MIAMI (AP) -For the Miami Heat, what shapes up as a tough decision should really be rather easy.
Realistically, there should only be two logical scenarios awaiting the Heat Thursday night, when they will hold the second pick in a muddled NBA draft.
1. Draft Memphis point guard Derrick Rose if he’s available.
2. If the Chicago Bulls, as expected, take Rose with the No. 1 pick, then draft Kansas State forward Michael Beasley.
Sounds so simple.
Of course, it’s not.
mix to join Dwyane Wade on South Beach next season.
“I don’t know what’s going to happen. No one does,” said Wade, the Heat’s four-time All-Star guard and leader of the 2006 NBA championship team, “All I know is that no matter what actually does happen, coach Riley is going to get us a really good player.”
Maybe even more than one.
“It’s a position in which you can leverage and do a lot of different things,” Riley said on draft lottery night last month. “So, we will use the pick. It doesn’t necessarily mean we’re going to use it to draft somebody, but we’re going to use that pick to try to find as many good players as we can or we’re going to take the player that we really want to take.”
An already intriguing draft week became loaded with even more options Tuesday night, when Heat forward Shawn Marion – again, as expected – did not opt out of the final year of his contract, one that will pay him $17.8 million next year and after which he would become a free agent.
Marion’s choice only gave Riley more options.
the Boston Celtics from the Eastern Conference basement to the NBA title in just one year. Or, perhaps the least likely scenario, Riley could decide that Marion and Udonis Haslem are the forward duo of Miami’s future and begin listening in earnest to offers for Beasley, if he’s the actual No. 2 selection.
How about Elton Brand coming to Miami in a trade? Riley has coveted him for years, even signing him to an offer sheet several seasons ago.
Or Stephon Marbury? It could lead to a Marion-Mike D’Antoni reunion with the New York Knicks.
The possibilities are endless.
“I try not to think about it too much,” said Heat forward Udonis Haslem, who also finds himself being mentioned in some trade permutations this summer. “You don’t know what’s going to happen until it happens. I just know that we’re going to be better next season.”
Riley has remained largely mum on the topic for weeks, and won’t openly talk about his master plan until after Thursday’s draft, either.
court, and I’m sure that’s what coach Riley’s going to do.”
The franchise has already changed plenty this offseason.
Soon after Miami’s dismal, injury-filled, 15-67 season – one that matched the worst in franchise history and one that’ll be remembered mostly by the Heat’s decision to trade Shaquille O’Neal to the Phoenix Suns for Marion and Marcus Banks – ended, Riley retired as coach for the second and presumably final time, turning the first chair over to longtime assistant Erik Spoelstra.
In a chat posted May 1 on the team’s Web site, Spoelstra didn’t offer any hints, either.
“We’ll do our due diligence and the history of the draft shows, you need to take the best player available,” Spoelstra said that day.
On Thursday, all the mystery will finally end.
“I think it’s all about who complements this team and complements D-Wade the best,” said Heat center Alonzo Mourning, who plans to return for 2008-09. “Our front office, our basketball minds, Pat Riley, Randy Pfund, will do what’s best for this team right now, whether it’s Rose or Beasley or anyone else out there.”
Notes: The Heat tendered qualifying offers Wednesday to guard Chris Quinn and forwards Dorell Wright and Kasib Powell, making them restricted free agents and giving Miami the ability to match any offer sheets those players sign with another team.
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