Miami Heat 1-on-1: What’s next for James Johnson?

And what do you expect from him, moving forward?

Johnson: Johnson should keep taking inspiration from Udonis Haslem. At the start of last season James Johnson was promoted to Heat captain, which Spoelstra deemed incredibly important. “JJ was one the most special things that I’ve been a part of in my coaching career,” Spoelstra said last October, “To people on the outside it might have been surprising but when we actually named him captain it was a no-brainer.” Even when Johnson’s shots aren’t falling, or he can’t find a good defensive matchup, he is still incredibly important to Miami’s success. In the same way that Haslem made sure everyone was held accountable for Miami’s progress, Johnson needs to be his successor in that regard. The Heat are a tight-knit organization, so keeping the organization’s head on straight can be more impactful than any box score contributions. Otherwise, posterize some more people next season. Johnson utterly obliterated his share of uneducated defenders last year and exposing more defensive lightweights is always appreciated.

Ebrahim: I definitely expect him to finally get into a rhythm for the Heat. You have to realize that Johnson hasn’t played more than two seasons in a row on the same team before. Now whether that’s his fault or other factors playing into it is unknown, but seeing that it’s his third season playing for Miami, I can really see him finding his role and bringing that 12-5-5 to the Heat on a more consistent basis. Granted, I realize that he’s on the trading block, as is everyone with a big contract on the Heat. But assuming he’s still on the Heat as the year progresses, the Heat would do well to continue to feed off his mentality of being a complete grinder.

Only time will tell what’s next for No.16.