It’s only 11 NBA games into his rookie campaign, but the early returns for Jaime Jaquez Jr. have been very encouraging.
With Tyler Herro sidelined by an ankle injury, Jaquez Jr. has been able to get more minutes and showcase the NBA-ready skillset that swayed the Heat to draft him with the 18th pick.
This guy has balled out for us this year. His defense is what’s impressed me the most. His old man game is like Jimmy, they both have a little post and spin move either to the cup or fading back a bit for a midrange shot.
His defensive intensity has been great though, he’s guarded multiple positions too. Sneaky athletic too since it looks like he likes to slow down, but as he showed yesterday, can crash from the weak side quickly for a dunk if his defender leaves him alone at the 3pt line.
Between him and Duncan, the Miami heat have replaced Strus and Vincent. Still need a PG to put us in line with the best of the east but I’ll take our chances regardless
I’m just so impressed with how active he is on defense. Many times the drive comes his side, his hands are in there, he’s getting deflections, steals, He’s been crazy good on ball, doesn’t get backed down, doesn’t get blown by.
And offensively, he really is baby Jimmy with his footwork and the way he always seems to occupy the right space at exactly the right times. Great cutter, getting better with his outside shot, getting the ball exactly to where it needs to go accurately and on time. Spo has played him the full 4th quarter 4 games in a row. Spo trusting him down the stretch is the biggest compliment of all, honestly. Definitely feels like we found something here.
This man deserves a mural in LA more than that bum ass JTA
And he’s even better on defense. Sooooo happy with this kid man. Lookin like one of the biggest steals of this draft!!!
You know how much Spo has to trust you AS A ROOKIE to play all 12 minutes in 4 consecutive 4th quarters in the first ~12 games of your NBA career. We got a lifer.
The guy that looks like Kylo Ren?