How Kelly Olynyk will help the Miami Heat
By Simon Smith
After viewing the numbers, the Miami Heat’s surprise signing of free agent Kelly Olynyk could prove to be a masterstroke.
Having missed out on his Plan A in Gordon Hayward, Miami Heat team president Pat Riley has quickly moved to his other fall-back options.
First, guard Dion Waiters agreed to a four-year, $52 million contract. This was quite a reasonable deal for both sides considering the impact Waiters made, particularly during the Heat’s monster run in the second half of the season.
This was swiftly followed up by coming to terms with forward James Johnson on a four-year, $60 million contract. While these deals weren’t unexpected, Riley’s next move certainly was.
The signing of Kelly Olynyk to a four-year, $50 million deal, while seemingly from left-field, provides a tremendous amount of potency and flexibility for head coach Erik Spoelstra.
Free agent Kelly Olynyk has agreed to a four-year, $50M-plus deal with the Miami Heat, agent Greg Lawrence tells ESPN.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) July 6, 2017
Olynyk, 26, recently completed his fourth season with the Boston Celtics, having being chosen with the No. 13 pick in 2013 NBA Draft. In 75 games, Olynyk averaged 9.0 points, 4.8 rebounds and 2.0 assists in 20.5 minutes per game. This included solid shooting splits of .512/.354/.732.
Despite being a lottery pick, and seemingly entering his prime, Olynyk has started in just 36 of his 278 career games, including six games last season. It certainly didn’t help his cause last summer when the Celtics last summer added All-Star Al Horford to their frontcourt.
At 7-foot, and with the ability to hit the three-point shot, lining up alongside Johnson, and center Hassan Whiteside, is bound to cause some significant headaches for the opposition.
Seemingly with the backing of the Heat front office and coaching staff, Olynyk may be able to finally realize a consistent role in his new home town. In his four seasons in the league, Olynyk has never averaged more than 22.2 minutes for an entire season. Furthermore, his 13 starts in the 2014-15 season remain a career-high.
Therefore, considering the importance of the signing, here’s a breakdown of the Canadian native’s game.