Kelly: Which South Florida team is positioned to bring this city its ninth championship? | Opinion

In classic South Florida style, the Florida Panthers took the team’s championship celebration to the beach.

The Miami Heat used Biscayne Boulevard and then convened at the arena the team won all three of its championships in.

The Miami Marlins used the Intercoastal and Riverwalk in Las Olas, then took the celebration to the stadium they shared with the Miami Dolphins to celebrate its 2003 championship with South Florida.

And the Panthers, which beat Edmonton Oilers in a seven-game Stanley Cup Final series earlier this week, graced the streets of Fort Lauderdale Beach, celebrating the franchise’s first championship, and South Florida’s eight in the four major spots.

If the Dolphins finally got the franchise’s act together, winning a Super Bowl in the coming seasons — think three-year window — it’s safe to wonder where that parade would be held?

Would the Dolphins take it to the beach too, Miami-Dade or Broward’s downtown, or maybe they would grace the streets of Miami Gardens before culminating the celebration at Hard Rock Stadium?

Dolphins CEO Tom Garfinkel might need to give a parade route some deep thought because the Dolphins, who were 11-6 last season, have just as good a shot of getting to the top of its sport as every other team in the city.

If the Panthers manage to keep the 2024 team together, and can handle the pressures of being the hunted, it’s possible coach Paul Maurice could shepherd his hockey team back to the top of the mountain.

The Tampa Bay Lightning, our Florida neighbors, were the last NHL team to win back-to-back titles in 2020 and 2021. And before them it was the Pittsburgh Penguins in 2016 and 2017, so repeating is in the realm of possibilities.

The Heat did it during the Lebron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh era of the franchise back in 2012 and 2013.

Even though the Miami Heat has been to the NBA Finals twice in recent years. Heading into the start of free agency, the latest version of South Florida’s NBA team features two stars in Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo, and half a dozen solid role players.

Will team president Pat Riley package a few of the teams young players for a talent the Heat’s top executive infamously called a whale?

Adding a superstar such as Kevin Durant before next year’s postseason might help the Heat get past Boston, Philadelphia and Milwaukee, the Eastern Conference powers.

Only time, and how seriously Butler takes the regular season, will tell. But it would be nice to see the Heat not be decimated by injuries this upcoming season to see what this version of the team’s fully potential truly is.

Injuries were one of the reasons the Heat lost 12 of its final 13 home games against talent-rich teams last season, and got pummeled in the first round of the playoffs without a healthy Butler.

The Marlins, which made the playoffs last season, got off to a horrendous start this year, and holds the third-worst record in Major League Baseball.

At this point there are better odds South Florida’s major league baseball team holds a fire sale before the trade deadline than get hot, putting together a string of games that flips the win-loss ledger.

The Dolphins had the look of title contender last season until December, when a fourth-quarter collapse to the Tennessee Titans squandered the team’s chances of winning the AFC East for the first time since 2008. Then injuries decimated the roster, watering down the squad’s performance in three of the regular season’s final five games, which turned into losses.

The Dolphins got embarrassed by the eventual Super Bowl champs in the first round of the playoffs, but that 26-7 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs must to be used as fuel to get the franchise past this era of irrelevance, which has spurred a 24-year streak of not winning a playoff game.

Even though the Dolphins endured a few defections — Christian Wilkins, Robert Hunt, Xavien Howard and defensive coordinator Vic Fangio — this offseason, the roster has improved drastically in a few areas — receiver, tight end, inside linebacker and safety.

That means coach Mike McDaniel’s team should be in position to put together the franchise’s fifth straight winning season if the injury bug doesn’t hit.

And if Tua Tagovailoa learns how to close out games, performing better in moments where the team needs its quarterback to be clutch, we could be talking about the Dolphins being a title contender again.

Cultures aren’t changed overnight, and much like the Heat and the Panthers, the Dolphins are making strides to get the ship on course with the goal of one day being in position to plan a memorable parade, one that’s long overdue.

“The internal pressure that we put on ourselves far exceeds any cup or trophy, or what any team is doing,” McDaniel said earlier this summer. “But it is cool to see. You do get a nice reminder of what we’re all here to do, and how you just cannot replicate the experience and the gratification of being able as a team to achieve things.”