Inside The Heat

Ex-NBA Player Takes Issue With Miami Heat Culture

Ethan J. Skolnick|
Feb 17, 2019; Charlotte, NC, USA; Miami Heat general manager Pat Riley during the 2019 NBA All-Star Game at Spectrum Center. Mandatory Credit: Bob Donnan-Imagn Images
Feb 17, 2019; Charlotte, NC, USA; Miami Heat general manager Pat Riley during the 2019 NBA All-Star Game at Spectrum Center. Mandatory Credit: Bob Donnan-Imagn Images | Bob Donnan-Imagn Images

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Miami Heat

Not every player enjoys the Miami Heat "culture" and experience.

Markieff Morris, who was added as a free agent in 2021 to provide frontcourt depth, was injured in a scuffle against the Denver Nuggets when he was pushed in the back by Nikola Jokic. His teammates rallied to his defense at the time, but Morris said recently on "The OGs Show" with Udonis Haslem (who was one of those teammates at the time) and Mike Miller that he felt the Heat management turned its backs on him.

Morris started by apologizing to Haslem -- Mr. Heat Culture -- in advance for his criticism, which got the long-time Heat captain to laugh.

"Nah, hell, say what you gotta say," Haslem said.

So Morris did.

"They (bleeped) me over there, because they made me work so hard to get back," Morris said. "When they know... and it was like a whole misconception of like, how the injury really went, right? It was like a two week injury. I got cleared in like two weeks but they made it seem -- because Miami wouldn't let me back on the court -- that I was injured for (bleeping) six months. It was whiplash. I literally got whiplash and was right back."

Morris noted that he was practicing regularly, and Haslem saw him do so, to which Haslem agreed.

"I practiced for like six (bleeping) months," Morris said.

He said that "Miami really didn't want me back on the court, just basically like they wrote me off," and he believes that caused the rest of the league to do the same for a while. But Morris did get back into the NBA, and he said that playing for the past four years has proven the injury wasn't permanent.

The Heat do have a history of being careful with injuries, and a bit cryptic with the media and public in their disclosure of timetables. As the organization says itself, frequently, "We're not for everybody." They even printed t-shirts saying the sa

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Ethan J. Skolnick
ETHAN J. SKOLNICK

Ethan has covered all major sports -- in South Florida and beyond -- since 1996 and is one of the longest-tenured fully credentialed members of the Miami Heat. He has covered, in total, more than 30 NBA Finals, Super Bowls, World Series and Stanley Cup Finals. After working full-time for the Miami Herald, South Florida Sun-Sentinel, Palm Beach Post, Bleacher Report and several other outlets, he founded the Five Reasons Sports Network in 2019 and began hosting the Five on the Floor podcast as part of that network. The podcast is regularly among the most downloaded one-team focused NBA podcasts in the nation, and the network is the largest independent sports outlet in South Florida, by views, listens and social media reach. He has a B.A. from The Johns Hopkins University and an M.S. from Columbia University. TWITTER: @EthanJSkolnick and @5ReasonsSports EMAIL: fllscribe@gmail.com

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