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NBA Draft 2015: April Mock Draft -- Miami Heat select Mario Hezonja

With the tenth pick of the 2015 NBA Draft the Miami Heat select...

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With the tenth pick of the 2015 NBA Draft . . . the Miami Heat select Mario Hezonja from the Croatia. Of the twenty plus Mock Drafts I track weekly only two have him falling all the way down the #10. On paper he shouldn't, but I am juking the numbers here a bit because I know that come draft night some GMs just do dumb things and Anthony Bennett goes #1. I am building in for a level of uncertainty from the Kings and Hornets - and that's enough uncertainty to have Mario who some people should go 6th, to fall down to 10th. Again, he has the talent to be a Top 5 guy depending on what happens between now and the draft night, but I think NBA GMs make as many mistakes as fans do. Pat Riley will gladly take Mario here, and keep him right at home in Miami. Miami has a very similar climate to Croatia (why did you think Sasha Danilovic loved it so much there?) and already has two Euros on it with Goran Dragic and Zoran Dragic (both on the books for next season). The Heat need floor spacers who can be secondary ball handlers while guys like Dwyane Wade and Luol Deng take the ball inside. I can imagine Hezonja cutting with ease and getting the ball from Josh McRoberts against bench units and overall looking a whole lot better than he actually is. Mario is kind of a wild card, he didn't like getting Corb'd by his head coach at FC Barcelona last season. Will he get along well with Erik Spoelstra? Will he accept being low on the pecking order again because Miami has some legit stars? These are questions that I'd love to see get asked over the next year. I love the idea of Miami getting him, this is totally a solid fit for him. But I do think that other teams will jump on the chance to take him first (again, on paper), like the Detroit Pistons - though I could easily see him and SVG not getting along at all. As an aside, Hezonja going to Miami, loving it there, ends up being a factor in the Utah Jazz trading the draft rights to Ante Tomic (his Croatian team mate at FC Barca) to the Heat for a 2020 2nd rounder.