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Miami Heat: 15 best draft picks in franchise history

By Bryan Toporek

MIAMI, FL - APRIL 21: Dwyane Wade #3 of the Miami Heat brings the ball up the court in the third quarter against the Philadelphia 76ers during Game Four of Round One of the 2018 NBA Playoffs at American Airlines Arena on April 21, 2018 in Miami, Florida. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Mark Brown/Getty Images) *** Local Caption *** Dwyane Wade
MIAMI, FL - APRIL 21: Dwyane Wade #3 of the Miami Heat brings the ball up the court in the third quarter against the Philadelphia 76ers during Game Four of Round One of the 2018 NBA Playoffs at American Airlines Arena on April 21, 2018 in Miami, Florida. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Mark Brown/Getty Images) *** Local Caption *** Dwyane Wade /
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Glen Rice, Miami Heat
(Photo by Nathaniel S. Butler/NBAE via Getty Images) /

Career stats with Miami: 478 GP, 19.3 PPG, 4.9 RPG, 2.2 APG, 1.2 SPG, 0.3 BPG, 45.9 FG%, 38.6 3FG%, 83.5 FT%

Rony Seikaly may have been the Heat’s first-ever draft pick, but Glen Rice was their first-ever homegrown star.

One year after drafting Seikaly, Grant Long and Kevin Edwards, the Heat spent the first of their three picks in the 1989 draft on Rice at No. 4 overall. The Michigan product was fresh off a season in which he averaged 25.6 points and 6.3 rebounds per game while winning the Big Ten Player of the Year award and being named to the NCAA All-Tournament team.

Rice got off to a somewhat inauspicious start during his first season in Miami, starting only 60 of his 77 games while averaging 13.6 points on 43.9 percent shooting, 4.6 rebounds and 1.8 assists in 30.0 minutes per night. Within two seasons, his per-game averages jumped up to 22.3 points on 46.9 percent shooting, 5.0 rebounds and 2.3 assists in 38.1 minutes, and he started each of his 79 outings in that 1991-92 season.

Rice’s drastic uptick in scoring production came in large part because he began bombing away from deep. Over their first two years of existence, the Heat combined for 185 triples as a team. Rice hit 155 on his own in the 1991-92 season, which was a whopping 60.3 percent of Miami’s 3-pointers (257) that year.

Rice drilled at least 130 triples in each of his final four years in Miami, while no other Heat player had more than Steve Smith’s 91 in the 1993-94 season. To this day, he still ranks third in franchise history in both 3-pointers (708), points (9,248) and games started (461), and he’s fourth in minutes played (17,059) behind only Dwyane Wade, Udonis Haslem and Alonzo Mourning.

In November 1995—less than seven months after he set a franchise record with a 56-point outing against the Orlando Magic—the Heat traded Rice with Matt Geiger, Khalid Reeves and a 1996 first-round pick to the Charlotte Hornets for a package headlined by Alonzo Mourning. Between his on-court production and his role in bringing Mourning to Miami, there’s no denying Rice’s place in Heat franchise history.

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