Ira Winderman: Heat have trade chips to put into play, but hardly hold all the cards
MIAMI — As their process again has shown these past few days, the NFL draft is about draft picks, the newcomers, the next wave of rookies. The NBA draft, by contrast, is one of the busiest times of the personnel calendar when it comes to veteran talent, when deals are sealed on the eve of the process, or during the process, or immediately after targeted selections are consummated. It is why the logo of the draft-night hat shortly thereafter often won’t match the ensuing jersey logo.
Which brings us to the draft process that soon will follow south of the Miami Dolphins headquarters, or, more to the point, the draft-related process that will begin for Pat Riley, Erik Spoelstra and the rest of the Miami Heat front office after the May 10 draft lottery . From there it will be go-time, when better reads, because of the setting of draft positions, can be established for potential personnel moves, be it Giannis Antetokounmpo , Ja Morant or otherwise. Which, as always, brings it to what will be taken to market.
For a team that has won a single playoff game — game, not series — over the past three years, change has to be inevitable. That means moves that come at a cost. How much of a cost?
Bam Adebayo: This would mean a complete teardown for a team that doesn’t do complete teardowns. Dwyane Wade was retained for Shaquille O’Neal and then LeBron James and Chris Bosh. Goran Dragic was retained for Jimmy Butler.
Jimmy Butler was retained for, gulp, Kyle Lowry and, double-gulp, Terry Rozier. Only an immense draft package could even create a degree of sway, and even then, would have to be accompanied by expiring, non-cap-clogging contracts. Put another way, the Heat won’t trade Bam Adebayo for Giannis Antetokounmpo.
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