A ton of storylines came out of the Miami Heat's preseason opening win over the Charlotte Hornets. Two players in particular who stood out to head coach Erik Spoelstra are Jaime Jaquez Jr. and Thomas Bryant.
Both players are newcomers in different ways, as Jaquez is a rookie selected out of UCLA with the No. 18 overall pick, while Bryant is a veteran big man who's going into his eighth season in the NBA.
Jaime Jaquez Jr. looks NBA-ready
A constant trend said by coaches and players throughout training camp when asked about Jaquez is that he doesn't act like a rookie. Instead, he composes himself like a veteran, and it also shows in the way he plays. It's important to acknowledge that a good performance in the preseason won't always translate to the regular season, but it's hard to not see success when watching Jaquez.
In more than 23 minutes of play against Charlotte, he scored 13 points and collected seven rebounds. He looked comfortable in every facet, including with his footwork in the paint, which resulted resulted in multiple baskets. Spoelstra was impressed with his performance, citing some influences that Jaquez has made an effort to recreate.
“I think without giving the obvious comparison, he's watched a great deal of Kobe [Bryant] and Jimmy [Butler]. I think it takes any unique person to be that observant and then have that kind of patience to be able to work on something,” Spoelstra said. “Particularly as a young player. You know, most young players are sped up and they're trying to do everything so fast. He has a patience to his game.”
That's nasty work, Jaime 😬 (just wait for the replay) pic.twitter.com/OSxieFAhMu
— Miami HEAT (@MiamiHEAT) October 11, 2023
Modeling one's game after the likes of Kobe Bryant and Jimmy Butler is inspiring to hear, but obviously those are high aspirations to meet. Jaquez started modeling his game after them started at a young age.
“Man, I think that goes back to my park days. Just watching guys like that on the low post, I was trying to go to the park and put that in my game,” Jaquez Jr. said to the media after the game. “So it started at a really young age. Just watched the way they move. Imitation is a really great way of learning. So I just watched them and tried to copy it.”
Thomas Bryant making an immediate impact
Former Washington Wizard and Los Angeles Laker Thomas Bryant showed in the preseason opener why he could be the sneakiest signing of the offseason for the Heat. The team desperately needed some proven big-man depth behind Bam Adebayo, which was lacking last season as players like Cody Zeller and Dewayne Dedmon filled those roles.
TB block + outlet with the J-Rich slam = 🔥 pic.twitter.com/6M3OFNgGzW
— Miami HEAT (@MiamiHEAT) October 11, 2023
Bryant has been a productive reserve in the past and already showed against the Hornets that he can play that role in Miami. He played close to 19 minutes on Tuesday while scoring 15 points along with eight rebounds. As the Heat's coach said after the game, he had a presence in the paint that made him control the glass on both ends of the floor.
“We're all encouraged by his physical presence in the paint, but he has exceptional touch as well. He's got a variety of different kind of jump pokes or finishes at the rim,” Spoelstra said. “He's been historically a very good finisher in the paint. So this is not something new. And it fits a need that we felt like we were searching for. I know this is just preseason, but it was nice to be able to have them on the bench and that second unit and you know, expand the lead and Thomas was a big part of that.”
There's no doubt that Bryant will be a key player heading into the regular season. In the meantime, the Heat are 1-0 in the preseason with their next matchup against Victor Wembanyama and the San Antonio Spurs on Friday, October 13th.
Follow Us
Subscribe