Miami Heat NBA Draft Board For TEAM NEEDS | Home Run Swing or Play it Safe?

Miami Heat NBA Draft Board For TEAM NEEDS | Home Run Swing or Play it Safe?

the NBA draft is tonight and the Heat need to add talent across the roster what’s their strategy and who do we think they have their eyes on we’ll break down the options on today’s episode of Locked on Heat [Music] you are Locked on Heat your daily Miami Heat podcast part of the Locked On podcast network your team every day all right welcome to Locked on Heat your daily podcast on the Miami Heat whether you’re tuning in to YouTube or on your favorite podcast app thanks for making Locked on Heat your first listen every day i’m Wes Goldberg here with David Rmill both of us are credentialed Heat Media members who cover this team every day for daily content on the Heat click that subscribe button on YouTube make sure you are following us on your favorite podcast app have a jam-packed show for you today we are building our Miami Heat draft board we’re going to be talking about the team’s biggest draft needs how they should approach the draft on Wednesday night whether they should trade up down out a bunch of other things but first a quick announcement before we begin we are going to be featured at the Miami Heats NBA draft watch party on Wednesday night at Cassa Center we’re going to have a table at the event where we’ll be recording a live episode of Locked on Heat if you’re attending the event make sure to stop by say hi share us share with us your offseason thoughts your NBA draft thoughts um you can RSVP to the event on the Heat’s website it begins at 7 p.m the draft uh coverage starts at 8:00 p.m uh the event is free it’s going to be hosted in the Arena Bowl it’s going to feature activities uh free throw free throw competitions stuff like that all on Pat Riley court there’ll be caricature drawings a pop-up heat store special giveaway exclusive photo opportunities and more um ahead of the Heat making a pick potentially here at number 20 again you must RSVP to attend the event you could do that at heat.com/draftparty uh before we unveil our final Heat big board we should talk a little bit about how the Heat should approach the draft generally zoom out a little bit on this David so what do we know about the draft so far the Heat offered the 20th pick for Kevin Durant but they still have it obviously um we haven’t really heard much about workouts yep we don’t usually hear a ton about Heat workouts we usually hear a little bit more than this though we know that they kind of We know that not kind of we know that they did work out the clutch cohort of guys that’s really all we know a few other guys here and there but none of like the not a lot of the big names not even a lot of the first round names are popping up on any of these reports that said we know that the Heat are prepared right they don’t they don’t just go into this blind they knew that they would have a pick we know that they’re prepared but this is as much of a mystery going into this thing in team in terms of the Heat’s perspective of things than it’s been in a very long time uh what do you make of all that i think they are probably pretty disappointed they weren’t able to land Kim Durant i think that was their plan A and I think they they intended to trade that pick and so it’s not to say that they haven’t done their homework that’s just not how this front office operates so they have their options they’ve got their board they’ve had their workouts but they usually publicize it and hype it up a little bit more you know they’re still having the watch party so I’m sure even as the Kevin Durant pursuit was taking place arrangements for the draft party were happening subsequently like you happening at the same time simultaneously I should say so you know that they have to always be able to maintain all options i wouldn’t be surprised if maybe they’re just kind of lower on the pick and or whatever they might be able to find in terms of value at number 20 and I wouldn’t be surprised if maybe they wouldn’t find a player that they think will drop to them it could add something immediately because they recognize how many glaring needs this roster has and as such maybe we could see some kind of a draft trade whether it’s for future picks or for something else i don’t know but I wouldn’t be surprised at that given the way that this team typically operates you you usually hear a little bit more about what they’re looking for in the draft whether or not they’re conducting workouts with certain players and things of that sort it just there doesn’t seem to be a lot of I would say uh teamwide excitement about this pick maybe I’m misreading the situation but at least that’s how I see it yeah again this is a tight-lipped organization maybe they are super excited about this and they’re just not letting anybody know right there’s no real way to know here but uh they have the 20th pick uh unless something changes which obviously it can we are recording this i guess it’s worth noting uh it’s Tuesday June 24th at 2:18 p.m eastern time so if they trade this pick between now and Wednesday morning um sorry yeah sorry for watching anyway yeah thanks for watching and stay tuned hit that subscribe button uh we’ll I’m sure we’ll have a breakdown of whatever it is that happened but um right now they have a pick at 20 what do they need in the draft when you’re looking at the 20th pick this is the lowest that they’ve picked since taking Nikolovic at the end of the first round three years ago they’ve had a lot of success in the draft right i know it was a it’s been a you know hit hit or miss with Yoic up and down first three years with Yovic hakez a little bit of a sophomore slump obviously we like Khal Wear and what he showed as a rookie i think overall though they’ve basically drafted three rotation guys in their last three drafts uh but what are you looking at what do you think their biggest need here how do you think they should approach number 20 i tend to think of it as they’re going to have a different approach than what we’ve seen i know you’ve used Pat Riley’s comments to you specifically about needing length and kind of wing size and and I don’t think that that’s what they’re looking at anymore i think they’ve got I think they they have to target the best player available or at least the one that they see having the most untapped potential i think this is kind of the their approach when they drafted BAM and a bio so you think go big swing here not a safe pick not a high pick necessarily absolutely not they need to take a swing absolutely not yeah because otherwise I just don’t see the clear path to adding a superstar maybe it shakes out in 2026 we never know with this front office maybe there is some other deal that they might be working on to acquire a star level player but unless those things happen again I mean given Miami’s assets and we broke this down a couple episodes ago regarding the pursuit of Kevin Durant they just might not have what it takes to land a superstar and if that’s so then you have to be able to take a chance and hope that whoever you can get at 20 might blossom into that that’s it seems unlikely but it’s happened before in the drafts where you can wind up getting an all-star level player based on you know the 20th pick or even lower so I think that’s what they’re looking at they’re looking at adding the most talent they possibly can regardless of position and I I think you’ve got you’ve got depth already at pretty much every position regard uh separately from the point guard position i think that’s where the most glaring need is is the guard other than that though I don’t know that there’s going to be the kind of quality point guard that you’re looking for the playmaker the shooter the guy who’s not going to be picked on defensively and you already have enough issues with that regarding Tyler Herro so I don’t think that the 20th pick is going to be used on a on a guard i think it would be used mostly for somebody who’s the most talented player who could have that kind of star level potential so I’m trying to think of even the best players chosen at 20 it’s like Jamir Nelson is sort of the best guy i’ll ask Chat GBT here in our next ad break what the best 20th picks are of all time um if I can make a argument on behalf of going safe and I don’t even know if I’m I’m kind of steel manning it here but um this is a team with Bam Adabio at 27 years old Tyler Hero 25 years old and a roster that’s not ready to compete but is also not ready to reset either um at least not right now and the Heat are in desperate need of guys who can play i I I don’t think they have a lot of guys who can play it was a lot of guys who shouldn’t be playing last year playing a lot of minutes and I don’t know that you’re going to necessarily find that guy at 20 but the more guys that you have out there who could play and just add something to your roster right i talk about the lack of specialization with this heat roster all the time it just doesn’t feel like there’s anybody on the roster that does anything at a high level and I mean there’s obviously the top guys like Bam and Tyler but you know what I’m talking about like the middle of the roster and if you could find a guy at 20 that has an NBA ready skill that otherwise does not exist on the roster right now it’s why DaVon Mitchell it just felt like such a landmark acquisition when it happened it just like it honestly outsized expect of expectations when Devon Mitchell got here it’s just like oh my god this is what it’s like to have a above average to good point of attack defender on the roster at that guard spot we didn’t have anything close to that and it just feels so it literally just changed the face of the entire depth chart when you threw DaVon Mitchell into there a guy who had been a journeyman played playing for his third team on his rookie contract if you could find a guy at 20 who can bring a specific skill it’s a big if but can bring a specific skill that is NBA ready to this roster that’s the kind of versatility that this team has lacked potentially and that would be the argument for kind of just taking a safe guy with a little bit more experience in college or overseas or whatever it might be might not have might not be that 18 19 year old with loads of potential and just this big question mark and all these different kind of outcomes but you’re like “Yeah I feel pretty good that he can walk in and play 10 to 15 minutes within his first couple of years.” That would be the argument for it but again I don’t even know really what I believe and and just a little bit more background on this this is not how teams approach the draft teams don’t generally go we need a really big swing and that’s it or we need to go safe and that’s it you have a big board that has some swings and some safe picks and it’s just like whoever the guy is that falls right they might have wanted to take a big swing they they had big swing guys on their draft board when they took Haime Hawkeyes Jr but Haime was the top guy on their board when the 18th pick came around so they took him but there was probably guys that are bigger swings ahead of them on their board and probably guys with bigger swings behind him on their board and had Haime gone a pick before maybe they take a big swing there same thing with Yovic same thing with Kel Wear right they were very high on Zack Edy who’s a little bit more of a safer pick than Karee edy wasn’t there where was so you take where um so yeah again at 20 we have no idea what how the board is going to fall anything else on this before we get into our big board no oh I I just think that there’s a lot of options but none of them seem like they stand out even in terms of what you’re saying like who is that player at number 20 who has that specialized skill set and I know we talked about a number of different players and I don’t know that that option is out there it feels like players at that in that range that seem likely to drop to Miami are probably more of the we can do a little bit of everything okay rather than he’s a really good X i don’t know that there are those th those it seems like those guys and I think this is the draft in general i think those kind of guys drop more like 48% shooter from three-point range in college you can get that guy in the second round heck they may not even get drafted and and that’s the kind of guy that you can add later on so I I would even say that with Miami and given their history whoever they bring in as unsigned free agents as undrafted players those might be the ones that could have even more potential because they have they could be more likely to be the the immediate contributors because that’s just how they’ve operated it’s like you know what we can get the kind of shooter we’re looking for we can get explosive player X or we can get super winged defender etc we can get those guys if they fall because you know what because they might be a little undersized you know like a Kashad Johnson type i mean he’s not the kind of size you might be looking for but he certainly was explosive and they liked what they saw in his ability a guy like Pella Larson they got in the second round again this is a guy who might be more of an overall skilled player and he could just do a lot of everything okay rather than specialize in any one thing well let’s get into our big board we’ll talk about some of the players that could be there available at 20 we’re going to do that next here on Lockdown Heat today’s episode is brought to you by Open Phone if you’re running a business you know that every missed call is money left on the table think about the last time you had an urgent need maybe for a plumber or a service provider of some kind if the first person didn’t answer did you just wait no probably not you moved on and that’s why you need Open Phone open Phone is a number one business phone system built to streamline and scale your customer communications all from an app on your phone or computer open Phone lets you manage business calls and texts from a single app their shared inbox feature is a gamecher your team can jump into any conversation instantly without missing a beat and their AI agent handles afterout calls answers common questions and captures leads so you never miss a customer open Phone is offering my listeners 20% off your first six months at openphone.com/lockdownba that’s opho ne.com/lockdonba and if you have existing numbers with another service open phone will port them over at no extra charge open phone no missed calls no missed customers we’ll be right back [Music] before we get to building our big board here I did look up the uh the best 20th Oh I just looked up the last few number 20 picks Jaylen Tyson last year we’ll see cam Whitmore in Houston really good as a rookie couldn’t get into the rotation last year there’s some questions about his preparedness and things like that people still seem pretty high on him i don’t know malachi Brandham for San Antonio you know kind of bit rotation guy for them jaylen Johnson for the Hawks yeah that was a lucky break he was a guy that could that was thought could probably go higher i think there was some injury concerns with him or something there was something going on with coming out of Duke i think it was injury concerns but I know that there were teams in the lottery working him out and he just fell to 20 so we’ll talk about sort of a dream scenarios like that here in a little bit preser Chua remember that Matis Tyel at 20 in in 2019 it’s not bad you know kind of bit rotation guy does something at elite level plays good wing defense josh Shakogi rotation guy for a few years now in 2018 harry Giles III big- time injury concerns that was a big swing by Portland in 2017 but was thought of as potentially one of the best guys in that draft uh had the injuries not derailed things carris Levert by the Pacers in 2016 that’s a big hit that is that if you can get a Caris Levert type that’d be a home run here uh Dylon Wright been in the league for a while bruno Kaboklo not so much uh and it goes you know Evan Fornier by the Nuggets in 2012 uh Dantes Manunes and by the Timberwolves in 2011 you know you go back and back and back and there’s a bunch of other guys um so whatever i mean you’re not James Johnson’s probably the biggest success story out of all these guys but maybe the Heat could buck the trend here all right so let’s build the Miami Heat big board here right off the top I’m taking off the top like 14 guys uh according to ESPN’s board just like they’re not going to get Cooper flag you know what I mean so Flag Dylan Harper Ace Bailey VJ Edgecom Trey Johnson Khan Nupal uh Cameron Mal Maluch from Duke uh Jeremiah Fears Noah Sen uh Yakunis uh from Illinois Eager Demen Carter Bryant Colin Murray Boils Derek Queen all of them are out i didn’t if if one of them fall great we can have that conversation but uh I’m not putting them on my big board because they are not expected to be there when Miami is picking at 20 and that’s even that’s pretty generous but you just really never know who’s gonna fall necessarily so I tried to keep the pool relatively big of those names you see any name particularly sliding or anybody that you might be interested in had they slid because I know I I reviewed Bryant and I think that would be a nice swing for Miami but he’s a guy who’s kind of It feels like he’s not going to be there at 20 no no no i agree yeah unless unless they saw something in workouts and it maybe didn’t explode but again just given his athleticism and his size it seems like he’s probably a likely pick yeah and all the reporting around Bryant right now is that he’s crushing these pre-draft interviews so um Colin Murray Boils I could see because he’s sort of that tweener type and every team is like well we don’t really know what to do with him do you no do you know what to do no and he just kind of keeps sliding i could see him potentially dropping igor Demen the reporting around that is like teams are really split they’re either really high on him or not it feels again I don’t think he’ll be there at 20 but if teams keep talking themselves out of him for somebody else and there’s concerns with his shooting and what his upside might be potentially like he could be a guy who could fall right especially in today’s NBA where shooting is at such a premium um I think Jeremiah Fears could definitely be there at 20 i I frankly ESPN has him ranked nuh eighth i don’t see it with him at all i really don’t get it and if he’s there at 20 this might end up looking really bad if Miami does take him i would hope that they don’t i I just I don’t see it with Jeremiah Fears at all and if he falls to 20 I wouldn’t be that surprised he feels like a guy who could fall where it feels like the the national narrative around him is one thing and then you start talking to people who are really paying attention to this stuff and they’re like “Yeah guy can’t finish at the rim the shooting percentages aren’t really there he’s not a super high level passer just kind of made a bunch of floaters at the college level that’s really it yep um Okay all right so that leaves like I said a pretty big pool of guys to draw from so again not sure all these guys are going to be there at 20 that’s not really the point uh number one on the Heat big board to me and feel free to disagree and and talk me in or out of guys um I’ve got Cedric Coward number one i thought you’d go that route you liked his potential when you reviewed him as a player yeah quick little uh refresher on Cedric Howard um he’ll be 21 late 21 years old on draft night 66 with a 7 foot2 wingspan i just think this guy’s a killer i love the story started at Wil will Wil will college in D3 moved up and up and up to the point of Washington State last year been in college for a long time but kind of a late bloomer great physical profile and is going to walk in as a 3 and D player right away he can hit threes he’s super efficient in his movements gets to his spots no nonsense no frrills doesn’t waste any movement um I he can guard multiple positions i have concerns about his handle overall i think he needs to get stronger i’m not concerned about those things i think that stuff will come with time i made the comparison to Jimmy Butler when we did our blue notebook on him and I stand by it and the more it’s just like not saying he’s going to be the next Jimmy Butler but his story thus far is remarkably similar to Jimmy Butler and a lot of the things that he’s good at are things that Jimmy Butler is good at he doesn’t do them at Jimmy Butler’s level i’m just it’s you know same type right yeah yeah i really like him i There’s I’ve seen like Sam Vassini at the Athletic has him ninth on his board i know the Ringer has him really high on his board he’s probably not going to be there at 20 but ESPN has him ranked pretty low and and if teams are just saying you know what he’s kind of older he only played like six games in college because of an injury last year if something sh pops off in their you know in the medicals or something that they don’t love there there’s a chance that he could be there at 20 and if he’s there he’d be the number one guy on my board i I I think the concerns are valid as far as you know that he’s a little older um but he I I haven’t heard anything about his pre-draft workouts and I just wonder if that’s kind of the like if he had like one of those tremendous workouts that we always hear about with a Heat selection it’s like oh okay this guy was kind of buried in the in the on the big boards across the country and then all of a sudden he just really popped for us and we kind of just fell in love with who he was as a player if that’s the kind of performance he’s put up had he worked out for Miami or elsewhere I could see how he would be a good option and why he’s number one on your board i I don’t know that I necessarily agree but I I could see the argument i could see the argument i just I don’t I think it’s a little bit of a risk and I I would prefer that they go for a bigger swing rather than the kind of safer strategy that you were talking about earlier see I think Howard is a swing I think he’s sort of the best i I think he’s somebody who could get minutes right away and he can also develop into something great greater uh can I share a quote with you this is from Cedric Coward um he says in in a pre-draft interview I think I could play anywhere because I’m adaptable i know who I am as a player and I know who I am as a person and all I want to do is impact winning i don’t care about individual accolades all of that stuff that stuff comes with it but for me I just want to win that’s all I want to do i want to win and I want to get better whatever team is looking for that in a player has it right here with me end quote that’s a he right there that’s Come on now you got to be all in eric Spolstra got slightly aroused somewhere just even you read that that quote okay just just even saying it out loud is enough for him to be like perked up so you know I could see that he’s total he player um let me uh let me give you one actually no let’s go to let’s go to break here we’ll finish up the rest of the uh big board after this outdoor space and feeling like you’ve escaped to a personal oasis if you’re wanting to update your patio this season Wayfair has made it so easy to turn into a space that feels like yours comfortable stylish and ready for summer Wayfair has everything you need to level up your outdoor space conversation sets outdoor bars fire pits hot tubs gazeos and yes even the perfect string lights to set the vibe it’s like giving your backyard that resort feel without the resort price tag you know sometimes you just want to update your space and and I look here in South Florida I know everybody’s kind of in the same frame of mind you really want to take advantage of the summer it gets a little 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similar position kind of two three tweener type uh Colorado State I think he’s like 23 years old um I I just like him i just think he does a lot of things at a high level i He’s a guy to me who can walk in and play minutes right away fills a position of need for Miami they don’t really have that two three tweener type who they can kind of get into small ball lineups with with Bam at the five or they can kind of play bigger and could provide some defensive hump next to Tyler Herro he feels like a guy who could just walk in and play 10 to 15 minutes right away at a pretty high level and I kind of buy his upside the big swing skill with him is three-point shooting it’s it was up and down throughout his years so you you know again the reports around this are teams that like Nick Clifford buy the improvement in shooting teams that don’t don’t really buy it he’s not Himemehaka’s junior like oh my god big question mark in terms of the shooting it’s just in terms of his overall ceiling if it if he turns into like a 38% three-point shooter it’s like whoa okay now we have a high level rotation player starter type and if he doesn’t get to quite that then maybe it’s something a little bit less than that in ter you know one of the first guys off your bench i kind of like it either way he reminds me a little of Nikquil Alexander Walker a little bit yeah yeah and this might just be me projecting because I just want the Heat to sign Nikil Alexander Walker but if they can’t get him then uh then drafting Nick Clifford might be a pretty good outcome i don’t know his He’s kind of all over big boards might not be there at 20 but if he is I like him yeah I’ve seen some people talk about him already being a possible not likely dra uh lottery selection so he’s he might not be an option but there there I saw a recent piece on um on him being kind of like a mid- major kind of guy with potential you know that he just didn’t play in a big name school and just didn’t have real opportunity to shine so there’s not a lot of buzz about him but that doesn’t mean that the talent isn’t there or that it won’t translate at the NBA level yeah people like the uh Derek White comparison with him too because of the Colorado State Colorado uh ties there but he’s won at a he’s won at every level also and and I like that number three Walter Clayton Jr the guy that you scouted for our Blue Notebook i did not do the homework on him when we did the Blue Notebook thing and then afterwards you were pretty high on him I think in our Blue Notebook i was yeah uh so I obviously went back and did my own work on it i’m in dude like obviously like the the the tournament run that he had Florida winning the national title all these things stand out but he’s got an ability to just create his own shot and I’m buying the playmaking improvements he’s made over his career and he’s just got really good feel and you watch him move on the court he just moves like an NBA player you know what I mean like I know you do because you you watched him you did the work on it i like him i I wouldn’t be disappointed if they drafted him he’s a high level shotmaker he could do that right away in the NBA yeah his willingness and ability to take those shots and create those shots I think was a big plus plays at his pace seems to have good sense of timing he’s going to be a guy who I think can draw fouls at the NBA level and I think he’s got the skill set on top of that so he could be a pretty decent scorer um so there are concerns but I do like his ability as a guard i just don’t see him necessarily as being the kind of elite level playmaker that Miami might need at the position but I agree with you if they took him I would not be disappointed in fact I’d probably be pretty happy about it right and um you know you think about guards who have been drafted recently at who won at a high level in college even if they kind of come out at a little bit more of an advanced age whether it’s Jaylen Brunson or Andrew Nemhard or these guys they just they tend to be successful right and I’m not saying that he’s going to be Brunson he’s not going to you know he’s probably not going to be on MVP ballots but they just they know how to win they know how to play the game and counts for something for sure and and I’m I’m pretty confident that at the very least he’ll be able to run offense for your bench unit come in and and score some buckets really high level finisher better athlete than he gets credit for i I love the fuel for the game stuff with him i’m in uh number four oh go ahead i was going to say one more thing no like you know Mario Chalmer’s like the the the fact that you can have big shots and play in such a high level at the biggest stage at a college career while you might not stand out in any other department you still wind up translating to a really good NBA player a solid NBA player with a good long NBA career and so super quick shot he’s his footwork is really good already like it’s just not it’s not just oh man he made some big shots in college it’s like no he right he was he was in a challenging spot where he had to self-create i think he took more self-created threes than off the catch threes at the college level and still shot it at a super ridiculous high level um this is just stuff that translates uh he’s also strong which I like he’s not like a thin frail like he’s got that NBA strength that helps to counter the the lack of height there um I’ve got Liam McNeely we didn’t do a Blue Notebook on him but I’ve done some of the work on him it it wouldn’t be the most fun exciting pick but he’s a guy who projects very similar to Max Truce he’s going to hit threes the the three-point shooting was not the clips were not good at Yukon and the the the percentages wasn’t good this last year at Yukon but everybody you talked to is just like “Nope it it’s there he just had to take really tough shots everything was contested yukon had zero offense last year and he was asked to do way too much.” But if you just put him in sort of a 3 and D role he could just play that doesn’t have top end athleticism this is the opposite of what you’re talking about David this is not a swing whatsoever but he’s a guy who if the Miami has to move off of Duncan Robinson this summer McNeely could probably step in and and and grab some of those minutes let let Boston or Utah take him it doesn’t seem like he’s the right fit for me i got Noa wow the more I did the work the more I liked him i did a We did the blue notebook i did the homework on him i did a little bit more work since then watched a little bit more film i really like him man i’m in his instincts his quick downloading processing speed defensively super high steal and block rates can kind of play the three the four a little bit which I like can play both forward spots i think that there’s there’s a lot of versatility there defensively he’s switched one through five in a switching scheme in his French professional team if he could get into NBA shape which Miami would obviously get him into NBA shape this would be a little bit of a swing here because obviously it’s up to him at the end of the day but I I like him and I think he’s fiery i think he’s I think he plays the game the right way and if you can get playmakers like that defensively Miami doesn’t have enough of them he would be one of those guys and he can play a little bit of point forward stuff too which I like yep um I got Thomas Sorber okay this is more of just like he might be there he probably won’t be there i just I didn’t I hadn’t eliminated him so this is more of his best player available like I don’t know where he fits on Miami’s roster but if he’s there and these other guys aren’t it might just be like let’s just take the best guy and figure it out later uh I have Danny Wolf from Michigan next i know you were not high on him this is also more of a best player available type deal again we’re talking about the 20th pick um there’s concerns with him obviously but there’s also a high level of creative flare and shooting touch and reportedly he is crushing it in shooting workouts in in the pre-draft process i don’t know if it was in Miami shooting workout but he’s been doing the shooting workouts and he’s he’s a high level shooter this could be a total flop but if it works he’s like a Nas Reed third big who just those guys have utility in today’s NBA it’s a talent play at 20 but anything on Wolf i’m not a believer i just think the lack of athleticism is going to eventually be I mean I know he’s got the sneaky athleticism that’s just code for you’re not that athletic you know but like I said like a Roomba yeah yeah so uh I don’t know i I you always wish all these guys opportunities what am I missing somebody that you’re higher on that I I haven’t mentioned yet yeah I know you’re teeing me up here but yeah I think Jace Richardson is a you scouted you you seem very high on him and he seems to not be as high on your board but the more I think about it and for no other reason I haven’t done any more additional work or anything like that i just I tend to believe that sons of players like this and given what he showed in his limited time at Michigan State I think he’ll just find a way to pop like those guys just they’re just too used to the NBA experience the adjustment isn’t going to be as difficult for him and I think coming from that NBA background already puts you like the same thing that we were just talking about in terms of like Walter Clayton Jr like I think being a son of an NBA player and being knowing what NBA life is like can really help you because you’re already so familiar with it and while other guys are just adjusting to the bright lights it’s like no I know what this is i can I can thrive here i’ve been here before and I know what it takes i have him on my board he’s last on my uh who do I have here i have 12 guys so he’s not like last last but he’s 12th on my board he’s not going to drop though he’s not I don’t I don’t think he’ll drop i mean look Phoenix just got the 10th pick they love Michigan State um I I want to like him like emotionally my heart like I want to move him up higher i felt bad not having him higher i was higher on him in the beginning of the process just walk cuz I had mostly just most of my work had just been watching college basketball but he measured in at six feet tall at the combine it’s just it’s so hard for small guards to pan out in the NBA like six foot is really even Walter Clayton is 6’2 with a 6’4 wingspan it’s not big it’s still pretty it’s still sizably bigger than Jace Richardson and it you have to be so elite at that size and as much as I like Jace Richardson I don’t see that level of elite anything with him in terms of shotmaking that I feel good about having him higher like I just don’t see a world where he’s a starter and all I hear is Jaylen Brunson that’s sort of more Walter Clayton right like even Brunson’s got a couple of inches on Jace Richardson not really i mean we sit next to him he’s not he’s not taller than six feet uh I’ve got Will Riley which I was honestly surprised by because I didn’t like I don’t like any of the film but then I I did more work on it since our Blue Notebook and the late film like once you kind of get into the timeline of what you’re working on the late film is a lot better than the early stuff in the late film you start showing more offball cutting stuff like that i’m like “Okay maybe there is a world where and I and one of the things I didn’t notice my first time around and and again the athletic Sam Vicini pointed this out and I noticed it he does a good job leaning into contact and I was a little disheartened by his shot chart when I did the blue notebook on him because it was so mid-range heavy and I was like is this just Bub Carrington who kind of just floats away from contact and just is is allergic to the rim it’s a little bit like that but Riley at least kind of will he’s not afraid of the contact he’ll he’ll take the he’ll jump into you take the contested jumper he’ll draw fouls but I like the cutting and I just he again just looks like an NBA player he’s so smooth you know moving across the court he’s got a decent handle there’s a good frame there uh the I think the highest rated recruit in Illinois history or in a very long time so I like the the pedigree there so I have him there uh 68 you know big wingspan so he’s got NBA size i got Nolan Trayori from France this is the big swing you’re talking about right if it works he could be a starting level point guard if it doesn’t he could be out of the league in two years um Ben Saraf kind of also with him very Gorn Draguchi in terms of the way he moves but he’s like 6’6 elite playmaker the swing skill with him is the outside shooting again could be a high could be a starter in the in in the NBA could be out of the league in a couple years i got a Diero who’s the guy we took in the mock draft um probably a little bit higher on him when we took the mock draft when we did the mock draft than now but just a forward defensive-minded forward can defend a lot of different positions been compared to Tammani Kamar which I quite like i mean there’s a guy who made an allNBA team an alldefensive team rather this year so if you could find an alldefensive level player at 20 that that seems like a big win um so I’ve got him and then I got Jayce Richardson finishing out my top 12 yeah it’s not uh I I think I can’t really argue too much about the players that you have on there and I think it really kind of speaks to the way this whole draft is kind of a lot of question marks at the at the lower end there’s a lot of talent there but I just don’t see anybody who’s really capable of standing out just yet it always happens and so I know it’s going to happen i just don’t know amongst the players that we saw which is most likely to have that kind of potential or get that right opportunity because that’s so much of it too is that they might have something but they have to go to a team that’s willing to invest internal you know willingness to put up the work and and do what it’s necessary in order to reach that next level so there’s a lot of questions there guys who didn’t make the big board and then we’ll wrap up but the uh the guys who didn’t make it I didn’t include Joan Behringer center out of France little bit too much Jackson Hayes for my liking um very raw i just don’t and and at that center spot Miami’s got their hands full with Keller already so I just don’t think that they have the the bandwidth to develop another raw center like that that’s why a guy like Thomas Sorber makes a little bit more sense for them um because he’s just a little bit more polished uh also did not have Asa Newell uh Tweener four or five out of Georgia i he just doesn’t do anything offensively and I I think he’ll struggle to get on the court in a in a front court that includes Bam out of bio and Kaware um so I I don’t I don’t know that that’s the right play for Miami i didn’t have Hugo Gonzalez i think you did the work on him in our blue notebook out of Spain love his energy love the effort love the body love the frame i just he doesn’t do anything at a high at an elite NBA level yet for me like I want to like him but I don’t you know one of those guys um and then Rashier Fleming who I did the work on I didn’t have him in my top 12 um just because there’s too many questions about his feel for the game and where he’s going to play and and things like that um didn’t have Drake Pal did not have um a couple other guys here um couple guys that just missed the cut too maxim Renault the center out of Stanford kind of a three andB guy could space the floor a little bit super productive great rebounder if the Heat wanted to just go find their long-term backup center him or Ryan Kulk Brener the center out of Kraton who I really liked um when he was playing at college I every time he’s one of those guys where you watched Kraton games during the tournament and I was like who is this guy he’s huge and he just blocks everything he might be the best rim protector in the draft um there’s a little bit of three-point shooting potential with him is he Luke Cornett maybe l Cornet at 20 again is not a bad outcome if you just have like if you end up drafting a long-term backup center which has been a problem for Miami for a lot of years that’s not a bad outcome at 20 but um I didn’t have them in my top 12 there um all right uh that will do it for our NBA draft prep nba draft is tonight 8:00 7:00 starts the watch party at Cassaya Center we will have a table there we hope to see you there in the meantime uh thanks for making Lockdown Heat your first listen thanks for uh and for your second listen check out the locked on NBA big board show nba draft expert Raphael Baller every workout interview and rumor leading up to the NBA draft find the Locked on NBA big board show on YouTube and wherever you get your podcasts

HEAT’s Draft Night: Strategies, Prospects, and Potential Game-Changers

Will the MIAMI HEAT land their next star at pick 20? Wes Goldberg and David Ramil break down the HEAT’s draft strategy, building a comprehensive board of potential selections. From Cedric Coward’s Jimmy Butler-like potential to Nique Clifford’s immediate impact, the hosts analyze top prospects fitting Miami’s needs. The discussion covers international talents, big men, and how recent roster moves shape the HEAT’s draft approach. Goldberg and Ramil offer unique perspectives on Pat Riley’s vision, Bam Adebayo’s supporting cast, and the evolving NBA landscape.

0:00 Intro: NBA Draft preview for Miami Heat
5:31 Heat’s draft approach
12:29 Building the Heat’s draft big board
18:24 Cedric Coward: Top prospect on Heat’s board
23:33 Nique Clifford and Walter Clayton Jr. analysis
29:36 Other prospect evaluations
36:55 Final prospects considered

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