MIAMI – There is clandestine and there is stealth. For the Miami Heat, both came into play as they prepared for the NBA Draft and what they might do with their No. 18 pick on Thursday night . . . if they retain it.
As has been the case during the franchise’s best of times, particularly during the team’s Big Three era at the start of the previous decade with LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh, recent weeks meant juggling workouts with prospects and the playoff schedule.
While the Heat rarely have made their workout lists public, this time around it also meant getting prospects in and out of the Kaseya Center amid the media barrage of the NBA Finals.
“We made sure we have the schedule from the team first, and the league, the use of the building and different locker rooms and whatever space we have,” Adam Simon, the team’s vice president of basketball operations and assistant general manager, told the Sun Sentinel. “We used the practice court outside of the time when the team needed it and used different rooms to do interviews.”
So yes, workouts, and interviews, and plenty of intriguing faces passing though 601 Biscayne, from Jett Howard, the University School product who played for his father, former Heat assistant coach Juwan Howard, at Michigan, to Friday’s workout of Kris Murray, the Iowa forward who is brother of Sacramento Kings forward Keegan Murray.
All done with no guarantee of the Heat retaining the pick, amid the swirl of trade rumors.
“We’ve prepared like usual,” said Simon, who bounced between playoff venues and workout sites. “We’ve adjusted some dates, to try to stay out of the way of the team, while still getting our work done. We’ve had good cooperation with the agents to help us with those adjustments and we’ll be prepared as we always are. We’re good to go.”
But go where?
On one hand, the No. 18 pick is a low-cost pathway to augment a roster already bursting at the salary-cap seams. On the other hand, the NBA Finals appearance further cast the Heat in win-now mode, where the presence of an additional veteran presence, in lieu of a draft pick, might have put the Heat over the top against the Denver Nuggets.
“I think we’re in a good, strong position and I think there’s a lot of good talent throughout the first round,” Simon said, with No. 18 the Heat’s best first-round slot since Tyler Herro was taken out of Kentucky at No. 13 in 2019. Since then, the Heat selected Precious Achiuwa out of Memphis at No. 20 in 2020, did not have a 2021 first-round pick, and took Nikola Jovic out of Serbia at No. 27 last year. “And we’re still doing our finishing work and preparing to see who we think might be in our wheelhouse. But I think we’re sitting in a good position.”
The compromise position, if the pick is retained, could be drafting a more ready-to-go prospect, similar to when Norris Cole was selected in the first round in 2011 after a four-year run at Cleveland State.
“Age is relative,” Simon said. “There are players that are 19 that are more advanced that can come in and play right away. There are some that are older, that might need development. So every player has his own path, his own development curve. So I think you have to look at every player differently. And some might need a little more seasoning and some might be ready.
“And, so, I think you weigh all that and then that might factor into your decision. But, again, we’re just trying to find the best player, whether the player is going to be ready to go to summer league or not, or next fall or next spring. They all have their own timeline.”
The Heat do not have a second-round pick, but do have the resources under cap rules to purchase a selection, teams allowed to spend up to $6.4 million per cap year on such moves.
“I think you look at your board, where you have a board and your value and you have your line,” Simon said of possibly buying into the second round. “And depending on where you have a player, if you have a player that is very high and he’s there, then all of a sudden you say we should go get him, because he might not be available at (after the draft).”
So it could be trading away in the first round, buying into the second
“We’re prepared before we go into the draft that night, and we have those scenarios in play,” Simon said.
“You look at what are all of our avenues.”