Winslow ready to shake off struggles
Forward utilizing his work ethic to help come back from injury.
BOCA RATON — Justise Winslow reached the age to legally consume alcohol in March. He should be in his senior year of college.
Yet, the Heat forward did not feel youth was on his side during the past year.
“I feel young again,” he said Monday at Heat media day. “I feel great. I feel how a 21-year- old should feel.”
In other words, a 21-year-old shouldn’t be dealing with an assortment on injuries that limit him to 18 games of an NBA season. He shouldn’t have to feel pain in his wrist each time he takes a jump shot or have his season end in January because of a shoulder that needed to be surgically repaired.
But that sums up Winslow’s lost second season since joining the Heat in 2015 as the 10th overall pick. Winslow has ground to make up. He started that process this summer and plans to continue through training camp and the preseason.
Winslow participated in his first practice in nine months when camp opened this week. He arrived lighter, having dropped 10 to 15 pounds from his 6-foot-7 frame (he weighs around 220), healthy and confident that those expectations placed upon him after just one season at Duke will be reached.
“I feel like all the work I put in this summer is going to pay off and I’m going to start building to being the player that I truly see myself as and the player I
know I’m capable of being,” Winslow said. “The guy that’s capable of being the best two-way player on the court.
“I want to be an All-Star this year. I want to make it happen, I’m not going to sell myself short.”
Winslow arrived with high expectations considering his profile and the fact he was projected to go higher than No. 10 in the draft. But the shine came off in a rookie season in which, though proving his versatility is NBA-worthy, Winslow struggled with his outside shot.
Then came the shortened second season. Even when Winslow was on the court, he looked out of sync, much having to do with playing through an early season wrist injury.
Winslow calls his shooting his only “flaw.” He cites his ball-handling, passing, defense and rebounding as areas that get overlooked because of his shooting struggles.
“Once that minor detail gets settled, I think we’re going to have a really fun ride,” he says.
And yet, he understands the criticism comes with the territory.
“I’ve been hear i ng it since high school being a top recruit,” he said. “I know I’m young, I know I have time to grow. I want to start getting after it right now. I’m chasing something, that’s where my head is, I’m chasing the greats. It’s going to be a process, but I truly have the potential, I have the IQ for the game, I have the maturity to really go out and chase greatness. That’s what I want to do.
“I hear it all. I don’t see it all. I don’t go looking for it, but I hear it.”
Heat President Pat Riley praised Winslow for the work he’s put in since the surgery. “One of the hardest workers we’ve ever seen coming back from surgery,” Riley said.
Coach Erik Spoelstra believes that work allowed Winslow to jump seamlessly into training camp despite the layoff.
“That was important for him to get those live reps, but you would never be able to tell by his aggressiveness that he brought to this practice that he was coming off any kind of injury anywhere on his body,” Spoelstra said Tuesday. “People felt his presence.”
The small forward position was Winslow’s to lose a year ago. Now, Spoelstra could go in several directions with a roster loaded with wings. Rodney McGruder not only surprised everyone by making the team last season, he then started 65 games at small forward. Add Josh Richardson to the competition this year.
“We’ve got guys diving on top of other guys,” Winslow said. “Five-on-0 is friendly. Once you start competing — especially against each other — there’s nothing friendly about it.”