The '''Miami Heat''' are a professional basketball team based in Miami, Florida, United States. They play in the National Basketball Association (NBA) and are the current NBA Champions after defeating the Dallas Mavericks in the 2006 NBA Finals.
Home arenas
*Miami Arena (1988–1999)
*AmericanAirlines Arena (1999—)
History
Rothstein years
In 1987, after some influence from Billy Cunningham, the NBA voted to expand by adding four new teams: the Charlotte Hornets, Minnesota Timberwolves, Orlando Magic, and Miami Heat. The Heat came into the NBA for the 1988–89 season with an unproductive first year, with a roster full of young players and journeymen. Among the players on the inaugural roster were first round picks Rony Seikaly and Kevin Edwards, fellow rookies Grant Long and Sylvester Gray as well as NBA vets Rory Sparrow, Jon Sundvold, Pat Cummings, Dwayne Washington and Billy Thompson. The team started out the season by losing its first 17 games, an NBA record. It didn't help that the Heat were placed in the Midwest Division of the Western Conference. This forced them on the longest road trips in the NBA; their nearest opponent was the Houston Rockets, over 900 miles from Miami. The team ultimately finished with a league-worst 15–67 win-loss record under former Detroit Pistons assistant coach Ron Rothstein.
left|thumb|150px|Original Heat logo used from 1988–1999
The Heat picked Glen Rice from the University of Michigan in the first round of the 1989 NBA Draft and Sherman Douglas of Syracuse University in the 2nd round and the team also moved to the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference for the 1989–90 season, where they would remain for the next 15 years. However, the Heat continued to struggle and never won more than two consecutive games, en route to a 18–64 record.
The 1989–90 season saw Miami awarded with the 3rd pick overall, only to parlay via two trades (first with the Denver Nuggets and later with the Houston Rockets into getting the 9th and 12th picks, with which they selected Willie Burton of the University of Minnesota and Alec Kessler of the University of Georgia. Both picks flopped. The Heat tried to turn Burton, a college small forward, into a shooting guard without much success. Kessler was bogged by injury problems and was not physical enough to be a quality NBA power forward.
While Rice, Seikaly and Douglas all showed improvement from the previous year, Miami still only went 24–58 and remained in the Atlantic Division basement.
Rothstein returned to the Heat prior to the 2004-2005 season as an assistant coach, a role he still fulfills today.
Loughery years
Rothstein resigned before
