The Miami Heat need to find a star with the 14th pick in the NBA Draft
By Rob Slater
The biggest goal for the Miami Heat moving forward is to secure the NBA’s next star and their best chance to accomplish that is with the 14th pick the draft.
The Miami Heat need a star. This is a league that thrives on stars and the Heat are without one despite having a solidly constructed roster that found them just outside of the playoffs in the Eastern Conference. To take that next step and put themselves in contention with Cleveland, they need the league’s next extraordinary talent.
In the past, the Heat’s go-to method to recruit a star has been through free agency. Famously, the summer of 2010 yielded LeBron James and Chris Bosh and in subsequent years role players like Shane Battier and Ray Allen joined the fold to round out those championship rosters. This year, the Heat will need to do things differently than they have in the past as the landscape is drastically different.
This time, the Heat will need to look to their first round draft pick as the next star of their franchise.
More from All U Can Heat
- Grade the Trade: Heat grab Trae Young in shocking proposal
- NBA 2K24 Ratings: Takeaways and reactions to Miami Heat player ratings
- 4 Teams that should trade for Tyler Herro
- Miami Heat’s Nikola Jovic gives entire world reason to love him
- 1 Advantage the Heat have over every Southeast Division team
Without a vital position of need this offseason and two future first round picks sent off to Phoenix in the Goran Dragic trade, the Heat need to look at this pick as an investment into their long-term future for a number of reasons, the first of which being their excellent track record of player development.
The Heat use their “culture” as a marketing tool but it very much exists on the floor, particularly in young players like Hassan Whiteside, Tyler Johnson, Rodney McGruder, Josh Richardson and Justise Winslow, all of whom have developed under the Heat’s system. These names also embody the Heat’s core moving forward, with the addition of a star all the more beneficial.
The pieces are in place internally for the Heat to take a chance on a player who they believe has the ceiling to turn into a star, with the organizational patience necessary to let that particular player develop. All of the previously mentioned players are a testament, from star (Whiteside) to role player (McGruder), to the versatility of the Heat’s player development. Any incoming college standout will surely thrive from day one, creating a likely scenario of a star developing.
Another factor is the current landscape of the league, as we’re in the midst of yet another NBA Finals matchup between Cleveland and Golden State. The reality is that using the next two to three seasons to develop a star could prove timely as that star coming of age in the post-LeBron/Golden State era could possibly yield a championship.
Finding a star in the draft this offseason as opposed to free agency also makes far more sense given the crop of free agents. Miami Herald’s Barry Jackson reported that although the Heat are expected to make inquiries on big name free agents like Blake Griffin, Gordon Hayward and Paul Millsap, the odds are against the Heat in acquiring any of them.
Even if the Heat did have great odds of landing an established star, this free agency doesn’t offer much in the way of franchise-changing players. There are a host of role players the Heat can take a look at (Jackson mentions the likes of PJ Tucker, Jeff Green, Patrick Patterson and others) but ultimately their best chance to land a star is in this year’s draft.
Next: Heat value versatility in NBA mock draft
The Heat’s fascinating offseason can take a variety of turns, but the long-term success of the franchise lies in their ability to draft and develop a star player much like they did fourteen years ago with Dwyane Wade.