The Miami Heat are an American professional basketball team based in Miami. The Heat compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Southeast Division. The club plays its home games at Kaseya Center, and has won three NBA championships.
Patrick James Riley is an American professional basketball executive, former coach, and former player in the National Basketball Association (NBA). He has been the team president of the Miami Heat since 1995, and he also served as the team's head coach from 1995 to 2003 and again from 2005 to 2008. Regarded as one of the greatest NBA coaches of all time, Riley has won five NBA championships as a head coach, four with the Los Angeles Lakers during their Showtime era in the 1980s and one with the Heat in 2006. Riley is a nine-time NBA champion across his tenures as a player (1972), assistant coach (1980), head coach, and executive.
Alonzo Harding Mourning Jr. is an American former professional basketball player who has served as vice president of player programs and development for the Miami Heat since June 2009. Mourning played most of his 15-year National Basketball Association (NBA) career for the Heat.
Timothy Duane Hardaway Sr. is an American former professional basketball player. Hardaway played in the National Basketball Association (NBA) for the Golden State Warriors, Miami Heat, Dallas Mavericks, Denver Nuggets and Indiana Pacers. He was a five-time NBA All-Star and All-NBA Team selection. Hardaway won a gold medal with the United States national basketball team at the 2000 Summer Olympics. He was known for his crossover dribble which was dubbed the "UTEP two-step" by television analysts.
Edward Charles Jones is an American former professional basketball player who played for five teams in his 14-year National Basketball Association (NBA) career. Jones played college basketball at Temple University and was the 1993–94 Atlantic 10 Player of the Year. He led the Owls to the Elite 8 in the NCAA tournament. The three-time NBA All-Star was selected 10th overall in the 1994 NBA draft by the Los Angeles Lakers.
Daniel Lewis Majerle, also known by the nickname "Thunder Dan", is an American former professional basketball player and former coach of the Grand Canyon Antelopes. He played 14 years in the National Basketball Association (NBA) with the Phoenix Suns, Miami Heat, and Cleveland Cavaliers. He won a bronze medal with the U.S. national team at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, and a gold medal at the 1994 FIBA World Championship.
Udonis Johneal Haslem is an American professional basketball player for the Miami Heat of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played college basketball for the Florida Gators, where he was a key member of four NCAA tournament teams. Haslem began his professional career in France with Chalon-sur-Saône and then signed with his hometown Miami Heat in 2003 and has become the longest tenured Heat player in franchise history. He has also won three NBA championships while playing for the Heat.
The 1988 NBA draft took place on June 28, 1988, in New York City, New York. The length was reduced from seven rounds in the previous year to three rounds. This was also the first draft for the Charlotte Hornets and Miami Heat, prior to their inaugural season.
Willie Lloyd Anderson Jr. is an American former professional basketball player. During his pro club career, Anderson played nine seasons in the NBA, and three seasons in the EuroLeague. He was named to the 1988–89 NBA season's All-Rookie First Team. While he was a member of the Greek Basket League club AEK Athens, he played in the 1998 EuroLeague Final.
Oak Hill Academy is a co-educational, private, Baptist-affiliated secondary school in Mouth of Wilson, Virginia, United States. Oak Hill enrolls approximately 140 students in grades 8–12, and is 100% boarding. It is accredited by the Virginia Association of Independent Schools and is authorized to enroll international students.
William Stansbury Thompson is an American former professional basketball player who played in the National Basketball Association and other leagues. He spent a 5-year career with the Los Angeles Lakers and Miami Heat, and registered one minute of court time with the Golden State Warriors in late 1991.
Rory Darnell Sparrow is an American former professional basketball player who played in the National Basketball Association (NBA).
Kevin Durell Edwards is an American former professional basketball player who currently serves as DePaul University men's basketball team's director of community, corporate, and professional relations. Edwards was selected by the Miami Heat with the 20th overall pick of the 1988 NBA draft. Edwards was the second ever draft pick in Miami Heat history, behind teammate Rony Seikaly who was selected as the 9th pick in the same draft.
Jon Thomas "Sunny" Sundvold is an American former professional basketball player who was selected by the Seattle SuperSonics in the first round of the 1983 NBA draft. A 6'2" shooting guard from the University of Missouri, Sundvold played in 9 NBA seasons from 1983–1992. He played for the Sonics, San Antonio Spurs and Miami Heat.
Orlando Graham is an American former professional basketball player who was selected by the Miami Heat in the second round of the 1988 NBA draft. Graham was born in Montgomery, Alabama and graduated from Sidney Lanier High School in 1984. A 6'8" forward, Graham played two seasons for Auburn University at Montgomery. He earned First-Team All-American honors and became the first Senator to win the NAIA Player of the Year Award during the 1987-88 season. Graham played in only one NBA season for the Golden State Warriors during the 1988-89 NBA season. He appeared in 7 games and scored a total of 8 points in his brief NBA career. Graham was the fifth ever draft pick in Miami Heat history. Orlando Graham was also selected as an candidate for 1988 Men's Olympic Basketball team in representing USA. Graham is one of just two former Senators to play professionally in the National Basketball Association (NBA) and one of four AUM men's basketball players to have his jersey retired.
Alexander Canterell Johnson is a former American professional basketball player who played two seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played the power forward position. Johnson played college basketball for Florida State before being selected 45th overall in the 2006 NBA draft by the Indiana Pacers. In the NBA, he played for the Memphis Grizzlies and Miami Heat.
Darren Keefe Daye is an American former professional basketball player. Born in Des Moines, Iowa, at a height of 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m), and a weight of 220 lb (100 kg), he played as a shooting guard and small forward.
Gregory Wayne Oden Jr. is an American former professional basketball player. Oden, a 7'0" (2.13m) center, played college basketball at Ohio State University for one season, during which the team was the Big Ten Conference regular season champion and Big Ten Conference men's basketball tournament champion with Oden as the tournament MOP. Additionally, Oden and the Buckeyes were the tournament runner-up in the NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship.
The 1988 NBA Expansion Draft was the eighth expansion draft of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The draft was held on June 23, 1988, so that the newly founded Charlotte Hornets and Miami Heat could acquire players for the upcoming 1988–89 season. Charlotte and Miami had been awarded the expansion teams on April 22, 1987. In an NBA expansion draft, new NBA teams are allowed to acquire players from the previously established teams in the league. Not all players on a given team are available during an expansion draft, since each team can protect a certain number of players from being selected. In this draft, each of the twenty-three other NBA teams had protected eight players from their roster and the Hornets and the Heat selected eleven and twelve unprotected players respectively, one from each team. Prior to the draft, the league conducted a coin flip between the Hornets and the Heat to decide their draft order in this expansion draft and in the 1988 NBA draft. The Hornets won the coin flip and chose to have the higher pick in the 1988 Draft, thus allowing the Heat to receive the first selection and the right to select twelve players in this expansion draft.
The 1988–89 Miami Heat season was Miami's inaugural season in the NBA. The Heat were the first of two expansion teams to play in the state of Florida over a two-year period, and along with the Charlotte Hornets, joined the NBA in 1988. The team revealed a new primary logo of a red basketball on fire going through a hoop, and got new uniforms adding red and black to their color scheme. In the 1988 NBA expansion draft, the Heat selected veteran players like Billy Thompson, Fred Roberts, Jon Sundvold, Darnell Valentine, Dwayne "Pearl" Washington and Scott Hastings. However, Roberts was traded to the Milwaukee Bucks, and Valentine was dealt to the Cleveland Cavaliers. The team also signed free agents Pat Cummings and Rory Sparrow during the off-season. The Heat received the ninth overall pick in the 1988 NBA draft, and selected center Rony Seikaly out of Syracuse University, while other rookies included first round draft pick Kevin Edwards, and second round draft picks Grant Long and Sylvester Gray. The team hired Ron Rothstein as their first head coach.
