Max Marshall (@maxmarshall136)
Among Heat Twitter and apparently many other places this year, the question remains the same. Should James Johnson and Dion Waiters get minutes?
My answer is “yes” for Johnson, but “no” for Waiters. This season so far has been riddled by injuries, while Johnson and Waiters have both been suspended at points due to not living up to Heat Culture requirements.
But now that Miami is finally fully healthy, getting playing time will be earned, not given. The question here though is still “should Johnson and Waiters get minutes”?
If it were up to me, I would go with Johnson, as he’s more versatile and fits Miami’s ball movement type of playing style. The goal this year is to save Jimmy Butler’s minutes for the postseason and Johnson can help Miami in that aspect.
Johnson can help bring the ball up and guard the best perimeter player on the opposing team. Johnson is big, quick, and strong enough to guard some centers if Meyers Leonard is in foul trouble and if Miami doesn’t want to risk Bam Adebayo foul trouble either.
I don’t think Johnson should play every game, but if Miami is lacking that certain type of energy, Johnson is the guy I would go with. The problem with Waiters is that Miami has too many guards and Waiters likes to pound the rock, while the Miami Heat ball moving offense is also something that Waiters isn’t used too.
I’m not saying that Waiters can’t make the adjustments to that playing style, but Miami has been good without him thus far. My point here is that It would be hard for Coach Spoelstra to give Waiters minutes when the team hasn’t needed him this year. That’s why I would go thumbs up on James Johnson minutes, but not so much on Dion Waiters.