Maybe Pat Riley needs to get Clarence Gaines on the phone on how to draft?
The Miami commentators were all over how good KP, Willy, Justin Holiday and the "no name" Knicks were.
KP/Willy are better than anything Miami has drafted since Wade in 2003.
Miami is extremely well coached. They have a great culture set up by Pat Riley. That is where I am jealous of them. But Clarence Gaines is the reason Phil drafted KP and Willy. The two players that the Miami Heat commentators were all over. I don't quite understand some of our fanbase. Even the things we do well, we get trashed for.
What picks have we had in the last 3 years? We've had ONE first rounder. Hit a homerun. After KP there was Hezonja, Mudiay, Winslow. If Gaines had told Phil to draft one of them, you'd kill them for it, and point to KP being a monster on another team. What about Willy? We didn't have a pick in 2016. So we took a chance on some undrafted rookies like Baker, who just started and had a big game for us, Kuzminskas who as a starter has had a ridiculous shooting percentage, Randle who has shown some talent and guys like that.
We've been able to add no names just like Miami has. This was evident last night.
Willy - 2nd round pick we drafted
Holiday - in/out of the league player who Phil really wanted from the Rose trade
Baker - Rookie undrafted combo guard player
O'Quinn - 2nd round pick from ORL we sign and traded for
Randle - Rookie undrafted point guard.
Kuzminskas - Rookie undrafted forward who has shown flashes as a scorer. Ridiculous numbers when starting.
So what is this that Gaines and Phil need to learn about getting role players or unknowns? We do that as good as any team in the league in the Phil era. Lance Thomas another get. Langston Galloway. I mean these guys were almost out of the league or struggling to make it and we developed them into players that have gotten backup contracts in the league and will stick. We're doing the same with Baker, Kuz, Holiday and Randle.
I mean where I'm jealous of Miami is their coaching in Spo, and the culture Pat has established there. That's where Phil can learn. Scouting unknowns and picking up players, Phil and Gaines do very well. The other thing Phil needs to learn from Pat, which vets to sign and invest in. Pat has made some big moves. He's signed all-stars in their peak in free agency. Phil's been really bad in free agency with regards to this. He either doesn't care to make the effort for a star in free agency or simply is incapable. Pat's been able to deliver many big names in their prime to Miami in his years there and has made a great coaching choice to take his principles and coaching style moving forward in Spo.
Yeah sorry OP, but you're post made no sense again. The Heat are not picking up better players than us. They do a good job like us, but this is one thing we are actually good at in the Phil/Gaines era.
Unless you all are still salty that we drafted KP over Winslow or Mudiay. Heat commenntators were saying Willy will make first team all-rookie. So two years in a row we have first team all rookies. Yet, Gaines need to learn how to scout from Miami? The same Miami that picked Beasley over Russell Westbrook and Kevin Love. Miami had a chance to take Westbrook in 2008 and instead chose Beasley. Somehow I don't think we'd be inlove with Beasley as much because even back then his lack of passing and shooting skills were obvious.