Miami Heat announce Juwan Howard to be an assistant coach

The Heat made an official announcement about some moves in their front office on Saturday:

"The Miami HEAT announced today several front office promotions, including Andy Elisburg to Senior Vice President, Basketball Operations/General Manager, Adam Simon to Assistant General Manager/General Manager Sioux Falls Skyforce, Dan Craig to Assistant Coach/Player Development, Chad Kammerer to Director of NBA Scouting/Advance Scout, Keith Askins to Director of College and Pro Scouting and the hiring of Juwan Howard to Assistant Coach/Player Development."

You read that right! Juwan Howard has been named as an assistant coach for the Miami Heat! Wait, he wasn’t already a coach? I only saw him in suits last season. Well, Howard was a player, and now he has found a home for himself now that his “playing” days are over. In all seriousness, Howard had a decent career over 19 years coming from the Fab Five out of Michigan. He spent his last couple years riding the bench in Miami, and I guess he made an impression with the staff there. They went further in detail on his responsibilities:

"Howard, a 19-year NBA veteran, will make the transition to the coaching staff after being named Assistant Coach/Player Development. He will be assisting in the areas of player development and other duties assigned by Head Coach Erik Spoelstra"

Essentially players who retire and immediately become coaches will get the “player development” or “scout”, unless your Jason Kidd. More importantly, the Heat have finally named an actual GM. For the past few years, Pat Riley had been the GM as well as the President. I guess now if Lebron leaves, you can now blame Andy Elisburg. The Heat also outlined the profile of Elsiburg:

"Elisburg, a HEAT original employee of 25 years, will serve as Senior Vice President, Basketball Operations/General Manager. His duties will include assisting CEO Nick Arison and President Pat Riley in the management of all aspects of the HEAT’s basketball organization including salary cap administration, talent acquisition, league compliance and the day-to-day business of basketball operations."

You can bet that any player recruiting and free agent meetings will be led by Pat Riley. This is a big year for Miami, and their is a new-look front office for the Heat.

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