning streak on the way to a franchiserecord 66-16 finish. He ultimately fell one vote shy of becoming the first player to unanimously be selected MVP. He closed the season averaging 26.8 points, 8.0 rebounds and 7.3 assists, shooting .565 from the field.
4. Alonzo Mourning, Defensive Player of the Year (1999)
This was the first of two consecutive such awards for Mourning, making it clear that defense would then and now remain the priority for the Heat under Riley’s stewardship. The first came in a lockout-shortened season, but was noteworthy for Mourning averaging a career-best 3.9 blocked shots. He remains the lone player over the Heat’s 30 seasons to earn the honor.
3. Dwyane Wade, NBA Finals MVP (2006)
LeBron James would go on to win this award as part of Heat championships in 2012 and ’13. But this was the series that legitimized everything Pat Riley was attempting to accomplish after his 1995 arrival. And, frankly, no Heat player has since achieved what Wade did in this series, starting with his 42-point outburst in Game 3, when the Heat were in danger of falling behind the Mavericks 3-0, to his 36 points in the Game 6 title clincher.
2. Isaac Austin, Most Improved Player (1997)
This is where the advertising for Heat “culture” began, the franchise’s initial statement under Pat Riley about career revival. A former No. 48 pick by the Jazz in 1991, Austin was a lost soul, winding up in Turkey in 1995-96. Then the Heat reshaped Austin’s physique and revitalized his career.
1. Pat Riley, Executive of the Year (2011)
Incredibly, for the seemingly unfathomable accomplishment of putting together LeBron James, Chris Bosh and Dwyane Wade in the 2010 offseason, Riley was left to share this award with Chicago’s Gar Foreman, who signed Carlos Boozer. What Riley accomplished set the bar for NBA offseasons, including subsequent efforts by the Warriors, Cavaliers and Thunder.