James Johnson not with Heat for start of camp after not meeting conditioning requirements
Heat president Pat Riley and veteran forward Udonis Haslem made it clear entering training camp that last season’s slippage in Heat culture would be addressed.
It didn’t take long for those words to be put into action, as the Heat began training camp Tuesday at Keiser University.
The Heat released a statement midway through the team’s first practice that read: “The Miami Heat announced today that James Johnson will miss the beginning of camp because he fell short of our conditioning requirements. Once he fulfills and maintains those requirements, he will rejoin the team.”
It was determined after Monday’s media day that Johnson was not ready for the start of training camp, when he did not meet the Heat’s conditioning standards. A team spokesman said Johnson, 32, has not been fined or suspended, and is not with the team at its Palm Beach hotel.
“JJ is not here,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said following the Heat first of two practices Tuesday. “He did not meet the requirements that he knew about and we set for him coming into camp. He is still very much a part of our team and we hope to get him back soon. The rest of it is handled in the statement. And we want what’s best for him and hopefully he’ll be back soon.”
Among Johnson’s teammates, there was a feeling of disappointment that he wasn’t able to meet the Heat’s conditioning standards prior to the start of camp.
“It’s disappointing,”Haslem said. “You want everybody here, you want to start camp off on a good note. I had a conversation with JJ for about an hour. We’re all on the same page, he understands what he needs to do. I love JJ like a brother, like I told him, it’s not easy, it’s not easy for any of us. A lot of things that we have to do in order to be great, in order to be a part of this team, in order to be a champion, is not easy.
“This organization is not for everybody. If you fall in line and do the things they ask you to do, you can become a champion. Hopefully he’ll figure it out and we get him back soon.”
When asked about Johnson at Monday’s media day, Spoelstra seemed pleased with his level of conditioning.
“He’s been very serious about his work this summer,” Spoelstra said Monday. “You can see it in our conditioning day. He did a great job with that. James, to be the best version of himself, has to have a clear mind. For him to impact the game, conditioning is a big part of it. And he wasn’t healthy last year.
“He’s a really unique two-way basketball player in his ability to guard one through five when he’s healthy and his ability to facilitate and make other players better from a hybrid frontcourt position is unique. That’s his best version, he’s coming in with a clear head. He’s coming in healthy. He’s able to spend those 172 days training and really working on getting healthy and getting in shape. He didn’t have that opportunity last summer.”
Johnson missed the first 15 games of last season because of May 2018 sports hernia surgery, and eventually lost his spot in the starting lineup and at one point even fell out of the rotation. He finished with averages of 7.8 points, 3.2 rebounds and 2.5 assists while shooting 43.3 percent from the field and 33.6 percent from from three-point range in 55 games (33 starts).
Johnson, who has served as one of the Heat’s team captains in each of the past two seasons, has yet to replicate the impressive stretch he put together during the second half of 2016-17. He averaged 13.9 points on 46.8 percent shooting, five rebounds and 4.3 assists during the Heat’s 30-11 run to end that regular season.
Asked Monday about his conditioning and how he feels, he said: “I feel good. Mentally, unstressed. I feel healthy. That’s the main concern.”
Johnson said he regained his explosiveness and all of the skills that might have diminished somewhat after his return from sports hernia surgery.
”Strength wise, I feel great,” he said. “And I’m explosive. Condition wise, I feel great. ... Definitively, it’s time for me to get back to where I was.”
Johnson is entering the third season of a four-year, $60 million free agent deal he signed with the Heat in the summer of 2017. With a 2019-20 salary of $15.3 million, he’s the third-highest paid player on Miami’s roster behind only Jimmy Butler ($32.7 million) and Goran Dragic ($19.2 million).
According to ESPN’s Bobby Marks, a former NBA executive: “Johnson has a $242K likely bonus in his contract for body fat % and weight requirement. Johnson has met the bonus in the previous two seasons.”
Along with Johnson, Heat big man Kelly Olynyk was not available for the start of camp because of a bone bruise on his right knee — an injury sustained playing for Team Canada in August. Olynyk is with the Heat in West Palm Beach for training camp, though.
“There’s nothing JJ can’t do on a basketball court,” Haslem said. “He can handle, he can shoot it, he can make plays, he can defend, he can rebound. He’s one of the more versatile players in the league. I’m going to keep in touch with him. I told him I’ll be calling him every day, checking in on him.”
This story was originally published October 1, 2019 at 11:38 AM.
