Johnson back, says ready to ‘earn my respect back’
MIAMI — James Johnson was back where he wanted to be, where he needed to be.
“It was Day 1 of earning my respect back,” the veteran Miami Heat forward said Friday after practice at AmericanAirlines Arena. “That’s the only emotion I had, is earn my respect back.”
Banished from the team on the Sept. 30 eve of training camp due to what the Heat deemed a failure to meet team conditioning standards, Johnson said he felt up to the challenge ahead, both mentally and physically, after being away for all of training camp and the first two of the Heat’s five exhibitions.
“It’s good to be back home,” he said. “I got exactly what I needed; I got exactly what I needed to hear. Hopefully I can put it all behind me after this.”
On Oct. 1, at the start of their training camp at Keiser University in West Palm Beach, the Heat issued a statement that morning that read, “The Miami Heat announced today that James Johnson will miss the beginning of camp because he fell short of our conditioning requirements. Once he fulfills and maintains those requirements, he will rejoin the team.” That day was Friday.
Johnson did not directly address his conditioning, other than he believed he had been working toward the team-mandated goals all along.
“It was your own standards compared to Miami Heat standards,” he said. “I wasn’t at Miami Heat standards.”
Now both sides agree he
“I don’t know how frustrated I was or was not,” he said of the time away from practices, even as he worked alongside teammates in the AmericanAirlines Arena weight room. “I stayed even-keeled through it all. The ups and downs of this game is something that I enjoy, something that I embrace. All you can do is grind and smile.”
Coach Erik Spoelstra said is where he does required. not expect a steep learning curve, even with the team’s offseason additions of Jimmy Butler, Meyers Leonard and Tyler Herro, among others.
“It’s good to have him back and hopefully everything is behind us now,” Spoelstra said. “It’s not a shock to him what our system is.”
Johnson said such adjustment typically goes into the regular season, anyway.
“As far as playing and plays-wise, I’m familiar with all the plays,” he said. “As far as playing with somebody as great as Jimmy Butler, you can’t pick that up in training camp. It’s going to be more than preseason games, to know where his strong points are and for him to know my strengths and weaknesses. That’s just going to come with trials and errors, being in the trenches for real.”
Johnson, 32, who has two seasons remaining on the four-year, $60 million contract he signed in 2017, including a player option for 2020-21, has dealt with conditioning issues since being limited by a sports hernia that required surgery in May 2018. He has been a Heat tri-captain the past two seasons, along with Udonis Haslem and Goran Dragic.
“Always great to have a friend back,” Haslem said. “I trusted JJ in his situation to do what he had to do.”
According to ESPN’s Bobby Marks, a former Brooklyn Nets executive, “Johnson has a $242K likely bonus in his contract for body fat % and weight requirement. Johnson has met the bonus in the previous two seasons.”
The Heat have long prioritized conditioning. In 2006, in the wake of the franchise’s first championship, Heat President Pat Riley, then also coach, banished forwards Antoine Walker and James Posey from the practice floor due to conditioning issues. The Heat’s focus on conditioning dates to Riley’s 1995 arrival and initial issues with point guard Tim Hardaway, who since has had his No. 10 retired by the franchise.
Whether Johnson will have a spot in a rotation boosted by the offseason addition of Butler remains in question.
Butler said he is intrigued
“It’s great to have that guy back,” he said. “He plays basketball the right way.” by the possibilities.