All U Can Heat
Fansided

Miami Heat 1-on-1: The team’s biggest concerns of 2018-19

By Allana Tachauer

MIAMI, FL - FEBRUARY 27: Hassan Whiteside
MIAMI, FL - FEBRUARY 27: Hassan Whiteside /
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
3 of 4
Next
MIAMI, FL – APRIL 11: Tyler Johnson #8 of the Miami Heat looks on against the Toronto Raptors during the first half at American Airlines Arena on April 11, 2018 in Miami, Florida. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images)
MIAMI, FL – APRIL 11: Tyler Johnson #8 of the Miami Heat looks on against the Toronto Raptors during the first half at American Airlines Arena on April 11, 2018 in Miami, Florida. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images) /

Is there any scenario in which you believe Tyler Johnson is worth holding onto?

Tachauer: People are so fixated on Tyler Johnson’s contract that its hard to imagine a world in which there aren’t complaints about his contribution. I personally try not to take players’ finances into consideration when judging their body of work. So for me, thinking about Johnson’s future in Miami is completely separate from what he’s owed. I think Johnson’s biggest problem moving forward is going to be figuring out what hat to wear. Between guys like Bam Adebayo and Kelly Olynyk joining the team, and the abundance of injuries, head coach Erik Spoelstra had some issues defining everyone’s roles last year. Therefore, Johnson went from basically a Sixth Man of the Year candidate in 2016-17 (yes, I still think he was snubbed), to having to be a jack-of-all-trades for the Heat this past season, ultimately leading to confusion. In order for him to be successful, Johnson has to get back to doing what he’s best at: shooting 3’s and locking down the opposition on the other end.

Johnson: The biggest problem with Johnson is that he got his huge deal on a team with no real direction. Had Johnson been paid by the Brooklyn Nets as could have been the case in his restricted free agency in 2016, he’d very likely be posting respectable averages considering the injuries Brooklyn faced with Jeremy Lin and D’Angelo Russell. But on Miami, Johnson is a victim of not having a perfectly solidified role. Is he a primary scorer when he’s on the court? A pick-and-roll man? A secondary point guard? Johnson never got in a groove because the Heat never found exactly what it is they excel at last season. Unless Miami has some great plan to shed all of their long-term salaries and completely rebuild, Johnson is no more at fault than Whiteside, James Johnson, Goran Dragic or anyone else not named Wayne Ellington (he was underpaid in my book). Miami bought into this team through the start of the next decade. If they didn’t have a plan for Tyler Johnson, they shouldn’t have given him the checkbook.

Home/Heat News