Miami Heat: 5 biggest NBA Draft mistakes under Pat Riley
By Frank Urbina
3. 2007 NBA Draft — Daequan Cook over Jared Dudley and Wilson Chandler
Technically, Miami didn’t draft Daequan Cook in the 2007 NBA Draft. With the 20th overall pick, they actually took Colorado State’s Jason Smith before dealing him to the Philadelphia 76ers for the rights to the former Ohio State 2-guard.
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A Royal Pain
Well, Smith is still enjoying a successful career as a backup center, while Cook hasn’t been in the NBA since 2013.
As if that wasn’t bad enough, the Heat acquired Cook in a year that actually had multiple serviceable talents go between picks No. 20 and No. 30. The two that stand out the most are Jared Dudley and Wilson Chandler.
Neither player is a supreme talent, but both would have helped the Heat during one very important stretch: The Big 3 era.
Between 2010-11 and 2013-14, Dudley was one of the best role players in the league, averaging 10.2 points and 3.4 boards per contest while, more importantly, shooting 38.8 percent from three. For the duration of LeBron James‘ time in Miami, Chandler was scoring 14.0 points and pulling down 5.2 rebounds a night while hitting 35.7 percent of his threes.
Either guy could have played a crucial role off the bench when the Heat were contending for championships. Instead, Cook wasn’t even on the team anymore.
Did that stop Miami from reaching four straight Finals? No. But is that going to prevent me from complaining about missing out on two really good role players anyways? Heck no.