Heat fail to beat odds in lottery
With just 4.7 percent chance to move into top 4, Miami ends up with 13th pick
MIAMI — There will be no easy way out for the Miami Heat, not after the odds held at Tuesday’s NBA lottery, leaving the Heat with the No. 13 selection in next month’s draft.
Failing for the 11th time in as many visits to improve their draft position to the random-but-weighted drawing, the Heat will go into the June 20 NBA draft at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center where they exited the season seeded.
Entering with only a 4.7 percent chance of moving into one of the first four selections, the only picks at stake in the process, the Heat held their seed position for the third consecutive visit.
The previous two visits ultimately left them with Duke forward Justise Winslow at No. 10 in 2015 and Kentucky center Bam Adebayo at No. 14 in 2017.
Adebayo watched the drawing at the Heat’s lottery party at AmericanAirlines Arena, immediately asking for opinions about who his team might select.
He also noted Donovan Mitchell winding up with the Utah Jazz at No. 13 in his draft year.
“I felt like nobody knew who Donovan Mitchell would be, either,” he said.
The lottery was won by the New Orleans Pelicans, with the No. 2 pick going to the Memphis Grizzlies, the No. 3 pick to the New York Knicks and the No. 4 pick to the Los Angeles Lakers.
Unless the Heat trade up — something they have not done in the lottery in their previous 31 drafts — the Heat almost assuredly will be shut out of the opportunity for Duke freshman forward Zion Williamson, Murray State sophomore guard Ja Morant and Duke freshman wing R.J. Barrett, and likely will be out of reach for Vanderbilt freshman point guard Darius Garland, Virginia sophomore forward De’Andre Hunter and Texas Tech sophomore wing Jarrett Culver.
Instead, the best possible Heat scenarios could possibly involve Duke freshman forward Cam Reddish, Texas freshman center Jaxson Hayes, French 18-year-old forward Sekou Doumbouya and North Carolina guard Coby White. It was under such a scenario of catching a falling star that the Heat wound up with Winslow in 2015.
Among other possibilities slipping to No. 13 from current higher projections are Gonzaga junior forward Brandon
Duke’s Zion Williamson arrives Clarke, North Carolina freshman guard Nassir Little and Gonzaga junior forward Rui Hachimura.
Other possibilities who could enter the equation at the No. 13 stage of the draft are Southern Cal guard Kevin Porter, Indiana freshman forward Romeo Langford, Virginia Tech sophomore guard Nickeil AlexanderWalker, Kentucky sophomore forward P.J. Washington, Kentucky freshman guard Keldon Johnson, Kentucky freshman guard Tyler Herro and Oregon freshman center Bol Bol.
The Heat went into the process with that 4.7 percent chance at one of the initial four selections, a 90.6 percent chance for No. 13 pick and a 4.6 percent chance for No. 14. lottery Tuesday in Chicago.
draft candidates will bypass.
The Heat do not own a second-round pick in this year’s draft but do have the means to buy their way into the round if they deem a need to further increase a developmental unit that currently includes Duncan Robinson, Yante Maten, Derrick Jones Jr. and Kendrick Nunn.
Compounding this year’s process is the ability of underclassmen to remove themselves from the draft, allowed for the first time to retain agents during the tryout stages. Such players must notify the NBA of their decision to withdraw by June 10. However, under NCAA rules, in order to retain collegiate eligibility, underclassmen must withdraw by May 29.