Miami Heat: Has Miami been smart in trading their first-round picks?

Ty Lawson

At the start of the 2007-08 season, the Miami Heat traded Antoine Walker, Wayne Simien, Michael Doleac and a 2009 first-round pick for Ricky Davis and Mark Blount. At the time it looked like a normal trade, without much to talk about.

If you looked at the season the Miami Heat were having at the time, this trade may have even been a head-scratcher. However, in the 2007-08 season, Davis and Blount led the team in games played. Davis himself played in all 82.

Despite the two players offering quality production, if you compare that to what that pick turned out to be, then it could be seen as a loss. Miami has always had issues with point guards and in the 2009 draft, there were three good point guards available.

Ty Lawson was one of those guards. If you asked yourself, would you rather have had a year of Davis in the season where the Heat were the worst team in the league or Lawson? The answer should be a simple one.

Lawson in his first six years was a decent starting point guard. At one point, he was capable of giving you around 16 points and 8 assists.

Also, if you didn’t like Lawson, there was still Jeff Teague, Darren Collison, and Patrick Beverly available. Whatever way you look at it, the trade was a loss and this pick would have been useful.