Miami

Draft has new twists for Miami Heat, NBA this year


MIAMI – As the Miami Heat work through the pre-draft process, the team’s front office and scouting staff find themselves working in a new environment on several levels, including one created by the NBA and one by the NCAA.

A significant but minimally mentioned element of the new NBA collective-bargaining agreement is a change that could have an impact on the way business is conducted in the draft’s second round.

Starting this year, a team that purchases a second-round pick, which has stood as a routine element of the process over the years, automatically becomes hard capped for the following season. In essence, the typical flier taken by buying a pick in the second round now comes at a potential impact of the way a team must conduct business over the following 12 months.

While the Heat hold the No. 43 pick in the June 27 second round, maneuvering through the second round this year and going forward could prove more a case of bartering than buying or selling for Heat President Pat Riley and his staff.

“It definitely factors in,” said Adam Simon, the Heat’s vice president of basketball operations and assistant general manager. “and you have to look at the big picture and what business you’re doing. And, so, that’ll come into play.

“But doing something that’s going to hard cap you, you definitely have to take that into consideration.”



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