Carsen Edwards
Guard/Purdue
Carsen Edwards has been a guy heavily mentioned from this direction. If his NCAA tournament run wasn’t enough to convince you that he is a pure scorer, then you need your eyes examined.
Critics will point to his diminutive size but that hasn’t stopped him from flat out getting buckets thus far, and besides, he’s been small all his life. What that means is that he has always encountered the “he isn’t big enough” issue, and it didn’t stop him from becoming one of the most prolific scorers in all of college basketball.
Capable of hitting the three ball from any which way you would have him shoot it, he also isn’t afraid to drive the ball into the paint amongst the trees. While he isn’t a pure point guard by any means, he should have or be able to develop the ability to slot in as a traditional lead guard if that is what he’s asked to do based on what he’s shown thus far.
He averaged 24.3 points, 2.9 assists, and 3.6 rebounds this past season for Purdue, and even threw in 1.3 steals per game, which indicates that he isn’t afraid to get in the passing lanes or stick his head and hands into the fray to make plays. He shot 35.5 percent from deep this past season on an astounding 10.6 attempts per game, making 3.8 or nearly 4 every game.
His abilities to create offense for himself and his team should be a hot commodity in the second round. He is quick enough to drive by opponents and athletic enough to finish once he gets to his spot. His combination of skills is intriguing enough that if he is there to be had with a pick that the Miami Heat can acquire, they should think about pulling the trigger.
Deandre Jordan was a second round pick, and so was Dennis Rodman. Malcolm Brogdon of the Milwaukee Bucks was a second round pick, as was Gilbert Arenas and Draymond Green. Heck, another short flame thrower in Isaiah Thomas was also a second rounder.
The Miami Heat could draft the next Thomas in Carsen Edwards or even the next Manu Ginobili in Amir Hinton. They could even end up with a Michael Redd type in Schofield. Whatever the comp you choose to make, they should look to get back into the second round if one of these players are available in the range of an affordable or efficiently priced pick, because the Miami Heat could use what they would bring.