The incredible redundancy created by having Kelly Olynyk and Meyers Leonard on the same team finally caught up to one of them, as Olynyk has seen his minutes drop precipitously all the way into DNP-CD territory in the last month. He’s seen a bit of an increase the last few games, but even so, his place in the rotation is not at all guaranteed. Tonight, his enhanced scoring ability compared to Leonard (who is scared to shoot a lot of the time and is content to barely score) helped out, but his lack of verticality (an attribute which Leonard possesses in spades) makes it impossible for him to do a lot of what the Heat want their centers to do (like dunk).
If I were in charge, I’d trade one of them. That way I wouldn’t have to worry about finding minutes for both of them as well as Bam Adebayo (and also Chris Silva who should really be playing enough minutes to foul out every game). I’d also trade Dion Waiters RIGHT NOW because his value after scoring 14 points will literally never be higher.
There are probably some teams who want Olynyk, right? Not the Cavaliers, because there might still be some hard feelings there, but a legit 7-footer, even one who can’t really jump or play defense, who can stroke the three-ball is still a coveted asset. I’d suggest the Bucks trading Thon Maker for him, but I think I prefer to see Olynyk on a team where he’ll get to play. Maybe the Raptors? He can go back to Canada (not at all to the same place in Canada but according to Americans, Canada is a single homogeneous expanse that is exactly the same throughout) and take over Marc Gasol’s duties. Or maybe the league can finagle a special trade where he gets traded to the Seattle Supersonics and the NBA’s implicit acknowledgment (by letting the trade go through) of a team existing there brings the team back and he can score 30 points per game for them.