There is tough love and there is enduring patience. There is former a Miami Heat coach involved in the dual approaches and there is the current Heat coach. And caught in the middle this season have been a pair of 2015 first-round picks still trying to find their way in the NBA.
When Stanley Johnson and Justise Winslow meet next weekend at AmericanAirlines Arena, there will be plenty to catch up on since Johnson's Detroit Pistons defeated Winslow's Heat on Nov. 30 at the Palace of Auburn Hills, Mich.
Since then, Johnson, selected at No. 8 out of Arizona in 2015 by the Pistons, fell out of Stan Van Gundy's rotation, was briefly assigned to the D-League, and only now is getting back into the rotation. In the interim, Winslow, the No. 10 pick in 2015, was sidelined by a wrist injury but remained with a staunch supporter in Erik Spoelstra, again back in the Heat starting lineup.
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It was, in fact, before the Heat's previous game against the Pistons, when Van Gundy, the former Heat coach and Spoelstra mentor, said of Johnson, "He's off to a rough start. It's hard when perimeter players aren't getting the ball in the basket."
After playing 20 minutes that night in a 107-84 blowout victory over the Heat, Johnson did not play more than 10 in any of the next nine games, held completely out of three. Winslow, by contrast, has not played fewer than 20 since returning two weeks ago from his 16-game absence.
"All the tough love he's given me," Johnson said of Van Gundy's approach that briefly had him a member of the Grand Rapids Drive, "I kind of take it to heart."
Spoelstra's approach, by contrast, even as Winslow's shooting percentages have plummeted, has been to stress Winslow's ability "to make winning plays."
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The Heat have stood by Winslow, continue to stand by him.
"He's got a winning attitude and right now, shooting the basketball, he's going to have to find his game, find his stroke, and he will," Heat President Pat Riley said. "I don't think there's any doubt that that will come with his game. If people are concerned about him, they should be concerned in a positive way, because he's only 20 years old,"
As is Johnson ... which, to Winslow, makes this all a bit overblown, the questions of Johnson's perseverance in Detroit, the concerns of Winslow shooting in Miami, all against the backdrop of the individual success that No. 13 2015 pick Devin Booker has had with the Phoenix Suns.
"I don't read too much into what Stan says, what he's been saying in the media," Winslow said of Johnson. "I kind of look at the box scores or I'll talk to him and we just text back and forth. I mean he's talented. He's going to be good in this league. He just has to find his right niche. And that's what this league comes down to, is opportunity and playing in the right system."
Spoelstra has referred to Winslow as his "Swiss Army Knife," a player capable of excelling in several roles, at several positions. That type of respect has similarly been extended by Van Gundy to Johnson.
"The way the league is going, with position-less basketball," Van Gundy said, "we have a guy who can guard three or four positions and guard them well. That's invaluable."
No matter whether it is being cultivated with tough love or enduring patience.
"Some guys want specialists; some guys want versatility," Winslow said of he and his long-time friend finding their NBA niches. "On different teams, that versatility is more welcomed or that's what they prefer. You've just got to find the right niche, the right system, the right opportunity."
