Nick Arison’s first job with the Miami Heat was as a team attendant, 16 years ago.

His rise to atop the franchise is now complete.

The 30-year-old son of Heat owner Micky Arison is now the team’s chief executive officer, a newly created position that gives him day-to-day control of the franchise. Nick Arison has been a limited partner in Miami’s ownership group for several years; Friday’s move does not increase his stake in the club, but completes a long-expected move by his father.

Micky Arison remains the CEO of cruise company Carnival Corp. Nick Arison will report directly to his father, who will keep his spot with the NBA Board of Governors.

“This is something Nick has been working towards his whole life. He’s more prepared for this job than I was at his age when I became CEO of Carnival,” Micky Arison said in a release distributed by the team. “I have the utmost confidence that Nick will continue to lead the Heat as a model NBA franchise for many years to come.”

Nick Arison’s grandfather, Ted Arison, was one of the Heat founders. Micky Arison bought the team’s controlling share in 1995.

“I’m very excited and thankful for this opportunity and look forward to a seamless transition in my new position,” Nick Arison said.

Heat President Pat Riley will continue running the basketball side of the team, and Eric Woolworth will continue overseeing the Heat business operations.

Nick Arison has been the team’s vice president of basketball operations since September 2008. He has worked in just about every aspect of the team’s business through the years.

Riley said the move had been discussed in earnest for about a year.

“I have been working for the Arison family for 16 years,” said Riley. “The Miami Heat is truly a family organization and that is what makes it a desirable franchise to work for. The Heat are the Arisons. Like his grandfather Ted and father Micky, Nick is an extraordinary, special young man and will serve the Heat in a highly professional manner as those men did. Congratulations to Nick. He has earned it.”

Nick Arison was a student manager under Mike Krzyzewski at Duke for four years, and to this day their relationship remains close. Nick Arison also helped run USA Basketball’s day-to-day operations at major events including the 2004 and 2008 Olympics along with the 2006 world championships.

And last summer, when the Heat went on their free-agent tour, Nick Arison was a key part of the recruiting team alongside his father, Riley, Heat coach Erik Spoelstra and Heat executives Alonzo Mourning and Andy Elisburg.

“I had an unbelievable meeting with not only Pat but Micky and Nick Arison and Coach Spo and Zo,” LeBron James said during the NBA finals. “It was a great meeting. Basically gave me the blueprint about how this organization is ran, both on the court and off the court. The great thing I got out of that is about how important family is. I’m a big believer in that.”

Krzyzewski also offered his congratulations Friday to his former manager.

“Nick has certainly earned the respect of the basketball community through his leadership in the operations of the Miami Heat,” Krzyzewski said. “I’m thrilled for the organization in recognizing his hard work ethic, lofty visions, and commitment to the profession. I consider Nick and his family to be very close friends and we’ve been fortunate to share several championship experiences together at Duke University and with the U.S. National Team.”

Micky and Nick Arison sit side-by-side at just about every Heat home game and on occasion are as animated as any fan in the building. They both prefer to keep a relatively low public profile when it comes to running the team.

“As the CEO of the Heat, I am positive that Nick will continue to help lead the franchise towards its goal of winning another NBA championship as well,” Krzyzewski said.

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“It doesn’t really matter that much to me,” Dirk Nowitzki said.

Oh, well. So much for the story line of seeking redemption for 2006, when Miami beat Dallas in the Finals.

Nowitzki emphasized another point: This isn’t about the Heat and what they do. It’s about the Mavericks continuing to do the things that have helped them win 10 of their last 11 playoff games, including five straight on the road.

“We just got to go for it and do the things that got us here – aggressive defense, rebound the ball, and ball movement on the offensive end of the floor,” he said.

In the regular season, the Mavs and Heat tied for the most road wins. There was only a one-game difference in overall wins – 58 for Miami, 57 for Dallas; that’s why the series is starting on the Heat’s court. Had they had the same record, the Mavericks would’ve had the edge because they won both head-to-head meetings.

Because those games were in November and December, Dallas coach Rick Carlisle insists they don’t matter. Still, it’s worth noting those were Miami’s only two losses in a 24-2 stretch that proved to everyone this experiment of superstars who are good friends teaming up to win a title just might work.

The backlash from that pairing – and the way LeBron James handled his move to Miami last summer – produced a huge group of Heat haters. Those folks are now Mavs lovers, a cuddly acceptance that’s unusual for this franchise.

“There’s no good guys, bad guys,” Nowitzki said. “There’s two good teams that made it to this stage and both want to win. So I’m not really worried about all that stuff.”

Nowitzki was a free agent last summer, too. Teams didn’t pursue him because they were so sure he would remain in Dallas. But he admitted he would have listened had James and Wade invited him to be part of what they were putting together.

“But they didn’t, so it wasn’t really an option,” he said.

For some former MVPs, such a snub would be another reason to hold a grudge against the Heat.

Not Nowitzki.

A few weeks shy of turning 33, all he cares about is winning his first championship and the first for his franchise, no matter who it comes against or how.

“I like how we fought through some stuff, some ups and downs through the years,” he said. “It took us a long time to get back here. Hopefully, we can make it count.”

by Marcel Mutoni / @marcel_mutoni

More than the amount of world-class talent they acquired last summer, the Miami Heat almost seemed to be built on the hatred of their critics.

All season long, it seemed that everyone was rooting against them. And of course, that did nothing but fuel their run, all the way to the doorstep of an NBA title.

Great job, haters.

The Miami Heat know they’re widely disliked, which they’re more than happy to embrace. Micky Arison, the team owner, playfully dares fans and media to be on the side of the Dallas Mavericks in the title round, an encouragement they probably didn’t need.

From ESPN:

“We look forward to a fun couple of weeks now with a group of guys who are very deserving,” [Micky] Arison said Thursday. “The thing about this is, we knew when this all came together that we’d have a chance to really win big. We didn’t know if we were going to actually win it. But we’d have a chance.”

Arison said that hasn’t been the feeling around the franchise the past few years. Since 2006, the Heat have been eliminated in the first round three of the last four seasons. The one season they didn’t make the playoffs resulted in the team’s tying the franchise record with a 15-67 finish in 2007-08. That represented rock bottom for [Pat] Riley, who retired from coaching after that season to work solely in the front office. Now, the Heat are in position to finish back at the top of the league. Arison had one request of some national media members as he left the United Center on Thursday.

“Please pick Dallas,” Arison wisecracked, insinuating there might not be any room for critics to now congregate on the Heat’s bandwagon.

The Dallas Mavericks will undoubtedly be the sports-watching world’s darlings now, an underdog team looking to avenge its epic, heart-breaking 2006 NBA Finals collapse against these same Miami Heat.

One gets the nagging feeling, though, that people who hate the Heat shouldn’t expect to receive any sort of satisfaction from the upcoming series.

By SportsDirect