Miami Heat: 3 goals for Kelly Olynyk in 2018-19
By Simon Smith
After becoming a vital rotation piece for the Miami Heat last season, here are three goals for Kelly Olynyk in season 2018-19.
Kelly Olynyk certainly provided more than expected in his first season with the Miami Heat.
Signed to a four-year, $50 million last summer, Olynyk quickly established himself as an integral part of the rotation with his ability to stretch the floor from the center spot, thus providing head coach Erik Spoelstra with enormous flexibility when concocting his lineups.
In 76 games, the seven-foot Olynyk averaged 11.5 points, 5.7 points and 2.7 assists in 23.4 minutes per game. Despite being a key piece for the Boston Celtics over his first four seasons in the league, Olynyk clearly exceeded expectations in his first season on South Beach.
To illustrate this, Olynyk had a $1 million incentive placed in his new deal if he exceeded 1,700 minutes for the season. In playing 1,779 minutes, the 27-year-old comfortably passed this number despite being sidelined for six games. Impressively, over the 14 regular season games in which he played at least 30 minutes, the Heat posted a 10-4 record.
Despite the presence of incumbent starting center Hassan Whiteside, and No. 14 overall pick Bam Adebayo, Olynyk managed to carve out a niche for himself within the rotation.
One such example was the fourth quarter numbers of the center trio. For the season, Olynyk averaged 7.5 minutes per fourth quarter in 69 games, comfortably ahead of Adeayo at 6.3 minutes in 56 games, while Whiteside was a large distance behind, averaging just 5.9 minutes in only 31 fourth quarter appearances.
With a year in the Heat system under his belt and virtually the same roster returning, there’s no reason why this continuity can’t enable Olynyk to take his game to another level.
In looking ahead to his second season with the Heat, here are three goals for Olynyk in 2018-19.