Five Reasons Sports -- Miami

5R35- Ethan and Chris are joined by Ira Winderman, who covers the Heat for the Sun Sentinel, to begin to preview the Miami Heat's upcoming run in the NBA Playoffs. We do so by looking at who the most important players are going to be in the playoffs. We discuss (2:15) Goran Dragic, (11:55) Dwyane Wade, (23:30) Hassan Whiteside, (32:00) Josh Richardson, and (38:55) we got through a few other players and decide who might be an X factor.

5R34- With the Miami Heat confirming their place in the NBA playoffs Tuesday night, Ethan and Chris break down their potential opponents in a first round series. We run through the (3:23) Cavaliers, (11:10) Celtics, (19:00) Sixers, (27:05) Raptors, and (34:18) Pacers. Do Heat fans really want LeBron? Then, at 37:40, we flip the script and ask who the top 5 teams in the conference would want to face out of Miami, Milwaukee, and Washington.

5R33- Ethan and Chris are joined by Vinnie Goodwill, who covers the Chicago Bulls and the NBA for NBC Sports Chicago, to discuss a variety of NBA subjects: (1:25) Fixing the league's Tanking Problem, (12:35) Projecting this year’s rookies headlined by Ben Simmons and Donovan Mitchell, (21:05) Reassessing the big summer trades, namely the Paul George and Jimmy Butler moves, (31:07) Ranking members (Grant Hill, Steve Nash, Ray Allen, Jason Kidd) of the 2018 Basketball Hall of Fame class, (36:21) and closing with a lightning round of NBA topics such as Kawhi Leonard's Spurs trouble, MVP between James Harden and LeBron, and the Heat's struggle with Hassan Whiteside.

5R32- Ethan and Chris discuss Heat center Hassan Whiteside's "bulls***" comments during which he asked for more playing time. We discussed: (3:16) The immediate impact. Does the rotation change? Does Whiteside get benched?, (10:52) Should Hassan Whiteside be benched at the end of games?, (19:55) Whiteside’s comments being so atypical for the Heat organization, (31:50) Did we expect more on and off court evolution from Hassan?, (36:18) How does this affect Whiteside’s future with the team?

5R31- Eric Reid joins Ethan and Chris for part 2 of their Miami Heat Stories podcast. Part 1 ended around 2005, so we pick up with where we left off with (1:02) The 2006 Championship winning team, (14:40) The years between the first title and the Big 3 era including Dwyane Wade’s prime years, (20:45) The Decision and Eric’s role in Big 3 recruitment videos, (23:25) The Famous Not 1, Not 2, Not 3, Not 4 pep rally, (28:30) The First Big 3 Season, including starting 9-8, LeBron’s return to Cleveland, and the Finals loss to Dallas, (37:03) Winning the title over Oklahoma City, (40:17) The 27 game winning streak in 2013, (44:04) The two Finals series with the Spurs and the Ray Allen shot, (48:01) and to close Reid talks about his TV partners, including Dr. Jack Ramsay and Tony Fiorentino.

5R30- For the 30th episode, Ethan and Chris are joined by Matt Porter, who covers the Miami Hurricanes for the Palm Beach Post, for a look at a UM team in the midst of spring practice. What will it take to contend? How far ahead is Clemson? Discussed in this episode: (1:05) Where expectations are for the program after a trip to the Orange Bowl, (10:20) The ongoing quarterback battle, (20:45) the work Miami has to do on the offensive and defensive line to improve, (27:00) The depth Miami has at the offensive skill positions, (33:15) and a look the schedule and what it portends for UM this season.

5R29- Tim Bontemps, NBA writer for the Washington Post, joins Ethan and Chris for this edition of the pod. We cover a variety of storylines from around the Association in this episode. (0:55) How Steph Curry’s Injury affects the NBA Playoffs, (10:00) The legitimacy of Houston’s 2018 title chances, (18:40) Cleveland’s status as favorite to win the east, (27:00) How Ethan and Tim vote for MVP, (30:45) Who are the biggest threats of the non-favorites in the NBA playoffs, (36:00) LeBron James is back in Miami tonight as we record. We look back on his move back to Cleveland 4 years later, and whether he made the right decision.

5R28- For the second edition of our Miami Heat stories series, we're joined by the play by play commentator for the Miami Heat Eric Reid. He's been part of the commentary team since the franchise's inception. We're releasing part 2 of this conversation later in the week. In this episode, Eric and the guys discuss: (1:25) How Reid first got involved with the Heat, (7:15) The expansion year and the Ron Rothstein years, (15:00) The Heat’s first trip to the playoffs, (19:00) The Heat’s relevance in Miami during the early years, (25:00) The arrival of Pat Riley, Alonzo Mourning, and the late 90s, (42:00) The post Alonzo Mourning era and the drafting of Dwyane Wade.

5R27- Ethan and Chris are joined for this episode by Adam Beasley, long-time Miami Dolphins reporter for the Miami Herald. We discuss what the Dolphins have done in free agency at the major positions on their offense and figure out if they've actually improved. General topics: Adam Gase's ideal offense (2:30), the decision to restructure Ryan Tannehill's contract and the increasing likelihood they won't draft a QB in the 1st round (13:00), the surplus of wide receivers after signing Albert Wilson and Danny Amendola (26:55), how much they need to add behind Kenyan Drake at running back (31:30), and the changes along the offensive line (36:45).

5R26- The great Barry Jackson (@flasportsbuzz) of the Miami Herald joined Ethan and Chris for the latest episode of the pod. We wanted to cover what we thought to be the biggest storylines surrounding the major Miami sports teams. So we zipped through the Miami Heat (1:30), the Miami Dolphins (11:30), University of Miami Football (20:05), the Miami Marlins (27:40), and to close we asked the question "Who will be the next Miami team to win a championship in their respective sport?" (35:45). Spoiler alert: Chris picked a team that doesn't exist yet.

5R25- Ethan and Chris are joined by WPLG and FOX Sports Sun's Will Manso. We discuss the current state of the South Florida sports star. Who is Miami's biggest sports star now? Who might be in a few years? After the Dolphins traded or cut 2 of their best players in Jarvis Landry and Ndamukong Suh, who fills the Dolphins' void now? Is Dwyane Wade still the biggest star on the Heat at age 36? Can Bam Adebayo, Justise Winslow, or Josh Richardson step into that role at some point? Are the biggest celebrities in South Florida sports in the front office? Miami does have David Beckham, Derek Jeter, and Pat Riley. Plenty to get through. Thanks for listening. Please subscribe to our new Twitter feed @fivereasonspod

5R24- Ethan and Chris welcome ESPN's NBA Insider Brian Windhorst. We destroyed the format and talked about a bunch of topics with Brian. Among those...  3:20 LeBron James, Ty Lue & the state of Cavaliers 7:45 LeBron posterizing poor Jusuf Nurkic   12:15 Revisiting the Kyrie Irving trade 21:00 Golden State Warriors vulnerability?  27:20 Road tales from Brian and Ethan when covering the Miami Heat 34:20 How great NBA teams struggle in 4th year 38:15 Big 3 era Heat stories 49:25 The Heat’s current roster predicament 51:45 Tracy McGrady's crazy recruitment by Miami 55:00 More Heat talk

5R23- Two episodes in a day! This time Ethan and Chris W are joined by Chris Perkins, Miami Dolphins reporter for the Sun Sentinel and 790 The Ticket afternoon host, to talk about the Dolphins trading Jarvis Landry and releasing Ndamukong Suh. What is this culture change that they're going for? What is the long-term strategy for their roster? What does this mean for Mike Tannenbaum and Adam Gase? What does this mean for the rest of the Dolphins' plans in free agency? (Disclaimer- We taped this just prior to the Dolphins agreeing to terms with Pats WR Danny Amendola.)

5R22- Today, Ethan and Chris are joined by Manny Navarro, who covers the Miami Heat for the Miami Herald, to discuss Dwyane Wade's impact on the Miami Heat since his arrival. We discuss Wade's role in the community particularly in the aftermath of the Stoneman Douglas shooting, his veteran tutelage of young players like Josh Richardson and Justise Winslow, his on-court chemistry with Goran Dragic and Hassan Whiteside, and how Erik Spoelstra has had to juggle the rotation since his return. We close with a look at three potential Miami Heat playoff opponents: the Raptors, Celtics or Cavaliers.

5R21- Palm Beach Post Dolphins writer Jason Lieser joins Ethan and Chris for this episode. Follow him on twitter @JasonLieser. We discuss Stephen Ross' comments this week about Dolphins player protests during the national anthem, Ross's lukewarm view of Miami as a sports town, the Dolphins under Ross's ownership, Jason's favorite players to cover and, inexplicably, chain pizza.