The 1994–95 Miami Heat season was the seventh season for the Miami Heat in the National Basketball Association.
Season summary
Off-season The Heat had the twelfth overall pick in the 1994 NBA draft, and selected point guard Khalid Reeves from the University of Arizona. During the off-season, the team signed free agents Kevin Gamble, Ledell Eackles and Brad Lohaus.
Regular season Before the start of the regular season, the Heat acquired Billy Owens from the Golden State Warriors, then after the first two games of the season, the team traded Steve Smith, and Grant Long to the Atlanta Hawks in exchange for Kevin Willis.
Despite the addition of Owens, Willis and Reeves, the Heat struggled losing seven of their first eight games of the regular season, on their way to a 10–23 start to the season. After holding a 17–29 record at the All-Star break, head coach Kevin Loughery was fired, and replaced with assistant coach Alvin Gentry as an interim coach. The Heat played above .500 in winning percentage posting a 7–5 record in February, but played below .500 for the remainder of the season, and finished in fourth place in the Atlantic Division with a disappointing 32–50 record.
Glen Rice averaged 22.3 points and 1.4 steals per game, and led the Heat with 185 three-point field goals, while Willis averaged 17.1 points and 10.7 rebounds per game, and Owens provided the team with 14.3 points, 7.2 rebounds and 3.5 assists per game. In addition, Bimbo Coles provided with 10.0 points, 6.1 assists and 1.5 steals per game, while Reeves contributed 9.2 points and 4.3 assists per game, and Matt Geiger averaged 8.3 points and 5.6 rebounds per game. Meanwhile, Gamble contributed 7.4 points per game, John Salley provided with 7.3 points and 4.5 rebounds per game, Eackles and Harold Miner both contributed 7.3 points per game each, and Keith Askins averaged 4.6 points and 4.0 rebounds per game.
During the NBA All-Star weekend at the America West Arena in Phoenix, Arizona, Rice won the NBA Three-Point Shootout, while Miner won the NBA Slam Dunk Contest for the second time, and Reeves was selected for the NBA Rookie Game, as a member of the White team. The Heat finished 22nd in the NBA in home-game attendance, with an attendance of 598,761 at the Miami Arena during the regular season.
Notable highlights One notable highlight of the regular season occurred on April 15, 1995, in a home game against the Orlando Magic at the Miami Arena. Rice scored a career-high of 56 points, and made 7 out of 8 three-point field-goal attempts, as the Heat defeated the Magic by a score of 123–117; Rice established a new franchise record that would stand until LeBron James's 61 points on March 3, 2014.
Aftermath This was Rice's final season with the Heat, as he was traded along with Geiger and Reeves to the Charlotte Hornets the following season. Meanwhile, Salley was left unprotected in the 1995 NBA expansion draft, where he was selected by the Toronto Raptors expansion team, while Miner was traded to the Cleveland Cavaliers, Eackles re-signed as a free agent with his former team, the Washington Bullets, Lohaus signed with the San Antonio Spurs, and Gentry was fired as head coach and was replaced by Pat Riley, who resigned from coaching the New York Knicks.
Offseason
NBA draft
Round Pick Player Position Nationality School/Club team 1 12 Khalid Reeves PG University of Arizona
Roster
Regular season
Season standings
Game log Regular season
|- align="center" bgcolor="#ffcccc" | 24 | December 26, 19947:30p.m. EST | Houston | L 88–101 | Rice (20) | Rice, Willis (7) | Owens (6) | Miami Arena15,200 | 8–16
|- align="center" bgcolor="#ffcccc" | 32 | January 11, 19958:30p.m. EST | @ Houston | L 97–108 | Miner (19) | Willis (9) | Coles, Reeves (5) | The Summit12,424 | 10–22
|- align="center" |colspan="9" bgcolor="#bbcaff"|All-Star Break |- style="background:#cfc;" |- bgcolor="#bbffbb"
Player statistics
Ragular season PlayerSF82 82 3,014 378 192 112 14 1,831 36.8 4.6 2.3 1.4 .2 22.3SF 77 0 1,223 122 119 52 10 566 15.9 1.6 1.5 .7 .1 7.4C 75 50 1,955 336 123 47 85 547 26.1 4.5 1.6 .6 1.1 7.3C 74 43 1,712 413 55 41 51 617 23.1 5.6 .7 .6 .7 8.3SG 70 60 2,296 502 246 80 30 1,002 32.8 7.2 3.5 1.1 .4 14.3PG 68 65 2,207 191 416 99 13 679 32.5 2.8 6.1 1.5 .2 10.0PG 67 17 1,462 186 288 77 10 619 21.8 2.8 4.3 1.1 .1 9.2†PF 65 61 2,301 696 83 59 33 1,112 35.4 10.7 1.3 .9 .5 17.1PF 61 1 730 102 43 20 25 267 12.0 1.7 .7 .3 .4 4.4SG 54 6 898 95 72 19 2 395 16.6 1.8 1.3 .4 .0 7.3SF 50 5 854 198 39 35 17 229 17.1 4.0 .8 .7 .3 4.6SG 45 16 871 117 69 15 6 329 19.4 2.6 1.5 .3 .1 7.3†PG 14 0 158 11 23 2 1 43 11.3 .8 1.6 .1 .1 3.1†SG 2 2 62 6 7 2 1 41 31.0 3.0 3.5 1.0 .5 20.5†PF 2 2 62 11 4 2 0 16 31.0 5.5 2.0 1.0 .0 8.0
Transactions The Heat were involved in the following transactions during the 1994–95 season.
Trades November 2, 1994 To Miami HeatSasha DanilovićBilly Owens To Golden State WarriorsRony Seikaly November 7, 1994 To Miami HeatKevin Willis1996 first-round pick To Atlanta HawksGrant LongSteve Smith1996 second-round pick
Free agents
Additions Player Signed Former team Ledell Eackles September 30 Rapid City Thrillers (CBA) Jerome Harmon October 4 Unsigned Kevin Pritchard October 4 Quad City Thunder (CBA) Chucky Brown October 4 Yakima Sun Kings (CBA) Steve Henson October 4 Mexico Aztecas (CBA) Kevin Gamble October 7 Boston Celtics Brad Lohaus October 7 Milwaukee Bucks Kevin Pritchard March 6 Philadelphia 76ers Kevin Pritchard March 24 Miami Heat
Subtractions Player Left New team Brian Shaw free agency, September 22 Orlando Magic Jerome Harmon waived, October 17 Philadelphia 76ers Steve Henson waived, November 1 Portland Trail Blazers Chucky Brown waived, November 1 Houston Rockets Kevin Pritchard waived, November 1 Philadelphia 76ers Alec Kessler waived, November 2 Olimpia Stefanel Milano (Lega Basket Serie A) Willie Burton waived, November 3 Philadelphia 76ers Kevin Pritchard waived, March 19 Miami Heat
Player Transactions Citation:
References
External links 1994-95 Miami Heat