Though he may not be available at No. 14, the Miami Heat are still doing their due diligence with center draft prospect Zach Collins.
As the 2017 NBA Draft continues to draw closer, the Miami Heat are starting to show their hand regarding which prospects they favor.
On Wednesday, the Miami Herald’s Barry Jackson reported on one player the team got a closer look at last week. In his own words:
"“The Heat sent three officials – including vice president/player personnel Chet Kammerer and assistant GM Adam Simon – to watch Collins at a Chicago-area workout arranged by his agent…Collins, 7-0, a terrific prospect, averaged 10.0 points and 5.9 rebounds in 17.2 minutes per game as a freshman last season. He shot 65.2 percent from the field and 10 for 21 on thees.”"
That’s Zach Collins — stud big man prospect out of Gonzaga — he’s talking about. Apparently the talented center worked out in front of officials from various teams, including Miami’s.
It’s an interesting bit of news for a few reasons. For one, it shows the Heat have legit interest in Collins, even though he doesn’t fill a position of need.
Sure, one could argue Miami will be forced to acquire a backup center this offseason with Willie Reed most likely on the way out, so why not do so through the draft? Regardless of that salient point, I think most would still agree, power forward remains the Heat’s biggest weakness heading into the summer.
Though Collins has the talent to perhaps blossom into a stretch-4 one day, he’s not there yet. In fact, he may never get there.
With the current state the NBA is in, playing two traditional bigs at the same time is a surefire way to bog your team’s offense down. Getting bigger (and slower) was fine a decade ago; today, it’s almost a death sentence for efficiency. And if Miami were to draft Collins and play him next to Hassan Whiteside, that’s exactly what they’d be doing — shrinking the floor and killing their scoring output.
Not to mention, this very season we saw how potent the team’s offense was when starting a floor-spacing big in Luke Babbitt next to their star center. I doubt they’ll be going away from that strategy anytime soon.
So the question now becomes, if Collins were to fall to No. 14, would Pat Riley and co. go best player available and draft him? Or would they let his slide continue, and take another prospect who would fill a more pressing need like OG Anunoby or Justin Jackson?
Next: Miami Heat - Top 10 NBA Draft picks in franchise history
It’s an intriguing predicament, and one we won’t get a resolution for until draft night on June 22. But at least we’re starting to get an idea of who the Heat like in the 2017 draft class.