Scouting No. 20
Will NBA Draft pick be a keeper?
NBA Draft prospects began arriving lastweek at American Airlines Arena. Some were in the Heat’s draft range, some not even in the team’s draft universe. And it didn’t matter.
Instead, the Heat’s facility was one of several around the league utilized for official draft measurements, prospects allowed to stay closer to home during the process amid the pandemic, rather than having to travel, with the league canceling its official combine.
It didn’ t mean the Heat necessarily were disinterested bystanders, holding the No .20 pick in the first round. It’s just that it wasn’t their time.
Now the question is if Nov. 18, the date of the rescheduled draft, will be their time.
By rule, the Heat have to exercise a first-round selection. But that doesn’t mean the Heat have to retain the selection, something Heat President Pat
Riley hinted at during Friday’s season-ending media session.
“We’re going to go ahead and use the pick,” Riley said .“Whether we keep it or not, remains to be seen. I think you know what we’re talking about.”
The NBA’s Stepien Rule, named for the former Cleveland Cavaliers owner who could not trade his first-round picks fast enough, states that teams cannot be without successive future first-round picks. The Heat’s 2021 first-round pick is now held by the Oklahoma City Thunder, having initially been deal tin 2015 to the Phoenix Sun sin the Goran Dragic trade. The rule, however, doesnot preclude the Heat from immediately trading that No. 20 selection, possibly in a prearranged deal, once it is exercised.
What makes the selection even chancier is the league potentially restarting assoon as Dec. 22, leaving little time for development ahead of training camp, with no summer-type league on the revised
NBAoffseason schedule.
So, yes, the Heat have begun the process.
“All of our scouts are doing a great job in getting ready for the draft,” Riley said. “I’ve already gotten lists. I’m beginning to dive into the draft myself, and look at players.”
But the current draft spot hardly has been prime real estate during the Heat’s Riley era.
In all, the Heat have selected sevenplayers in the 20s during Riley’s 25-year stewardshipofthefranchise:
MartinMuursepp (No. 25, 1996), Charles Smith (No. 26, 1997), TimJames(No. 25, 1999), Wayne Simien (No. 29, 2005), Daequan Cook (No. 21, 2007), Norris Cole (No. 28, 2011) and Shabazz Napier (No. 24, 2014). Cook and Cole had their Heat moments, but that’s about it.
“Whether or notwe keep it, you know, remains to be seen,” Riley said.
Like theNBA, the2019-20 college schedule was shut downlastMarch. Unlike the NBA, therewas no resumption.
“The lack of normalcy in our schedule, and also the schedule of a lot of these draft picks, they will not have played basketball for eight to ninemonths and in any kind of real, organized way,” Riley said. “So they’re going to miss a lot.
“If you draft and there’s just no summer league and or just a training camp and you’re into the next season, then theymight notdevelop as quick as you think they can.”
Then there is the issue of whether there will be a developmental league in 2020-21, further reducing the options of bringing a selection up toNBAspeed.
“Wedon’tknowyet about what’s going tohappenwith the G league,” Riley said. “I think they’re talking about some things that might happen midseason to bring abunchofteamsdownthere that get together and play.”
But based on what the Heat has mined from the middle of the first round the past two times they drafted in the first round — BamAdebayo in 2017, Tyler Herro in 2019 — Riley said there still could be value.
“I’m not too concerned about having too many young players today,” he said. “They’re better than they were when I was drafted [No. 7 in 1967, out of Kentucky], andthey’remore ready to play and perform, andif youget lucky withone and you can develop them, they can get outonthe court right nowand they can help you.”
Or you could trade the pick for a ready-to-winasset, as theHeat have beenwont to do.
The only other future first-rounder already dealt by the Heat is a conditional 2023 selection.
“So it’s an asset thatwe’re going to use one way or the other,” Riley said. “And I’m just glad thatwe have six of theminthenext eight years, because again youjustnever knowif somethinghappens, andyoucanmake a deal that can bring you a player that you really want. So you just got to be ready.”