The Miami Heat own the 20th pick in this upcoming NBA Draft. With Pat Riley promising Jimmy Butler more help, that pick likely never plays a minute here.
The Miami Heat are back! That’s at least what most of us fans have been saying for the most of this season.
With a convincing first-round sweep over the Indiana Pacers and a potential second-round matchup with a Milwaukee Bucks team that this Miami Heat team has beaten twice and should have beaten a third time this season, they have the chance to continue was has shaped up to be a special year.
With all that success on the court though, you begin to forget about the other mechanisms that go into making a good NBA team. One of the most important of those mechanisms is the NBA Draft.
With this year’s upcoming draft, the Miami Heat own the 20th pick. That’s not awful news, as the Miami Heat have found really good players with lower picks.
The thing here though, in their current situation as a team and franchise, the player picked in that slot will likely never even play for the Miami Heat. What does that mean though?
Well, with Pat Riley‘s practical promise to bring Jimmy Butler more help to Miami in order to accomplish their ultimate goal, a title, that pick is worth more to the Miami Heat as a trade asset than it could ever be in the next season or so as a rookie or second-year player.
Pat Riley of the Miami Heat most often means what he says. That’s why we think that this year’s 20th NBA draft pick won’t ever play a minute in Miami.
In case you need to be further convinced, here is a blurb from The Godfather himself. Here are a couple of quotes from Pat Riley, via a piece by Andre Fernandez of The Athletic (subscription required).
"“You know me, I’m all about now,” Riley said. “We’re going to press on. We’re not going to stop. We are committed to winning and getting back to contending for a world championship. And I have to say to you, we will.“We will get players and get what we need in the next year or two. That’s not going to waste Jimmy Butler’s years, his best years, and (we’ll) try to get the best we can.”"
While Riley spoke a little about how he feels about the whole situation there, he went a bit further a little later on according to Fernandez’s piece. Here is the another Riley sentiment that really nails it home.
"“A two-year plan, that’s what we’re looking at,” Riley said. “It would be this year and then it would be next year. And whatever machinations that we would have to prepare for, if/or things would happen after next season, then we would do that. So, you got to take some risks here, and I think at the time when you do it, you never know that things are really going to work out. But we want to win.”"
Words like “whatever” and “risks” are the operative words there. What that tells you is that Pat Riley has already made his mind up that he will have to pull the trigger on some things to get this team exactly what he thinks it needs to win a title.
I will be the first to admit, after what he has seen this season, it may not be as much as he thought it would be when he made those statements. Either way though, that 20th pick is likely at the top of his list as a chip to use in the poker game he is setting up to play on the talent acquisition market.
Pat Riley always gets his guy and whomever he deems that to be, he will do what it takes to land them. You can believe that with every fabric of your being. That is why there’s a good chance the 20th pick won’t ever play in Miami.