Justise Winslow is making major strides to improving his overall game. The second-year small forward has been seen working with a shooting specialist and making great progress, according to Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald.
A Miami Heat staffer said his stroke, release and rhythm are making vast improvements.
“You will see a major difference; he can be a special player,” the staffer said.
With the tornado of departures during the summer, the Heat's been stripped to the core. Goran Dragic and Hassan Whiteside are the only official returning starters to the team.
The 20-year-old Winslow will be asked to start at the small forward position and will likely see twice as many minutes as he played last year.
The Duke product is an athletic talent with good intangibles. Becoming an effective shooter will help his game and his teammates, as defenders won't sag off from him as they did last year.
Winslow did not identify the shooting coach but said he is “pretty pleased” with the results and that he’s putting in work on his jump shot during the early mornings and late at night.
The coach has made mechanical changes to his stroke, he said: “Just smoothing things out. I am pretty confident. I like the way it’s going.”
The Heat will need as much from Justise Winslow as they can get with the departures of Dwyane Wade, Joe Johnson, Luol Deng and the uncertainty of Chris Bosh returning to the court.
“It's pretty clear the mindset the Heat is going with, trying to build the young nucleus we have and trying to bring in some good complementary players,” Winslow said. “Hopefully, (Bosh) can come back. Our goal [is] try to make the game as ugly as possible, play good defense and go from there. We've got a lot of players. If we can put it all together, we should be able to make the playoffs.”
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