Second star guard reveals he thought he would join Heat. Podcast delivers painful reminder

As Heat fans wait eagerly for Miami to add another star player, a painful reminder of an opportunity lost was administered this weekend when Phoenix Suns All Star guard Devin Booker revealed that he thought the Heat would select him 10th overall in the 2015 draft.

Instead, Miami chose Justise Winslow, surprised that the Duke forward fell to that point. Booker was taken 13th by Phoenix.

“I thought I was going to Miami,” Booker told Lakers guard D’Angelo Russell on The Backyard Podcast.

“That’s where I was hoping… Miami was my best workout, and then I remember, I think Pat Riley came into [the room]. He did an interview and he’s like ‘We’re looking for a player like Klay Thompson, we need to up our shooting.’

“And I just shot 40 [percent on threes] in college… I’m like ‘oh yeah’, I’m looking at spots right down there by the arena. Draft is crazy, your life changes like that, you have no control over it really.”

Winslow, conversely, never worked out for the Heat before the draft and reportedly didn’t speak to Riley until draft night. Miami didn’t expect him to be available at No. 10.

“It reminds me a lot of what happened with Caron Butler,” Riley said after drafting Winslow. “Obviously, it was somewhat of a surprise...

“It’s a very positive pick for us. Justise is an incredible, very mature, young (at 19) player. I think anybody who has watched him play can see that he is not only athletic; he is a playmaker and a multi-position player. He can guard all four positions.

“You saw something in the Finals this year that was a little different when you had a 6’7” forward [Draymond Green] playing center with four very versatile perimeter players around him. Justise is similar to Draymond Green in that way.”

Booker was all NBA first team in 2022 and a four-time All Star and has averaged 24.3 points per game in his career.

Winslow averaged 9.0 points and 5.4 rebounds in five seasons and 105 starts with Miami. He went on to play with Memphis, the Clippers and Portland and spent last season with Toronto’s G-League team.

The Heat has done a generally good job drafting, selecting several players (Bam Adebayo, Tyler Herro, Jaime Jaquez Jr., Nikola Jovic) who would have gone higher if the drafts were done over, with the benefit of hindsight.

The two drafts, in the past decade, that the organization assuredly would want back are the Booker/Winslow choice and the decision to draft Precious Achiuwa 20th in 2020 over Tyrese Maxey, who went one spot later to Philadelphia. Maxey was an All Star last season and considered an infinitely better player than Achiuwa.

Maxey has said multiple times in recent years that he thought Miami would draft him.

On the night of the 2020 draft, agent Rich Paul told Maxey “‘remember, fit over pick,’” Maxey recalled on now Lakers coach J.J. Redick’s podcast last season. “I’m like, ‘I don’t care about none of that.’ He’s like ‘Miami is 50/50.’

“I was like, ‘I can go to Miami?’ My favorite player growing up was D-Wade [Dwyane Wade]. I wore number 3 all my life. I was thinking, ‘[Yeah], I may go to Miami. I was very excited about that. And Miami don’t take me. [And I’m like] ‘Oh my God.’ They took Precious Achiuwa because the year before they took Tyler Herro, another scoring guard.”

Achiuwa and Goran Dragic were dealt to Toronto eight months later in a sign-and-trade for free agent guard Kyle Lowry.

SWIDER LEAVES

Wing Cole Swider signed a one-year non guaranteed deal with the Indiana Pacers on Saturday after the Heat declined to offer him a standard contract this summer.

Swider, who was on a Heat two-way contract last season, appeared in 18 NBA games in his one season with the organization, shooting 10 for 30 on threes and scoring 42 points in 87 minutes with the Heat.

He averaged 13.5 points and shot 49.1 percent on threes during Summer League for the Heat.

Swider was hoping to find something more than another two-way contract, and the Pacers gave him that opportunity, albeit without a financial guarantee. The Heat gave its two-way contracts to Dru Smith, Keshad Johnson and Josh Christopher, but those players can be replaced at any time.

The Heat has 14 players signed to standard contracts. But the Heat realistically cannot add a 15th player until January because it wants to avoid surpassing the punitive second apron, which makes trades more difficult.

▪ The Heat scheduled its annual Red, White & Pink intra-squad scrimmage for Oct. 7 at 6 p.m. at Kaseya Center.

Tickets are $7, with fans limited to eight tickets per purchase transaction. Parking will be available, on game night, for $5 in the arena’s P2 garage.

Proceeds benefit cancer care and research at the Baptist Health Miami Cancer Institute.

The Heat opens its preseason schedule at home Oct. 10 against Atlanta.

The regular-season NBA schedule is expected to be released in August.