Jaime Jaquez knew where he wanted to go in the draft, and he got his wish when Miami selected him with the 18th pick, writes Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald. Projected as a mid-first rounder after spending four years at UCLA, Jaquez was aware that he might still be on the board for Miami’s selection and he was hoping for the chance to work with two legends.
“I think when it comes to basketball, just being under (team president) Pat Riley and coach Spo (Erik Spoelstra), I don’t think you could ask for two better guys when it comes to basketball to play under and learn from,” Jaquez said. “So that was a big reason. I also didn’t want to stay in L.A. for all my life. I wanted to get out and be somewhere new, kind of challenge myself to get out of my comfort zone. So coming to Miami was a spot that I always really loved. I had been here before a couple times and I just loved the city, loved everything about it. So I just really wanted to come here.”
The Heat are thrilled with the production they’ve gotten from Jaquez, who has been pressed into extra duty since an early-season injury to Tyler Herro. He has responded by averaging 12.0 points, 3.9 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 1.1 steals in his first 19 NBA games. Chiang also notes that his shooting touch has been excellent — 52.9% from the field, 39% from three-point range and 87.5% from the free throw line — and he’s an asset on defense as well.
“He’s playing winning basketball,” Spoelstra said. “He’s able to complement a lot of different lineups. He’s eating up everything right now and he’s a smart player. So he picks up things quickly. But the biggest thing is he’s a competitor, he’s a mature player and those type of characteristics can fit in with what we’re trying to do.”
There’s more from Miami:
- Bam Adebayo will miss tonight’s game with a left hip contusion and he won’t travel with the team for Wednesday’s contest in Toronto, tweets Barry Jackson of The Miami Herald. Chiang points out that Miami has a lull in its schedule with just three games over nine days, so Adebayo will have a chance to heal (Twitter link).
- Orlando Robinson‘s contract became guaranteed for $850K on Friday, per Keith Smith of Spotrac (Twitter link). The second-year center will receive his full $1.8MM salary if he remains on the roster through the league-wide guarantee date of January 7.
- The Heat’s rotation has changed since Herro was injured, and Spoelstra will have to make more adjustments when he returns, observes Ira Winderman of The Sun-Sentinel. Winderman notes that when Herro sprained his ankle on November 8, Caleb Martin wasn’t playing significant minutes, Josh Richardson was still adjusting to the team and Jaquez hadn’t scored more than 11 points in a game. There were also questions about whether Duncan Robinson and Haywood Highsmith could handle starting roles.
Love Jaquez. He just seems to know what to do, where to be, and and when to be there. I didn’t expect anything like this from the guy watching him at UCLA.
It’s funny he’s only 6-6 but I think he plays a lot bigger. Actually guards power forwards.
He’s a smart player. When you combine that into Heat Culture, you’re going to do well under Spo and Riley’s system. It’s going to be interesting to see where his career goes. So far, he seems like the type of personality and player that could become a Heat Lifer. He doesn’t have amazing talent, but he could be valuable like the way a Keith Askins or Udonis Haslem were, but of course he’s a far superior player than Askins was and a different type of player from UD. But I could see him fitting into the Culture and system for a long time.
Wonder if they will shape Jaquez into replacing Tyler Herro and allowing them to trade him in order to get better.
At the moment they have a lot of guards/wings in Lowry, Herro, Jaquez, JRich, Robinson and Butler.
While in terms of bigs they have Adebayo but after him there is a drop off to KLove, Jovic, Bryant and Robinson. Caleb Martin sorts bridges the gap.
If they could cash in on Herro and just have Jaquez step up into that 15-20 point per game guy while playing better defence that would be huge for them. For example imagine
Terry Rozier and Miles Bridges for Tyler Herro and a heavily protected first
Lowry Robinson Butler Bridges Adebayo
Rozier JRich/Jaquez Martin KLove Bryant
Or something along those lines….
Maybe Jimmy Butler and the veteran heavy hard working culture in Miami can sort Bridges out off the court cause on the court he’s still a beast. Scary Terry would also be a great addition especially come playoffs and you need to sit Lowry at times. Charlotte would so take Herro and pair him with Ball aswell. No defence what so ever but entertainment and ticket sells I guess
It will be interesting. If the Heat can get an immediate impact piece with Herro that puts them over the top, then I can see and would welcome it. However, for me, I feel like the Heat are towing a fine line of being a win-now team, but also trying to maintain long-term success with younger players who can get better like Herro, Bam, Jaquez, Martin, etc. while Butler is on the wrong side of 30 and can easily decline in any of the upcoming years, so a player like Herro may need to be kept in preparation for when that happens since it’s not out of the realm of happening sooner than later.
But we’ll see. I’ve wondered why Riley hasn’t pulled the trigger on something major with Herro yet. While we know that Portland didn’t want Herro, other trade targets like when Harden was being discussed back in Houston, Herro was a target. Pat Riley tends to think in terms of ‘now and later’, so it makes you wonder if that’s why Herro hasn’t been placed in just any trade for an upgrade. It feels like Riley won’t do it, unless it’s the right upgrade…which I tend to agree with due to the reasons I mention.
Yeah I agree they need to try walk the line between win now and ready for the future.
Hence why I also think Brodges could be a good target, he’s still young, his value must be drastically hurt while on the court he’s remained a good hooper.
Gives them another forward that they lack, gives them something they can use in the future and makes them a better side now.