2014 Draft = Possible Extended Title Window?

[Biscayne Beast]

Hey guys I know the playoffs are about to start and should be our primary focus but I wanted to talk about the draft for a second. Seeing as the NBA Draft and the Heat have never really seen eye to eye (Besides Wade, Rice and Caron) I've notice that the Heat have a great chance to have 4 draft picks in next years "stacked" draft class. The Heat will have their own 1st and 2nd plus an additional second from the Beasley trade that was given by Minnesota as well as the Sixers draft pick granted if they make the playoffs. With a lot of quality players staying in school this year this gives the Heat a great chance to add 4 young cheap quality prospects to an already experienced title team that could extend their title contention significantly.

Of course Lebron. Wade, and Bosh all have Opt-Outs at the end of that season and should be our main focus to try and resign them to restructure deals ( make them take less money) so Riley can continue putting pieces around them. Another interesting fact is that a lot of our bad contracts will be off the books by then (Halsem, Miller if not amnesty this year, Joel Anthony .. etc) giving us additional cap space. Who are some prospects you guys would love to have on this team if we are able to have 4 draft picks in 2014?

[Flash3]

Way too early to be talking 2014 draft, if you ask me.

[Chosen01]

What ever happens, Heat should just trade them. Heat aren't good at drafting players....

[GameTime_3]

What ever happens, Heat should just trade them. Heat aren't good at drafting players....

Mario Chalmers, Norris Cole have worked out for this team.

[Flash3]

Dwyane Wade was drafted. I'd say he turned out alright.

[Slot Machine]

I doubt we get the Philly pick next year. They have a lot of work to do.

[Ratchet_Rio]

Dwyane Wade was drafted. I'd say he turned out alright.

Well you certainly hope when you draft a guy 5th overall that he's gonna turn out alright. Then again for every Wade there's a Beasley, a Pittman, or a Wayne Simien. And I could be wrong but I dont think Chalmers was technically drafted by the Heat I thought that was a draft night trade

[mopper8]

Dwyane Wade was drafted. I'd say he turned out alright.

Well you certainly hope when you draft a guy 5th overall that he's gonna turn out alright. Then again for every Wade there's a Beasley, a Pittman, or a Wayne Simien. And I could be wrong but I dont think Chalmers was technically drafted by the Heat I thought that was a draft night trade

Not sure why trading for Chalmers on draft night would be different from simply drafting him...?

Pittman and Simien were way too late in the draft to expect anything from. Wade was a hit, Caron was a hit, even Dorell was IMO a smart pick at the time (we hadn't traded for Shaq yet, and he's turned into a solid pro, fine production from a 19th pick). Beasley is the only real "miss," and he was the consensus #2 pick in the draft

edit: it's weird to not give credit to Miami for drafting Wade with a high pick, but then fault them for not finding good players with low picks.

[Ratchet_Rio]

edit: it's weird to not give credit to Miami for drafting Wade with a high pick, but then fault them for not finding good players with low picks.

It's easy to make up words that I didnt say. What I said was clear, when you have a top 5 pick, especially in a draft as top heavy as '03, you expect to walk away with an impact player. Nobody's giving Cleveland or Denver a pat on the back for drafting LeBron and Carmelo. A poster said this team doesn't draft well, and if we're talking drafting, cultivating, and retaining players, then I'd say that poster is correct. You dont have to agree

As far as Simien being drafted too late to 'expect' anything from, here's some players who were drafted after him:
David Lee, Brandon Bass, Cj Miles, Ronny Turiaf, Monta Ellis, Lou Williams, Andray Blatche, Amir Johnson, Marcin Gortat. but again, everyones entitled to an opinion.

[Chosen01]

You guys mentioning only 3 players basically proves my point. Not to mention Riley admitted that he would have drafted Bosh over Wade if he were available and was heavily considering taking Kaman instead.


Chalmers turned out ALRIGHT but the Heat could have nabbed DeAndre Jordan who served a position in need. Same thing with Dorell over Jameer, couldn't really fault them too much as you look more into potential when drafting in the mid-round but Nelson was also a position in need at the time.

[LeChosen1]

Before the 2014 draft, gotta figure out the Cap Room first though and whos all leaving

[mopper8]

edit: it's weird to not give credit to Miami for drafting Wade with a high pick, but then fault them for not finding good players with low picks.

It's easy to make up words that I didnt say.

It's not what you said, but it is what you did. You take away credit from the front office for drafting Wade, but knock them for not finding stars with later picks. This is indisputable. You do it again, in this very post!

What I said was clear, when you have a top 5 pick, especially in a draft as top heavy as '03, you expect to walk away with an impact player. Nobody's giving Cleveland or Denver a pat on the back for drafting LeBron and Carmelo.

Yeah, except none of those players were available at our pick. Lebron, Carmelo, and Bosh were all off the board. The consensus next group of players was Kaman, Hinrich, Wade, TJ Ford, and most people had Wade towards the bottom of that grouping. Miami clearly grabbed the right guy there.

A poster said this team doesn't draft well, and if we're talking drafting, cultivating, and retaining players, then I'd say that poster is correct. You dont have to agree

I don't, and I am explaining why. You are of course entitled to your opinion, but if you're being inconsistent or unfair, I'm going to point it out. I don't think Miami is the best in the league at drafting, but nobody bats a thousand, as they say, and Miami does pretty well.

As far as Simien being drafted too late to 'expect' anything from, here's some players who were drafted after him:
David Lee, Brandon Bass, Cj Miles, Ronny Turiaf, Monta Ellis, Lou Williams, Andray Blatche, Amir Johnson, Marcin Gortat. but again, everyones entitled to an opinion.

That's great. And we can play that game with Wade, and by the same standards (how did they do with the group of available players), he was a great pick. But you're moving the goalposts. The Wade pick wasn't great because other teams that drafted ahead of Miami got superstars

Meanwhile, I would like to know which front offices you think are good at drafting, and then do an analysis of how many of them passed up on all those great players you mentioned. Here's a sampling of teams that drafted ahead of MIami and also drafted busts in lieu of that list of admittedly great players you listed

Blazers - Martel Webster
Raptors - Charlie V
Magic - Fran Vasquez
LAC - Yaroslav Korolev
Bobcats - Sean May
Minny - Rashad McCants
Nets - Antoine Wright
Raptors - Joey Graham
Celts - Gerald Green
Grizz - Hakim Warrick
Denver - Julius Hodge
Kings - Francisco Garcia
Sonics - Johan Petro
Spurs - Ian Mahinmi (pick right before ours)

That's half the league that missed on those guys you mentioned and drafted pretty bad players instead, who are now out of the league or can't get minutes, etc. Are all those teams bad at drafting and developing players?

4 of our top 8 rotation players were drafted by Miami or signed as undrafted FAs, and developed internally.

[Ratchet_Rio]

You guys mentioning only 3 players basically proves my point

This much I agree with. No need for essays on a simple topic.

[wallsfamily]

Guys calm down. Miami is not a great drafting team but they have done alright! I do think the cards are right to draft replacements for all of the players. For instance college is full of catch and shoot wings and 2 or 3 wing forwards to spell lebron and wade. In addition there will be points a ail able to absorb losses or a trade of Chalmers or cole and finally Cauley Stein might be available as a more athletic and taller Joel Anthony! 4 picks also help with trades and allow you to move a contract!!!! Philly has as good a chance as anyone else @ the bottom of the east!

[Heat3]

Our title runs, for however long this core is here, will be about free agency and trades. This organization has no patience in developing a young player when it's in win now mode. Guys like Chalmers and Cole are fine. You get them cheap but they are role players.

I'm thinking it'll be around 2018-20 before the Heat realistically can use a draft pick that can be a major piece of the future.

[GreenHat]

Overall I would say the Heat have been average at drafting with the Wade homerun that was not an obvious pick bumping them up a lot.

We also have to take into account that we have had a lot of late picks and traded picks.

I don't blame them for Beasley (the only high bust) because almost everyone had him #2 but we haven't done as well later in the draft as some teams who consistently pick late.

[GreenHat]

We've actually done really well with undrafted guys though

[This IsMy House]

Lets just keep the whole tradition of letting the Bulls draft the player and then we just trade them for it continue, it worked well with Cole.

[HeatNation88]

You guys even forgot Mr. Ronny Seikely sorry if i had spelled his name wrong but Miami may not have been a team that drafted well but they signed some solid players that were either undrafted or else example like "Udonis Haslem who is undrafted and Joel Anthony". They turned out to be solid players there is going to be teams that build their teams off draft or free agency and trades like the Heat. PEACE!!!!!!!!!!

[GoodSir]

You guys even forgot Mr. Ronny Seikely sorry if i had spelled his name wrong but Miami may not have been a team that drafted well but they signed some solid players that were either undrafted or else example like "Udonis Haslem who is undrafted and Joel Anthony". They turned out to be solid players there is going to be teams that build their teams off draft or free agency and trades like the Heat. PEACE!!!!!!!!!!

Seikely wasn't drafted by Riley.