Who mock drafts project Heat to pick 27th overall. And a shocking ESPN Heat suggestion
A six-pack of Miami Heat notes on a Friday:
▪ What players could be in the Heat’s range with the 27th overall draft pick in the June 23 NBA Draft -- provided that selection isn’t traded?
Here’s what a few mock drafts suggest:
CBS has Miami taking Santa Clara 6-6 shooting guard Jalen Williams, who averaged 18 points and shot 39.6 percent on threes: “Williams has been the fastest-rising draft prospect the last month. He measured 6-6 at the combine with a 7-2 wingspan, is coming off a season in which he shot nearly 40% from 3-point range, and rated out in the 97th percentile last season, according to Synergy, as a spot-up shooter.”
SI.com has the Heat taking Milwaukee freshman Patrick Baldwin Jr., who averaged 12.1 points and 5.8 rebounds last season:
“Standing 6-10 with a near 7-2 wingspan, Baldwin has the size to turn into a high-level defender either on the wing or in the low-post and he has all the skills to be a primary playmaker on the wing offensively. Gambling on a top-tier prospect is something the Heat could show a lot of interest in doing, especially since Patrick Baldwin Jr. could turn out to be an elite-level combo-forward if he stays healthy.”
ESPN has Miami picking Arizona combo guard Dalen Terry, with this comment: “Few teams have been as successful drafting in the first round as the Heat have over the past few years. The team seems to prioritize finding young players who fit their mentality culturally and have room to grow in their strong player development infrastructure. Terry has been one of the big winners of the pre-draft process so far, impressing teams with his character on and off the court while dropping glimpses of significant versatility and upside he can grow into at just 19-years old.”
Terry averaged 8.0 points and 3.9 assists in 37 starts for Arizona last season and shot 36.4 percent on threes.
And NBAdraft.net has Miami taking Auburn 7-1 center Walker Kessler, who averaged 11.4 points, 5.4 rebounds and 4.6 blocks. Kessler is the nephew of former Heat center Alec Kessler, who died in 2007.
▪ After the Heat fell behind 3-2 against Boston, ESPN’s Kendrick Perkins shockingly said the Heat should consider trading Jimmy Butler and rebuild, asserting Miami will never win a title with this core.
But colleague Zach Lowe - who said a few years ago that the Heat might have the bleakest future in the league when they had James Johnson and Dion Waiters on big contracts, said: “If there’s one thing I’ve learned the hard way, it is never underestimate the Heat’s ability to reinvent themselves on the fly from what looks like a position of weakness...
“At the trade deadline, a little thing that went unnoticed is they made a trade with Oklahoma City that amended the first round pick they owed them and pushed it out to 2025. That wasn’t an accident. That lets us increase the amount of picks we can trade this year and next year because they are going to look around. You know the Heat. They’re going to go big fish hunting. They’re going to look at stars if they fall short. They are now not going to sit tight and say this is our core, we have to bring it back. They are big game hunters.
“Three or four years ago, this franchise looked dead in the water. Bad contracts. Picks out the door. No tradable assets. This is their second conference finals in three years, almost their second finals. It’s an incredible turnaround. Do not underestimated Pat Riley.“
But ESPN’s Richard Jefferson said “the problem is their core is getting older.”
As for Perkins’ ideas, Butler is not being traded. Nor should he be.
▪ Even if P.J. Tucker opts out of the $7.3 million he’s owed next season, figure on the Heat trying to keep him, potentially with an Early Bird deal starting at $8.4 million.
The question is whether a team offers him a full $10.3 million mid-level exception, an avenue that is available to the Heat if it chooses.
“Tucker, he is a Miami Heat guy,” Erik Spoelstra said. “I marvel -- there’s probably five or six times where the trainers had told me, I don’t think Tuck is going tonight. And I joked about it with you guys all the time. I couldn’t ask him how he was doing and I couldn’t ask the trainers in front of him how he was doing. He just has an incredible will inside of him to overcome anything that he may be feeling.”
▪ Caleb Martin said he and his twin brother (Hornets forward Cody Martin) recently were talking about how remarkable it is that Jimmy Butler is not only “putting up 40 points; he’s putting up 40 points while guarding the best player at the same time and playing 48 minutes if he can.
“His conditioning, his weightlifting, his strength, all the work he puts in every year is coming into one. It’s an honor to be a part of it and watch history in the making. I’m going to continue to feed off him and pick his brain as much as possible.”
▪ There have been 34 Game 7s in the last 10 seasons. Per Statmuse, only two of them have ended with a wire-to-wire victory (no ties or lead changes): Boston’s win against the Heat on Sunday, and Dallas’ Western Conference semifinals win against Phoenix.
▪ One person who’s always welcomed but no longer around: Shane Battier, who left his full-time job with the organization in 2020 but remains on call for his friend, team CEO Nick Arison.
Battier, who has a home in Coral Gables, is spending time on his charitable foundation and investing in starts ups and tech companies.
He had a sleuthing project recently when The Miami Herald relayed to him that it received an email from a reader wondering why Battier’s 2001 Duke championship ring was being made available for bid by an auction house.
Battier lost the ring about a decade ago but made clear to me, through an associate, that he would never sell a championship ring.
Battier informed the Better Business Bureau and a police department in central Florida and eventually determined that the ring being auctioned was a bootleg ring that he had never worn. The original ring is still missing.
He informed the auction house that their ring wasn’t legitimate and has a good idea who was responsible. No criminal charges have been filed.
This story was originally published June 3, 2022 at 12:17 PM.
