Could Mayo be our pick ? With article.

[Flash4thewin]

Its not that Pat is psychic but he started making those comment while our team was securing its last place standing to get the best odds for the top pick. Its basically hedging your bets and hyping up the player that might/should have more value to other teams. The Wolves/Sonics/Clippers/Buck already have there post players and needed a guard more. If we get the top pick, by hyping Rose pat gets the most value by trading down one spot and still gets the player he originally wanted.

[D1SGRUNTL3D]

But of course, everyone can see this is an attempt of Pat stealing your pick back in the Blount/Davis deal.

[jaseda510]

-= original quote snipped =-

based on what, untapped potential? -- to many players in the draft over the years have had "untapped potential" to become the best this and the best that, who haven't proved much on any level, all be it the NCAA, even for 1 year, unlike a player in Beasley.

Mayo for all we know could be the next Sebastian Telfair (aka the best young PG for years to come, or so was said about him when he was taken in the top 15)

Mayo did pretty well in his freshman year at USC averaging around 20 points, although at a low FG% and a high TO clip. On the other hand he was praised for his defense as well as basketball IQ.

I think he was so hyped while in high school and got so overrated, now he's actually underrated

[Flash4thewin]

I see Mayo becoming a player in the mold of Billups. Remember Billups is basically a converted sg that plays pg and controls his team. Also unlike some players in the nba Mayo seems to want to take the last shot

[SmushedPennies]

I think one of the problems a lot of you are having with Riley's comments is that you're assuming that he's assuming the Bulls are going to take Rose. He's not talking about a specific player when he's discussing leveraging the pick, or drafting Mayo over them (if there even is truth to that story). I believe he sees this as being advantageous for his negotiations with the Bulls. Riley wants it to be known that he's not going to simply sit and take what the Bulls give them if he doesn't like the player available, whichever one it is. He wants it to look like he has more power in the matter so negotiating can be relevant.

Hey CoolD, where are you from?

[Illmatic_Heat]

i'm still going back-and-forth between beasley and mayo.

mayo is the total package... great jump shot, could hit the 3, great defense (he shut down rose), great handles, and is a leader. his only weakness is his lack of explosiveness. but i think he has the potential to develop an explosive style of play. deron williams is more explosive now than he was in college so that shouldn't be a problem. remember mayo was the most hyped player since lebron... that has to count for something. tim floyd's system at USC didn't fit his game too well either.

mayo is a combo guard who can mix it up with wade. a wade and mayo backcourt would be sick.

[daniel3]

Could just put a Wade mask on Mayo and call him Wade 2.

[theFRANCHISE]

"I'll have a #2 hold the mayo please."

this dude is really over hyped, I live in the L.A. area, seen the trojan games. He's a volume shooter, waste of a pick if you ask me.

[Lane1974]

dont believe any of this bunk, Riley is the most clandestine executive around and now these rumor mongerers all of a sudden know what he's thinking?

[GabbaGoo]

Why not just Draft Beasley and then Trade him for Mayo and more pieces?

[girlygirl]

Mayo seems like the exact same type of player as Wade, except not as talented (not nearly as good of a ballhandler/playmaker, for one). Wouldn't it be better to have a backcourt player who complements Wade, rather than one who mirrors his same skills, but isn't likely to be as productive. Mayo is EXTREMEMY turnover prone -- so is Wade. That backcourt could be a disaster waiting to happen in terms of ballhandling.

Miami would be better off drafting Beasley and trading for a veteran PG like Hinrich, Calderon, etc.

[Pro]

girlygirl
PostPosted: Sat May 24, 2008 12:45 am Post subject:
Mayo seems like the exact same type of player as Wade, except not as talented (not nearly as good of a ballhandler/playmaker, for one). Wouldn't it be better to have a backcourt player who complements Wade, rather than one who mirrors his same skills, but isn't likely to be as productive. Mayo is EXTREMEMY turnover prone -- so is Wade. That backcourt could be a disaster waiting to happen in terms of ballhandling.

Miami would be better off drafting Beasley and trading for a veteran PG like Hinrich, Calderon, etc.

I agree, drafting Mayo and putting him next to Wade won't reap as much benefits as drafting Beasley and then getting a pg that can distribute the ball, then we can take the ball out of Wade's hands and let him work off the ball to get his buckets a bit more efficiently. Pair this with the fact that some nights Beasley will draw double teams and the team will become very dangerous.

If done properly, with this pick, we can end up where Denver should be.

[SmushedPennies]

Maybe its a smokescreen to pry Bayless from some team? Riley you genius!

[BlaZeN27]

My turn to chime in about the idea of possibly taking OJ Mayo.


... I HATE it, even if we trade back. I mean, between Minny, Seattle, and Memphis they don't have much that I as a Heat fan would want. Chris Wilcox? Mike Miller? Randy Foye? Umm, no thank you. The one thing I might consider is if we can get an unprotected first in 09 (or Minny giving us our 1st back from the Ricky trade) for moving back a few spots to take Mayo.

But even then I still wouldn't be totally happy. I'm not buying this Mayo hype at all, I mean he under performed all year first off. Second off, I got to watch him 5 or 6 times and quite honestly I wasn't very impressed. He isn't very quick/explosive, which is probably one of the main reasons he takes so many bad shots. If a guy can't consistently break his man down off the dribble in college, what do you think hes going to do in the NBA? People keep referring to him as a better back court fit then Derrick Rose because he can "shoot" and hes a great defender. Umm, I could be wrong but aren't those Marcus Banks's strong suites? Except Banks is a lot quicker and more explosive then Mayo. Wade already is turnover prone, do we really need someone beside him who averaged more turnovers a game then assists?

Name me one team that has two elite guards, but has no good player at the PF/C position, that is not only a good team but just a solid one. You can't, the Heat will not get by with Haslem and Blount in the front court.

Now of course your going to assume I don't want Rose, which would be false. I would be happy as hell with Rose, because hes totally different then OJ Mayo. He has something that Mayo doesn't have, a chance to be an elite playmaker/passer like a Deron Williams or a Chris Paul, etc. In that case, I believe a back court with 2 elite guards (one being the main scorer, and the other being an elite passer/playmaker) COULD work, at least a lot better then a back court without a true point guard.

[CoolD]

My turn to chime in about the idea of possibly taking OJ Mayo.


... I HATE it, even if we trade back. I mean, between Minny, Seattle, and Memphis they don't have much that I as a Heat fan would want. Chris Wilcox? Mike Miller? Randy Foye? Umm, no thank you. The one thing I might consider is if we can get an unprotected first in 09 (or Minny giving us our 1st back from the Ricky trade) for moving back a few spots to take Mayo.

But even then I still wouldn't be totally happy. I'm not buying this Mayo hype at all, I mean he under performed all year first off. Second off, I got to watch him 5 or 6 times and quite honestly I wasn't very impressed. He isn't very quick/explosive, which is probably one of the main reasons he takes so many bad shots. If a guy can't consistently break his man down off the dribble in college, what do you think hes going to do in the NBA? People keep referring to him as a better back court fit then Derrick Rose because he can "shoot" and hes a great defender. Umm, I could be wrong but aren't those Marcus Banks's strong suites? Except Banks is a lot quicker and more explosive then Mayo. Wade already is turnover prone, do we really need someone beside him who averaged more turnovers a game then assists?

Name me one team that has two elite guards, but has no good player at the PF/C position, that is not only a good team but just a solid one. You can't, the Heat will not get by with Haslem and Blount in the front court.

Now of course your going to assume I don't want Rose, which would be false. I would be happy as hell with Rose, because hes totally different then OJ Mayo. He has something that Mayo doesn't have, a chance to be an elite playmaker/passer like a Deron Williams or a Chris Paul, etc. In that case, I believe a back court with 2 elite guards (one being the main scorer, and the other being an elite passer/playmaker) COULD work, at least a lot better then a back court without a true point guard.

I totally agree with you. But I think if Riley is going to target Mayo. Riley might still want to draft Beasley anyhow, by using Beasley for a trade, you will get more value than drafting Mayo at 2 that has a much lower trade value than Beasley, and the Heat would lose a great opportunity to leverage for a bigger trade that could get us rid of Blount

[BlaZeN27]

I also think why do we want to get stuck with two SG's and no real point guard? A Mayo and Wade backcourt leaves us without a real point guard.

Ding ding ding...


And that wouldn't be the worst thing (getting a good player and getting rid of Blount) but honestly, I don't think getting a player like Miller, Wilcox, or Foye is a good enough value trade for us to pass on someone like Beasley.

IMO, we should just draft who falls to us. If its Rose then be thankful and go out and get a center for the MLE. If its Beasley then go and trade Haslem for Javaris Crittention/Kyle Lowry/Mike Conley and Jason Collins.

Not only does that give us Beasley, it gives us a good PG prospect and help solidify the PG position, but it also gives us 6 million + in salary cap dump after this up and coming year because Collins is in his last year of his contract. Not to mention that we would still have our MLE in this scenario.

[DayofMourning]

I think it was Randy Pfund that convinced Riley to take Wade over Kaman.

As for all this misinformation, I think Flash4thewin hit it right on the head. Riley is hyping up Rose, Mayo and trading the pick so Michael Beasley can fall to him at #2.

I remember Riley loved Lamar Odom back in the day and almost traded PJ Brown for him on draft day. Now, Beasley doesn't have Odom's ability to fascilitate other players but he is more gifted offensively that Odom ever was. They are similar in the sense that both are skilled big men. Also I think Riley might see some James Worthy in Michael Beasley.

Riley is probably trying so hard not to leak any information about how bad he loves Michael Beasley.

Also, I saw an interview with Michael Beasley on the day of the draft lottery and he said that Miami had shown the most interest in him so far.

As for Mayo, Ive been very high on him all year long. I saw him play on multiple occasions. I think his athletic ability will hold him back from being a super star. I do think he can play PG in the mold of a Chauncey Billups, so by no means will he be a scrub. Ive just never seen him dunk on anyone or really take it strong to the basket and finish over anyone. He is a great shooter, good defender and plays with good basketball IQ. He did take questionable shots at times but during the end of the season, he improved on his shot selection. Overall, If we had the 3-4 pick, I would consider him but Beasley or Rose is our only option now.

Thank you for this post. I see the exact same thing happening. We've heard the love for Rose and Mayo, and we've heard he'd be willing to shop the pick if Beasley fall to two. Sounds like a lot of the facts are on the table already, meaning Riley's stance is the exact opposite.

[pramis123]

My fellow Heaters, from my standpoint, what Pat is doing is very simple. He wants to pickBeasley but would like to get more picks/players or to drop a big contract. Sadly, he has very little options to get that done, except to play up Mayo because he knows that Minnesota would pick him over Beasley. Minnessota does not want Beasley for many reasons, including the fact that their whole trade with Boston was to get themselves a young PF for the next decade, which they accomplished. Beasley does not fit with Minnessota. They need a SG who can score and balance out their roster, and Mayo fits that bill. If Miami can convice Minnessota that we will trade that pick to another team that values Mayo, than maybe they take the bait and trade with Miami so we can pick Beasley at 3, give them back Blount and get back out pick for next year and our second round pick this year.

Another hint....Riley has always loved big men who can score and require double teams, and it also would open up the court for Wade and others. What other PF has the Heat always wanted to get who is undersized and plays for the Clippers.....Folks, Beasley is that same player. Lastly, while Mayo is a very good player, he is not a PG. Just look at his stats from USC and focus on his assist to turnover ratio. Its terrible!! He needs to play SG to be successfull, and while he would add a great jump shot and defense, which would help us out and compliment Wade, that would mean that Wade would be the primary PG, which he has said he will not want to do. So relax and enjoy the misinformation and hope it works, because Beasley will be with the Heat, so the only question is if we can move to #3 get something else in return.

[Lane1974]

the OJ Mayo stories are now coming out

our old friend Jonathan G did a face to face with him in Chicago

http://www.draftexpress.com/article/O.J ... e%22-2890/

as did Chad Ford, who did a reasonably glowing story on him as well
http://insider.espn.go.com/nba/draft200 ... ateChanged

OJ compares himself to Deron Williams

[BFRESH44]

Like O.J, but I don't see him as a point guard in the league (after further review).

His handle simply isn't up to par for the posistion(playing it full time atleat, he's a combo guard).