In what has been a frustrating ending to the Miami Heat’s season at the hands of the Boston Celtics in the first round of the NBA Playoffs, one of the few bright spots of the year was no doubt rookie Jaime Jaquez Jr. who bursted onto the scene. He spoke Friday afternoon during the Heat’s exit interviews talking about playing under Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo, plus what he learned in his first season in the NBA.
Jaquez has been considered by many to be the steal of the last draft as he was selected with the 18th overall pick coming out of UCLA. Having played four full years with a bevy of tournament experience, he came into the Heat with the composure of a veteran, which could help when you are under players like Butler and Adebayo as Jaquez explained to ClutchPoints.
“It’s been great, just having such ab experienced group of veterans around me,” Jaquez said. “You know, they have so much experience so to be able to learn under them and take what they’ve given me it’s just been huge and I think it’s given me an advantage. You know, being able to play in my rookie season just learning from guys like that.”
Time and time again, Jaquez has been compared to Butler as they do have similar play-styles as they get most of their production by using their force in the paint. He even filled in for the 34-year old star when he was out with an injury, like most recently during the postseason when Butler suffered an MCL sprain.
Jaquez led the Heat in a major category this season
Even in his rookie season, he led the Heat in a relevant statistic which has been the topic of player availability as he played in 75 games, the most out of anybody on the team. Health had a lot to do with Jaquez’s biggest aspect he learned in his first season where the 23-year old talked about the significance of “taking care of your body.”
“I would just say, the biggest thing I would take away from this season is learning the importance of just taking care of your body and health and your mind, I think that’s probably the biggest thing to learn,” Jaquez said. “It was a long season, your health is very important, mental, physical, so always gotta keep that in check.”
However, he would miss what ended up being the very last contest of the season which was Game 5 against the Celtics as he dealt with a hip flexor strain. Even still, he contributed a ton to the Heat and now heads into an off-season with a lot to improve on for his second season as he mentioned wanting to be a “knockdown defender.”
“I would say a lot of things just being able to be a lockdown defender,” Jaquez said. “I think is one of the things I’m looking forward to being in my coming year, and then as well, it’s just consistent knockdown shooter are probably the two biggest things.”
Erik Spoelstra talks about Jaquez’s growth with Miami
If there has been a person that has been touting Jaquez even before he logged a single minute of professional basketball, it was Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra. He would mention Friday that watching Jaquez has been one of the biggest joys of the season for him.
“So there were there were some fun points seeing different guys step up seeing our young guys really grow, you know, Jaime exploded onto the scene,” Spoelstra said. “That was obvious for everybody to see that he got people scouting reports then changed a little bit then he was injured and then when he came back, I really felt it was a much better player. He was able to see things and deeper level.”
Jaquez averaged 11.9 points, 3.8 rebounds, and 2.6 assists per game while winning back-to-back Eastern Conference Rookie of the Month awards. He will look to help Miami improve after a 46-36 record and being eliminated in the first round to Boston.
