Miami Heat’s Justise Winslow has found his basketball Nirvana

By Brandon Johnson | Mar 11, 2018

MIAMI, FL - MARCH 8: Justise Winslow /

Miami Heat’s Justise Winslow is starting March off right, contributing in a myriad of ways to a playoff bound squad.

Justise Winslow is having one of the best stretches of games in his career.

In his third year with the Miami Heat, Winslow is drawing a watchful eye from fans and haters alike, for his steady play and subtle improvement.

Averaging 12.7 points, 6.8 rebounds 2.3 assists and 1.7 steals over the last six games, Winslow is starting to live up to his draft day comparisons to Kawhi Leonard and Jimmy Butler. Taken before Kelly Oubre Jr., Larry Nance Jr. and the illustrious Devin Booker with the 10^th pick in 2015, Winslow had lofty expectations ahead of him, especially after Booker blossomed into an already historically great scorer.

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It’s not that Winslow was a bad selection – at the time Miami had a 33-year-old Dwyane Wade and was trying to incorporate the newly acquired Goran Dragic and Hassan Whiteside into a winning formula. But after years of LeBron James leading Miami to the promise land, skeptics were apt in questioning where he fit into Miami’s future.

Shooting 41.8 percent from 3-point land in college for the Duke Blue Devils, it was quickly realized that Winslow wasn’t a shooter. That number plummeted to 27.6 percent in his rookie year, and was even worse in his shortened sophomore season hitting a career low 20 percent.

Winslow was playing like a spot-up shooter without a jumpshot.

Entering into the league on the cusp of the Golden State Warriors making the 3-ball look like fun, Miami was searching for its own answer to the new trend; in the season preceding Winslow’s arrival, Miami managed just 6.8 3’s per game, resulting in the fourth fewest points per game leaguewide with 94.7.

Miami then tried working Winslow in as a secondary playmaker, but he lacked the court vision to adeptly find his teammates. Then tragedy struck, as Winslow was sidelined for the remainder of the 2016-17 campaign with a torn labrum in his right shoulder. His chances to gel with the team were limited, leaving questions around his future contributions.

This season however (and more noticeably this month), Winslow’s renaissance has arrived in the form of a conscious effort to improve his offensive facilitation and decision making without his old habit of shot forcing.

The Miami Heat are a 3-point shooting team, evidenced by their 30.5 heaves per game. Not a particularly prolific 3-point scoring team, the Heat have had plenty of cold nights from beyond the arc.

Winslow’s choice to reduce his attempts from downtown allows him to focus on building an offensive toolkit that eclipses the average 3-and-D player, and improves Miami’s (at times questionable) shot chart.

Thus far, Winslow has attempted just 85 triples and is shooting 43.5 percent on them, a marked improvement from his 134 attempts in his rookie season. Instead, Winslow prioritizes getting defenders to respect his ability to drive and finish at the rim, leaving his teammates able to find their spots to knock down open shots.

Akin to his mentor Wade, Winslow has improved his knack for engaging defenders in the paint, opening opportunities for feeds to Whiteside or kickouts to shooters.

Boasting the team’s third highest net rating with him on the court, Winslow finding his groove with the Heat is fortuitous. His knack to run as a primary ballhandler has been useful amidst the struggles of point forward James Johnson.

With plenty of room to grow regarding the volume of his contributions, this iteration of Winslow is working well with Miami. His duties are still open to change, however, especially with Wade’s retirement on the horizon.

Next: A case for the Miami Heat being better without Hassan Whiteside

But for now, Miami is getting the exact version of Winslow they need.