RealGM

Okay, I'm just going to start with the following (I had novel written then IE went spastic & I lost the whole thing )

Basically I think we have 3 areas of needs which could be addressed in the draft:
1. Starting C & C depth
2. Starting PG
3. SF Depth

2010 isn't a very deep draft for PGs, & most of the 2nd or 3rd tier prospects aren't worth using a 1st rounder on, & considering the C prospects who will likely be available at that pick (Ogilvy/Jerome Jordan/Pittman) unless we've somehow loaded up with PF/C talent with ours and the TOR pick they would be wasted & better served invited to summer camp.

At the C Cole Aldrich would be a dream, but I really don't see him slipping that far. We may be able to package our pick with the TOR pick for him if there are god players available at the TOR pick, but we're probably better off just drafting those players on a lower salary.
It's possible that Monroe might slip to the 15-18 range, but again not likely, so he might be there at the TOR pick.
Otherwise there are some good PF/C combos like Brackins/Udoh/Cousins who would get minutes off the bench and be able to fill mins at both positions.
In the 2nd there will likely be one of more of the above mentioned players. I don't feel that any of them are worth a 1st, but definitely a second.

As for SF depth, Ebanks may slip all the way to the TOR pick, and that would be great if there's no true lotto talent bigs left at that point.
Otherwise, I like Jordan Hamilton with our pick, or even the 2nd if he's still there. Between Pondexter/Taylor/Robertson/Harris/Singler there's likely to be a decent SF available to fill out our bench with the 2nd rounder if we don't go big.

Now I know that Riley might end up trading 1 or both of our potential 2010 1st rounders, so this whole thread might become a moot point, but until then it should be a bit of crystal ball-gazing fun.

We should never underestimate the importance of draft picks! The pick we traded to MIN would have netted us Ty Lawson! A Rio/Lawson backcourt combo woud be doing much better that what we currently have...

I have seen several mocks with Udoh as our first round pick. Im not sold on him. We dont need another undersized tweener. He is not as good a PF as Beasley and is not a good Center prospect.

Im not sold on Jerome Jordan as he looks slow and plays slow. He has not lived up to potential so far and is just size.

There will be many best available but the Heat cant continue to ignore the center position every draft.

Biggest needs
Center
PG
SF
combo SG

We could also use some length and shooters. What will make the draft so difficult to predict is that we dont know who will still be here in 2010. We have no clue to Beasley will get shipped to make room for Bosh. Whether we get Lebron or Bosh or neither and Beasley stays center would still be the biggest need.

Cousins could be a play but flashes of Eddie Curry and weight issues are concerns.

If the season ended today, we'd be drafting 15th and 20th. I don't see that happening because of the 2010 FA market, but I could see us possibly packaging the picks to move up and save money at the same time.

Center is an obvious need. O'Neal is a jump shooting big man, which is the same skill set that Beasley and Haslem have as well. A banger who wants to stay down low and rebound, block shots, and get put backs is what this team needs.

I don't see what would be available to us at C, unless we try and trade the picks for a young guy with potential. I'll throw Thabeet's name out there, because he isn't getting a lot of PT and the Grizz have a need at PF, something this draft will be full of. Maybe Monroe, Cousins or Brackins will fall and spawn a trade.

This draft really doesn't help us. No points that stand out, we have plenty of wing players, and no center that will likely be available unless we trade. Maybe Solomon Alabi? Haven't watched him though. His stats don't stand out.

I guess it's pretty early to say who we are going to get and who we should get, just like dolphinatik said, because we don't know how good certain college players will develop, how our young guys will develop, what our exact plans for the offseason are and where our picks will be. There are some interesting prospects in the draft and I'm always high on bringing them in since there's always a potential star or at least very good player out there nobody knew about or nobody really thought about becoming that good. But that player has to be good enough to already play NBA minutes and actually produce.
This is why I don't really like the idea of adding Thabeet. I like the kid and think he got potential, but his game is extremely raw and without playing time he won't be able to develop a game rhythm and really develop his game. Since we wanna win right away, he might not be the best option.

so we have 2 first rounders?

anyways,Greg Monroe, Gates, Cousins ... theres some big men late in the 1st that rebound well. They could be good off the bench, it would probably make sense to let Haslem go and use that money elsewhere.

Or package both picks and move up somewhere in the late top 10. Aminu (Wake Forest) looks like a Riley guy. An Wesley Johnson would be someone i want, he could start at SF for us right away.

priority needs to be a bigman with legit size

Jerome Jordan, Cousins, Aldrich

I propose Thabeet because he looks to be a big man who is actually attainable with a skill set that would support the players we have now. We need a guy who can rebound and defend the paint. Opposing players would think twice about going inside with Thabeet down low.

Thabeet may have room to grow in some areas, but what he is capable of doing right now is rebound and play defense. Having jump shooting PFs allows for a big man to play down low without disrupting offensive sets. This is what Thabeet would provide. This is what our team needs.

CB4MiamiHeat wrote:so we have 2 first rounders?

anyways,Greg Monroe, Gates, Cousins ... theres some big men late in the 1st that rebound well. They could be good off the bench, it would probably make sense to let Haslem go and use that money elsewhere.

Or package both picks and move up somewhere in the late top 10. Aminu (Wake Forest) looks like a Riley guy. An Wesley Johnson would be someone i want, he could start at SF for us right away.

We will have 2 1st rounders if Toronto makes the playoffs. So as fans, we want Toronto to make the playoffs with the worst possible record of playoff teams, and then promptly lose in the 1st round.

We could use two picks to move up and grab a big man with size and defensive ability. Monroe would be nice because he has size, a bit of defense, and great passing out of the post.

Oh wow, I was under the impression that we only had the chance at Toronto's pick this draft. I didn't realize we still possessed our own pick. This would be a great year to have two though since we're going to have to build a roster with not much cap room left after we sign the big guns this offseason. Two cheap rookie contracts for first rounders would be great.

I need to start watching some college basketball this season.

Evan Turner could be a possibility (though I'd rather just draft big) since he broke his back, though I'm not sure how bad off he is.

For those of you who haven't seen watch the video of him falling on his back. It's rough...

This might deserve a bump after tonight's game.....

Let's draft two bigs, similar to how the Dolphins have been doubling up in the NFL draft to fill a need (Merling/Langford at DE, Davis/Smith at CB). If we hit on both, then we have two longterm stud bigs, and if not we should at least get one productive player longterm. DeMarcus Cousins, Patrick Patterson, Greg Monroe are all high on my wishlist. Solomon Alabi is another big I'd draft, although his stock is inflated right now due to his size and shotblocking potential, he is a 7'1" Joel Anthony (non-factor offensively).

Other non-big prospects to keep an eye on: Aminu, S. Robinson, X. Henry, S. Collins, K. Lucas, K. Singler

Cousins and Monroe would be awesome. Not really too big on Patterson, and we have depth at PF anyway so he really isn't needed.

Looking at most 2010 Mocks Cousins is available where we'd be picking, so he could be a realistic target. If we do get the TOR pick, most of the time one of Monroe/Alibi are there at 15/16.

Monroe/Cousins would be a great haul for the draft, be we'd still need a bruiser somewhere on the roster, and with a Beasley/Bosh/Monroe/Cousins front-line we'd get absolutely destroyed by the Dwights & Odens of the league...

Anyway we can trade both picks up for Aldrich?

^would be a dream situation!

Aldrich would be nice as he is being compared to Brook Lopez or a more offensively skilled Pryzbilla. He could slip down in the draft with so many high profile names possibly being available.

we are in agreement the thing we need most is size.

Size certainly does count.

Would be nice to see Aldrich and Alabi fall so that the Heat could get both. I'd say Aldrich falls around tenth while Alabi goes in the teens.

Got to watch a little bit more of the big prospects and I wonder about the size of some of these guys.

Is Aldrich really 6'11"? He doesn't look it. He looks more like 6'9" at the absolute most. He does have really long arms though.

Cousins is the guy that has been on the other end of the spectrum. I've seen him listed at 6'9" in shoes. He looks a bit taller and bigger than that though. He had a nice game in limited minutes today. 19 and 8 in 22 minutes. Not bad, even against a lesser opponent.

Anyone had a chance to see Alabi play? He's a guy who intrigues me because of his actual size. I've seen him and he looks every bit of 7 feet and he looks fairly agile, though he needs to bulk up and learn the game better.

If we end up with 2 mid teens picks, we should use them both on big men. I like the big time star potential of Cousins and the defense and rebounding potential of Alabi.

They'd help add balance to the roster and if we happened to get Bosh, would also give us nice size in the frontcourt for once.