Happy NBA Draft day. The Miami Heat, ESPN’s favorite team, are actually perhaps the most intriguing of all teams this offseason. And the NBA Draft is a HUGE part of this offseason. Now because a lot of people in this country have NO LIFE AT ALL the Miami Heat changing the header picture on their official website was BIG NEWS THIS WEEK!!!! OMG!!!!!!
As you no doubt have heard, the Heat changed their pic from the big three of Chris Bosh, Lebron James and Dwyane Wade to Michael Beasley, Udonis Haslem and Ray Allen. And since lots of people have no creativity, reporting skills or things to do with their time, this removing and uploading of a jpeg became headline news.
Well, here’s a NEWSFLASH idiots, all three of the new guys are free agents too, and Allen could likely retire. So while maybe there is something larger to be read into that one small move of web design.
Anyways, the Heat will have to make some major moves this offseason, and this draft is extremely crucial for them. So let’s break it down.
Here’s where we have the Miami Heat going in our latest NBA mock draft
26. Miami- Jordan Clarkson, G, Missouri, 6-5, Jr.
With the majority of their team becoming free agents, the Heat are searching for depth all across their roster. Jordan Clarkson is a versatile, combo guard who should be able to play either guard position at the next level.
https://www.thesportsbank.net/nba-draft-stock-report/2014-nba-mock-draft-second/
55. Miami- Russ Smith, G, Louisville, 6-0, Sr.
Russ Smith is a shooting guard trapped in a point guard’s body which hurts his stock but is lightning quick and a fearless scorer.
Or the Miami Heat could just end up doing this on draft night:
MOCK DRAFT pic.twitter.com/vfGDkduI5W
— Jared Dubin (@JADubin5) June 26, 2014
ESPN analysts Fran Frischilla and Tom Penn did a NBA Draft conference call with the media, the Miami Heat came up and this is what they had to say.
FRAN FRASCHILLA: “There’s some guys they’ll like for sure. It seems like they want to upgrade at the point guard position. There’s a lot of point guards in this draft, a lot of different varieties of point guards. I doubt Elfrid Payton will slip. They’ve been mentioned with Shabazz Napier. He may not be there for them. Maybe they trade up. They obviously are going to be overhauling that roster in one way, shape, or form.”
TOM PENN: “Kind of could combine my last two answers. So what I said about the Clippers obviously applies to Miami. So just change the team, and it’s the exact same answer, in terms of what they’re looking for.
And then I feel like Miami’s likely to draft a player rather than tinkering and moving around.
They need players. There’s a lot of depth of talent of immediate help in this area. They’re going to want immediate help. And it’s one easy add that can be part of the story that Pat Riley tells LeBron James for the reasons to stick around.”
Paul M. Banks owns The Sports Bank.net, an affiliate of Fox Sports. He’s also a frequent guest on talk shows across the world. Banks has been featured in hundreds of media outlets including NFL.com, Forbes, Bleacher Report, Deadspin, ESPN, Washington Times, NBC and the History Channel. President Barack Obama follows him on Twitter (@paulmbanks)