NBA: Building the All-Time Miami Heat Team

The Miami Heat assembled one of the most impressive trios in the history of the NBA this year, and came up just short in their first year together. Another year together and they could take that next step. 

If they could go back into the magic time machine and select the very best seasons from history, and put them all together, who would be the perfect Heat team? 

Having constructed the All-Time Bulls Team I set to building their current rival. The rules are simple; I took the best season from every position and named the starters and backups from every position. The one catch is that each player appears once. Ergo, Wade won't be backing up himself. 

PG, Tim Hardaway, 1996

Starter: What if you added Tim Hardaway to the big three? I don't believe there's much question that Hardaway is the best point guard in team history, but the question is which season do you chose? 

Technically, his best assist season with the Heat came in '96, when he averaged 10 per game, but that was only for 29 games, so I chose the '97 numbers. That year, Hardaway set the franchise record for total  assists in a season at 695 or 8.6 per game. It doesn't hurt that he averaged 20.3 points per game that year either. 

Backup: Sherman Douglas, the original starting point guard, averaged 18.5 points and 8.5 assists shooting .504 in 1991. 

SG, Dwyane Wade, 2006

Starter: Is there a need for an explanation here or does the picture above suffice. Technically a couple of his regular seasons may have been a smidge better but the way he played in the postseason in 2006 was legend-(wait for it)-ary. In the regular season he "only" averaged 27 points six boards and seven assists. In the postseason he...well, just look at the picture. 

Backup: The 2001 version of Eddie Jones scored 17.4 points, pulled in 4.6 boards and passed 2.7 assists. The 2001 Heat won 50 games and finished second in the division. 

SF, LeBron James, 2011

Starter:  LeBron James didn't have the best finals, admittedly. That doesn't make the rest of the season disappear though. He still had a great season before that. In fact James set a franchise record with 15.6 Win Shares. He averaged 26.7 points, 7.0 assists and 7.5 boards, shooting .510 from the field. 

Backup: Glen Rice in 1994 averaged 18.5 points, 5.4 boards and 2.3 assists. He had his best years after leaving Miami but he had some decent ones with the Heat.  

PF, Chris Bosh, 2011

Starter: In his first year with the Heat, Chris Bosh took some heavy criticism. As the third option on the team, he posted the lowest numbers of his career, but that's to be expected. In his defense it should be pointed out that he still had more Win Shares than any power forward in Heat history with 10.2. His 18.2 points and 8.3 boards are not at all bad for a third option. 

Backup: In 2004, Lamar Odom averaged 17.0 points, 9.7 boards and 4.1 assists and led the team to the second round of the playoffs. 

C, Alonzo Mourning, 2000

Starter: Alonzo Mourning had five of the six best seasons by a center in Heat history. The problem is distinguishing which one was his best, and whether that was better than Shaq's best year with the club. It's very close both ways. 

In the end I settled on on his 2000 season. He averaged 21.7 points and 9.5 boards. He also had the highest WS by a center in Heat history. Those numbers are slightly off of Shaq's numbers but Morning also won the NBA Defensive Player of the Year that season, so that more than makes up for a point and a rebound. 

Backup: In 2005 Shaquille O'Neal scored 22.9 points per game and hauled in 10.9 rebounds setting a single season record for PER  in season by a Heat center.