Miami's 10 Greatest Athletes
Honorable Mention to Miami Dophins Hall-of-Famers who did not otherwise make the Top 10: Larry Csonka, Larry Little, Nick Buoniconti, Paul Warfield, Jim Langer, Dwight Stephenson, Dan Marino and Jason Taylor. Buoniconti, Warfield and Taylor might have made the Top 10 had they spent their entire careers in Miami.
Honorable Mention to Miami Heat Hall-of-Famers who did not otherwise make the Top 10: Shaquille O'Neal, Gary Payton and Ray Allen.
Honorable Mention to Tim Hardaway, who, like Shaq, got his number retired by the Heat.
10. Pavel Bure, right wing, Florida Panthers, 1999-2002. The closest the Panthers come to having a real Hall-of-Famer. The other 4 players in the Hall who played for them played a grand total of 4 seasons.
9. Jeff Conine, 1st base, Florida Marlins, 1993-97 and again 2003-05."Mr. Marlin" isn't the greatest player they've ever had, but, due to the nature of Marlins' management, their great players don't last very long.
8. Miguel Cabrera, 3rd base, Florida Marlins, 2003-07. While he won a World Series in his rookie year with the Marlins, his greatest individual success has come with the Detroit Tigers.
7. Giancarlo Stanton, right field, Miami Marlins, 2010-17. Of course, if he does for the Yankees what Yankee Fans hope he'll do, what he did for the Marlins will be as forgotten as what Cabrera did.
6. Dan Marino, quarterback, Miami Dolphins, 1983-99. Statistically, he's the best athlete in South Florida history. But he never won a Super Bowl, and only got into 1 -- the 2nd half of that fact being even more of an exposure than the 1st. After all, a quarterback who doesn't get his team to the big game deserves a lot more criticism than does a player at any other position on the football field.
5. Chris Bosh, forward, Miami Heat, 2010-17. Clearly the Number 3 man in the "Big Three," he's probably still going to the Hall of Fame.
4. Alonzo Mourning, center, Miami Heat, 1995-2002 and 2005-08. This guy came back from a kidney transplant to help the Heat win their 1st NBA Championship.
3. Bob Griese, quarterback, Miami Dolphins, 1967-80. No, he wasn't as talented as Marino. But he quarterbacked back-to-back Super Bowl winners, 1 of only 7 quarterbacks to do so.
2. LeBron James, forward, Miami Heat, 2010-14. Had he spent his entire career with his talents on South Beach, he'd be an easy Number 1 choice here.
1. Dwyane Wade, guard, Miami Heat, 2003-16, and has now returned to them. Before LeBron, he led the Heat to the 2006 NBA Championship with Shaq and Zo. So he won 3 titles -- and all Miami teams without him, combined, have won just 4.