Heat pick up options on Allen, Zhi-Zhi

Miami, FL (Basketball News) - The Miami Heat announced Thursday that the club has picked up the contract options on forward Malik Allen and center Wang Zhi- Zhi.

The Heat has also made a qualifying offer to second-year forward Rasual Butler.

Allen played in 45 games and started six times for Miami last season while missing part of the year due to bilateral patella tendinitis. The 6’10" forward averaged 4.2 points, 2.6 rebounds and ranked second on the team with .62 blocks per game. A three-year NBA veteran, Allen posted career-bests of 9.6 points and 5.3 boards with the Heat in 2002-03.

Zhi-Zhi played in 16 contests with Miami and the Los Angeles Clippers a year ago and averaged 2.9 points and 1.1 rebounds. The Chinese native signed with the Heat in December after being released by the Clippers on November 21, 2003.

Butler connected on a team-best 46.3 percent of his three-point attempts for Miami last year, the second-best single-season accuracy in franchise history. The Heat’s second-round choice in the 2002 NBA draft also averaged 6.8 points and 1.4 rebounds in 2003-04.