Winslow helping McGruder deal with injury rehab
MIAMI – Justise Winslow experienced the opposite, missing the second half of last season. Now the second-year Miami Heat forward counts himself among Rodney McGruder’s support group, with McGruder to miss at least the first half of this season with a a stress fracture of his left tibia.
“It’s tough, because especially the path I’ve had. I know what he’s going to go through, so I can empathize with him,” Winslow said, with McGruder’s timetable expected to come into focus following Tuesday’s scheduled surgery.
Winslow missed the second half of last season following shoulder surgery. He said the gut punch comes with the reality that the recovery timetable is months, not weeks.
“It can be emotional,” Winslow said, “but once it kind of kicks in, it takes some days, maybe a week or so, you get that mentality that it is what it is and you try to make the most of it.”
Winslow said being sidelined so early in an NBA career, with McGruder in his second season, means separation anxiety at a stage when you’re just connecting with the lifestyle of the league.
“Personally,” Winslow said, “I’m going to try to keep him as involved as possible. I know sometimes it can be lonely, you kind of feel left out. I’m going to do what whatever it takes to help him still feel a part of the team.
“I mean, I know he is, but it’s tough when you’re on the sideline or you’re not traveling. I know the feeling, so I want to do Justise Winslow, above, speaking about injured Rodney McGruder
my part as a teammate to keep that bond there for Rodney.”
McGruder’s scheduled surgery is one day before the Heat open their regular season Wednesday at the Amway Center against the Orlando Magic.
“The mentality has always been next guys up,” said Winslow, whose early projection of more time this season at power forward could now have him returning to minutes at small forward. “It’s not going to be one guy making up for all his efforts,” he said. “So it’s going to take us as a collective, as a unit, really everyone steps up a little bit and pick up that part of Rodney that we’re going miss.”
Josh Richardson, like Winslow a 2015 draft pick, said he appreciates that it will be difficult to replace McGruder’s intangibles.
“It’s hard to find a guy who does all the dirty work, but still can make the open shot, still can distribute when he gets to the bucket, can still defend,” Richardson said.
Richardson, who was given the night off for Friday’s 119-95 exhibition loss to the Philadelphia 76ers in Kansas City, finished the preseason at point guard but has plenty of experience at small forward.
“I’ve played small forward in the preseason, anyway,” he said. “I played most of my minutes at small forward last year, so it’s nothing new.”
As for mirroring McGruder’s defensive grit, Richardson said, “That’s how I’m built anyways. So that’s nothing new. That’s how we all do it. We’re all bulldogs. That’s how we’re built.”
The Heat’s other injury concern is the strained left shoulder that kept second-year forward Okaro White out of Friday’s game.
“Right now it’s just day-to-day, treatment,” White said. “It’s feeling good throughout the day. Just when I wake up, I guess from sleeping and laying in one position so long, it’s a little stiff.”
White was injured during the first half of Wednesday’s preseason victory over the Washington Wizards.