The Miami Heat have a leg up entering NBA Draft season and because of a few reasons. While others are just fishing, there’s a whale hunter in Miami.
The Miami Heat are known for many things. They are known for their world-class conditioning standards and requirements.
They are known for their diligence on defense and in the small effort areas. They are known for being able to take the unlikely hero in the underrated undrafted player, the problem guy, the journeyman, or the unheralded first or second-year guy and turn him into a primetime player.
These aren’t the only things they are known for. They are known for an organization-wide principle and mantra that they live by that facilitates every move they make and everything they do in Heat Culture.
This is enforced and instituted by their maestro, the great Pat Riley and their head coach, the vivacious yet tempered Erik Spoelstra. These are all important facts to remember, but we will get back to this in a minute. Hang on and bear with us, it’ll all make sense in a few seconds.
Heading into the NBA draft season, we are sort of entering new territory as spectators, pundits, and especially as decision-makers for all our decision-makers out there. Unlike any other year in recent memory and probably ever, we don’t have an NCAA Tournament’s worth of extra film and performances to further judge these players on.
Whether that meant a player catapulting up draft boards or free-falling down them, the NCAA Tournament was a place for names to be made, projections to be cemented, and futures to be solidified. Without that, a ton of those people at the next level in charge of making the decisions on who’s the next guy to bring in will be merely fishing.
When you add this to the fact that we are in strange times, will there be a traditional combine, pro days, or private workouts? This is truly uninhabited territory.
This is where Pat Riley and the rest of the decision-makers for the Miami Heat come into play. While they too are subject to the rigors, routine, and hoopla of scouting prospects that come with the NCAA Tournament, combines, and etcetera, they tend to go about things differently. While they do take advantage of them still, they often tend to zig when everyone else is calling for and zags.
This is why I have all the faith in those leading the Miami Heat to make the right decision without as many resources as they usually would have in this scenario. This is also furthermore why I believe that when it comes to the NBA Draft this year and getting the pick right, the Miami Heat have a leg up on just about everyone else in the field.