Justise Winslow’s Time Has Come Faster Than Anyone Could Have Predicted

MIAMI — Justise Winslow, gearing down after his final preseason tuneup, scans the Miami Heat locker room as his eyes and mind marry the franchise’s present to its past.

There’s Beno Udrih squatting at Dwyane Wade’s old locker, a space the 34-year-old won’t hold through the weekend roster cuts. Wayne Ellington discusses his quad contusion in front of Luol Deng’s former dwelling. James Johnson gets dressed where Joe Johnson did five months ago. Chris Bosh’s locker, just to the right of Winslow’s, sits empty as it has throughout the exhibition season.

“With those guys gone,” Winslow tells Bleacher Report, “I think other than maybe Goran [Dragic], Hassan [Whiteside], UD [Udonis Haslem], I think I have the most minutes as a Heat player overall.”

The 20-year-old sophomore is right. Roughly 17 months removed from being the 10th overall pick of the 2015 NBA draft, Winslow is already the fourth-longest-tenured player on the roster.

And the one tasked with putting this organization back on the basketball map.

“Guys have been telling me it’s my turn to step up and grow and fill that void,” Winslow says.

There’s so much confidence behind those words that it’s easy to forget his career is moving at ludicrous speed. In 2014, he was guiding Houston’s St. John’s School to a state championship. Two years later, he’s a budding NBA franchise face.

But rather than pump the brakes for a quick reality check, he’d prefer acceleration.

“That’s what I want,” he said. “That’s what I’ve been working for my whole life—to make it to the NBA. Not only that but to be a star and have my own team one day. This is the next step in me progressing and getting there, expanding my role and growing as a leader.”

His aim is as ambitious as it gets, though far from guaranteed to come to fruition.

He wasn’t a top-10 scorer in his rookie class (6.4 points per game, 13th) or even the most potent freshman on the Heat (Josh Richardson, 6.6). Winslow’s 8.4 player efficiency rating—plagued by a jumper that rarely found its mark—ranked dead last among the 117 players to log at least 2,000 minutes. He was even a healthy scratch during one of Miami’s playoff games.

But all of that was true, and the Heat still fared 2.9 points better per 100 possessions with Winslow last season. And head coach Erik Spoelstra has always maintained that if you judge Winslow by box scores alone, you’re shortchanging his importance.

“He understands that there are many different ways to impact a game and winning,” Spoelstra said. “That’s what I really like about Justise. He does it on both ends of the court. He does the small things. He does the little things that no one wants to do.”

Winslow defended all five positions as a rookie. He didn’t have the scoring opportunities of a typical lottery pick, because he played alongside two future Hall of Famers on a 48-win team. So he made himself a malleable weapon, crashing the glass one night, setting the table another, slashing and scoring the next.

What he lacks in perimeter proficiency—an area that received the lion’s share of his offseason attention—he’s compensated for with glue-guy skills. The hope is that he can add outside shooting and reliable scoring to his arsenal, creating the same kind of two-way package seen in the likes of Paul George, Kawhi Leonard and Jimmy Butler—models commonly referenced for Winslow, which he uses himself.

“All their growth processes were different, but they’ve all become great scorers,” Winslow told Bleacher Report. “It’s cool to see guys that are similar to you or have kind of taken similar paths and seeing that work out. It gives you confidence to stick with it and know that you can get to that level, …

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