MIAMI – The procession had come in the shadows in recent years, the Miami Heat working out draft prospects while involved with deep playoffs runs.
Now, the process comes amid singular focus at Kaseya Center, with two picks held in the NBA draft later this month, the ability to add up to three players on two-way contracts, and the need to fill out summer-league rosters that will compete next month in San Francisco and Las Vegas.
In other words, let the churn begin.
As an example of what the process entails stands University of Florida guard Zyon Pullin, who stands as a potential choice with the Heat’s No. 43 pick in the second round or as a candidate for a post-draft connection as part of the team’s development wing.
“I’m very familiar with the Heat and two-ways,” the 6-foot-4 point guard said as he prepared for his Thursday session in front of the Heat’s scouting staff. “I think that’s something about the Heat – if you compete, you play hard, you have an opportunity to play. So I think that’s the biggest thing for me, is working on an opportunity to showcase what I can do and make a roster.”
While the primary focus is on the Heat’s No. 15 selection in the first round, with possible candidates there including Southern Cal guard Isaiah Collier, Duke guard Jared McCain, Providence guard Devin Carter, Purdue center Zach Edey and Indiana center Kel’el Ware, sessions such as Thursday’s at Kaseya Center underscore the significance of a holistic element of the process required to fill out rosters in this punitive salary-cap era.
On a roster that includes the high-end salaries of Jimmy Butler, Bam Adebayo, Tyler Herro, Terry Rozier, Duncan Robinson and others, diamonds in the rough have become essential for the Heat to balance their ledger.
In Pullin, there is promise of an All-SEC first-team selection with an elite-level assist-to-turnover ratio, one who maximized his single season with the Gators after previously playing at Cal-Riverside, as well as standing as the only other Florida collegian beyond the University of Miami’s Kyshawn George ranked among the draft’s consensus Top 100.
That has Pullin working the state this week, with a Saturday session in front of the Orlando Magic to follow his Thursday session in Miami.
“Definitely hope to go probably second round,” Pullin said, with the first round of the draft on June 26 in Brooklyn and the second round the following afternoon in New York. “Ultimately, I could see myself going somewhere in that ballpark. I’m pretty confident. I know my capabilities. I’m very realistic. I don’t like to live in a fictional world. Whatever that is at the end of the day, I’m confident that it’s just another stepping stone,”
Point guard has largely been a revolving door for the Heat in recent years, with Gabe Vincent and Kyle Lowry lost the past year from the Heat roster that made the 2023 NBA Finals, and with Delon Wright and Patty Mills ending this past season as free agents. At the moment, there is Rozier and the great unknown.
It is why Pullin sees possibilities, as he spoke following a Monday workout with the Detroit Pistons.
“I was fortunate enough to have an interview with them at the G League Elite Camp. I thought it went well,” he said of a session with the Heat last month in Chicago. “It’s been a great process so far. I’ve been getting a lot of good feedback.
“For me, what I’m trying to tell teams is reliable playmaker, great size at the point-guard position. And I think the pressure. I think I’m able to get into the paint, I’ve got a good first step.”
And now an opportunity, which is what these workouts are all about, as much about creating awareness for the signing free-for-all after the second round, with the Heat with a track record for turning summer-league intrigue into regular-season reality.
“I really don’t try to go outside the box,” Pullin said of this ongoing grind three weeks out from the draft. “I really try to show them what I’m good at, whatever that may be, just showing I’m a willing defender, I can talk, communicate, showing them I take pride in the little things.”
