SBNation Mock Draft, Pick #2: Miami Heat

by Ridiculous Matt on Jun 16, 2008 11:25 AM EDT in NBA Draft 2008

th the second pick in the SBNation Mock Draft, the Miami Heat, represented by The Peninsula Is Mightier , select...

Michael Beasley: Power Forward, Kansas State University. 6-9, 235 lbs.

TPIM says:

OK, so maybe I am disappointed with the No. 2 pick. On lottery night, I had myself convinced that either/or would be fine - Derrick Rose would create the league's most dynamic guard tandem, Michael Beasley would provide a low-post anchor to a listing frontcourt. How can the Heat go wrong?

By not landing Rose, that's how. The uncertainty has been creeping in for a couple of weeks now, that queasy-ish feeling that Rose is the one and only savior in the draft, and that the Bulls are as aware of that as I am. Apparently, Blog-A-Bull is too. I'd like to seal myself inside a giant envelope and cry for a spell.

But first, a decision to be made. I see only two viable candidates - Beasley, who really has given nobody any reason to be disappointed in "having to" draft him, and O.J. Mayo, who conjures a fuzzy vision of that supercharged backcourt that Rose would have made so clear. A pair of big, strong guards, neither a pure point, but each with enough wherewithal to go halfsies on the 1. In the end, Mayo's biggest drawback is that he might duplicate Dwyane Wade, and his biggest selling point is that he might duplicate Dwyane Wade.

But a Mayo/Wade pairing is an enormous risk, and the Heat already did that this summer by hiring a 23-year-old head coach. Drafting this high is something you do, not something you try. Beasley, though he may be kind of short and a little bit of a nutbar, is a baller of the highest order. I picture Erik Spoelstra working 23-hour days - you have to have a lunch break, at least on weekends - conjuring ways to slice Wade and Shawn Marion through a defense thoroughly disheveled by Beasley on the block or the high post. And I like it. A lot. I just don't love it yet. But I feel like I will.

So that's the pick: Michael Beasley.

The Minnesota Timberwolves, represented by Canis Hoopus , are on the clock.

The 2008 SB Nation Mock Draft so far:

1. Chicago Bulls- Blog-A-Bull: Derrick Rose

2. Miami Heat- Peninsula is Mightier: Michael Beasley

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