With Josh Richardson’s latest dive into the point guard position, the Miami Heat continue to embrace a revolving-door policy of player development.
Despite what Head Coach Erik Spoelstra, the Miami Heat and the last five box scores want you to believe, Josh Richardson isn’t a point guard.
Since Sunday, March 17, Richardson has slotted in as the Heat’s starting point guard. Usually, Justise Winslow or Goran Dragic has the honor, but with the former absent due to a right thigh bruise and the latter working his way back from right knee surgery, Richardson has been Miami’s man of the hour.
And growing pains be damned. In the five games with Richardson as the de facto point man, Miami is 4-1 and inching ever closer to a return to the NBA playoffs. Though outright tanking is out of the question, conventional knowledge would suggest that without Winslow or a 100 percent healthy Dragic, the Miami Heat would evaporate out of the Eastern Conference playoff race.
Yet here they are, a game a head of the ninth-place Orlando Magic and nestling into the eight seed for the long haul. And all of this with Richardson at the helm.
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In the last five games, Richardson has tallied at least four assists and a steal each night. Called upon to temporarily fill Winslow’s shoes, the off-ball savant has conjured up a convincing caricature of a point guard.
This might mark one of Richardson’s most consistent forays into a new position, but Miami has been fighting a cookie cutter approach to its roster all season long.
In the name of team chemistry, Spoelstra has made bold moves throughout the year. Two-way player Duncan Robinson started and played 22 minutes in a February game against the Phoenix Suns. Kelly Olynyk has steadily replaced point forward James Johnson at the top of games. And, intriguingly, Spoelstra benched Hassan Whiteside, who is making over $20 million per year as Miami’s highest-paid player, in favor of the fresh-faced Bam Adebayo.
On paper none of these moves really make sense. James Johnson, sports hernia troubles aside, is the quintessential example of a forward-guard combo. His reputation for attacking the rim drives defenses to force him towards the sidelines, where he can find Miami’s cutters and shooters for easy looks.
Similarly, sidelining a perfectly healthy Whiteside seems counter-intuitive, especially considering the meltdowns, outbursts and Snapchat videos from seasons past.
Still, Spoelstra presses on with his unconventional choices all of which cycle back into Miami’s long running theme of responsibility.
Like the team’s collective anti-tanking policy, Miami imbues its players with a sense of responsibility to one another. The same reason why Udonis Haslem sits idly in a cut-off Heat shirt despite being in game shape is the same reason why Richardson has filled in at point seamlessly or Adebayo has transitioned into playing big first quarter minutes.
Miami combats its maladies—poor free-throw shooting, abysmal third quarters—with a policy that keeps the team’s pieces moving in concert.
Spoelstra acknowledged as much after Miami’s 113-108 win over the Washington Wizards.
"“About 10 days ago Bam was working with the other bigs and there wasn’t another guard, so he had to be the one making all the passes,” Spoelstra said. “And it’s all part of his development.”"
For all the flack Miami catches about having too many position-less players, the Final Fantasy X International approach to development, which involves rounding out characters to suit the holistic needs of the team, rather than steadily grinding away at each members’ strong points.
Still lacking that pure, superstar talent that drives most franchises, Miami remains competitive with its devotion to development. The Heat might be NBA Finals contenders, but they are keeping their skills sharp for whenever that time comes.