The Miami Heat have been known to trade their picks for stars, but is that such a bad thing? Let’s have a look at what those picks could have been.
If you look at the draft history of the Miami Heat, you will notice that there are many first-round picks missing. Since the arrival of the great Pat Riley, the Heat have traded 10 of their first-round picks.
Since 1995, the Miami Heat have had 13 first-round picks. Can you imagine that?
Out of 24 years, in almost half of those years, the team didn’t have their first-round picks. You can even add one more to that when you remember that one of the picks was seemingly wasted on Michael Beasley.
At the time of these trades, we as fans may have thought that we were completely sacrificing our future for just one player, but we now understand that multiple future draft-picks don’t hold the same value as an established star. However, at the same time, no one knew how those draft-picks would pan out in the future.
Take the Cleveland Cavaliers and their trade with the Los Angeles Clippers. Who would have thought at that time, that the Cavaliers traded for a pick that would turn into Kyrie Irving. Also, take the Brooklyn Nets and Boston Celtics trade(yes the one with Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett), it was one of the worst trades in league history.
Now, a couple of years into the future since those drafts, we have an idea if the players that the Miami Heat missed out on became stars or busts. Here are the top five players based on the picks that the Miami Heat have traded in the past, starting with the most recent draft in 2018.
Zhaire Smith
In 2015, the season right after LeBron James decided to leave in free agency, the Miami Heat decided it was time to trade for a star player to jumpstart the rebuild.
Near the trade deadline, the Miami Heat made a move for Goran Dragic, who in the previous season was an All-NBA caliber player. As a member of a three-team trade, here is what each team received:
- Miami Heat received Goran Dragic and Zoran Dragic
- Phoenix Suns received Danny Granger, 2018 first-round pick (16th pick), and 2021 first-round pick
- New Orleans Pelicans received Norris Cole, Justin Hamilton, Shawne Williams
When that trade happened, Sports Illustrated described the trade as having major “Boom-or-bust potential”, according to SI’s by Ben Goliver on February 19, 2015
Overall, Miami received a positive grade for this trade but the biggest question surrounded the two first-round picks that were traded, with one that was unprotected. It is also worth noting that at that time, trading two picks for a player that was about to hit free agency was very risky.
What happened to the picks that were involved in that trade though?
That 2018 first-round pick ended up being at number 16 overall, where it was used to take Zhaire Smith. He finished his rookie campaign with six games played while averaging 6.7 points, 2.2 rebounds, 1.7 assists, 0.3 assists and one turnover per game. He shot 41.2 percent from the field, 37.5 percent from downtown, and 75 percent from the stripe.
Although it was just his rookie season, meaning you cannot totally judge a player based solely on his first year, it is fair to say that the Heat made a good choice in trading this pick for an All-Star in Dragic. Unless Smith turns out to be a consistent All-Star, the Heat won this trade.
As for the other players that were selected after Smith, the players didn’t get much better. None of these players currently scream that the Heat missed out on a star.
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.
Nemanja Nedovic
This was another pick that was involved in the James trade. It must be admitted though, after seeing the players that were selected with the picks that the Miami Heat traded, it should make the fans feel better.
The above photo says it all. The guy that the team essentially traded isn’t even in the league anymore and even when he was playing in the league, his showings weren’t anything to get excited about. In fact, they were so unimpressive, it’s not really even worth going into great detail about this choice.
The Miami Heat 100 percent made the right choice to trade this pick in order to land LeBron and that is no question. Even if you take a look at the other players that were selected in the second round, there aren’t many of those players that would necessarily even be considered good role-players. There was one player that was selected just one pick after Nemanja Nedovic that has had a semblance of success, Allen Crabbe, who still isn’t quite a star by far even though Portland and Brooklyn were willing to pay him like one.
Eric Bledsoe
Out of all the players on this list, Eric Bledsoe is the only player that has had a more than decent career so far. This trade is yet again linked to the signing of James and Bosh. During the 2010 draft, the Miami Heat had the 18th pick but instead of using that pick, they sent it to the Oklahoma City Thunder.
The Miami Heat traded Daequan Cook and the 18th pick for OKC’s 32nd pick. If you just look at the trade without any context, you would easily say that without any doubt the Heat got finessed.
But going deeper into the trade, you will find out that this trade was to clear cap space. With this trade, the Miami Heat got rid of Cook’s contract and the burden of having to pay the terms of a contract for a first-round rookie. Without this trade, the Heat wouldn’t have had the cap space for three max players.
Although Bledsoe has solidified himself as being capable of being a key contributor on a championship-caliber team, he did start his career reasonably slow. During his first three seasons in the league, he played in197 games while averaging 6.7 points, 2.6 rebounds, 3.0 assists, 1.2 steals, and 0.5 blocks. He shot 43.1 percent from the field, 30.8 percent from downtown, and 74.9 percent from the stripe.
While he has blossomed into a near All-Star caliber player, he wouldn’t have been worth what Bosh or James was.
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.
Overall and the future
In conclusion and despite the fact that at the time of the trade many people believed that the Miami Heat had sacrificed too much of their future, it worked out just fine.
Particularly with the 2010 sign-and-trades, people said that the Heat gave up a lot, mainly with their picks. After looking at all the players that were selected with those picks or players that could have been selected though, it looks like a finesse on Miami’s end.
What about the team’s current situation and the future of our draft picks?
Right now, the Miami Heat have nine draft picks being held by other teams. Out of those nines, two of them are first-round picks. These two picks are a 2021 first-round pick that is currently in Oklahoma or possibly Houston depending on where the pick lands and a 2023 first-round pick that is currently in Oklahoma.
If we have learned anything from the past though, it is that picks don’t hold as much value as everyone thinks. Who is to say that these picks will turn out to be stars? Who is to say that these picks won’t produce another Nemanja Nedovic or two.
Although these picks may not turn into stars as we have highlighted here, Riley should relax whenever he is thinking of trading away more picks, just in case of course. The last thing you would want is to turn into the Brooklyn Nets.