Some day soon, Justise Winslow could very well be one of the ten best defensive players in the league. Even that might be selling him a little short considering how well he performed in an All-Rookie Second Team campaign which saw Erik Spoelstra regularly trust Winslow with the toughest assignments on the floor.
That much we can be sure of. Winslow’s defense, so good already, is as close to a veritable certainty as you can get.
It’s the other end of the floor where he reveals himself to be a truly fascinating prospect.
Efficiency came and went for Winslow in his first go-round. With Spoelstra plugging him in at every position on the floor – including starting at center against the Toronto Raptors in the Second Round – Winslow got looks in a variety of situations. Whether he was running a pick-and-roll, setting the screen or cutting baseline off ball actions, there were always flashes of something more than the 42.2 percent shooter he was. With a deft pass here, a strong finish there or a burst of corner threes during a game-changing run, Winslow dropped hints. Yet there was never cause to do too much digging with so many veteran playmakers on last year’s team.
That’s what Summer League is for.
The first thing you’re probably wondering is, after a season of 27.6 percent shooting from deep and 34.6 percent from mid-range, how does the jumper look? So far, so good.
While some good chances haven’t fallen, Winslow’s form appears much more fluid these days. A year ago at this time, Winslow had a hitch at the top of his jumper, his hand would shoot from the side of the ball and his feet were inconsistent and off balance. Now, he’s bouncing into shots and shooting in one motion, all with consistent follow-through.
Sure, he’s missed some shots. But they feel good, he says.
“We made some changes after the season,” Winslow said of his form. “Now it’s in a good place. It’s just about shooting it the same way every time and getting more consistent. I really like where it is right now. It only gets sharper, it only gets smoother.”
While the improvements to his spot-up shooting are encouraging, they’re also expected. One of the most sought after types of players these days are the 3-and-D wings. More and more, shooting off the catch is becoming a requirement.
Where players eventually separate themselves if they’re going to reach the elite tiers is in their ability to create shots off the dribble. And that’s where Winslow has been even more encouraging, albeit in two games against Summer League competition. The improvements to his jumper are carrying over to his creation game.
“That was a lot of my game in High School and College, off the dribble,” Winslow said. “So just being able to incorporate that perimeter jumper, especially off the dribble, in a lot of pick-and-rolls – especially during the season when [defenses] start going under. Just being able to pull-up off the dribble is something I’ve been working on. I feel confident.”
The extension from those dribble jumpers, skill-wise, is that Winslow’s handle has been good enough to let him get to them – and create the space necessary.
Winslow’s dribbling has always been encouraging because of how comfortable he seems to be with the ball. He’s rarely rushed when facing up a defender and has shown change-of-speed moves that remind you of some of the league’s elite scorers.
The issue, however, has been translating those moves from Summer League to NBA competition where the arms are long and the help is ready. For as mature and patient a game as Winslow always seems to have, the one place he sometimes speeds up too much is at the rim.
“I just have to do a better job finishing at the rim,” Winslow said after facing Orlando’s Blue Team. “Missed some easy floaters and contested layups. I like the shots I took. I didn’t take any real bad shots. Just have to be more efficient, I guess, but they were good looks.”
Of course, Winslow did start Summer League off with two and-one finishes at the rim and his 57 percent shooting at the rim last season was perfectly reasonable for a 19-year old. Learning how to navigate the paint is part of every young player’s education.
This is all fairly standard work for a young wing so far. Shooting. Dribbling. Finishing. The usual stuff. What makes Winslow’s development particularly interesting is in addition to all this perimeter work, Winslow is also being asked to work on his big-man skills as Miami seeks to maximize his positional versatility.
“This year, he’s the guy doing a lot of the screening,” Summer League coach Juwan Howard said. “ And, more importantly, I want him to have the opportunity to have the short roll.”
By that Howard means the HEAT are putting Winslow, as a screen-setter, in position to make plays in the middle of the floor. If you’re familiar with how Draymond Green is always setting up Golden State shooters on the move after a Stephen Curry pass, that’s the idea here.
“I’m trying to work so much on pick-and-rolls with [Josh Richardson], the short roll and all that. Sometimes I’m not being as instinctive,” Winslow said.
While there haven’t been many strong examples of those short-roll passes so far, Miami has clearly seen what Winslow showed in spurts last season with regards to court vision. Every so often, Winslow would bullet a cross-court pass to an open shooter in the corner or weave a bouncer to a cutter. Against Orlando, Winslow brought the ball into the post, waited for the double team and found the open lane on the opposite wing for a hockey assist.
“He’s a very good playmaker, something we hadn’t seen a lot of last year, but in certain sets he was able to make plays because he had the ball in his hands,” Howard said.
The ‘It’s only Summer League’ caveat applies to everything, of course. But that’s why we aren’t talking about wins or losses or even specific matchups. For players like Winslow, it’s a time for skill development – and that’s clearly what he’s focused on.
Whether he develops into a high-level wing scorer, a shooter or a small-ball creator, we won’t find out for a few years much less by the time this coming season begins. But the HEAT aren’t trying to pigeonhole him this early in his career. With a player of this much talent it’s never about one thing. It’s about everything.