A: Same as last season: It is Top 10 protected in the upcoming lottery, and goes to the 76ers automatically if the Heat make the playoffs. So the Heat lose the pick if they don't exit the 2016 lottery with one of the first 10 selections, should they again not make the playoffs. But this also is the time to stop playing the waiting game, for one simple reason: The pick otherwise goes to the 76ers completely unprotected in 2017 if not conveyed by then. So if you think the Heat played with fire last year, when a one-spot drop in the lottery from their No. 10 seed would have cost the Heat their 2015 first-round pick, consider that if it is not conveyed this June then there will be absolutely no protection in 2017. Yes, it could be the No. 1 overall pick. Or No. 2. Or No. 3. If only by lottery luck (or un-luck), And yes, this is one of the picks the Heat conveyed to the Cavaliers in 2010 for the right to sign LeBron James to a long-term contract, a long-term contract that James opted out of with the Heat. What the Heat have to do is make any such concern moot, avoid a woe-is-we capitulation. This very much has to be one of Erik Spoelstra's finest motivational moment.