Miami Heat adds intriguing international prospect and a two-time SEC All-Conference guard
One of the best foreign athletes in the draft and a two-time All-Southeastern Conference guard will be among a handful of players competing for one or two Miami Heat roster spots beginning next week.
Mississippi’s Breein Tyree, a 6-2 combo guard who went undrafted last week, signed with the Heat, giving Miami a developmental point guard prospect. He averaged 19.2 points and shot 36 percent on threes as a senior last year and was named first team All-SEC by coaches the past two seasons. (More on Tyree in a minute.)
Meanwhile, the Heat, which traditionally doesn’t dabble much in the international market, has snagged one of the intriguing foreign prospects who was bypassed in last week’s draft.
Paul Eboua, an athletic 6-8 forward from Cameroon, has committed to join the Heat and will compete for Miami’s remaining two-way contract.
“Overall, he’s the best athlete in this draft,” his agent, Rade Filipovich of BDA Sports, told me. “He’s a very good defender and rebounder.”
Filipovich, who also represents Heat guard Goran Dragic, said many teams expressed interest in Eboua, but “we targeted Miami because we like the Heat’s success developing players. They have an unbelievable development program, great coaches with Erik Spoelstra [and his assistants], a great shooting coach with Rob Fodor.”
Eboua, 20, averaged 7.7 points and 5.6 rebounds in 25.8 minutes per game for Consultinvest Pesaro — a pro team in Italy — while shooting 45.4 percent from the field.
Before the draft, Heat executive Chet Kammerer watched Eboua in a workout in Santa Barbara, California, and apparently left impressed.
Eboua grew up in Cameroon, started playing basketball at age 14 while attending Lycée de Makepe in Cameroon’s largest city. In 2015, he moved to Rome — with his family staying in Cameroon — to join Italian team Stella Azzurra, and did it despite not speaking Italian or English and having only one year of basketball experience.
He caught the eye of talent evaluators and in April 2016 played in the Jordan Brand International Game in Brooklyn. In January 2018, he averaged 14.8 points and 11 rebounds per game at an international junior competition, leading Stella Azzurra to the ANGT finals in Belgrade.
He has played in Italy for three seasons — including the top Italian league last season. He had a particularly strong stretch in January, scoring 20 in one game and producing 15 points and 12 rebounds in another. He declared for the NBA Draft last April.
Stefano Makris of NBAdraftnet assessed him this way:
“Mobile forward, with good size … Incredible length (wingspan measured 7-3.5 feet) … Very good athlete… Runs the floor exceptionally for a big and knows how to fill the lanes … Very good leaper, especially off two feet … Has muscular physique, with wide shoulders that have already filled up well and already has an NBA body… High energy big, with good motor … Not afraid of contact, he actually loves physical play … Makes a lot of hustle plays …
“Excels in transition, he is at his best when running the floor … A rim runner, he loves to finish strong at the rim … Has a basic low post game, where he either outmuscles weaker opponents or attacks slower opponents from middle-post … Has shown some promise as a shooter in spot up situations … Above average ball handler for a big … Moves well without the ball … Relentless offensive rebounder, puts constant pressure on opponent’s defense, going for every ball and scoring with Put Backs … Takes advantage of his great physical tools on defense … He has all the necessary tools to become a defensive specialist and support a switch everything defense
“Eboua is a great athlete with length and good motor, who has the tools to become a game changer with his defensive ability … At the same time though he is raw, with question marks on his feel for the game, basketball I.Q and offensive potential …
“There are many intriguing aspects and some red flags … At the end of the day, whether he will become a valuable role player or just a journeyman is up to him and how he develops a work ethic.”
Eboua is the latest example of the Heat gravitating toward long, high-level athletes with impressive wingspan.
His 7-3 ½ wingspan would be highest on the roster. Bam Adebayo’s is 7-2, Precious Achiuwa’s 7-2, Mo Harkless 7-2, KZ Okpala 7-2 and Ande Iguodala 6-11.
▪ As for Tyree, he averaged 13.8 points and shot 35.6 percent on three-pointers in four years at Mississippi.
He was an explosive scorer, scoring 38 points in a win against South Carolina last season, and following that with 40 in a win against Mississippi State.
Last season, he shot 42.7 percent from the field and averaged 3.7 points, 2.5 assists and 1.3 steals.
The big negative: Last season, he barely had more assists (78) than turnovers (76).
Tyree averaged 24.7 points per game and shot 47.5 percent through his first 13 SEC games, and then averaged 15 points per game and shot 34.8 percent in his final five SEC games, including the SEC tournament.
NBAscoutinglive.com called him a border-line second-round pick and an “agile, skilled combo guard that can shoot and score. He has a solid pull-up game [but] will need to improve his playmaking skills, as he has never averaged more than three assists in any collegiate season.”
Raised in New Jersey, he was a two-sport star in high school and was basketball teammates with Karl-Anthony Towns.
His cousin, David Tyree, was a former NFL receiver and helped the Giants beat the Patriots with the famous helmet catch late in Super Bowl 42.
Guard Gabe Vincent already has secured one of the Heat’s two-way contracts, which allows a player to be available for 50 of each team’s 72 games.
Eboua and Tyree likely will compete with two other unannounced prospects or journeymen for the Heat’s second two-way contract. Miami hasn’t announced the signing of any undrafted rookies.
But if Chris Silva struggles in training camp — or if the Heat makes a trade — Eboua, Tyree and two other prospects could end up competing for two jobs instead of one. Silva is due a guaranteed $1.5 million this season. The Heat already has the maximum-permitted 15 players with standard guaranteed contracts — including Silva.
The Heat now has 18 players — including first-round pick Achiuwa, who hasn’t yet signed — and can take 20 to training camp.
This story was originally published November 23, 2020 at 9:30 AM.
