Simple Question: Playoffs or Pick?

[Jaxon]

I'd be happy as heck, but then I'd look at Okafor and say we have Whiteside...then look at Towns and say we have Bosh...then look at Russell and say we have Wade...it'd be weird. Not that I'd have any problem with any of those guys though. Bring'em in!

One of the reasons I like Hezonja for us, is that he could play the two or the three, and spell two guys (Deng/Wade) who need minute reductions. He also gives us much needed spacing, and he also benefits from playing against men overseas.

We have Wade for a couple more years at best. We'd have Russell for the next decade+.

Wade is still very much here though, and Russell's usefulness wouldn't be fully expressed for a few years. Would you take Russell over Okafor or Towns if given the choice of the three?

yes i would without question.

[Flashpoint]

I don't give a damn about 8th. I genuinely believe if we pulled our **** together we could upset any team in the East... except the Hawks. My worry is that these jinx threads keep popping up and we'll end up out of the playoffs with no pick.

You don't really believe that these threads affect the outcome of games, do you?

Now that would be ridiculous and crazy. The only thing which affects the outcome of Heat games is the voodoo doll I made out of locks of Rony Seikaly's hair.

[contract]

That and the big steaming piles we keep leaving on the court in the 3rd quarter.

[HIF]

If Wade is healthy (ish) then playoffs, if not pick.

I can't see us winning a game without Wade being in decent shape, with him healthy we could win any number of games.

Of course this is irrelevant now.

[RexBoyWonder]

The race for playoffs is over. You can like it or not, it doesn't matter. The fact is it's over.

The real question is - Keep the pick or get nothing.

We should lose the next 3 games and increase the odds we keep the pick.

[HIF]

Keep the pick makes it more interesting this off-season

lose the pick makes it more interesting next off-season and for potential trades.

[Heat3]

i'd rather have the playoffs than drafting some insignificant rookie. i'd rather pay our debt too. I'd LOL so much if we draft some scrub this year and end up winning the lottery in 2017 and losing our pick

[DayofMourning]

i'd rather have the playoffs than drafting some insignificant rookie. i'd rather pay our debt too. I'd LOL so much if we draft some scrub this year and end up winning the lottery in 2017 and losing our pick

That's pretty dramatic, I'd say. The Heat have had three good draft picks in the last 13 years (Caron, Wade, Beasley) with only one of those players not working out. In none of those situations did we end up worse by having that pick. We traded Caron/others for Shaq. Wade turned into an all time great. Beasley preceded the big 3 and had no negative impact for this team.

What are the playoffs going to do for us? Bring Bosh back? McBob? Heal Wade's knees? Negative. A rookie this year gives us currency at the absolute least. At the best, you could get a guy who falls (a hyped rookie always falls, always) and turns into a rotational player who contributes to varying degrees of success.

What does deferring the pick do for us? It doesn't help us for the summer of 2016, if that's even a realistic benefit to us. Who're the top five players in 2017? That's a lot of I don't know right now.

[King_Supreme]

I take the pick, only on the condition that our draft pick gets consistent playing time.

[Heat3]

i'd rather have the playoffs than drafting some insignificant rookie. i'd rather pay our debt too. I'd LOL so much if we draft some scrub this year and end up winning the lottery in 2017 and losing our pick

That's pretty dramatic, I'd say. The Heat have had three good draft picks in the last 13 years (Caron, Wade, Beasley) with only one of those players not working out. In none of those situations did we end up worse by having that pick. We traded Caron/others for Shaq. Wade turned into an all time great. Beasley preceded the big 3 and had no negative impact for this team.

What are the playoffs going to do for us? Bring Bosh back? McBob? Heal Wade's knees? Negative. A rookie this year gives us currency at the absolute least. At the best, you could get a guy who falls (a hyped rookie always falls, always) and turns into a rotational player who contributes to varying degrees of success.

What does deferring the pick do for us? It doesn't help us for the summer of 2016, if that's even a realistic benefit to us. Who're the top five players in 2017? That's a lot of I don't know right now.

try 3 "good" draft picks in 20 years. beasely was NOT a good pick. we didn't even get a good return for him. his "return" was us being able to dump him for capspace to sign mike miller who was basically a bust for us as well outside of a few games. caron was good on a bad team and his 2nd year he spent a lot of time injured. only wade has really panned out which is why I don't get bent out of shape about having a pick NOW. there is a better chance that player is just a dude in a jersey than he is a contributor on a championship team (and even if he gets to that level it will take a years making him pretty useless now). mike james, wayne simian, dorrel wright...zzzzzz

there is no currency to be had. we already spent it and the debt needs to be paid sometime. better to get it over with otherwise it'll be the same next year "if we only had this pick..."

what i know is so long as we have veterans on this team looking to compete it will not be a place for rookies to learn. it wasn't the case when we had the #2 overall pick and it surely won't change for a #10 pick. the draft matters if we are going to blow it all up, but we aren't so it doesn't. it doesn't matter what the spurs do or other orgs do. this is how THIS team operates.

[DayofMourning]

i'd rather have the playoffs than drafting some insignificant rookie. i'd rather pay our debt too. I'd LOL so much if we draft some scrub this year and end up winning the lottery in 2017 and losing our pick

That's pretty dramatic, I'd say. The Heat have had three good draft picks in the last 13 years (Caron, Wade, Beasley) with only one of those players not working out. In none of those situations did we end up worse by having that pick. We traded Caron/others for Shaq. Wade turned into an all time great. Beasley preceded the big 3 and had no negative impact for this team.

What are the playoffs going to do for us? Bring Bosh back? McBob? Heal Wade's knees? Negative. A rookie this year gives us currency at the absolute least. At the best, you could get a guy who falls (a hyped rookie always falls, always) and turns into a rotational player who contributes to varying degrees of success.

What does deferring the pick do for us? It doesn't help us for the summer of 2016, if that's even a realistic benefit to us. Who're the top five players in 2017? That's a lot of I don't know right now.

try 3 "good" draft picks in 20 years. beasely was NOT a good pick. we didn't even get a good return for him. his "return" was us being able to dump him for capspace to sign mike miller who was basically a bust for us as well outside of a few games. caron was good on a bad team and his 2nd year he spent a lot of time injured. only wade has really panned out which is why I don't get bent out of shape about having a pick NOW. there is a better chance that player is just a dude in a jersey than he is a contributor on a championship team (and even if he gets to that level it will take a years making him pretty useless now). mike james, wayne simian, dorrel wright...zzzzzz

When I stated good picks, I meant the actual draft pick having value, i.e., lottery picks. I can see how that may have been misconstrued. So of the three lottery picks we've had in the past 13 years, one got traded in a package deal that netted us Shaq and a championship. The second has won three championships. And the third has been a colossal bust, but that didn't hurt us in any way as he predated one of the biggest free agency coups of all time in the summer of 2010. These lottery picks aren't hurting us in any way.

there is no currency to be had. we already spent it and the debt needs to be paid sometime. better to get it over with otherwise it'll be the same next year "if we only had this pick..." So you want to get rid of the pick just to get rid of it. Because if draft picks have no value, then why does it matter to have one at all? You're missing the boat on that one completely. If we had felt the need to do so, we could have traded Beasley on draft night or shortly thereafter for something of legitimate value. We thought we had the value in hand, so we didn't. Beasley then turned into a colossal bust. Oh well, missed opportunity. However, we still at that point in time had a very valuable piece that could have been sold off for good return.

what i know is so long as we have veterans on this team looking to compete it will not be a place for rookies to learn. it wasn't the case when we had the #2 overall pick and it surely won't change for a #10 pick. the draft matters if we are going to blow it all up, but we aren't so it doesn't. it doesn't matter what the spurs do or other orgs do. this is how THIS team operates. I don't see how bringing the Spurs into this does anything but disparage another team. The Spurs have been phenomenal team builders since Duncan was drafted. Their model is pretty darn good too. If you want an experienced player, then this draft has those options as well. Not every player available is a wet behind the ears 19 year old. You're telling me you wouldn't want a backup guard like Jerian Grant with our pick. Or a Willie Cauley-Stein as a backup center? Or a possible star player to replace Wade eventuallly in Hezonja? You'd rather just get rid of the pick, so we'd not owe it in the future. The future is now. Building a contender is now. Not in 2023. We have a good team, with lots of talent. What we need is depth, and injury security.

Comments in red.

[UD4MVP]

I feel like some people just hate the crapshoot nature of the draft, but in our situation its pretty clear where its heading, might as well add a lottery talent to some of the nice core pieces we have. I feel like the Hezonja kid would be great for us.