Entering the 2015 NBA Draft, the Miami Heat had their eyes set on a couple of different prospects. Though they would end up taking Justise Winslow with the 10th overall pick, that pick is now most infamously known as the one that saw them taking Winslow over Devin Booker, who would go to the Phoenix Suns just three picks later.
However, that isn’t the only story that’s come full circle at this point about that draft. Signing to the Miami Heat G-League affiliate recently, here is a little detail about the number eight pick in that particular draft.
They likely would have drafted him in 2015 if he had been there at 10 and Winslow wasn’t https://t.co/Vt6K8BJkjk
— Five Reasons Sports 🏀🏈⚾️🏒⚽️ (@5ReasonsSports) December 8, 2022
It’s a well-known fact that the Miami Heat are among the best when it comes to developing undervalued talent. Be that guys that were looked over, guys that were forgotten about, guys looking for a resurgence, or guys that no one ever even noticed.
The Miami Heat need a jolt right now and they may be able to get it from a guy they wanted to draft in 2015. They didn’t then but now pay Stanely Johnson.
The Miami Heat constantly find those guys, highlight their talents, and proceed to then help them become full-time NBA rotational players and again, in some cases. And Stanley Johnson still has a chance to be one of the next cases in the long line of success stories.
He is still youngish at just 26 years. Though Johnson had a, somewhat, successful campaign with the Los Angeles Lakers last season, he has been unable to fully latch on with a big team thus far this season.
Now finding himself in Sioux Falls with the Miami Heat’s G-League squad, with the big club needing a jolt of energy, and with him being, potentially, the exact kind of player they need to help begin to insert that jolt, the Miami Heat may have just stumbled upon one of the key elements that could serve to help bolster or even fix their season.
Only time will tell, as there are still hurdles to cross to even get him to the big roster—if they even want to ever see him there.
But as far as the move, the risk, and the potential reward associated with it, it seems well worth it and why the Heat’s vaunted developmental system may have just been presented with its next great test.