NBA Draft Lottery 2017: Who each team should take with the No. 1 pick
By John Buhler
Miami Heat: Josh Jackson, small forward, Kansas Jayhawks (0.5 percent)
Seeing Rajon Rondo do some good stuff for the Chicago Bulls in Games 1 and 2 before getting hurt almost makes up for the Miami Heat not qualifying for the Eastern Conference Playoffs. Erik Spoelstra’s team went from hot garbage to being the little engine that almost could.
Miami now finds itself reluctantly in the 2017 NBA Draft Lottery. The Heat have by far and away the worst chance at winning the lottery at only 0.5 percent. Leapfrogging everybody just does not seem in the cards for the Heat this May, but what if it does happen?
Again, Miami is one of those teams that is not in dire need of a point guard. Goran Dragic seems to be a stabilizer at the point that Spoelstra frankly never had in the Big Three era. Sorry, Mario Chalmers. Hassan Whiteside is a big building block at center. Dion Waiters has finally found himself in South Beach.
Overall, things are getting better in Miami. Tyler Johnson and Luke Babbitt played well at times last year. Besides missing the playoffs, the only sour note for the Heat was the Justice Winslow injury. Knowing that team president Pat Riley enjoys fleecing other front offices more than anybody, we have to expect that he’d have something brilliant in the works for the Heat should they get the No. 1 overall pick.
Next: 30 worst NBA playoff teams of all time
Josh Jackson out of Kansas would provide the type of athleticism at forward that Miami is lacking. The Heat could get him in that No. 3 to No. 6 range. The Los Angeles Lakers have made more than their fair share of front office mistakes of late. Depending on if they have a future first-round pick or three to burn, Riley should ask for at least two future first round picks from the Lakers and Larry Nance Jr. to even the deal out.