30 Years of Heat: All-Time All-Player Countdown #66-64

66. Malik Allen

Malik Allen was a 6'10" power forward from Willingboro, NJ. Born on June 27th, 1978 and a graduate of Shawnee High in Medford. He played four seasons with the University of Villanova Wildcats. As a senior in 1999-00, he scored 14 points with seven and a half rebounds and an assist per game. After going undrafted, he joined the ABA's San Diego Wildfire for one season.

Allen signed a free agent contract with the Heat for two seasons and $845,252 during the 2001 offseason. He appeared in 12 games for the Heat in 2001-02, starting two at power forward. He shot 43.1% and averaged 4.3 points and 3.2 rebounds per contest. On April 12th, in a 99-94 win over the Orlando Magic, he scored 16 points on eight-of-nine shooting with five rebounds in 15 minutes of floor time. In the season finale, he started and scored 14 points with 11 rebounds in 42 minutes for his first career double-double as the Heat again defeated the Magic 103-89.

In 2002-03, Allen started 73 of his 80 appearances at power forward. He shot 42.4% from the field, scoring 10 points with five rebounds per game. He finished in double figures just over half the time, racking up five double-doubles in the process. In the season opener, he shot nine-for-13 from the floor, scoring 22 points with seven boards in a 100-88 loss to the Magic. On November 19th, in a 97-93 Heat win over the Milwaukee Bucks, he scored 16 points with 13 rebounds in 43 minutes. He scored 23 points with five rebounds on January 18th in 47 minutes of a 102-101 win over the Chicago Bulls.

Allen signed on for two more seasons for $3,460,925 before 2003 training camp. He appeared in 45 games, starting six for the Heat. He shot 41.9%, scoring 4.2 points and 2.8 rebounds per game. On January 2nd, in a 112-101 Miami win over Orlando, he scored 14 points with six rebounds. On May 10th, in game three of the Eastern Conference Semi-Finals, he scored 13 points with four rebounds and two blocks in a 94-87 win against the Indiana Pacers as the Heat closed to 2-1. They eventually lost, four games to two.

Allen played 14 games for Miami to start the 2004-05 campaign, improving his field goal percentage to 46.1% to the tune of six points and four rebounds per appearance. On February 24th, the Heat traded him to the Charlotte Bobcats for Steve Smith. He played 22 games with the Bobcats, later on joining the Bulls (114 games), the New Jersey Nets (48 games) the Dallas Mavericks (25 games), the Milwaukee Bucks (49 games), the Denver Nuggets (51 games) and the Magic (18 games).

Stat Line: 151 games, 22.1 minutes, .426 field goals, .803 free throws, 7.2 points, 4.2 rebounds, 0.8 blocks, 0.6 assists, 10.5 PER, 2.6 Win Shares.

Cumulative GameScore: 692.2

65. Rod Strickland

Rod Strickland, a 6'3", 175 pound point guard from the Bronx, played for Oak Hill Academy in Mouth of Wilson, Virginia in High School. Born on July 11th, 1966, he played with the University of DePaul in college. He played and started for three seasons, scoring 20 points with four rebounds and four assists as a senior in 1987-88. After declaring for the NBA draft early, the New York Knicks picked him in the first round with the 19th overall pick.

Strickland played a year and a half in New York (132 games) backing up all-star Mark Jackson. The Knicks sent him to the San Antonio Spurs midway through his second season, where he played for two and a half seasons (146 games). He later played with the Portland TrailBlazers (291 games), the Washington Bullets/Wizards (304 games) and the Blazers again (21 games).

Just before the 2001-02 season, the Heat signed Strickland to a one year, $1,000,000 free agent contract. He played in 76 games for Miami, starting 64 times at point guard. In 30.2 minutes per night, he averaged 10.4 points with 3.1 rebounds and 6.1 assists in each game, shooting 44.3% from the floor. He scored 10 or more points just over half the time, notching four double-doubles in the process. On February 23rd, in a 97-95 triumph over his former team in Washington, he scored 18 points with 14 assists in 38 minutes. On March 6th, he shot eight-for-11, scoring 23 points with seven assists and two steals in a 92-87 win over the Chicago Bulls. March 27th would see him score a season high 24 points with eight assists in a tough 81-80 loss to the Toronto Raptors. The Heat weren't quite good enough to make the playoffs that season, finishing with a 36-46 mark.

Strickland joined the Minnesota TimberWolves (47 games) the next season, later playing with the Orlando Magic (46 games), the Raptors (15 games), and the Houston Rockets (16 games). He is currently an administrative assistant for John Calipari at the University of Kentucky. He is also the Godfather of 2011 NBA Rookie of the Year Kyrie Irving.

Stat Line: 76 games, 30.2 minutes, .443 free throws, .308 three-pointers, .766 free throws, 10.4 points, 6.1 assists, 3.1 rebounds, 1.1 steals, 15.6 PER, 4.9 Win Shares.

Cumulative GameScore: 700.2

64. Josh Richardson

Josh Richardson, or “JRich,” is a 6’6”, 200 lb. shooting guard from Edmond, Oklahoma. Born on September 15th, 1993, he played four seasons of college ball at the University of Tennessee, then got selected in the second round of the 2015 NBA Draft, with the 40th overall selection. He ranks ninth from that draft with career win shares, with 4.7.

In 2015-16, Richardson spent roughly half of the first part of the season with the Sioux Falls Skyforce getting recalled and sent back by the Heat several times. In his first 14 games through January 3rd, he scored 22 points with 15 rebounds and eight assists, shooting six-of-20 overall and four-of-10 from deep.

Richardson turned a corner for the eight games from March 4th through March 19th, shooting 50% or better from outside and going 22-for-30 from deep. His best game of the season, measuring by GameScore, as in a 118-96 win over the Chicago Bulls on March 11th, when he came off the bench for a season-high 22 points on nine-of-12 shooting overall, and four-of-six from three-point distance, along with four assists and two rebounds.

In total through his rookie season, Richardson shot .452 from the field and a slightly better .461 from three-point range. He averaged 6.6 points with 2.1 rebounds, 1.4 assists, and 0.7 steals per game over 52 appearances. He only started twice, but came off the bench 50 times. Miami went 29-23 when he was on the court, versus a 15-15 mark when he sat.

JRich was the victim of the injury bug for large parts of the 2016-17 season, but he still increased his minutes per game from 21.3 to a team-fourth 30.5. He appeared in 53 games in total, starting 34 times. Miami went 23-30 when he played and 19-12 when he did not.

Richardson’s simple metrics took a big hit as he regressed to a .394 field goal percentage and a .330 three-point success rate. His assists increased to 2.6, his rebounds, to 3.2, and his steals to 1.1 as was one of eight Heat regulars to average more than 10 points per game, at 10.2.

On April 10th, in a 124-121 Heat victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers, Richardson turned in his best performance of the season. He played a game-high 46:20, scoring 19 points with six rebounds, five assists, and five steals. Richardson is signed with the Heat for 2017-18 for $1,471,382.

Stat Line: 105 games, 30.5 minutes, .414 field goals, .374 three-pointers, .729 free throws, 8.4 points, 2.6 rebounds, 2.0 assists, 0.9 steals, 0.6 blocks, 11.0 PER, 4.7 Win Shares.

Cumulative GameScore: 708.9