Kelly Olynyk was one of the key stars for a Boston Celtics team that won the Eastern Conference and advanced to the 2017 NBA Eastern Championship before falling to the Cleveland Cavaliers. However, the Celtics had a tough decision to make when they were able to sign superstar All-Star Gordon Hayward last week and they ended up pulling their qualifying offer for Olynyk, making him a free agent. Enter the Miami Heat.
Miami Heat jump to sign Kelly Olynyk
The Miami Heat shocked the NBA in 2016-17. No one expected them to compete at all as Pat Riley has the team in a state of rebuilding.
However, after a rough start to the season, The Heat turned things around and only missed out on the postseason thanks to a tiebreaker. With their improvement in the second half of the season, the Heat looked like a very dangerous team if they made the playoffs.
Now, the Heat have added a star player from the 2016-17 Boston Celtics team that actually won the Eastern Conference. When the Celtics signed Gordon Hayward, they picked up a major superstar but had to shed a lot of contracts to afford his contract. One of the casualties was Kelly Olynyk.
The Kelly Olynyk contract with the Miami Heat was a four-year deal worth $50 million. That averages out to be $12.5 million a season, which is a huge raise from the $4.4 million qualifying offer that the Celtics had offered OIynyk.
The Heat were able to offer Olynyk what he wanted thanks to the fact that they were able to shed Chris Bosh's contract from their books.
Kelly Olynyk and his role with Miami Heat
Anyone who watched the Boston Celtics in the NBA Playoffs probably noticed the impressive performance of Kelly Olynyk in the Game 7 clinching win over the Washington Wizards.
In that game, Olynyk scored a career-high 26 points, including 14 in the fourth quarter to lead his Celtics into the Easter Conference Finals against the Cleveland Cavaliers.
The Miami Heat will have to hope that Kelly Olynyk is able to replicate his 2016 season. While he was a star in the playoffs, Olynyk has watched his 3-point average drop from a 40.5 percent mark in 2015-16 to a 35.4 percent mark last season.
However, despite the drop, Olynyk ranked second on the Celtics team in net rating, which measures the efficiency of the player. His rating was a plus-3.2 and only Isaiah Thomas was better on the team at plus-3.6.
When it comes to the 2017-18 Miami Heat lineup, Kelly Olynyk will either start alongside Hassan Whiteside or he will be their first big-man from the bench. Regardless of where he plays, he gives the Heat a great passing and long-range shooting big man for the upcoming season.
