Charles LeClaire- USA Today Sports
After an extremely disappointing season by Miami Heat standards, the team has an opportunity to retool this summer in a major way through the 2015 NBA Draft. The Heat will most likely keep their top-10 protected pick in the first round and use it to go after a player who will fill the biggest positional need. At the current moment, that is at small forward. With the uncertainty of Luol Deng’s contract and slow development of James Ennis, the Heat need a ready-to-go wing player at the start of next season. This is why Pat Riley and the rest of the Heat organization have their eyes set on Kelly Oubre.
Oubre is arguably one of the best wing players coming out of the 2015 NBA Draft, and could fill so many needs for the Heat on the wing. The 20-year-old small forward out of Kansas is an extremely fluid and smooth player with a ridiculous wingspan of 7-foot-1. Oubre has shown glimpses of being a tremendous wing stopper on defense as well, which was one of the Heat’s biggest weaknesses this season.
On the offensive end, Oubre’s shooting efficiency is a work in progress, as he only averaged over 36 percent from both the field and the three-point line this season, but his jump shot is arguably one of his best attributes coming into the draft. Oubre is also a fantastic rebounder for a small forward, pulling down almost 7.0 rebounds a game for Kansas this season. Both of these attributes are again something the Heat desperately needed this year from their wing players, and truly only got it on a consistent basis from Deng.
Oubre is the only player from the draft that Riley has met with to discuss possibly playing with Miami this upcoming season, which means the interest level is very high. If the Heat can manage to select Oubre with the 10th overall pick, the team will have filled one of their biggest needs heading into the 2015-16 regular season.
Jared Doyle is a Miami Heat writer for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter @outofboundsjay, “Like” him on Facebook or add him to your network on Google
