Miami Heat Show Interest in Devin Booker
By Josh Baumgard
It's no secret the Miami Heat need shooting.
They shot just 34.5 percent as a team (24th in NBA) last season after ranking in the Top 12 in each of the previous four seasons.
Enter Devin Booker, a wing out of Kentucky, who was among the group of players to meet with Pat Riley at the NBA Draft Combine in Chicago.
Besides having Wildcat ties with Riley, Booker's shooting could make him especially appealing to the Heat in the first round. In his only season at Kentucky the 6-foot-6 freshman splashed down jumpers from all over the court, connecting on 47 percent of his shots from the field and 41 percent from behind the arc.
NBA.com ranks Booker as the 13th best prospect while ESPN pegs him at 19th, with Chad Ford describing him as "probably the best shooter in the draft."
The NBA Draft Lottery is next Tuesday and the Heat have an 87-percent chance of picking at No. 10.
They have a four-percent chance of picking in the Top 3. That leaves them with 9 percent odds of dropping out of the Top 10 and thus the draft entirely. In that scenario, they would send their pick to Philadelphia through Cleveland, via a sign-and-trade for LeBron James four years ago.
Booker, meanwhile, isn't afraid to set high goals.
He mentioned Warriors wing Klay Thompson, a first-time all-star this season, as a comparable after likely being asked to name an NBA player he compares favorably to.
Thompson and Booker actually offer similar, efficient shooting splits as college freshmen.
Thompson: 43% FG, 41% 3FG, 90% FT, 53% TS
Booker: 47% FG, 41% 3FG, 83% FT, 60% TS
The 18-year-old Booker has a beautiful shooting stroke and a rapid release. His mechanics are clean with no wasted motion as he rises up to launch the shot.
It wouldn't be implausible to expect him to make an immediate impact as a catch-and-shoot role player off the bench so long as he's joining a veteran roster with a proven core of stars who can facilitate offense.
With the attacking backcourt of Dwyane Wade and Goran Dragic expected to return and join a beastly combination of bigs in Chris Bosh and Hassan Whiteside, a shooter of Booker's caliber could be exactly what this team needs with the goal of contending next season.
Devin Booker makes a ton of sense for the Heat at N0. 10, assuming the lottery slots them there as expected.
Follow Josh on Twitter (@JoshBaumgard)
