Before the 2014 NBA Draft, LeBron James made it very clear who he wanted to the Miami Heat to draft. That was Shabazz Napier. Everyone knows the story at this point that James left Miami to go back to his hometown team, the Cleveland Cavaliers, but Napier was still selected by the Heat in the first round and is still a member of the Heat organization. However, those days may be numbered.
The Heat have been putting a lot of guys on the trading block recently, and it appears Napier is just the next man in line, according to SB Nation. Napier's reported availability is currently in the infantile stages, and it may come to many as a bit of a surprise since he is just entering his second season in the NBA.
Napier is best known for his days at UConn, when he led the Huskies to the National Championship in 2014 and earned Most Outstanding Player at the Final Four. Unfortunately for Napier and the Heat, his rookie season didn't go quite as well. He was back and forth from the D-League all season, and when he did get to play in NBA games (he played 51), he only shot 38 percent from the field. Napier, at his best, is a volume shooter, but 38 percent isn't going to cut it in the NBA. Having said that, it still does feel very early for the Heat to be shopping their first round pick from one year ago.
Among the other players the Heat have reportedly put on the block are Mario Chalmers and Chris Andersen (who are apparently available for next to nothing), as well as Josh McRoberts, who Zach Lowe reports is available for a second round pick or two.
The Heat had a good offseason in free agency by just re-signing their own guys, and it appears they will have quite the starting lineup with Goran Dragic, Dwyane Wade, Luol Deng, Chris Bosh and Hassan Whiteside next season. Because of this solid starting lineup, it seems the Heat are taking an interesting approach by looking to trade all of their bench guys for virtually no return. It's hard to question Pat Riley after all of the success he's had as a player, coach and now executive, so it is probably right to assume he has a plan when he puts his players' names on the trading block.
