Heat’s Riley talks about NBA draft
Questions about NBA draft
There remains one particularly robust place at the moment in the sporting realm where there is no void of competition — the pool of early-entry candidates for the NBA draft.
It is a free-for-all, overwhelming in numbers, and somewhat numbing for NBA decision makers, including Miami Heat President Pat Riley and his staff.
The NBA this past week announced that 205 players have declared for early entry — 163 from the collegiate ranks and 42 international players.
As a matter of perspective, there are 60 total draft slots, 30 in each of the two rounds.
Presented with those numbers as well as those automatically eligible — college seniors and international players 22 or older at the time of the draft — Riley and his staff now have their starting point for a process that remains somewhat of a moving target.
The NBA draft, at least at the moment, remains scheduled for June 25 at Barclays Center, home of the Brooklyn Nets. More likely, in the wake of the league’s shutdown for the new coronavirus pandemic, and amid the uncertainty of a resumption of play, is a draft deeper into the summer or even fall.
The Heat at the NBA’s March 11 shutdown stood at No. 23 in the first-round draft order, with that slot being utilized as the current focus. The Heat do not hold a second-round pick in this year’s draft, which was dealt to the Boston Celtics in 2015 as the cost of unloading the salary of guard Zoran Dragic, brother of Heat guard Goran Dragic.
“I think, right now, most of the preparation is with our scouting staff,” Riley said, “with Adam Simon, Eric Amsler, Chet Kammerer, Keith Askins and the rest of the guys, Bob McAdoo, that get together and are starting to put together their list.
“Not having the opportunity to go to the tournaments and watch the A-players in the tournaments, not getting to a national championship, I mean, the NCAA has got to be feeling the same way we do. It’s like a lost year for some teams in college basketball.”
With the NBA’s release of the early-entry list, teams now are allowed to conduct video interviews of candidates, but cannot conduct video workouts. In-person sessions have been banned.
“I think [we’ve done] a great job of just sort of finding a way to start picking players through Synergy, through our website, through our scouting services and through our analytics department, to try to make sure that when the draft comes, at No. 23, that we will have a number of players that we can select from,” Riley said.
The NBA has indefinitely postponed the May 21-24 Chicago draft combine as well as the May 19 draft lottery, actions that follow the previous cancellation of the April 15-18 Portsmouth Invitational Tournament for college seniors.
The deadline, at least at the moment, for early-entry candidates to withdraw from the draft remains June 15, with the NCAA’s deadline for retaining collegiate eligibility on June 3. The NBA’s withdrawal deadline, though, formally is listed as “10 days prior to the 2020 NBA Draft.”
The Heat typically put together a final consensus of 60 players for the draft, moving after the final pick to sign those among that total who go undrafted.
The Heat are without their 2021 firstround pick, which was dealt in 2015 to the Phoenix Suns as part of the package for Goran Dragic. That pick has since been flipped to the Philadelphia 76ers, Los Angeles Clippers and now is in possession of the Oklahoma City Thunder. By NBA rule, teams are not allowed to trade successive future first-round picks. That means the Heat must exercise a first-round pick at this year’s draft, although they then would be allowed to trade that selected player.
Among those with ties to the state who have declared for early entry are forwards Devin Vassell and Patrick Williams from Florida State; guards Tre Mann and Andrew Nembhard from Florida; freshman guard Darin Green Jr. and junior center Collin Smith from Central Florida; junior guard David Collins from South Florida; and postgraduate forward Kenyon Martin Jr. from IMG Academy in Bradenton.