The 1990–91 Miami Heat season was the third season for the Miami Heat in the National Basketball Association.
Season summary
Off-season The Heat received the ninth overall pick in the 1990 NBA draft, and selected small forward Willie Burton from the University of Minnesota; the team also selected shooting guard Dave Jamerson from the University of Ohio with the 15th overall pick. The Heat originally had the third overall pick in the draft, after finishing with an 18–64 record the previous season, but traded it to the Denver Nuggets in exchange for the ninth, and 15th picks.
On draft day, the Heat made two separate trades. The team traded Jamerson and rookie power forward, and second-round draft pick, Carl Herrera from the University of Houston, to the Houston Rockets in exchange for rookie center Alec Kessler from the University of Georgia; the team also traded veteran point guard Rory Sparrow to the Sacramento Kings in exchange for rookie point guard, and second-round draft pick Bimbo Coles out of Virginia Tech. During the off-season, the Heat signed undrafted rookie small forward Keith Askins from the University of Alabama.
Regular season With the addition of Burton, the Heat got off to a semi-promising 5–9 start to the regular season, but then continued to struggle by posting a 10-game losing streak in December. The team lost six straight games at the end of January, and later on held a 13–34 record at the All-Star break. The Heat posted an eight-game losing streak in March, lost 17 of their final 21 games of the season, and finished in last place in the Atlantic Division with a 24–58 record, which was a six-game improvement over the previous season.
Second-year guard Sherman Douglas averaged 18.5 points, 8.5 assists and 1.7 steals per game, while second-year forward Glen Rice averaged 17.4 points and 1.3 steals per game, and last season's Most Improved Player Rony Seikaly provided the team with 16.4 points, 11.1 rebounds and 1.3 blocks per game. In addition, Kevin Edwards provided with 12.1 points and 1.6 steals per game, while Burton contributed 12.0 points per game, and was named to the NBA All-Rookie Second Team, and Grant Long averaged 9.2 points, 7.1 rebounds and 1.5 steals per game. Meanwhile, Billy Thompson contributed 6.8 points and 4.3 rebounds per game, Kessler averaged 6.2 points and 4.3 rebounds per game, second-year forward Terry Davis provided with 5.5 points and 4.8 rebounds per game, and Coles contributed 4.9 points and 2.8 assists per game.
During the NBA All-Star weekend at the Charlotte Coliseum in Charlotte, North Carolina, Rice participated in the NBA Three-Point Shootout. The Heat finished 15th in the NBA in home-game attendance, with an attendance of 615,328 at the Miami Arena during the regular season.
Aftermath Following the season, Thompson was released to free agency, and head coach Ron Rothstein resigned after three seasons with the franchise.
Draft picks
Round Pick Player Position Nationality School/Club team 1 9 Willie Burton SF Minnesota 1 15 Dave Jamerson SG Ohio 2 30 Carl Herrera PF Houston
Roster
Regular season
Season standings
y – clinched division title x – clinched playoff spot
z – clinched division title y – clinched division title x – clinched playoff spot
Game log
Player statistics
Ragular season PlayerPG82 9 1,355 153 232 65 12 401 16.5 1.9 2.8 .8 .1 4.9PF 80 66 2,514 568 176 119 43 734 31.4 7.1 2.2 1.5 .5 9.2SG 79 16 2,000 205 240 129 46 955 25.3 2.6 3.0 1.6 .6 12.1C 78 18 1,259 336 31 17 26 486 16.1 4.3 .4 .2 .3 6.2SF 77 77 2,646 381 189 101 26 1,342 34.4 4.9 2.5 1.3 .3 17.4SF 76 26 1,928 262 107 72 24 915 25.4 3.4 1.4 .9 .3 12.0PG 73 73 2,562 209 624 121 5 1,352 35.1 2.9 8.5 1.7 .1 18.5SF 73 46 1,481 312 111 32 48 499 20.3 4.3 1.5 .4 .7 6.8C 64 59 2,171 709 95 51 86 1,050 33.9 11.1 1.5 .8 1.3 16.4PF 55 17 996 266 39 18 28 300 18.1 4.8 .7 .3 .5 5.5SF 39 1 266 68 19 16 13 86 6.8 1.7 .5 .4 .3 2.2C 31 1 261 49 2 6 27 54 8.4 1.6 .1 .2 .9 17SG 24 0 225 9 24 7 0 112 9.4 .4 1.0 .3 .0 4.7SG 13 1 116 7 15 2 3 63 8.9 .5 1.2 .2 .2 4.8
Awards and records Willie Burton, NBA All-Rookie Team 2nd Team
References