Ranking the Miami Heat's Biggest 2015 NBA Draft Needs
The Miami Heat may be picking in the lottery of the 2015 NBA draft, but they aren't your typical lottery team.
Throughout the 2014-15 campaign, they were plagued by injuries to nearly every piece of the puzzle, lowlighted by Chris Bosh discovering blood clots in his lungs and missing the entire second half of the season. But with everyone back in shape and Hassan Whiteside developing into one of the better centers in the Eastern Conference, this should be a strong, playoff-bound team in 2015-16, assuming Goran Dragic and Dwyane Wade both stay with the Heat.
What they'll do with their player options and subsequent free-agency stints is a discussion for another time, though. Even if the should-be-stellar starting five—Dragic, Wade, Luol Deng, Bosh and Whiteside—is in place, the Heat have a number of needs they must tackle before the beginning of the next go-round.
One can be solved with the No. 10 pick, thanks to Miami getting lucky during the draft lottery and not having to convey its selection to the Philadelphia 76ers. Thirty choices later, the Heat will be back on the clock with the 10th pick of the second round, and that provides them with an opportunity to add a little depth to the roster before moving into the free-agency process.
Can Miami afford to gamble on June 25? The strength of the expected starting five should allow it to do so, but filling in the needs would be the more advantageous rote.
3. A Developing Big
Right now, the Heat have a rather crowded rotation at the biggest positions on the court, and that's not going to change this summer. It's in 2016 that the contracts of Udonis Haslem, Chris Andersen and Whiteside—who will almost certainly be re-signed or extended—will come off the books, not in 2015.
With those three, a healthy Josh McRoberts and Bosh on the roster, how exactly can it be viewed as a good idea to draft a developing big on June 25? Well, just look at how old each of the aforementioned players will be at the start of the 2015-16 season:
- Chris Andersen: 37 years old
- Chris Bosh: 31 years old
- Udonis Haslem: 35 years old
- Josh McRoberts: 28 years old
- Hassan Whiteside: 26 years old
That's not exactly a stable of young contributors, and it doesn't help that so many of them have to be labeled as injury-prone contributors these days. Miami doesn't need to find a prospect capable of making an immediate impact in the frontcourt, but adding someone who can develop into a valuable rotation member would certainly be beneficial.
It is, as ESPN Insider Bradford Doolittle calls it, a quiet need:
"The Heat have a depth chart full of bigs with familiar names -- Whiteside, Bosh, Josh McRoberts, Michael Beasley, Chris Andersen and Udonis Haslem. Of those, only Whiteside and Beasley lack a guaranteed deal for next season, and you know Riley is keeping Whiteside around. If Riley finds a solid 2-guard, Miami has enough offense on its second unit without Beasley. Haslem is near the end of the line, if not over it, and McRoberts and Bosh combined to play just 61 games last season. So while there are plenty of names on the depth chart, Miami could use another quality rebounding and rim-protecting big man, the quest for which is an annual summer rite for Riley.
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With the No. 10 pick, there's really only one big man who would make sense: Myles Turner out of Texas.
The young frontcourt player lacks plenty of consistency against tougher matchups and often struggles to take good shots, but he has two tools that could make him quite intriguing down the road. His shooting stroke indicates that he'll develop into a stretchy contributor once he puts in the necessary work, and he already boasts the instincts, timing and athletic tools of a quality rim protector.
Turner is very much a project, but his palpable upside could make him well worth the gamble near the end of the lottery. And if the Heat go in a different direction with their first pick, they can always plug this hole 30 picks later.
Rakeem Christmas, Dakari Johnson and Cliff Alexander are all possibilities, but don't be surprised if team president Pat Riley looks to go down the draft-and-stash route.
Picking Nikola Milutinov, a 7-footer from Serbia who's just 20 years old and has quite a bit of overall defensive potential, would be a strong choice. So too would drafting Mouhammadou Jaiteh and his 7'4" wingspan. The 20-year-old from France may not have the explosiveness necessary to be an elite rim protector, but his timing, physicality and tenacity on the glass all bode well for him.
2. A Bench Shooter
Miami's bench isn't exactly a strong unit, a statement that's particularly true when looking only at the second-string wings. James Ennis didn't live up to the preseason hype, and as a result, there were precious few high-quality contributors—an issue compounded by the diminished health of the starters.
Per HoopsStats.com, the Heat's second unit had an offensive efficiency better than only what was produced by the Cleveland Cavaliers, Los Angeles Clippers and Orlando Magic. The defensive efficiency (No. 25 in the league) was slightly better.
One of the biggest issues? A complete lack of shooting ability from the perimeter, as the players coming off the pine made just 2.6 three-pointers per game (No. 23) and connected at a 33.5 percent clip (No. 17). That's a deadly combination, one that held back the Heat rather often.
Fortunately, it can be fixed, whether by drafting a sniper at No. 10 or waiting until the second round for even more of a specialist.
If it's the former, Bleacher Report's Dan O'Brien suggests Devin Booker, fresh off an impressive season for the Kentucky Wildcats: "Enter Booker, who drilled 41 percent of his triples for John Calipari's Final Four squad. At 6'6", he's someone who can shoot over wings and attack closeouts to make plays. Booker also has enough size and agility to check opposing 2-guards and even some 3s."
Everything about Booker suggests that he can be a special shooter at the next level. Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress certainly seems to agree, since he listed the wing prospect as the No. 8 shooter in this draft class after a detailed analytic breakdown for Yahoo Sports.
But if the Heat go in a different direction, which they should if the right player is available at No. 10, there will be plenty of quality shooters ripe for the taking at No. 40. It's at this point that Riley can reach for a potent perimeter scorer like Michael Frazier, Tyler Harvey, Corey Hawkins, Pat Connaughton or Daniel Diez.
The options aren't quite limitless. But they're definitely plentiful.
1. A Stud on the Wings
Wade isn't going to be around forever. Thanks to declining health and the massive amount of contact he's taken throughout his professional career, he's clearly already moving in the wrong direction. The same is true of Deng, and the issues there are even more pressing since he's quite obviously not the same player he once was.
Finding the wing player of the future isn't necessarily an urgent need, but it's an important one all the same. Maybe the prospect in question is asked to contribute heavily in 2015-16; maybe his true arrival in the Miami starting five is delayed for a year or more.
Either way, acquiring him is a smart decision, and Riley has already admitted he'd like to find a capable scorer with strengths on the perimeter who can complement the attacking mentality of his backcourt. Per the Miami Herald's Joseph Goodman, who revealed that Riley is looking for his own Klay Thompson, here's what the Miami executive had to say after the regular season came to a bitter end:
"A lot of times you have a player or two players who are playmakers that are your best playmakers and your best scorers, but they might not have that kind of range or that kind of game, so you need to go out and get two or three of those kinds of players. And so, while we felt we had enough maybe on the perimeter, that might be an area where we look, but I don’t want to be a one-dimensional guy.
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This has to be the primary concern addressed with the No. 10 pick.
In a dream world, Miami would watch as Justise Winslow slipped down outside the single-digit picks, and time would slow as Riley and the rest of the front office dreamed about adding the impressive Duke standout to the roster. But that's exceedingly unlikely, to the point that Winslow shouldn't even be considered a top target.
Instead, Stanley Johnson is a realistic get. Yes, the same Johnson who claimed he was the best player in this draft class.
Thing is, he could be right one day.
He already profiles as an impact defensive player, and his combination of athleticism, strength and finesse on the offensive end is quite intriguing. Though he's at his best when attacking the basket, his 37.1 percent shooting from beyond the arc while taking 3.1 deep attempts per game as a freshman bodes well for his future as a marksman in the Association.
If Johnson is already off the board, the Heat can look to reach for a small forward. Sam Dekker and Kelly Oubre are great examples, and each possesses the ability to make Riley's desires come true.
Note: All stats, unless otherwise indicated, come from Basketball-Reference.com.
Adam Fromal covers the NBA for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter: @fromal09.
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