When Miami Heat icon Udonis Haslem spoke to the Heat’s summer league team on Tuesday in Las Vegas, his message resonated with Keshad Johnson. That’s because 21 years ago, Haslem was in a similar position to the one Johnson finds himself in now.
Haslem, now 44 years old, went undrafted out of Florida in 2003 and entered the league with a chip on his shoulder on his way to a 20-year NBA career spent entirely with the Heat. Johnson is carrying that same chip on his shoulder after going undrafted out of Arizona last month.
The similarities don’t stop there, as both are forwards known for their hustle and physical style who can make a big impact without needing to score many points.
Heat’s Josh Richardson on road back from surgery with ‘optimistic goal’ of being ready for camp
“He touched on every topic possible, honestly,” Johnson said of Haslem’s message to the Heat’s summer squad. “As much as he was saying, I feel like him just being up there was speaking to me, speaking to my soul, speaking to who I need to be as an overall player and what I need to mold my career after.”
It’s still early in the process, but Johnson continues to look like he could end up turning into the Heat’s next undrafted success story. Johnson, who signed a two-way contract with the Heat after going undrafted three weeks ago, continued his impressive summer league run with nine points on 3-of-5 shooting from the field, 1-of-2 shooting on threes and 2-of-3 shooting from the foul line, two rebounds, one steal and one block in 19 minutes for the Heat in Wednesday’s 92-79 win over the Dallas Mavericks in Las Vegas on the UNLV campus.
The only bad news regarding Johnson is he turned his left ankle while trying to block a shot late in Wednesday’s third quarter. Johnson walked off the court under his own power with a slight limp and called it a “little sprain” following the game, but he did not return to the contest after spraining his left ankle and his status for the rest of summer league is now up in the air.
“Throughout time, I’m going to really get to know him and try to learn as much as possible and mold my career after him and mold my impact after the impact that he’s had in Miami,” Johnson said of how he plans to use Haslem as a resource. “He pretty much just talked about who you need to be as an overall player, what you need to do and everything like that. He touched on the mental aspect of basketball, too. So he touched on everything.”
Johnson has averaged 11.7 points, 5.2 rebounds and 1.2 assists per game in six summer league appearances for the Heat. Projected as a three-and-D forward at the NBA level, Johnson has shot 7 of 18 (38.9 percent) on threes and has racked up nine steals and six blocks during his six summer league games.
Johnson, who turned 23 last month, knew of Haslem’s story before landing with the Heat. In fact, Johnson sees the type of NBA player he hopes to become when studying Haslem’s career.
“I know a little bit about the journey that he took to get here,” Johnson said. “It’s kind of like where I’m starting from. I can see a lot of my future self of being just like him. So I feel like he’s a great role model to mold myself after, so I’m going to continue to do that.”
Haslem will be around Johnson plenty, too, after moving into a new role as the Heat’s vice president of basketball development once his playing career came to an end following the 2022-23 season.
So far, Johnson’s one-on-one time with Haslem has been limited. But Johnson has already felt the essence of Haslem.
“The biggest moments that we’ve had together, I felt the real genuine nature coming from him,” Johnson said. “So I’ll for sure be getting in touch with him soon.”
Here are other observations and things to know from the Heat’s summer league win over the Mavericks:
▪ With Jaime Jaquez Jr. done with summer league after playing in the first two games in Las Vegas, the Heat opened Wednesday’s game with a starting lineup of Isaiah Stevens, Pelle Larsson, Josh Christopher, Johnson and Kel’el Ware.
▪ Ware (the Heat’s first-round pick this year) recorded his second consecutive double-double with 24 points on 9-of-12 shooting from the field, 0-of-1 shooting on threes and 6-of-9 shooting from the foul line, 10 rebounds, one steal and three blocks in Wednesday’s win. It marked his third double-double in five summer league appearances this year.
Ware controlled the game on both ends down the stretch, recording 12 points and two blocks in the fourth quarter.
Ware was a force around the rim, as the 7-footer threw down six dunks in the win.
“I do have to give a shout out, Kel’el did a heck of a job,” Heat summer league head coach Dan Bisaccio said. “We continue to challenge him defensively. He took that challenge. Everything at the rim was contested. We want to continue to see that. Obviously, this is never enough. But we’re really, really happy with him anchoring our defense today.”
▪ Larsson (the Heat’s second-round pick this year) has been relatively quiet for most of summer league, but he turned in arguably his best performance in Wednesday’s win. He scored a summer-league high 13 points to go with six rebounds, three assists and one block.
Both Ware and Larsson are on track to be on the Heat’s standard roster for next season.
▪ Stevens again played the role of facilitator, finishing Wednesday’s victory with 12 points, four rebounds and eight assists. The undrafted guard out of Colorado State has dished out 33 assists to 10 turnovers in his last four summer league appearances.
Stevens is signed by the Heat to an Exhibit 10 contract, which is essentially an invite to training camp. The Exhibit 10 deal also protects Stevens from being signed away by another team.
▪ After totaling 43 points for the Heat in the previous two summer league games, Christopher was limited to nine points on 3-of-13 shooting from the field and 1-of-7 shooting from three-point range on Wednesday. But he did come away with four steals on the defensive end.
Christopher, who was a first-round pick in the 2021 NBA Draft, has been working with the Heat since May and is hoping to earn an NBA contract this offseason.
▪ Guard Alondes Williams may have thrown down the dunk of summer league on Wednesday, completing a vicious windmill dunk over a Mavericks player early in the fourth quarter.
Williams, who is an unrestricted free agent, finished the win with nine points, three rebounds, five assists and one steal.
▪ The Heat plays its fourth of at least five Las Vegas Summer League games on Friday against the Toronto Raptors (9 p.m., ESPN+/ESPN3 and Bally Sports Sun). After posting a 2-1 record in the California Classic, the Heat now holds an impressive 5-1 overall summer league record this year with a 3-0 record in Las Vegas.
As of Wednesday afternoon, the Heat is one of just three teams with a 3-0 record in Las Vegas Summer League. The top four teams after the first four games in Las Vegas advance to the knockout semifinal round.
Most Popular
Comments / 0