Sixers Draft Picks Outlook: Miami Heat

Part one of a three part series where we take a look at where the Heat, Lakers, and Thunder’s first round picks will potentially fall in the upcoming season.

If you are like me, you probably had too much of a vested interest in the Miami Heat’s season thanks to the Sixers owning their first-round pick, basically because Flip Saunders being a mediocre general manager. If you are also like me, you are probably disappointed to see that unless a minor miracle happens on lottery night, they won’t be obtaining that pick for this draft.

While it’s understandably disappointing to lose out on potential late lottery picks, in the long run, it’s not the worst thing to happen to the Sixers.

Here you have the Miami Heat, who after acquiring Goran Dragic at the trade deadline, looked to be destined to play their way into the top half of the Eastern Conference and ship off their top-10 protected pick to the Sixers. Instead, Chris Bosh missed the final 38 games with a blood clot on one of his lungs, and the rest of the Heat squad weren’t able to gel as they stumbled to the tenth worst record in the league.

It’s tough to say where the Heat are headed next season because they have so many question marks. A lot of that depends on what they do during free agency, and more specifically what they do with Goran Dragic. It was known prior to the trade deadline that Dragic wanted to be playing in Miami, New York or Los Angeles. Does his stint with the Heat increase his likelihood of staying in South Beach, or does the lack of success that Dragic saw while he was there push him towards the Knicks or the Lakers?

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Regardless of what Dragic does, they also have a question mark when it comes to Dwyane Wade and his health. While he stayed relatively healthy this season (played 62 games), it’s fair to question his durability especially as he gets older. How many more years does he have left? It’s not inexplicable that he only plays 40 to 50 games next season while dealing with re-occurring knee problems.

I could see the Heat going in a lot of different directions next season. They could re-sign Dragic, Wade could stay healthy, and they could win 45+ games with ease. They could also lose Dragic, Wade could finally succumb to father time, and they could find themselves in the late lottery once again.

It’s too early to say which one is more likely, but I think there’s a solid chance this pick will be around the same spot next season. So while it would have been fun (and lucky) for the Sixers to pick up the 11th pick in this draft, this just means they have another season to find out what they truly have. How do Noel and Embiid work together? How does this year’s draft picks fit into the squad? The Sixers should have more answers than questions by this time next year, so the pick being pushed back an extra year isn’t as disappointing as it may have once seemed.

Follow Patrick on twitter (@GoodDudePat) for Sixers nonsense.