Entering second season, Justise Winslow wants to grow as a leader for Heat
PARADISE ISLAND, Bahamas (AP) -- Justise Winslow's position with the Miami Heat has finally been clarified.
He's their small forward.
That is, unless he's playing power forward.
Or shooting guard. Or defending the opposition's point guard. Or playing at center, as he did at times out of necessity in last season's Eastern Conference semifinal series against Toronto.
In Heat vernacular, the second-year player out of Duke is a Swiss Army knife, a jack-of-all-trades whose role is fast increasing. Not only will Winslow be called upon to play multiple positions, he's also being asked to take more of a leadership role now for a team that -- without Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh -- is rebuilding on the fly this season.
"That's what I want," Winslow said Wednesday. "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. And I accept whatever the coaching staff throws at me."
Winslow was one of the last players to leave the court after Wednesday's morning practice, a full-contact session that had players diving on floors and crashing into one another throughout. And after it was over, Winslow spent a good half-hour working on his shot.
The oldest Heat player is taking notice of the extra work the youngest Heat player is doing.
"He's going to play a little bit of everything," said 36-year-old Heat forward Udonis Haslem. "Just be Justise Winslow. Be that Swiss Army knife we need. One night it might be 10 rebounds. Another night it might be seven assists. Another night it might be 15 to 20 points. Just be Justise Winslow. He has the ability to do all those things and he has a high-enough basketball IQ where he knows when he needs to be aggressive, make plays and do other things."
Winslow, who would be going into his junior year at Duke if he wasn't in the NBA right now, isn't just Miami's youngest player -- he holds that distinction by a lot.
He's 20; next on the Heat age lists are 23-year-olds Briante Weber, Stefan Jankovic and Josh Richardson.
"He was quiet," Haslem said. "But he fit in right away."
Winslow was the fifth-youngest player to get time in the NBA last season, older than only Tyus Jones, Stanley Johnson, Rashad Vaughn and Devin Booker. And more than half of the 60 players to get taken in this year's draft are older than Winslow as well.
"He doesn't have to listen to anybody else's expectations," Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. "There's so many things out there about who he needs to be or what position he needs to play, how many more points a game he has to score this year. He's going to get more minutes, more responsibilities. I want him to embrace that in a healthy way and not try to live up to anything coming from the outside."
That doesn't mean there aren't things Winslow wants to emulate.
Wade's departure over the summer hit Winslow hard. They bonded quickly, forged by Wade realizing that Winslow was willing to learn anything and everything he could from the three-time NBA champion wanted to teach. Winslow would spend time chatting up Bosh about nuances of the big-man game; their lockers were side-by-side last season.
And this summer, Winslow was part of the group invited by USA Basketball the U.S. Olympic team and help them prepare for what became a gold medal at the Rio Games.
"Seeing all those guys come together and not really care about stats before the gold medal, that's the kind of mindset we have to have as a team," Winslow said.
