Josh Christopher is about to TAKE OVER the NBA | Breakdown of Miami Heat Prospect

Josh Christopher is about to TAKE OVER the NBA | Breakdown of Miami Heat Prospect

Josh Christopher is becoming too great to ignore Christoph so as I’m sure you’re aware Josh Christopher has been balling in the summer league and if you’re not aware then where the hell you been at tried to make a step back hand in his face and he still hits it but I’ve been posting a lot of these breakdown videos kind of talking about some of these heat prospects so I needed to get a Josh Christopher video out because half of my comments recently have been cut Drew Smith signed Josh Christopher so I kind of wanted to post this breakdowns to talk about where he came from because he is a bit of a different Prospect he actually has quite a bit of NBA experience so I wanted to give you guys some background on him and also what I think he could bring to this Miami Heat team so Josh Christopher is 22 years old so he’s still a kid which is crazy for me to say like it I’m at the stage of life now where I’m realizing I’m watching guys who are younger than me and sometimes talking trash about kids who are younger than me which just sound kind of messed up so maybe I should ease up on some guys but anyways he’s 22 years old measured at 65 and 215 lbs so has decent height not the biggest frame but he’s not wiry by any means he still is very aggressive when attacking the basket which is also special because he’s also you know he’s kind of known as like a knockdown shooter usually those guys don’t like to get physical in the paint but Josh Christopher does not shy away from contact so although he’s only 215 lbs he’s young has time to build more muscle onto his frame but he also is Relentless attacking the basket getting rebounds things like that so I do think he has some pretty decent NBA size he played one year at Arizona State which was only 15 games surprisingly and in those 15 games he averaged 14 points a nights on a subpar 43% from the field and not so great 31% from three and that was on four attempts at night but the Houston Rockets saw enough offense and defensive versatility to draft him in the first round 24th overall in 2021 the problem is though he was actually Houston’s fourth first round pick that that same that same year he was the fourth guy taken so obviously Houston had a lot invested into the guys taken ahead of him because the first one was Jaylen green who they took like what number two overall obviously that’s a shooting guard same position as Josh Christopher so we know how much the Rockets had invested in him after that they traded with OKC to get Alper and shenon at 16 and we know what shenon has become and then a couple picks before Christopher the Rockets took Osman garuba so it’s clear they had a lot invested in some other guys and for that reason I don’t think Josh Christopher was really given a full opportunity to showcase what he can do and now that he’s getting a chance to actually play we’re seeing that boy is capable of some pretty special things but I don’t want to make it seem like the Rockets didn’t value him obviously they thought he could be a bucket that’s why they did spend a first round pick on him there was just some questions about his shot selection and overall IQ as Jay billis said here during the draft he’s got good shooting mechanics and he’s going to get better as a shooter he just needs to take better shots but a very talented player playing out Arizona State but if you look at Josh’s rookie season he did play 74 games was able to start a couple of them but only played 18 minutes a night so it wasn’t a huge part of the rotation and in those 18 minutes he averaged eight points per game on 45% from the field and just under 30% from three and then in his sophomore season he played even less only 64 games for him down to 12 minutes a night in which he averaged six points per game 46% from the field and a not so great 24% from three but everything happens for a reason right because Josh Christopher was then sent down to the G League spent one season there which was last year split his time between Salt Lake City and of of course the sou fall skyforce and in 18 games with the skyforce he averaged 16 points of nights 44% from the field and again a below average 32% from three so he showed that he has an ability to score the efficiency is just something that’s still needed improved upon so those are just kind of the numbers but I kind of want to expound upon the versatility of his scoring so you can see in these highlights as I’m talking that he truly is a very Dynamic bucket getter three freele scorer plenty of highlights hidden from Beyond The Arc getting to the mid-range getting to the rim in which he’s able to finish with both the left hand and the right hand as far as shooting he does a lot of on ball work some offall work curling off screens so there’s a lot of variety there which I think shows that he can be an NBA level scorer he’s just the guy that is very streaky at this point did have one 140 bomb with the sou fall Sky Force obviously he got pretty hot there he has multiple 20 points games in the NBA so he actually has gotten buckets on the bigger level not just in the G league and in the summer league and he does have W 30-point game versus the Timberwolves and you can see in these finishes he is he he’s a streaky sort of shooter as someone who’s not a Rockets fan and just you know casually knows of Josh Christopher over the last couple Seasons I thought a pretty good comparison for him was Tim Hardway Jr a guy that can sort of be just a streaky shooter you know and he he’s great when he’s great not so great when he’s bad but overseeing him in the summer league I realized that he’s much more athletic than a Tim Hardway Jr of course I love my guy Timmy you know shout out to his pops and everything but Josh Christopher is just a way more Dynamic player than Tim Hardway Jr when you talk about the athleticism alone a couple of monster slams in in this P game versus OKC in the summer league both of them in the fourth quarter like I was saying earlier not afraid to shy away from contact has some great you know fast break dunks earlier in this summer league when the heat were playing in California so that is something that I do think it helps set him apart but regardless we know he can score that’s why the Rockets took him overall the issue was always the efficiency in the shot selection as Jay billis said when he was drafted and I do think that we’re starting to see some improvement in that area if you look at some of his highlights from that monster fourth quarter he had versus OKC the first three that he hit to kind of get him going was when his Defender went under a screen Josh recognized that used the screen perfectly timed it with good execution there and pulled the three immediately and then when he once he kind of felt himself going the next possession the defense went over the screen but Josh had two quick release was able to get the shot off and from there he knew that he was feeling himself didn’t settle for only taking threes in that quarter the one dunk he had it was sort of in transition instead of sitting in the corner like a lot of younger players will do nowadays cuz they say Steph Curry ruined the game you know how it goes he cuts to the basket sees that there’s an entire Lane open there and is able to grabb the ball and basically with straight vert posterized the guy so it’s a short sample size in summer league but I do think we’re starting to see some of that improved IQ on the offensive end and keep in mind it’s not surprising that he’s improving right the kid was a literal kid when he was drafted he was 19 years old so you can only expect that if a guy wants to work hard he will improve upon his weaknesses as he gets older and he certainly seems like a guy who wants to work hard based off the story that Udonis Haslam told a couple of Summer League games ago so if you did didn’t hear the story basically how it goes is UD said that Josh Christopher reached out to him he said that Josh was like Hey I don’t like the way my career is going I kind of need that Heap culture and that discipline to get back on track can you put a word in with the heat front office to get me in your organization because that is the kind of discipline that I think I need and obviously because of that Christopher was able to make himself over to the sou fall Sky Force and eventually in the summer league and we see things are working out pretty well so far but that’s just an awesome story because for a kid like that to see his career is not going the way he wants it to go and knows out of all the things he heard about Miami and heard about heat culture everyone knows heat culture is not for everybody it’s been said by dozens of players it’s a known thing so for him to say hey I’m willing to put into the work get me in that organization and I will prove everyone that doubted me wrong I will prove that I belong here that’s something that I respect the hell out of because he knew what he was getting himself into and so far the hard work is paying off and that is just a beautiful thing that being said we’ve only really talked about his offensive side of things and if he wants to fit into he culture he has to play defense and I have been more than impressed with the kind of defensive tenacity he’s played with in summer league so far he’s been hounding guys picking up full court press putting tons of ball pressure on whoever he’s guarding not giving up any mental lapses on the defensive end and it’s clear as data anyone watching he plays with a lot of hearts on that side of the ball and truthfully before I started researching for this video I assumed that was something new because I said okay this guy’s an offensive score maybe he didn’t try that hard on the defensive end and that’s why he kind of fell out of the ranks in Houston over there but I mean I looked up some defensive highlights he was a dog on defense in college he was a dog on defense in summer league for the Houston Rockets So I think he always had this kind of heart and tenacity instilled in him he was just never really given a chance in the situation that he was drafted to and that’s fine we see all the time who are drafted into a situation that is just not meant for them and sometimes we think that player’s ass just for them to go to another team a couple years later they really start to shine and and you start to kind of realize maybe some organizations aren’t as good as others when it comes to Player Development and that sort of thing but not to throw the Rockets under the bus because obviously they have a lot of nice young players over there as well it’s just possible it wasn’t a great fit for Christopher and even if it was it’s possible that he was just 19 and not ready to play on NBA stage yet but he’s had three years to train and develop since then and now we’re seeing him in this Heat Program really do special things and I’m excited to see he continue now of course that’s unless another team poaches him because he’s currently not on any sort of officials or standard or two-way contract with the Miami Heat so he kind of is free for the taking at this point so that brings me back to all the comments that I referenced earlier about people wanting Drew Smith gone obviously I agree I mean even if the heat really think that he’s that prototypical point point guard that they’ve been searching for forever which is stupid cuz you got Zion Pullin you got Isaiah Stevens those guys can play point guards Drew Smith there’s a big question mark there I’ll say that but even if the heat really believe in Drew Smith he’s hurt he can’t even play in the summer league right now so how is he on a roster when you got guys like Alis Williams and Cole swier and the topic of this video Josh Christoper being this great excelling proving themselves that that they’re on a different level than the rest of the competition how they’re not on the roster over Drew Smith I can’t understand that I will say though I kind of prefer that Drew Smith spot goes to Isaiah Stevens I’m still a little confused on his contract by the way cuz Stevens is on an exhibit 10 contract but I think that’s like a non-g guaranteed training camp deal so I don’t believe he has like an official roster spot guaranteed therefore if he wants one he would need to be on a two-way and I personally would rather favor the facilitator type because I don’t really think that he’d have a true facilitator a true point guard at all and certainly no one to run a second bench unit and I do think Isaiah Stevens could be pretty great at that obviously Josh Christopher has shown that he can be an exceptional scorer but if you look at the Heat’s guards Terry Rosier Tyler herro Duncan Robinson those are already all kind of guys that that get Buckets and for that reason I don’t think the heat are looking for another one of those that’s why they rescinded qualifying offers from Cole Sider and theis Williams and I’m not so confident that they’re going to give Josh Christopher an official offer best case scenario the heat finds some way to move off of Thomas Bryant even though they just signed him and they can’t trade him or they move off of Tyler hero even though nobody wants to trade for him but I just wish that he could find some sort of way to open up some cap space or a roster spot because maybe they can move casad Johnson up to a standard deal get Josh Christopher or Isaiah Stevens on the two-way I hope there’s some sort of Maneuvers they can make to to allow this all to work maybe it’s something they do later in the season before the trade deadline when a guy’s Pro rated salary is less than you know the the space they have to the second apron cuz right now they’re like less than 2 million from that second apron which they cannot you don’t want to be in that second apron trust me and that’s why they can’t sign anyone cuz even a minimum contract puts them over that second apron but again maybe in the middle of the season they can get one of these guys in there you just hope that a guy like Josh Christopher isn’t poached by another team by then but that’s all I got to say for this video so let me know yall thoughts on Josh Christopher down below would you want to see him take Zion ping spot maybe you wish they never signed pel Larson then they could have had him instead let me know y’all thoughts down below I’ll be sure to read every single comment make sure to like the video and subscribe because I’m going to grind to hit 10K Subs by the by the end of 2024 let’s say why not let’s Che for something crazy I don’t know I can’t do it without without the help of all y I appreciate y’all a ton I’ll see y’all with a post game probably tomorrow that he played the Maverick so hopefully Josh Christopher goes off again and then everyone’s on YouTube searching Josh Christopher Miami Heat and then this video comes up cuz if this video does really well that’ll be pretty cool I’ll see you next time peace out pull up in City try to get that it on my had a kill them off yeah I need a head space you know this homegrown don’t offend me hm

Josh Christopher formerly with Arizona State, Houston Rockets, and Sioux Falls SkyForce in G-League, could be the next great Miami Heat guard after a great start to Summer League. NBA and Miami Heat News featuring Jimmy Butler, Bam Adebayo, Tyler Herro, Terry Rozier, Nikola Jovic, Jaime Jaquez Jr., Caleb Martin, Duncan Robinson, Josh Richardson, Kevin Love, Haywood Highsmith, Kel’el Ware, Pelle Larsson, Keshad Johnson, Erik Spoelstra and more. Subscribe for more Miami Heat, Miami Dolphins, NBA and NFL news
#miamiheat #nba #miamiheatnews #jimmybutler #tylerherro #bamadebayo

Become a member and receive exclusive perks while helping me chase this dream:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvZtcnzophnedi5HSa8uyUQ/join

Twitter: https://twitter.com/AnthonyD_heat
Audio Podcast: https://bleav.com/shows/bleav-in-miami-heat/
The Basement: @TheBasementSportsNetwork

▬ Music Credit ▬
Background Music: Excursion – Po13o
YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCb3hIl8V_n2JHfLw8b64cnw
Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/nickolas_verdugo/

Outro Song: Pull Up (prod. by KENO) – RadixTheRuler
(https://soundcloud.com/radixtheruler/pull-up-freestyle-prod-by-keno)

▬ Check out the the official Miami Heat discord! ▬
https://discord.gg/5hBVpv3D67

If you enjoy the content, please like the video and subscribe to Witness Miami Sports (witnessmiamisports) for Miami Heat news and updates!

Timestamps:
0:00 Intro
0:49 Measureables
1:41 Arizona State Stats
2:03 Drafted to Houston Rockets
3:18 Houston Rockets Stats
3:50 G-League Stats
4:18 Offensive Versatility
6:12 Improving IQ Film Breakdown
7:22 Amazing Work Ethic
8:32 Defensive Tenacity
10:09 Future with Miami Heat?
12:52 Closing Thoughts