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The Miami Sports and Exhibition Authority eventually endorsed a group led by NBA Hall of Famer Billy Cunningham and former sports agent (and lifelong buddy of Cunningham's) Lewis Schaffel, who received their financial...

In the course of the boom period of the NBA of the 1980s the league sought to expand itself from 23 teams to 26 by the end of the decade. In Florida, a state devoid of any NBA franchises, groups from Orlando, Tampa/St. Petersburg and Miami all vied to land franchises.

The Miami Sports and Exhibition Authority eventually endorsed a group led by NBA Hall of Famer Billy Cunningham and former sports agent (and lifelong friend of Cunningham's) Lewis Schaffel, who received their financial backing from Carnival Cruise Lines tycoon Ted Arison, who would be the majority shareholder of a prospective franchise but defer the day-to-day operations to minority shareholders Cunningham and Schaffel.

In April 1987, the NBA expansion committee endorsed the bids of the cities of Charlotte and Minneapolis. Nonetheless, the committee was split amongst awarding the third and final franchise to Miami or Orlando, causing representatives from both cities to toss barbs at the other. Finally, it was decided that the NBA would expand by four teams, with the Charlotte Hornets and Miami Heat debuting for the 198889 season and the Minnesota Timberwolves and Orlando Magic beginning for the 198990 season.

For their 1st head coach, Miami hired Ron Rothstein, who was a longtime assistant coach under Chuck Daly in Detroit and who was credited with getting a single of the architects of Detroit's stifling defense.

Reputation Management

The Heat came into the NBA for the 198889 season with an unproductive first year, with a roster full of young players and journeymen. Amongst the players on the inaugural roster had been very first round picks Rony Seikaly and Kevin Edwards, fellow rookies Grant Extended and Sylvester Gray as nicely as NBA vets Rory Sparrow, Jon Sundvold, Pat Cummings, Scott Hastings, Dwayne "Pearl" Washington and Billy Thompson. The group started out the season by losing its first 17 games, an NBA record. It did not aid that the Heat had been placed in the Midwest Division of the Western Conference. This forced them on the longest road trips in the NBA their nearest divisional opponent was the Houston Rockets, more than 900 miles from Miami. The group in the end finished with a league-worst 1567 win-loss record.

To assist address Miami's league-low point production, the Heat picked Glen Rice from the University of Michigan in the very first round of the 1989 NBA Draft, and Sherman Douglas of Syracuse University in the 2nd round. The team also moved to the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference for the 198990 season, where they would stay for the subsequent 15 years. Nevertheless, the Heat continued to struggle and never won far more than two consecutive games, en route to an 1864 record.

The 198990 season saw Miami awarded with the 3rd pick all round, only to parlay through two trades (first with the Denver Nuggets and later with the Houston Rockets) into getting the 9th and 12th picks, with which they chosen Willie Burton of the University of Minnesota and Alec Kessler of the University of Georgia. Each picks flopped, as the Heat attempted to turn Burton, a college little forward, into a shooting guard without having a lot accomplishment and Kessler was bogged by injury issues and was not physical enough to be a high quality NBA energy forward.

Although Rice, Seikaly and Douglas all showed improvement from the previous year, Miami nevertheless only went 2458 and remained in the Atlantic Division basement.

Rothstein would resign as head coach at the end of the season, but later would return to the Heat prior to the 2004-05 season as an assistant coach, a function he still fulfills nowadays.

In the wake of Rothstein's resignation prior to the 199192 season, the Heat hired Kevin Loughery, who had 29 years of knowledge in the NBA both as a coach and a player, to be their new head coach. For the 1991 NBA Draft, the team selected Steve Smith from Michigan State, who offered an agile guard to a far more mature Heat group. With the support of rookie Smith, Rony Seikaly, and a much more experienced Glen Rice, the Heat finished in fourth location in the Atlantic Division with a 3844 record and made the playoffs for the very first time. Playing the league-very best Chicago Bulls, the Heat had been swept in three games. Steve Smith produced the NBA All-Rookie group and Glen Rice completed 10th in the NBA in scoring.

The 1992-93 NBA season incorporated the additions of draft selection Harold Miner of the University of Southern California as effectively as trading a 1st round choose (which would turn into the #ten all round pick the following season) for Detroit Pistons forward/center John Salley. While Salley's addition was initial met with optimism due to the fact of the function that he played on two championship Detroit Pistons squads, it became apparent quickly that Salley was a high quality function player for a very good team, but not a good quality player for a mediocre team like Miami was at the time. Salley would ultimately have his playing time diminish, ultimately resulting in his getting taken by the Toronto Raptors in the 1995 expansion draft. As for the season itself, it began off poorly, with Smith missing time with a knee injury and Burton getting lost for most of the year with a wrist injury. Upon Smith's return, Miami posted a winning record in February and March, but it was not sufficient to dig themselves out of the 1327-hole they began in. They completed 3646 and would not return to the playoffs.

A healthier squad fared better in 199394, posting the franchise's 1st-ever winning record at 4240 and returning to the playoffs as the #eight seed versus the Atlanta Hawks. Soon after Miami had a 2-1 series lead, Atlanta rallied from the deficit to win the ideal-of-five series. Soon after that season, Steve Smith would be selected as a member of the 2nd Dream Team, the collection of NBA All-Stars who have been chosen to compete in the 1994 Globe Basketball Championships in Toronto as Team U.S.A.. Dream Team II, also produced up of future Heat players Shaquille O'Neal, Alonzo Mourning, Dan Majerle and Tim Hardaway, would go on to win the tournament.

In 199495, the group overhauled their roster, trading away Seikaly, Smith, and Grant Lengthy. In return, the Heat obtained Kevin Willis and Billy Owens.

Also, at this time came a power shift in Heat's front office. On February 13, 1995 Cunningham and Lew Schaffel had been purchased out by the Arison loved ones of Carnival Cruise Lines fame, who to that point in time had been silent partners in the day-to-day operations of the franchise until the buyout. Micky Arison, son of Carnival founder Ted Arison was named Managing Common Partner. He quickly fired Loughery and replaced him with Alvin Gentry on an interim basis to attempt and shake up the 1729 Heat. Gentry went 1521 for the remaining 36 games of the season for a 3250 record all round, ten games off the earlier year's mark.