As the Miami Heat beat the Los Angeles Lakers Wednesday night, rookie Jaime Jaquez Jr. once again was impressive as he scored 16 points and recorded eight assists. Besides the loss, the Lakers have to be frustrated since they had a prime chance to take Jaquez in the most recent NBA draft.
While a lot of the attention goes to rookie Victor Wembanyama who was picked by the San Antonio Spurs with the No. 1 overall pick, Jaquez has been making his mark with Miami as arguably the second best player from the draft. The UCLA product was taken at No. 18 by the Heat, just one pick after the Lakers.
They ended up taking University of Indiana guard Jalen Hood-Schifino. With how basketball players are as rookies, especially in the range he was taken, it could take time for the Los Angeles draft pick to be good, but Jaquez is solid right from the jump. A Western Conference executive spoke to Heavy Sports and said that the Lakers “blew it” in terms of the draft.
“I know there were some people in that organization who wanted Jaime Jaquez to stay in California and be a Laker,” the executive said. “He was the perfect role player for what they needed, he is a tough kid, he is a grinder. You could watch him last year and just tell h was ready to chip in for a good NBA team. The Laker like to use their picks to take big swings and not the safe bet, and that is how they were looking at Jalen. But they needed guys who could play now. And look at what Jaquez is doing. They blew it, for sure.”
Jaquez happy he is with Heat instead of staying in Los Angeles
Hood-Schifino has played 63 minutes in seven games and has scored 18 total points for Los Angeles. Jaquez going to the Lakers really makes a lot of sense in a multitude of ways. Not only because Jaquez can contribute immediately and help a team that wants to win a championship, but also because the rookie attended UCLA so it is not far from home.
However, Jaquez is happy that he is in another region and are with Miami instead of the Lakers. He said to Ira Winderman of The Sun Sentinel that he “wanted to get away.”
“I thought it was important for me to be able to go out of my comfort zone and experience something new,” Jaquez said. “I didn’t want to be a guy that said, ‘Oh, I just stayed in Southern California all my life,' I wanted to go live in a different, new place. And that’s why I was very excited to go to Miami. It was new. Everyone compares it, but I think it’s very, very different.”
Erik Spoelstra says Jaquez has “moxie”
While Jaquez has been impressive since the beginning of the season, it's been amplified recently due to the injury to star Jimmy Butler. As the two share similar play-styles, Jaquez was inserted into the starting lineup and has taken full advantage of the opportunties. Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra has noticed that and said he has a “moxie.”
“He had to break his way into a rotation, he had to learn to be a role player. He had to learn to earn more minutes, more opportunities, play in hostile environments, find different ways to win in the tournament. I think all that does matter. At least to us,” Spoelstra said of Jaquez. “He has a moxie to him, he has an experience level that you can feel that kind of transcends his age. But he just makes winning plays. This is a game that I thought he had around 21 points. I didn’t think he had that kind of game because he does a lot of stuff without the ball in his hands.”
Jaquez and the Heat are looking to keep it up as their next game will be against the Phoenix Suns Friday which will conclude a five-game road trip. Miami is 20-14 which puts them at fourth in the Eastern Conference.
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