Heat Notes: First-Round Pick, Hard Cap, Drafting Track Record

The Heat won’t let concerns about crossing over the second tax apron scare them into getting rid of their first-round draft pick, assistant general manager Adam Simon tells Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald. Whoever the team selects at No. 15 on Wednesday will receive a guaranteed contract valued at around $4.2MM. It’s a significant addition for a team that’s already projected to exceed the first apron with several holes on the roster left to fill.

Simon explains that the Heat like to emphasize roster balance, with a mixture of high-salaried stars, experienced complementary talents, and younger players. Draft picks can be cost-effective because they’re under team control at reasonable salaries for at least four years, and Chiang notes that Miami’s last two first-rounders, Jaime Jaquez ($3.7MM) and Nikola Jovic ($2.5MM) are the only current roster members with guaranteed contracts who will make less that this year’s first-round pick.

“You look at your roster, you look at the construction of your roster, you try to have a balanced roster of veterans, players who are in their prime and then young players,” Simon said. “You’re trying to develop young players, but we’re also trying to win every year. So I think it’s nice to add young players to your core every year. But sometimes it takes some time to integrate a 19- or 20-year-old player into a roster of experienced veterans.”

There’s more from Miami:

• Changes in the new Collective Bargaining Agreement could result in a different second-round experience this year, Chiang adds. Any team that purchases a second-round pick will now be hard-capped at the second apron of $189MM for the entire season. That same restriction applies to any team that sends out cash in a trade. “If a team thinks they’re going to be hard-capped anyhow, then they might as well do it,” Simon said. “So I think it just depends on where your organization is aligned in their current state of their salary.” The Heat hold the 43rd pick in the second round.
• Miami has found a rotation player with four of the last five first-round picks it has made, Chiang states in a separate story, citing Bam Adebayo in 2017, Tyler Herro in 2019, Jovic in 2022 and Jaquez last year. The only first-round selection during that stretch who’s no longer on the roster is Precious Achiuwa, who was taken at No. 20 in the 2020 draft and traded to Toronto a year later “These are not easy decisions,” Simon added. “After the fact, you can look back and think: ‘Hey, why didn’t we do this?’ I think this is a very challenging assignment to try to figure out how a player that played in one system is going to fit into your system.”
• In another piece, Chiang talks to Simon about the conflict between filling team needs in the draft and selecting the best available player.