Miami Heat: A Brief History
In 1994-95 the franchise was bought out by the Arison family, Micky Arison was named Managing General Partner and he quickly fired Loughery and hired Alvin Gentry. In the 95 offseason, Pat Riley was hired as new president and head couch. He then traded for Alonzo Mourning and he also acquired Tim Hardaway, Chris Gatling and Walt Williams. With the changes he made the team made it to the playoffs but were swept by the Bulls.
The next season saw the Heat winning their first ever Atlantic Division title. However the win was not in the cards for the Heat and after just five games the Bulls beat them for the second time. In 1997-98 while celebrating their tenth year they won the second Atlantic Division title. Even though the 1998-99 seasons were a shortened season Miami did claim the first ever #1 seed in the Playoffs. However the glory of this accomplishment was short lived as they lost to the Knicks.
In 1999, the Heat moved into the American Airlines Arena, and in 2000, they were hit with a major blow when Alonzo Mourning announced he would not be playing this season because he had a kidney disorder called focal glomerulosclerosis. However even with the loss of Mourning, the team was happy with the success of Anthony Mason and Mourning's early return at the end of the year for the final 13 games. The next two seasons were the worst of the Heat's history.
During the 2003-04 season Alonzo Mourning contract expired opening up the funds to sign new players Lamar Odom, Rafer Alston, Dwayne Wade and Udonis Haslem. Another surprising turn for the team was that Pat Riley promoted Stan Van Gundy into his position of head coach.