Kasparas Jakucionis selected No. 20 overall by Heat | 2025 NBA Draft Grades & Instant Reaction

Kasparas Jakucionis selected No. 20 overall by Heat | 2025 NBA Draft Grades & Instant Reaction

the next pick off the board the Miami Heat and guess who they take adam Finkelestein casperis Yakonis hey there you go you had him i mean you had him mocked as high as what nine top 10 yeah top now I understand I understand the concerns because he’s a guy who his skill and his basketball acumen are viewed as his best assets and yet he didn’t shoot it particularly well from the three-point line and he had a really high turnover rate so I understand why people are nervous but on talent alone let me also make this point you just put a chip on this guy’s shoulder and you sent him to the Miami Heat yeah like this this is going to fuel something in him remember this is the same Heat program that just turned Kell Wear and figured out a way to get his motor running turned him into one of the best picks of last year’s draft i think this is terrific value for Miami uh Miami was linked to Walter Clayton Jr this week um and I think that very likely would have been the pick but if you are a Heat fan right now you are ecstatic about this i would be i think so too now like Fin said he only shot 31.8% from three at Illinois that’s not great but most people believe he’s a better shooter than that the turnover numbers weren’t good either 3.7 per game i mean about every third game he would turn it over more times than he would actually make a field goal so these are obvious areas of concern but 65 shot creator knows how to play this is lower than I thought he would go if I’m Miami I’m thrilled that he felt to me yeah this feels like a steal Matt Norland this feels like Miami rushed up to uh the table and put their card in and they said “Oh we’re taking Yakonis.” I mean here’s a kid one of two D1 freshman to average 15 five and four last season who’s that other player you ask glad you asked cooper Flag so sure you have questions about the turnovers but this kid has got a great shot going to Miami this feels like value and a and a and a great pick yeah unquestionably i need the Jesse Pinkman Breaking Bad meme they can’t keep getting away with this this is unreal in my estimation the Miami Heat with the number 20 pick just got one of the 10 best players in the 2025 NBA draft i think it is entirely reasonable to speculate that when we get four five six years on from this draft that it is this guy right here Yakonis that winds up as the best point guard in this entire class there’s a reason why Dylan Harper went number two jiggor Demon’s got incredible passing ability and a really high single as well but I like his size i like his command of the pick and roll which is obviously so vital at the NBA level uh no question about it there was a lot of turned heads what’s going on here why is this guy the one that’s really falling and he did he is one of the biggest followers there’s another one that still hasn’t been picked we told you about it before the draft uh started in Jace Richardson but as a nature of having some surprises some guys are now dropping that we’re not expecting to be here at 2122 and lower in particular Danny Wolf Liam McNeely Asa Newell those are players whose camps thought that they would be off the board by 20 yakonis’s camp thought that he’d be gone by 12 or 13 this is an incredible pick for Miami it is very possible the Heat just drafted the point guard for the better part of the next decade for that franchise second uh this is pretty good it’s a pretty good pick i would have to say if I were a fan of the Miami Heat like Gary like Adam said I’d be excited uh we have a Miami Heat fan up in our newsroom and I know he’s happy because look this is a fun team to watch this they play a fun brand of basketball i know it didn’t work out uh with Jimmy Butler there but like this is a recharge here when you get a guy this late in the draft you know what they’re doing they’re rebuilding without bottoming out because they’re nailing the draft it It is 100% key it’s key to maintaining your fan base to maintaining the local interest and it’s also key to the culture that they are trying to build there because Pat Riley and Eric Spola by extension they’re not interested in tanking and because they’ve hit the draft the irony of this is Pat Riley was once on record as saying he didn’t believe in the draft and they are nailing the draft tyler Harrow uh Haimey Hakez Kel Wear now they get Casper Yakonis they drafted bam i mean they are building through the draft like very few other teams in the NBA and give them all the credit in the world all right well hat tip again to the Miami Heat casperis Yakonis doesn’t have to change his hat can keep rocking that Miami Heat one

Adam Finkelstein, Gary Parrish, and Avery Johnson join CBS Sports HQ to grade Kasparas Jakucionis being drafted by the Miami Heat at No. 20 overall.

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