{"id":70713,"date":"2024-03-26T17:54:22","date_gmt":"2024-03-26T21:54:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=70713"},"modified":"2024-03-26T17:54:22","modified_gmt":"2024-03-26T21:54:22","slug":"heat-jimmy-butler-speaks-promising-scorer-jaime-jaquez","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/03\/26\/heat-jimmy-butler-speaks-promising-scorer-jaime-jaquez\/","title":{"rendered":"Heat Cornerstone Speaks on Promising Rookie Scorer"},"content":{"rendered":"

Miami Heat forward Jaime Jaquez Jr.<\/a> has played above even his most favorable pre-draft expectations.<\/a> Averaging 12.3 points per game on 48.6 percent shooting from the field, Jaquez is the only member of the 2023 NBA Draft class to shoot above 47 percent from the field while averaging at least 12 points per game.<\/p>\n

A three-level scorer whose lack of upper-end athleticism was cited by his detractors as evidence of why NBA teams should be wary of drafting him, Jaquez embodies the idea that skill is more important than explosiveness. Of course, in a league where players are flying around like ballistic missiles, being able to match up with them physically is important. Nonetheless, when a skilled hooper plays with the effort that Jaquez does, they can overcome some of their limitations.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s been the case for Jaquez, whose buy-in to conditioning began long before he reached the NBA. Indeed, in an interview with The Athletic\u2019s William Guillory, Jaquez\u2019s father is credited with<\/a> sparking his son\u2019s gym rat attitude.<\/p>\n

\u201cHis mind is always seeking out more information when he finds something he enjoys.\u201d \u2014 Jaime Jaquez Sr.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cHe didn\u2019t just love the game. He loved the work\u2026 the process of getting better,\u201d Jaquez Sr. says.<\/p>\n

Jimmy Butler Speaks on Jaime Jaquez Jr.<\/h2>\n

It makes sense then why Jaquez and Heat franchise cornerstone Jimmy Butler<\/a> have taken to each other already.<\/p>\n

In what\u2019s characterized as a \u201cmentor-mentee relationship\u201d by Guillory, Butler is an ideal sensei for the headband-wearing Jaquez. A two-way weapon forged in the fires of Illinois, Butler\u2019s growth from his time at Marquette to now is the stuff of NBA legends.<\/p>\n

Once little more than a defensive specialist, Butler saw his role expanding<\/a> with the Chicago Bulls in the aftermath of Derrick Rose\u2019s infamous ACL injury. Few players go from averaging 2.6 points per game in their rookie year to 20.0 points per game three seasons later. Butler did though and it\u2019s what helped make him one of the most popular players<\/a> in the NBA.<\/p>\n

Speaking to Guillory about his impression of Jaquez\u2019s game, Butler says \u201cit\u2019s cool to see because he\u2019s super young. I picked that type of stuff up when I was 28, 29.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHe has so much room to get better,\u201d Butler says. \u201cHe\u2019s so confident. He wants to make the right play every time. It\u2019s not like he\u2019s (playing like) a rookie. He knows what it takes to win.\u201d<\/p>\n

Shifting the Perspective<\/h3>\n

Jaquez\u2019s savvy play is a byproduct of not just a lifelong interest in playing basketball well but also four years at UCLA under five-time Coach of the Year, Mick Cronin. Four-year college players are viewed as a negative among scouts more interested in how long a player can be in the league than how well they\u2019ll play once in it. However, Jaquez is a poster boy for why such a draft approach is foolish at worst and situational at best.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Miami Heat forward Jaime Jaquez Jr. has played above even his most favorable pre-draft expectations. Averaging 12.3 points per game on 48.6 percent shooting from the field, Jaquez is the only member of the 2023 NBA Draft class to shoot above 47 percent from the field while averaging at least 12 points per game. A […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5008,"featured_media":70716,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[16,1608,62,3],"tags":[4256,142,98],"class_list":["post-70713","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-heat","category-basketball","category-nba","category-news","tag-jaime-jaquez","tag-jimmy-butler","tag-nba-draft"],"modified_by":"Quenton S Albertie","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70713","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5008"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=70713"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70713\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/70716"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=70713"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=70713"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=70713"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}