Best Draft in Heat History?

Tough to say, but I'd have to go with yes. The year we got Caron and Rasual Butler was a very productive draft for us, but Thursday night was the best night in Heat history aside from June 20th, 2006.

Drafting Michael Beasley, and keeping him, was the best move Riley could have made all night. I'm aware of his "character concerns", especially in a town like Miami, but he's a young guy and is a risk anywhere in the country. If he wants to go out on the town, he will. Face it. If the worst thing he does is go to a couple of clubs the night before a game, then I'll take the 25/20 he'll drop on any team in the league.

Granted, if he ends up failing in Miami, he'd be the most colossal bust in Heat history, and one of the biggest busts in NBA draft history. The thing is, the value we could have gotten for him in a trade was minimal. The Heat wanted OJ Mayo, and couldn't have known Minny would trade him to Memphis. He was going to go at 3 and there was nothing we could work out with Minnesota. The best option at that point was to stick with Beasley and go from there.

The funny thing is that I am almost as excited about our 2nd pick, Mario Chalmers, as I am about the Beasley pick. Michael can easily become our best player in time, yes even better than Dwyane Wade. But Chalmers is everything we need in a point guard and more. The guy plays D, shoots from the outside, and is clutch. That last shot against Memphis was a classic and proves he's got the leadership to take on the pressure when the time is right. Landing him for a couple of second rounders (we got one back after trading useless Darnell Thornton, nice player but no room) was a steal.

In a year in a half he should have molded into a starting caliber point guard. He won't be Derrick Rose or Steve Nash, but he can become good enough to run a championship team with Wade in the backcourt and Beasley at the 3 or 4. It really was a great day for the organization and for its fans, and everyone seems to agree we got the best draft in the league. Just hope for the best at this point. Wait out a rocky season that should see us get a 6 seed and maybe bounced in the first or 2nd round. Then 2009 will be our rise back to the top.