Justise Winslow had a rookie season in Miami, showing he could defend (as expected) and hinting at some promise on the offensive end. There’s a reason he made second team All-Rookie Team. He was able to get inside to get off his shots (57 percent of his attempts came within nine feet of the rim). It was enough to have Pat Riley say Winslow will be the starting three for the Heat this coming season.
But his jumper needed work. He shot in the low 30 percent range from the midrange and hit just 27.8 percent from three. Improving that jumper has been the focus of Winslow’s off-season work, reports Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald.“You will see a major difference; he can be a special player,” that person said.
Winslow declined to identify the shooting coach but said he is “pretty pleased” with the results and that he’s working on his jumper during the early mornings and late at night.
The coach has made mechanical changes to his stroke, Winslow said: “Just smoothing things out. I am pretty confident. I like the way it’s going.”
It’s the offseason, everybody says they lost/gained 10 pounds, improved their conditioning, and their jump shot got better — everyone says they focused on basketball, when half of them focused more on Call of Duty. We need to see the improvement in action to believe it.
But Winslow is a second-year player and should make a leap. His jumper needed work, but it wasn’t broken. If he has found his stroke, he will be the kind of wing who can have a huge season in an up-tempo, spread-the-ball offense run by Goran Dragic.