Joe Johnson will be officially joining the Miami Heat after signing a prorated minimum contract with the team on Saturday. The 34-year-old Johnson isn't the seven-time All-Star he once was, but he still brings scoring and three-point shooting to the table for a team that simply lacks in both areas. The Eastern Conference—beyond the Cleveland Cavaliers and Toronto Raptors as the top two seeds—is literally a guessing game. The third-seeded Boston Celtics are just four games ahead of the eighth-seeded Chicago Bulls. The Heat are currently fourth in the conference with a 32-26 record, just a half-game ahead of the Atlanta Hawks. While there was no way a past-his-prime Johnson was going to carry a terrible Brooklyn Nets team, he can still make a valuable contribution as a rotation player on a talented Heat team. The former Nets swingman won't be depended upon to carry the scoring load, create shots, or even be one of Miami's top four or five players. In other words, there is no more pressure on Johnson, because he is no longer being paid $25 million a year. Here are five things that the former All-Star brings to the table for the Heat: 1. Three-Point Shooting Johnson will mostly be used as a spot-up shooter in Miami. The Heat have two guys in Goran Dragic and Dwyane Wade who absolutely dominate the basketball. Johnson will probably play with Wade while coming off the bench as part of a large backcourt duo. The 6'7" swingman won't have to carry the scoring load and he sure as heck won't be playing 34 minutes per game like he was doing in Brooklyn. At his age and with his current skill set, he's probably best suited for 20-to-25 minutes per game. All that will be expected of Johnson is similar scoring to what he provided in Brooklyn this season (11.8 points per game) and a little bit of that three-point shooting spark (37.1 three-point shooting percentage) that he is still capable of at an advanced age. Next: Added Depth [xyz-ihs snippet="Responsive-Ad"] [xyz-ihs snippet="Responsive-Image-Only"] 2. Added Depth While Johnson was playing too many minutes in Brooklyn, one thing is for sure—he won't be rusty playing in Miami. Amar'e Stoudemire, who is actually a year younger than Johnson, took awhile to get himself in proper playing shape so he could play a role in the rotation for the Heat. Stoudemire is currently the team's starting center, but it was not until mid-January that he saw consistent playing time on a game-to-game basis. Stoudemire was coming off of the second half of the 2014-15 season playing just 16.5 minutes per game for the Dallas Mavericks. As mentioned before, Johnson is old, but he still played 34 minutes per game in 57 starts with the Nets this season. More importantly, he has no major injuries to speak of. With Tyler Johnson and Beno Udrih out for the season, Johnson figures to play sizable minutes as a backup two-guard to Wade. Next: Scoring Ability [xyz-ihs snippet="Responsive-Ad"] [xyz-ihs snippet="Responsive-Image-Only"] 3. Scoring Ability Simply put, the Heat need more scoring. While the team has improved in that department by playing a faster style of pace in the month of February, Miami still ranks second-to-last in points per game with just 96.9 points per contest. Just as discouraging is the fact that the Heat rank dead last in the league in three-point shooting with a 31.8 three-point shooting percentage. Johnson's overall field goal percentage (40.6 percent) may not be pleasant on the eyes, but his three-point shooting percentage (37.1 percent) sure is. In fact, with the exception of Tyler Johnson, it would be the best three-point shooting percentage of anyone on the team. All the swingman has to do is find the right spots on the court to catch and shoot and he'll fill his role nicely with the Heat. Next: Playmaking Ability [xyz-ihs snippet="Responsive-Ad"] [xyz-ihs snippet="Responsive-Image-Only"] 4. Playmaking Ability There's a reason they call him "Iso Joe." Currently, the Heat really only have two players who are able to create their own shot in Wade and Dragic, and with the added playmaking ability of Johnson, the Heat's offense becomes that much more potent. Johnson's ability to create off the dribble will create cutting lanes for Miami's wings and will space the floor for three-point shooters as well. Not to mention, have you seen what this guy can do in crunch time? Next: Playoff Experience [xyz-ihs snippet="Responsive-Ad"] [xyz-ihs snippet="Responsive-Image-Only"] 5. Playoff Experience The Heat are a nice mesh of young and old. While Wade, Luol Deng and Stoudemire all have a wealth of playoff experience, the rest of Miami's currently healthy players simply don't have that much of it. Dragic made one deep playoff run with the Phoenix Suns in the 2009-10 season. Outside of that one year, he has never played in the postseason in seven years in the NBA. Josh McRoberts has had three different stints in the postseason, but only one in which he has played a major role. Guys such as Hassan Whiteside, Josh Richardson and Justise Winslow obviously don't have any playoff experience. The 34-year-old Johnson has played in the postseason in 10 different years, all of which he was either the best player on the team, or a key starter on the squad. You simply can't teach experience and Johnson has that. [xyz-ihs snippet="Responsive-Ad"]
