The five most disappointing seasons in Miami Heat history

Smokey Robinson was preaching when he sang "a taste of honey is worse than none at all..."

Dec 6, 2021; Miami, Florida, USA; Miami Heat president Pat Riley sits in the arena prior to the game between the Miami Heat and the Memphis Grizzlies at FTX Arena. Mandatory Credit: Jasen Vinlove-USA TODAY Sports | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Pat Riley once warned those listening that the NBA could bring a person to their knees. No doubt, that’s how some of those early years in Miami had him, even once leaning against the wall of the tunnel as if he was going to pass out as the team‘s head of security kept guard. 

He had written in his memoir Show Time (1988) how much he wondered if he could have success without Earvin “Magic” Johnson, so coming up short to Michael Jordan and the Bulls then three straight years against the New York Knicks, after sticking his neck out and leaving them, ate him alive. 

Eventually, his teams broke through, setting the standard that’s left many fans spoiled. The minimum they demand is a team with a real shot, so years the squad folded and couldn’t generate any consistency after a previous high, were the worst. 

Let’s review. 

2006-07 

Some guys didn’t show up in shape to training camp, the groove established late when Dwyane Wade missed time with a shoulder injury wasn’t real after he came back, Shaquille O’Neal got old and the season ended with Riley clapping an arrogant squad off the floor. Notably, the young Chicago Bulls smoked them in the season opener on Halloween by 42 points in Miami then swept them in round one. 

2020-21

Goran Dragić never got back to his playoff form before his foot injury, COVID was still complicating things, Tyler Herro didn’t follow up his rookie year that well and many players were still spent because 72 days for an offseason didn’t let the them recover physically in time for the next year. The vibes from the bubble run didn’t carry over, either. 

They thought they had reinforcements when they traded for Victor Oladipo, whose speed gave the team a dimension it was missing, but he hurt his leg in his fourth game and that was it until the next year for him. They also worse those hideous yellow jerseys that meant to be gold that season, and got pantsed by the Milwaukee Bucks in round one of the playoffs. 

2014-15

The Heat’s media department must have burned the tapes because they are nowhere to be found, but never forget how Riley made a video in the summer LeBron James left declaring the team was still a contender. That must’ve hit like a hot dose straight into the blood stream for the diehard supporters, but it didn’t take long to know Dwyane Wade wouldn’t ever turn into Flash again, and Chris Bosh wasn’t good enough to be the 1A, before he got sick. 

If there was one moment that could sum up the season, it was failing to get a defensive rebound in Milwaukee, while up two, and watching Khris Middleton down the game-winning second-chance trifecta. They fell to six games below .500 that night, and eventually closed the season with a 5-7 record, failing to get the eighth seed over the Brooklyn Nets. 

1998-99

Anyone close enough to the team who was around in those years will tell you that they believed they had a chance. One reason was because the Jordan roadblock had retired, again, and another was that it was their best unit around Alonzo Mourning and Tim Hardaway — but two words that can make Heat fans cry: Allan Houston. This made it the second year in a row the Knicks had eliminated the Heat. 

To make matters worse, the Heat were the first seed and watched the Knicks (minus Patrick Ewing from Game 2 on of the Eastern Conference Finals because of an Achilles injury) get to the Finals, ultimately losing in five to the San Antonio Spurs.

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2010-11

James atoned the following years by leading the team to two-straight titles, but they lost to the Dallas Mavericks because his mentally fragile state caused him to play scared as if he’d seen an apparition. The lasting image of that season is  Chris Bosh going down in the tunnel as he was afflicted with sadness.

The Heat winning would have been like giving the haters the finger for them treating them like villains for committing the crime of acquiring free agents. Keep in mind that the second-best player on Dirk Nowitzki’s team was a 33-year-old Jayson Terry.

Remember when Wade said in the huddle of the 2006 Finals when they were down double-digits and 2-0 in the series that he wasn’t going to go out like that? Well, 2011 is what going out like that would’ve looked like. 

It’s not just the Heat’s worst year, it is one of the most embarrassing in NBA history.