A renaissance in Miami
Olynyk riding wave with white-hot Heat
It’s a weird role, as Kelly Olynyk admits.
Where veterans like Avery Bradley, Rajon Rondo and Evan Turner were the so-called old heads when Olynyk played his first NBA playoff game for the Celtics in 2015, he’s now one of those wizened types.
That Celtics team was summarily swept by Cleveland. Olynyk’s Miami team is shooting for a lot more in what is tracking as its first playoff appearance in two seasons.
As of last Thursday the Heat had the best home record in the NBA — the only team with only one home loss. Passion has returned to the house that D-Wade, LeBron and Shaq built, as the Celtics will find when they fly in during Super Bowl week for Tuesday’s game at American Airlines Arena.
“It’s definitely a good time to be a Miami Heat fan,” Olynyk said. “You have a lot of young guys playing and playing well, you have Jimmy (Butler), Bam (Adebayo has) been unbelievable, so you have a great core of guys who are young, getting better and learning and have a lot of years to come in this league.”
Beyond the irrepressible Butler, Olynyk, Goran Dragic and that eternal Miami fixture, Udonis Haslem, the Heat are all about promise.
Adebayo, Duncan Robinson and rookies Tyler Herro and
Kendrick Nunn have all taken on major roles and grown up in a nanosecond.
“I like that,” Olynyk said of having some knowledge to share with these youngsters. “To have that on your team is a huge thing. Anyone can help a team and that’s definitely one way you can help — mentoring, bringing young guys along, explaining what it’s like and what it’s gonna be like.”
The surprise is in where the Heat find themselves. Heading into the weekend they were second in the Eastern Conference only to league-leading Milwaukee and, they were, at least to the rest of the league, a surprise.
“We all thought we were going to be good — every team thinks they’re going to have a chance to be good if they take care of business,” said Olynyk. “But with the additions we made to our team last year you could see this group was coming together on and off the court. This is a group that works hard, plays for each other on both ends of the floor. We have a good group in terms of chemistry and works together really well.
“Sometimes you have a group of guys who are talented but don’t complement each other. We complement each other.”
Perhaps the most surprising of all is how quickly the Adebayo/Nunn/Herro/Robinson combination has fit in.
“I definitely think you would peg them as ahead of schedule,” said Olynyk. “You never know with young guys coming in — how it will translate. Sometimes it takes them a while to pick up the speed or the pace of the game, but one thing with our young guys is they can really shoot the ball, which helps them. You don’t forget how to shoot when you know how. That’s something that’s really helped.
“Honestly they’ve been thrust into roles where they had to come along quickly,” he said. “The team didn’t have time to just kind of bring them along slowly. They’ve been playing since the jump, contributing a lot every day and you can see them growing even more every single day. They’re way better now as NBA players than they were at the start of the season.”
Adebayo, the oldest of this group, is emerging as an AllStar quality big man. Herro, a shooter the Celtics were interested in right up until Pat Riley took him with the 13th pick — one before Danny Ainge was ready to pounce — is shooting 40.3% from three-point range and averaging a hefty 27.7 minutes per game. Robinson, the New Hampshire native who was a virtual unknown until he transferred from Williams College to Michigan, has gone from undrafted rookie to a starter in two seasons. He’s shooting 42.9% from downtown.
“I had a friend who used to play at UNH, and he said Duncan would come to pickup games at the university, but no one really knew about him,” said Olynyk. “I don’t think many people really knew about him, but it was one of those things where he could really shoot the ball, and that’s an elite skill.”
Olynyk’s own role, like that of Dragic and James Johnson, has led to the reserve unit, with match-ups often dictating his playing time. But with the Heat now harboring the legitimate hope of a deep playoff run, Olynyk knows from his Celtics experience that a lot changes in the post-season.
“Obviously it’s the NBA, up and down, and it’s different off the bench,” he said. “You never know what your role will be. It can change every night, month to month, week to week, even game to game. When you’re playing on a winning team you have to make sure you stay ready and make the most of it. Do whatever you can to help the team win.
“Depending on the opponent and what round of the series it is, in the post-season it’s a different game,” said
Olynyk. “You have to use different lineups, make adjustments. Everything changes in the post-season. I remember in Boston when we beat the Wizards, and then Game 3 in Chicago Gerald Green started and he hadn’t played in awhile, so you have to make changes and adjustments, and be ready to throw things at other teams that they may not be ready for.”
The beauty of Miami’s rise is that it has put the Heat on a parallel course with the Celtics. Olynyk would like nothing better than an extended trip to Boston in the post-season.
“That would be a lot of fun,” he said. “I’d definitely enjoy a playoff series in Boston again. Obviously in touch with the guys I played with — Jaylen (Brown) and Marcus (Smart), those guys. Especially the staff that I worked with.”