The Most Insane NBA Expansion Team Ever – The 1988 Miami Heat

The Most Insane NBA Expansion Team Ever – The 1988 Miami Heat

Hey, welcome to the Pressbox Chronicles with Jeff Pearlman. [Music] Hey, welcome to the Press Boss Chronicles with Jeff Pearlman. The show where a cranky middle-aged sports writer who has seen it all. He is I takes you behind the scenes and into the stories. I’m your host, Jeff Pearlman. And I don’t know how to explain this, but I am eternally eternally eternally a sucker for expansion teams. I love expansion teams in sports. And I’m not exaggerating that. I love expansion teams. I love the first year Mariners and the first year Blue Jays. Um I love when the Mets came along and the Padres’s. I just think it’s really fun this idea of adding teams. The Seattle Kraken, the Vegas Golden Knights. I just think it’s fascinating. It’s fascinating this random collection of discarded players trying to come together and be a team. Everything about it is just fun. And that is why today we are going to discuss my alltime all time alltime all time all time favorite expansion team. the 1988 1989 Miami Heat, who won a whopping 15 games and might be the worst basketball team I’ve ever seen, but they’re so freaking fun to talk about. So, we’re going to dive right into the Heat. [Music] So, it’s 1987 and the NBA has decided they’re going to add four expansion teams to the league and they’re all going to join by 1990. And you’re going to have two teams in 1988 89, two teams in 8990. And the first two teams are going to be in Charlotte and Miami. The second two teams are going to be in Orlando and Minneapolis. Miami is psyched because you have to remember back in the late 1980s, Miami was a ghost town. You only had two teams that mattered. The Miami Dolphins of the NFL and then college football, the Miami Hurricanes. There was no NBA, there’s no NHL, there was no Major League Baseball. There was a Dolphins, there was a Hurricanes. That’s it. So, the idea of Miami getting an NBA team was enormous. Enormous. In 1986, they break ground in the Miami Arena in the heart of the Overtown District. They have a contest. What are we going to name this scene? Some of the entries, I just want to say it was pretty awesome. The manatees, the tropicals, the heatwave, um the cockroaches, the hookers, the junkies, the bagel dunkers, and the team has this contest and one woman named Stephanie Freed of Miami Beach sends in the Heat and she wins and she winds up winning an autograph photo and a autograph basketball and season tickets to a team that does not yet exist. And the Heat hire Ron Rothstein as their first head coach. He’s a former assistant with Detroit. And when stuff starts getting really fun in the world of expansion sports is when you have an expansion draft. And basically how it works more or less is all the existing teams have to leave people unprotected. And the expansion teams do a draft off of those rosters. And um once you pick a team, once a player is picked from your team, they don’t get to pick another player from your team. So the expansion draft draft happens and I have in front of me the results. Actually, really funny. The Miami Heat make a deal with the Dallas Mavericks. The Dallas Mavericks will give the Heat their first round draft pick as long as the Heat don’t select off their roster Bill Wington, Uvie Blob, or Steve Alford, none of whom you would want in under any circumstance. And that and the Mavs give the Heat the uh their first round pick in the AD draft. So, the expansion draft, Miami Heat, there’s only one guy left on the Mavericks roster, and it’s Arvid Kramer who never plays in the NBA. The Hornets take Dell Curry. They’re the other expansive team. Uh Steph and Steph Curry’s father. The Heat then get Billy Thompson uh from the Lakers. They take Fred Roberts from the Celtics. Scott Hastings from the Hawks. John Sunvold from the Spurs. Um Kevin Williams from the Sonics. It’s basically a trash load of It’s like mediocre battered, injured, kind of useless players. Then five days later, there’s a college draft. And this is a big deal for the Miami Heat. for the first time they will be drafting college players and they have the ninth pick overall and with the ninth pick they take a center out of my out of Syracuse named Ronnie Cycley who’s a really good player and then with the 20th pick they take a guard out of DAL named Kevin Edwards and it’s actually a good draft for the Heat and what I love love love is the Miami Heat roster entering the season is so preposterously bad that I actually want want to talk about a little. So, I have in front of me the Heats roster for their opening game. They’re going to open on November 5th, 1988 at home against the Los Angeles Clippers. And the Clippers suck, but they’re opening against the Clippers. Let’s go over their team a little bit. The Miami Heat, their starting point guard is Dwayne Pearl Washington. And Pearl Washington, when I was a kid, still remains my all-time favorite basketball player of any sort. He was a guard out of Syracuse. Crazy no look passes. um just style and flare and everything and he was a first- round draft pick two years earlier by the New Jersey Nets and they really thought the Nets really thought they were getting the next Magic Johnson. The problem is two things. Pro Washington had no jumper to speak of and he liked eating and over two years in New Jersey Pro Washington just became this total bust and flame out and now he’s starting for the Miami Heat. Their shooting guard is John Sunvolt, a gunner out of Missouri, 6’2. Um, not a very good player, couldn’t do anything but shoot, but he could shoot like Steph Curry. He just didn’t do anything else like Steph Curry. Their starting forward, one of their starting forwards is Billy Thompson. And I actually wrote about Billy Thompson a lot in my book, uh, Showtime about the Lakers. Billy Thompson was a former Laker late draft pick. He was a national champion at Louisville. And Billy Thompson famously once showed up to a Laker game with two left sneakers. He forgot to bring his proper sneakers. Another time Pat Riley is giving a speech to the Lakers. Billy Thompson sneezes and his entire top teeth, all of the teeth come flying out of his mouth um because he had his teeth knocked out of Louisville. Then one time he met a guy on an airplane and promised him he would leave him tickets to that night’s game, but forgot the guy’s name. Never got his name. So, he left on an envelope at the front uh at the ticket winner for the Lakers to the guy I met on the airplane. We don’t know if those tickets were ever claimed. That was Billy Thompson, absent- minded, goofy, whatever. Pat Cummings, or other starting forward, had been a journeyman. He’s our highest paid player, made 500,000 a year, mediocre player, and Cycl was their center. Their bench is awesome. Um Kevin Edwards, great. John Shasky, a 611 center from Minnesota who even himself didn’t really think he was an NBA player. Scott Hastings, former Hawk, bum, 611. Um, Rory Sparrow, a guard who played with the Knicks, was at the end of his career, 6’1, not a very good player. And then they had a really fascinating guy who I always think of when I think of those Miami Heat. His name was Sylvester Gray. And Sylvester Gay was a 66 forward out of Memphis State. I think he was only 20 years old at the time. And while he was at Memphis State, he took $3,000 from a booster and was deemed ineligible and lost all his college eligibility and miserably entered the NBA draft. And the M the Miami Heat used a second round pick, a 35th pick overall until Sylvester Gray and he shows up and he’s from bumble middle of nowhere south. has never been to the big city, has never lived in the big city, doesn’t know how to get to practice, doesn’t know how to get to the game, shows up late, antagonizes a coach by just lackluster play and effort, but he’s 20 years old and he doesn’t know what the hell he’s doing. And those are the Miami Heat. And in Miami, there’s actually this hype. They sell out season tickets. Um Don Johnson is a season ticket holder. Ben Varian is a season ticket holder. People are like, “Let’s go.” exhibition season, they play fairly well and people actually think this is going to be great. This is going to be awesome. The head coach says we’re gonna bust our asses. We’re gonna work harder than anyone else. We’re going to be the hardest working team in the NBA. We may not have the talent, everyone, but we’re going to bust ass. And everyone’s going to remember the 1988 1989 Miami Heat. And I have to say, all these years later, they are remembered, but for all the wrong reasons. [Music] Hey guys, if you watch Pressbox Chronicles, you know about all the different athletes I delve into. But one athlete I never delve into is myself. And that’s because I was a pretty crappy ass athlete. However, in the Lord’s year of 1990, I ran track and cross country at the University of Delaware, and I was without question the worst division 1 runner in America. And I don’t want to brag, but I actually came in last place in the East Coast Conference 1500 championship. Here’s the thing, though. I look back and I had long runs and I had pasta and I had spandex and that’s all I knew. And what we didn’t have back then, way back in the dark ages, were things like protein drinks and supplements and things that could help you naturally. And I’m very, very pleased that a new sponsor of our show is Transparent Lab, 100% grass-fed whey protein. Transparent Labs grass-fed protein contains literally no artificial sweeteners, no dyes, no fillers. Each serving delivers 28 grams of protein source exclusively from grass-fed cows, which gives you guys a higher quality and more nutritious protein. It’s third-party tested, and it’s informed choice certified for accuracy and safety, so you know exactly what you’re putting into your body. And to prove the point, I will do this before you. My big old jug of milk chocolate. I take it, I go in, I shake it. You definitely want to shake it. Nothing’s worse than powdered milk. Nobody likes powder melt. And I drink. And I kid you not, it tastes exactly like a chocolate milkshake. Like a real legitimately good chocolate shake. If you would like to try Transparent Labs grass-fed protein for yourself, scan the QR code on the screen or head down to my link in the description box for an additional 10% off. For a limited time, Transparent Labs is giving away a free protein starter kit with every grass-fed protein subscription. This kit includes a shaker bottle like so, a variety pack of five single serve protein pouches. Give it a try. Now, let’s get back to the story. All right, it’s November 5th, 1988, opening day of the NBA season, and in Miami, Florida, people are psyched. First game ever, Miami Heat. First game ever, Miami. It’s a huge deal, an enormous deal. And um 15,08 people packed the arena. That is a sellout crowd. They’re doing a tuxedo t-shirt giveaway to every fan. Why anyone would want to wear a tuxedo t-shirt, I do not know, but they’re doing it for every fan. They have their shitty ass mascot, the heat guy. He’s there. Um, people show up in tuxedos. You have these sexy Heat dancers. You have Don Johnson. You have Ben Varin. Heat fans can buy Cuban coffee. They sell a rum drink called the frozen Miami Heat. It is crazy. The LA Clippers are in town. The Clippers suck. They always suck. This is the Clippers of Benoy Benjamin and Reggie Williams and Joe Wolf and Ken Norman. They are a bad team. Maybe the He will win. We have some good players here. Pearl Washington. Remember him at Syracuse? He was great. Rory Sparrow, he can hit a jumper. The game begins. The Clippers take a two nothing lead. Rory Sparrow pulls up. 15-footer jumper. First basket. Heat history. Place goes crazy. Kevin Edwards first rebound. Miami Heat history. Place goes crazy. Sylvester Gray first dunk. Heat history. Everyone’s going crazy. People are cheering loudly. It’s awesome. It’s a close game for five for five minutes, maybe six minutes. the Heat lose to the very, very, very bad, profoundly bad Los Angeles Clippers 111 to 91. After the game, there’s optimism. There’s hope. Look, it’s just one game. We’re a good team. We got something going here. We’re together. We’re hardworking. We’re scrappy. My favorite thing is after the game, Clippers Benoy Benjamin says a quote that will could carry for generations. He says, “I know I’m going to like coming down to Florida. It’s a treat for me.” And I will say as a side note, athletes of all sports love coming to Miami. If if you see a list of favorite cities to go to for athletes, it’s Miami by far because you can party late into the night and usually you can walk there from your hotel. So it’s great. Anyway, he lose 11191 to Clippers. Second game, they lose to Dallas 92 to 88. Third game, they lose to San Antonio 117 to 93 on the road. Fourth game at home, lose to the Rockets 121 to 100. Fifth game, they somehow score only 65 points. Lose to Larry Bird and the Celtics at home. Sixth game, lose to the Rockets 113 to 107 at Houston. Seventh game, there’s some hope. They go to overtime against the Golden State Warriors and Ralph Samson. They lose 123 to 117. But there’s this idea after the game, look, we’re getting closer. Warriors, good team. Played them tight. Lost in overtime. Okay. November 23rd, 1988. I have the article in front of me. Lakers lose. This has to be the low point. They play the Miami Heat and they lose to the Lakers 138 to 91. And the Lakers uh back-to-back NBA Finals uh NBA champions don’t even have Kareem in the lineup. Sean Powell, great great writer who covered the Heat early in his career. Uh under the headline, LA shoots season high 64%. This is the kind of thing that happens when expansion kids play with matches and like the Heat just got the kick out of them. And the Miami Heat do something that is really difficult to do. Like really difficult to do. Like Deaggio’s 56game hitting streak. Ricky Henderson stealing 130 bases. Dan Marino and the the the passing yard record. Like really tough to do. The Miami Heat lose their first 17 games. They start the season 0 and 17 and it is ridiculous. Uh David Letterman who used to be do his top 10, he did a top 10 reasons why Yaser Arafat should be allowed to come to America to address United Nations. And reason number seven was uh his three-point shooting could help the Miami Heat. Pat Williams, who wound up being the general manager of the Orlando Magic, was asked about the Heat and he said, um, Miami is losing so frequently, their m their mascot should be a Democrat. And they just became this national joke. And I would say, it’s really interesting. I’ve covered sports for a long time. And it’s easy to say, “We’re going to play hard. We’re going to bust ass.” Like, it’s easy to say that. It’s a lot harder to do it when you keep losing and there’s no hope and you’re a laughingtock and you’re a laughingtock and you’re laughing stock and people are looking at your roster and saying Pearl Washington is 20 pounds overweight. He’s your point guard or Pat Cummings looks like he’s from 1965. That guy’s your forward or Billy Thompson doesn’t even have real teeth. He like it’s really hard. It’s really really hard and the Heat were losing and losing and losing and losing. But then they traveled to Los Angeles to play the Clippers. [Music] So it is December 14th, 1988 and the Miami Heat are in Los Angeles to play the Clippers. And the Clippers suck. Clippers are a really bad team. and they were the the Miami’s opening day opponent and they’re bad and everyone with the heat from the coach Ron Rothstein to the different veteran players Pat Cummings um you know even the rookies Kevin Edwards and and Ronnie Sykes they were looking at the schedule and they realized like this is an opportunity that maybe we can play with the Clippers and the game starts and it’s tight for much of the game it’s tight and they’re going back and forth and they’re going back and forth and the the the Heat late in the game take an 8988 lead, but the Clippers have one last shot. And the Clippers point guard is a guy named Norm Nixon. And Norm Nixon was a great great Laker who won championships with the Lakers, who was a steely, steady point guard who’s highly, highly skilled, and he gets the ball and he dribbles and he puts up a shot. And if you are a fan of the Miami Heat at this point, you assume this ball is going in because nothing goes right for the Miami Heat. Literally nothing goes right for the Miami. And he puts up the shot and it hits the rim and it bounces out and the Miami Heat have finally won a game and they celebrate like they’ve just won the NBA championship because to them they did just win the NBA championship. And Shawn Powell of the Miami Herald wrote, “The vicious monster grew to 17 games, invited a tremendous amount of unwanted publicity, and provoked an expansion team with six rookies. A frustrating NBA lesson. On Wednesday, it ended on the road, no less, against the lowly Los Angeles Clippers, the team that started it off. I’ve got to feel especially good for for everyone on this team. Ron Rothstein and assistant coaches, they’ve worked their tails off and they deserve this and many, many more. And it’s funny because the Miami Herald ran an awesome awesome graphic this. And it shows not only that the Miami Heat streak is at one, but they’re only 32 games away from matching the Lakers single season record for 33 uh game uh winning streak. Amazingly, five games later, the Heat beat the Utah Jazz at home, 101 to to 80. And then they go on a two-game winning streak and they beat the Spurs 111 to 109 at home. And you think, “Oh, a streak’s about to happen.” And it does. They lose their 10 uh next games. And then they beat the Pacers and they lose seven straight games and they’re five and 40 at the All-Star break. And they just suck. Like there comes a point in time when you realize a team sucks. And after a while, the players start getting really tired of Ron Rothstein, the head coach. He’s one of those like drill sergeants. He’s all over Sylvester Gray, the rookie every day. Come on, man. don’t be such a coward. Don’t be such a Let’s see what you can do. And after a while, when you’re losing every day and you’re busting your ass, it gets old. And there comes a point where one of the assistant coaches stops talking to Ron Ralph Stein because he does not like the way he’s coaching. And it just never improves to the Miami Heat. The fans keep coming out, the spirit is still kind of there, but never improves. And they wind up winning 15 games this season. And they’re just a mess. And yet at the same time, there’s kind of a joy to it all. Like there’s a fun innocence in the first year. And later on, you know, the Miami Heat now are considered one of the model franchises in the NBA. And we’re talking about the Miami Heat of Alonzo Morning and Glenn Rice and Tim Hardaway and Shaq and Dwayne Wade and Jimmy Butler and they’ve had all these great players and they had P Pat Riley and Eric Spolstra and they’ve had this great run and it’s easy to forget sometimes the joyful hard but joyful innocence of a young team just starting out and the growing pains and learning everything how to have your valet plays in the parking lot work the system well to your vendors sell the right amount of coffee to what uniforms go where and I just think all these years later honest to God the team sucked they lost 17 in a row they were woefully untalented Ronnie Cyley wound up having a pretty good career Kevin Edwards also wound up having a pretty good career the rest of those players largely forgotten um Grant Long actually also another rookie had a really good career but the rest of those players pretty much forgotten the team largely forgotten the arena long replaced. But ultimately, you can’t have greatness without struggles. You can’t have brilliance without rubble. And the current Miami Heat, the modern-day Miami Heat, um, a stable franchise in the NBA could not exist without Sylvester Gray and Pat Cummings and Rory Sparrow and the hole franchise that started it all in 1988, 1989 in Miami, Florida. That is a wrap for this episode of Pressbox Chronicles with Jeff Pearlman. Please leave a comment below on what stories you’d like to hear more about or if there’s a sports figure or any figure you’re interested in. Um, just a note, my new book, Only God Can Judge Me: The Many Lives of Tupac Shakur, is available now wherever you buy books. Please make sure you like and subscribe. Follow me on Tik Tok at Jeff Pearlman author and on Blue Sky, Jeff Pearlman. Thank you so much for diving behind the scenes and digging into the story. We’ll see you next time on Pressbox Chronicles. [Music]

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Today, we’re going to talk about my favorite NBA expansion team ever. A collection of good to not-so-great players, all buying in to launch the Miami Heat franchise in 1988. Except, they sucked. The 1988 Miami Heat couldn’t shoot, couldn’t pass, couldn’t dribble, and they ended up being on the wrong side of NBA history.

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