Miami Heat: Has Miami been smart in trading their first-round picks?
Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot
The cost of getting LeBron James was meant to be high. Well, that is what Bleacher Report said when the Miami Heat achieved a sign-and-trade for LeBron. Here is specifically what they had to say about the trade, via BR’s Kelsey Givens on July 10th of 2010.
"“Miami is giving up a lot to get James, Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh to sign to their team, and what has been given up will affect them not only next season, but in the future as well.”"
In order to get James, Miami had to give up two first-round picks(2013 and 2016), a second-round pick, a future second-round pick, and the right to swap the first-round pick in 2012. Apparently, that was giving up a lot.
But if you look at the player that was selected in 2016, then you may have a completely different view on the trade.
In 2016, the Miami Heat would have had the 24th selection in the NBA Draft and that pick was used to select Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot. Right now he is going into his fifth season, while he has already been on three different teams.
In four seasons Luwawu-Cabarrot has played in 171 games, averaging 5.7 points, 1.9 rebounds, 0.9 assists, 0.4 steals, 0.1 blocks. He has shot 38.7 percent from the field, 32.0 percent from downtown, and 82.0 percent from the stripe.
With such a disappointing four year start to his career so far, the Heat were right to trade these picks for James. However, there is a downside that came with trading this pick as well. There were a couple of players that would have been a better choice.
In the 2015-16 season, the team didn’t have a reliable back-up point guard. There are two particular point guards that would have been a big win for the Miami Heat. Just five spots after Luwawu-Cabarrot was selected, Dejounte Murray was selected or they could have even taken combo-guard Malcolm Brogdon, who was taken in the second round of that year’s draft.
Even though there were future potential stars like Brogdon, Murray or Pascal Siakam available, all three of these players combined didn’t equal the value that James brought to Miami.