The Miami Heat will have a busy few days as they try to potentially add two key players for the future to their roster. The NBA Draft begins on Wednesday and runs through Thursday. We will discuss three young players who are still very talented, but there are also some names in the draft that the team would be better off ignoring.
While some claim the 2024 NBA Draft is the weakest in recent memory, the Heat have the 15th overall pick in the first round and the 43rd pick in the second round, where there are still excellent players available. Furthermore, Miami has a great track record of picking players, particularly in the middle of the first round. Previous picks in that bracket include UCLA’s Jaime Jaquez Jr., Tyler Herro, and Bam Adebayo.
The Heat could need some size or depth in the backcourt in upcoming draft, but there are a number of reasons why they shouldn’t choose certain players, one of them being fitness. Having said that, Miami ought to steer clear of these three guys in the 2017 NBA Draft.
Despite being a two-time Naismith Player of the Year winner and a dominant college player for Purdue, Edey is likely the most divisive prospect in 2017 draft because he is not expected to be selected in the top five. The Heat were said to require size, but Edey would significantly increase the team’s bulk because he is seven feet four inches tall and weighs 300 pounds, according to the NBA.
His fit in the NBA, aside from the team, is what has people wondering about his situation, even if there’s no denying that he brings the Heat pressure at the rim, a towering presence in the paint, and a threat on screens from the start. The concern is whether he can adjust to the NBA’s significantly faster tempo given his lumbering gait.
Particularly with the Heat, where Bam Adebayo, the starting center who was formerly a power forward and possesses unusual stature for an old-school player at the five, demonstrates Erik Spoelstra’s team’s value of playing quickly. The fit could be risky, but the Heat have him on their roster for workouts in case they decide to consider it. According to ESPN’s Jonathan Givony, he is also expected to be in that range.
According to teams, Edey’s range seems to be between the Nos. 9 and 19 depending on the workouts he has planned and completed. He spent the previous week with the Toronto Raptors, is scheduled to visit the Los Angeles Lakers, and is being discussed in Memphis, Utah, Oklahoma City, Chicago, Portland, and Miami.
According to Givony’s scouting report for Edey, “He sets wide, bruising screens at 7-foot-5, 298 pounds and is an outstanding mark rolling to the paint and catching everything thrown his way with his huge, magnetic hands and 7-foot-11 wingspan.” Under duress, Purdue’s undersized guards would frequently toss the ball up in the approximate region of the rim and allow Edey to go grab it. He is skilled at rescreening in the event that his first choice doesn’t work out, and he has become more adept at operating off of zoom actions and dribble-handoffs, catching and making judgments out of short rolls, and mixing in slips to fool defenses.