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Not Drafting Russell Westbrook Didn’t Hurt Miami Heat

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By @blackirishpr

Miami Heat

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Every year or two, when the Miami Heat tend to show that they are lacking something in their game, pundits begin to take a look at what the team missed out on by selecting Michael Beasley with the No. 2 pick in the 2008 NBA Draft.

Usually they just highlight Miami’s rebounding woes by tossing out the possibility that they could have had a career double-double guy like Kevin Love on the roster. However this year ESPN’s Michael Wallace threw a slight wrinkle in the “what if” machine, when he speculated on the possibility of LeBron James never leaving if the Heat would have drafted Russell Westbrook and DeAndre Jordan or Omer Asik.

You can start by taking both Jordan and Asik out of the equation, because neither second-round pick has been able to contribute to their team’s championship cause the way the guard who was picked right ahead of them has.

And for all of the flaws Mario Chalmers has exhibited — including falling asleep during the 2014 NBA Finals – he has come up big enough in two of the team’s recent championship runs that he had games named after him. Plus he can say he outplayed the San Antonio Spurs’ Tony Parker in one series and put up 25 points on Westbrook — while James dealt with cramps — in another.

But with Chalmers’ play resembling a never ending seesaw and the Oklahoma City Thunder in town, the pain of missing out on Westbrook’s 25 points, eight assists and six rebounds has to sting. That’s especially true when he could single-handedly fill in for Wade and all three of the Heat’s present point guards.

He would be great for right now, but in hindsight would he really have enticed James to stay? And would the team have made the four-season run to the Finals with a ball-hog like Westbrook having to share the rock with superstars who feel the need to be playmakers, like James and Dwyane Wade?

Things would have been exciting, but it is hard to look back at what the team could have had when what they have experienced so much success. Just remember that Chalmers was the perfect fit at the time and Miami is two rings richer for it.

Richard Nurse is a writer for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter @blackirishpr or add him to your network on Google.

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