3 Biggest Heat questions ahead of NBA Summer League

The basketball world descends on Las Vegas this weekend for the start of NBA Summer League. The 10-day event marks the beginning of several careers and an opportunity for unproven talent to take a crack at making an NBA or G League roster. 

For the Miami Heat, it’s an opportunity to get a good look at their first-round pick, test prospects who could become the organization’s next development success and mingle with colleagues from other NBA teams.

Here are three questions I’ll be asking this weekend.

Did the Heat make the right pick?

Of course, we won’t really know the answer to this after a summer-league-sized sample, but Kel’el Ware, Miami’s first-round pick, will be measured up against the other top rookies of his class.

The Heat took Ware with the 15th pick in last month’s draft over other prospects such as Jared McCain, Dalton Knecht and Tristan da Silva. Ware offers something those players don’t. He’s 7 feet tall with a massive 7-foot-4 wingspan, blocks shots and is a willing 3-point shooter. His 26-point eruption in the San Francisco-based warmup to LVSL underscored his immense potential. 

But McCain, drafted by the 76ers with the next pick, shined in his summer league debut in Salt Lake City. Knecht poured 20 points on the Heat in their final game of the California Classic. Both rookie guards enter the NBA slightly more polished than Ware and so they should be judged accordingly. But if Ware disappoints, it could leave Heat fans on edge about whether they made the right pick, or if this is another Precious Achiuwa situation.