Heat eyeing higher-end prospects; UM adds player; Media news and college TV schedule

A six-pack of Heat, Canes and media notes:

• The Heat wants to be thoroughly prepared if a player projected as a top 12 pick falls to 14, much like what happened when Justise Winslow slid to them at No. 10 two years ago.

As a result, there has been contact with all of the players projected a shade out of Miami’s range.

ESPN’s Chad Ford ranks the 9th through 13th prospects as Gonzaga forward/center Zach Collins, Arizona power forward Lauri Markkanen, French point guard Frank Ntilikina, Duke power forward Harry Giles and Indiana guard OG Anunoby, with Duke’s Luke Kennard 14th.

Obviously, that ranking is highly subjective and varies depending on the evaluator.

The Heat sent three officials – including vice president/player personnel Chet Kammerer and assistant GM Adam Simon – to watch Collins at a Chicago-area workout arranged by his agent last week.

Collins, 7-0, a terrrific prospect, averaged 10.0 points and 5.9 rebounds in 17.2 minutes per game as a freshman last season, shooting 65.2 percent from the field and 10 for 21 on thees.

The Heat is intrigued by the sweet-shooting Markkanen’s skills and have asked him to come to Miami for a visit and workout but haven’t yet received a response.

They’ve reached out to Anunoby, but he can’t work out because of knee surgery earlier this year.

Considerable due diligence is being done on Giles.

Ford, incidentally, has Giles going to the Heat at No. 14.

“It might be a few weeks before we know what NBA doctors think of Giles' knee,” Ford said. “If he's red-flagged medically, he could drop up to 10 spots on our board, depending on the diagnosis. However, if doctors are satisfied that his knees are in good shape, the Heat will get a steal at No. 14.

“Many scouts feel Giles has the most raw talent of any player in the draft. And the Heat can afford to bring him along slowly, getting him fully healthy and explosive again before unleashing a Hassan Whiteside-Giles frontcourt from hell.”

So the Heat, as always, will be prepared if a player drops to them.

• Though there had been some concern that Dion Waiters’ former agent, new Lakers general manager Rob Pelinka, might make a big offer for Waiters this summer, Lakers executive Magic Johnson – whose team has $23 million in cap space – told reporters: “I’m really looking to keep the cap space that we have and really try to play in next year’s free agent class, and not really this free agent class.”

The Heat wants to keep Waiters but doesn’t want to overpay.

• For those who missed this over the holiday weekend: Pasadena, Tx.-based Bubba Baxa orally committed to UM and very likely will be senior Michael Badgley’s replacement beginning in 2018. Baxa, considered of the top five senior kickers in the country, was five for nine on field goals last season (he made two from 49 yards) and hit all 26 of his extra points, per Canesport.

• Rivals.com released a new football top 250 for 2018, and nine are UM oral commitments:

Running back Lorenzo Lingard at No. 10, receiver Mark Pope at 25, running back Camron Davis at 54, quarterback Artur Sitkowski at 64, tight end Brevin Jordan at 106, receiver Brian Hightower at 109, defensive back Josh Jobe at 179, defensive back Gurvan Hall at 188, defensive back Gilbert Frierson at 215.

UM’s recruiting class is rated No. 1 by major services.

• The NFL last season wouldn’t allow Mike Tirico to call Thursday night football, one of the assignments he expected to get when he left ESPN, because it insisted that NBC use its lead announcing team (Al Michaels, Cris Collinsworth) on those games.

But the NFL has wisely changed its position and will permit Tirico to work those Thursday games --- all in November and December --- with Collinsworth. Michaels, who had no particular desire to work those games, will remain NBC’s voice of Sunday night football.

• According to the New York Post, MLB Network announcer and former Marlins part-time analyst and pitcher Al Leiter has joined Tagg Romney’s ownership group bidding for the Marlins. That gives Romney’s group a strong early 1990s starting rotation (Tom Glavine, Dave Stewart and Leiter). Romney hasn’t commented throughout this process.

• Here is my six pack of Dolphins nuggets from today.

### Bonus note: Susan Miller Degnan has time and TV info on UM’s early season schedule, released today, here and here are some other college football TV games announced today.

First, the ESPN early season schedule:

Week 1 Schedule

Week 2 Schedule

Week 3 Schedule

And here’s the Fox early-season schedule:

Thursday, August 31

Conference

Network

7:30 PM

Tulsa at Oklahoma St. Big 12 FS1

# # #

Friday, September 1

8:00 PM

Washington at Rutgers Big Ten FS1

# # #

Saturday, September 2

3:30 PM UTEP at Oklahoma Big 12 FOX

7:30 PM Purdue vs. Louisville (Lucas Oil Stadium) Big Ten FOX

12:00 PM Maryland at Texas Big 12 FS1

10:30 PM Montana State at Washington State Pac-12 FS1

4:00 PM Eastern Washington at Texas Tech Big 12 FSN

8:00 PM Jackson State at TCU Big 12 FSN

# # #

Sunday, September 3

7:30 PM Texas A&M at UCLA Pac-12 FOX & FOX Deportes

# # #

Friday, September 8

8:00 PM Ohio at Purdue Big Ten FS1

# # #

Saturday, September 9

4:30 PM Nebraska at Oregon Pac-12 FOX & FOX Deportes

8:30 PM Stanford at USC Pac-12 FOX

10:00 PM Minnesota at Oregon State Pac-12 FS1

12:00 PM East Carolina at West Virginia Big 12 FS2

12:00 PM Charlotte at K-State Big 12 FSN

4:00 PM Central Michigan at Kansas Big 12 FSN

8:00 PM UTSA at Baylor Big 12 FSN

# # #

Saturday, September 16

4:30 PM Army at Ohio State Big Ten FOX

8:30 PM Texas at USC Pac-12 FOX

12:00 PM Northern Illinois at Nebraska Big Ten FS1

8:00 PM Arizona State at Texas Tech Big 12 FSN

By the way, Fox – not ABC – gets Ohio State-Michigan at noon Nov. 25 this year.

This story was originally published May 31, 2017 at 5:07 PM.