Miami Heat: What’s been going on with James Johnson?

Miami Heat forward James Johnson has been struggling lately.

Miami Heat fans have seemingly been split on James Johnson, ever since he signed his first one-year deal with the team, in July of 2016.

A divide that only grew more apparent, once the organization re-signed him to a four-year, $60 contract, this past summer. Now made even worse, due to the forward so far having a mostly lackluster season.

Finishing with career-highs across the board in 2016-17, the 30-year-old averaged 12.8 points, 4.9 rebounds, 3.6 assists, 1.1 blocks and 1.0 steal a game. He shot 47.9 percent from the field, and 34.0 percent from downtown, coming off the bench in all but five matchups. And saw time in 27.8 minutes per contest.

All that on top of majorly buying into the franchise’s culture and yet, not all of Heat Nation was impressed.

Still, many were glad to see president Pat Riley bring the Wyoming-native back last July. He had heavily contributed to the team’s 30-11 run, was still making changes to his lifestyle to improve himself physically, and made it known he continued to be fully committed to building Miami back up again.

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But fast forward to 53 games deep into the 2017-18 season and his supporters are merely left with hope that he will soon get back to playing the same level of basketball, he had last year. Because although averaging 10.2 points, 5.0 rebounds and 4.0 assists a matchup doesn’t actually seem like a problem, it’s more so his inconsistency.

Which according to Johnson, is due to having to adjust to a new role.

"“I’m buying in. That’s the only way I can describe it. I’m buying in to what our offense needs and to what Coach Spo wants out of me. I think that’s the hardest thing in the NBA, accepting your role and trying to be the best at it.”"

In other words, he isn’t giving up. So neither should fans, on him.

The main difference for the forward this season, is seeing more minutes as a starter. Mostly because of injuries to guys like Rodney McGruder and Hassan Whiteside. Which of course, has caused him separation from Tyler Johnson, a guy who he very successfully used to run the second unit with.

However, Johnson has also had to get used to moving the ball more. While there are still opportunities for him to create looks for himself, Spoelstra wants him to focus more on indirectly involving himself in the offense.

"“…you might not touch the ball for three or four possessions and you’re playing defense and then you finally touch it. But it’s not your turn to shoot. That’s your time to get us into the second situation or try to move [the ball] from the strong side to the weak side…”"

Neither Spoelstra nor teammates like Goran Dragic are worried about his ability to evolve into a more well-rounded player. All it will take is hard work and dedication from Johnson, something that’s already very much there. And time.

The good news is, Johnson has already shown signs of improvement. In Saturday’s game against the Detroit Pistons, he finished with 18 points, five rebounds, seven assists and two steals in 29 minutes.

Next: Should the Miami Heat stay committed to Hassan Whiteside?

Miami Heat fans may never agree on everything, but they should have patience when it comes to James Johnson.