You Can't Cook Without Heat

"He couldn't crack the starting lineup of a college team..."

Cook has a "weak work ethic and a massive ego."

"Cook unlikely to help Heat find the right path."

Welcome to Miami, Daequan. Apparently, you have a lot of work to do. And you have a lot to answer for.

Pretty much across the board, no one in the media likes this pick. Or are they really hiding how they truly feel?

To be fair, when the Heat draft a talent like Jason Smith, a talent with an indistinctive name from a virtually unknown basketball conference, and then trade that pick down one slot for a different player, some cash and a 2nd round pick in 2009, people are just going to be downright confused.

But are the Heat?

"Do we have a specific plan? Yeah," Pfund said. "You try to draw those lines [on draft prospects] and make decisions, and then we try to never tell you guys where the lines were drawn. Because, a lot of times, you end up having to do things that were not exactly what you wanted to do."

Huh?

Did the Heat really want Cook, but figured they would draft Smith as the best athlete available and trade him to someone who wanted him? Or did they just not care and take whatever was the best deal that came along? Because Javaris Crittenton was drafted in front of the Heat's 20th pick by the Lakers, we will never really know the true intentions behind the Heat's move.

Yet let's not focus on that but instead look at Daequan Cook.

As a 6'5" freshman shooting guard, on the runner-up team in the NCAA tourny this season, there is a lot of potential that is untapped. Cook's ceiling is pretty high, after all he was a McDonald's All American with Greg Oden and Mike Conley, his fellow OSU teammates now turned millionaires. Then again, so was Kevin Durant, Thaddeus Young and Javaris Crittenton - that shows what kind of grade of basketball athlete Cook is. Crittenton and Cook are the last of that list to get drafted.

But why?

1. This draft is deep, deep, deep. Loaded with freshman talents that all came out at the same time, there was bound to be some players that fell down the draft.

2. Concerns over Cooks second half of play at OSU and the fact that he wasn't a starter on that squad to begin with.

Yet the guy is only 20 years old. He had one season of college and was on the second best team in the country, and a part of one of the best incoming freshman classes of all-time.

Should the Heat expect an immediate return on Cook? No. Could it happen? Yes.

First of all, dispense with the notion that a position title defines a player - in today's NBA it just doesn't. Teams want to find players that are athletic and versatile. With the NBA's new rules which favor perimeter players in this league, there is a quicker return on investment for building around a perimeter based offense.

Cook has the skills necessary to excel in the NBA: he has a great midrange shot, can stick the three and is athletic and explosive enough to drive past his defender and finish strong at the rim with contact. If Rodney Stuckey can get the label as a "poor man's Dwyane Wade", then I see no reason to not gauge Cook to have a similar impact. Put Cook at Eastern Washington and how well do you think he plays in the Big Sky conference?

Yet on the Heat, he will not have to be Dwyane Wade - just his accomplice. With Wade running the offense and dominating the ball - and being the team's best player and its best playmaker - there is little reason to really focus on finding a point guard. If the Heat were to get a PG, ideally it would be one that would hit open shots and play without the ball - now, does that sound like a real point guard?

Cook had an inconsistent Orlando performance, sure, but that camp is composed of 5 minute runs and usually everyone is focused on displaying their own individual skills and are not concerned with playing smart and effective basketball bent on winning. That means some players are going to amass a lot of mistakes, but they could also display some headiness and adjust. After all, it is a free for all - and Cook was able to turn some heads with a 22 point explosion at the end of the camp.

Adjustments were made, and interest was restored.

Kind of like being on a team with Greg Oden and Mike Conley, Jr - who both share the same agent, Mike Conley, Sr - there is bound to be some hiccups. Cook may have had an inconsistent season because of personal agendae as individual players were more concerned with showcasing their skills; then again the rumor is that OSU had a team-first constitution. More marketing?

And yes, Cook's ego seems huge. He doesn't lack confidence and will take the big shot and will find the big shot for himself. Every great player has a sense of overvalued ego, isn't that right Michael or Kobe?

Now, I am not saying that Cook is going to be the next great NBA player; but in fact he doesn't need to be. There already are two of the greatest players in the league on his new team, the Miami Heat. All Cook has to do is find the crease, find enough space to shoot his deadly midrange jumpers or pop off some three point shots - which he did at 42% for the Buckeyes this past season.

And you thought Oden created space? Wait 'til you meet Shaq, Daequan.

Oh wait, you already did, you say?

It's true - Shaq personally spent the entire day with Cook when he came in on Sunday to work out for the Heat. That must count for something, right?

So, as big as Cook's ego may be, it will be dwarfed in comparison to Shaq's and it will be humbled by the things Dwyane Wade does each day. There will be good influences all around him, and he will get some of the best coaching in the league. The only question is, is he hungry enough to prove himself and fight and scrap to be the best? Does he have what it takes internally to excel in the NBA?

Because that is what the Heat were missing most of all last season - hunger.

He has the physical skills and he has a healthy dose of ego to push himself and expect to be competitive - and to win. Playing alongside Dwyane Wade, he may not prove to be the greatest guard selected in this draft - but he won't have to be.

If Cook can hit his shots he will get his share of playing time. After all, it has been mentioned several times by several different beat writers that Dorell Wright's mysterious cameo appearance tonight was precisely an illustration of this - it was about how hard one needs to work to get into the starting lineup, and how one has to be consistent in hitting shots to stay there. It was inferred by Wright that because of his lack of consistency shooting the ball that he was taken out of the rotation.

If anything, Cook is ready to shoot the ball and he has something to prove. The Heat are taking a bit of a risk, but it really isn't all that much of a risk given Cook's talent and experience as a player at such a young age.

I think this pick is going to work out. It may not be immediately clear at this time, and I even question if the Heat has a plan here or if they are just flying by the seat of their pants. Daequan Cook's talent is there, the only real question is will he work hard enough to maximize it? If so, the Heat may have stolen a big talent out of this draft. If not, they waisted the pick.

But what else can you expect drafting at the 20 spot? Even in a draft as deep as this, there is going to be some doubts in the later first round. Yet with Cook, I find very little to question.