An early look at the Miami Heat’s NBA draft needs and targets

Point Guard

Let’s look at this logically. Miami may not need a point guard right now, seeing as Goran Dragic is one of their two best players. However, Pat Riley did mention he was interested in finding another first round pick. Hassan Whiteside just signed a monster deal, and it’s unlikely any other player on the roster would yield a first rounder in return if traded. So Dragic could possibly be the odd man out.

Coincidentally, this year’s class is absolutely stacked with point guards. In the current DraftExpress mock draft, six of them are taken in the lottery, including the potential number one overall pick, Markelle Fultz.

Fultz plays for the Washington Huskies, and is currently the most talked about player in college basketball. He’s 6-foot-4, has an absurd 6-foot-9 wingspan, and can score in a multitude of ways. Fultz is averaging 23 points, five rebounds, six assists, two steals, and over a block per game. He can shoot from anywhere, whether it be off the dribble, or spotting up for an open jumper. He likes to run in transition, and can throw it down when he’s out on the open floor:

If you watch the rest of the highlights, imagine Fultz as Boston Celtics point guard Isaiah Thomas. Both are crafty scorers and ball-handlers, but Fultz has elite size and athleticism to go along with his ingenuity as a player. That’s a special mix of qualities for one guy to possess. The Heat would need to seriously embrace tanking if they want the chance to draft him. I’m all for it, he’s that good.

Lonzo Ball (UCLA) is another unique player in this draft class. Like Fultz, he also has excellent size for a point guard at 6-foot-6. However, he is more of a playmaker. Ball is one of the best passers in college basketball, and averages nine assists per game. UCLA ranks in the top five in multiple offensive categories, and a lot of that is thanks to their star freshman point guard.

Don’t get me wrong though, he’s not just a passer. The guy can score too. He’s averaging 16 points a game and making 57 percent of his field goal attempts. And despite worries about his three-point jumper (he has a weird release on his shot), Ball is making almost three of them per game, and shooting at a 49 percent clip from deep. He can also do this to you:

https://twitter.com/SportsCenter/status/797276079606165504

So just to recap: he’s athletic, a flashy passer, a play-maker, and can score the ball as well. If Dragic does get dealt, Ball would be a great fit with the current roster. His rambunctious playing style would have Heat fans loving him from day one.

Next: Heat trading for another pick might not be a good idea

We’ll take a deeper look at some of these players, and other ones we didn’t get to mention, in upcoming posts. Keep an eye out for them, especially when you get tired of watching the Heat miss wide open jumpers and point-blank layups. We can’t use “trust the process” without having to pay Joel Embiid, so let’s come up with our own tanking slogan! ‘Till next time, Heat fans.