Miami Heat forward Justise Winslow emerged as a solid contributor for the team last season and was rewarded for his season with a spot on the All-Rookie Second Team. Despite an overall decent start to his NBA career, though, Winslow more often than not struggled with his shot and finished 2015-16 shooting 42.2 percent. The Heat have tried to rectify that problem by having a shooting coach work with Winslow, which seems to be paying off, writes Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald:
The Heat is very encouraged by the progress Justise Winslow has made while working with a shooting specialist this summer. One Heat staffer said his stroke, release and rhythm are looking a lot better.
“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.”
Offensive growth is essential for Winslow to thrive as a starting small forward. Last season, he shot 27.6 percent on threes (32 for 116), 34.4 percent from 3 to 10 feet, 28.6 percent from 10 to 16 feet and 37.2 percent from 16 feet to the three-point line.
Winslow said it was “great to hear” Pat Riley say he’s ready to start at small forward: “Even before he said that, I kind of had that in my mind…. I’m expecting a huge leap in my performance.”
…
Winslow said “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. Hopefully, [Chris 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.”
