Heat’s Jaime Jaquez Jr. dances with the stars as he shows fancy (Kobe like?) footwork in NBA debut

Ira Winderman, South Florida Sun-Sentinel

MIAMI — Finding immediate playing time for a rookie often is a delicate dance for Miami Heat coach Erik Spoelstra.

To his credit, Jaime Jaquez Jr. already has the footwork down.

One game into the preseason, last June’s No. 18 selection out of UCLA already has taken needed steps forward, adding intrigue to the coach-player two-step.

Tuesday night against the Charlotte Hornets at Kaseya Center, Jaquez showed early why the Heat was so intrigued through the draft process.

In the second quarter, against the defense of veteran forward Gordon Hayward, Jacquez dribbled left into the paint with his right hand, slipped the ball into his left hand while pivoting to his right back toward the foul line, turned back toward his left for what appeared would be an attempt at a short floating hook shot, stepped through contact from Hayward, ducked left into the paint, and then finished a layup with his right hand ahead of the help defense of shot-blocking Charlotte center Mark Williams.

“Keep ’em on their toes with a little shimmy and a shake,” Jaquez said respectfully of the sequence afterward in the Heat locker room. “And it ends up working up a lot of times.”

Among the reasons the Heat went for Jaquez in the first round was the four-year collegiate veteran mentality of the 22-year-old.

But this and other similar attempts on his 5-of-8, 13-point night in the 113-109 victory were beyond that level of that experience.

This was Kobe Bryant-type footwork, a Jimmy Butler type of sequence, undersized Hakeem Olajuwon Dream Shake, all while maintaining the perspective of a meaningless preseason game.

“Without getting into the obvious comparisons, but they are obvious,” Spoelstra said, with the Heat now off until Friday night’s nationally televised exhibition in San Antonio against Victor Wembanyama and the Spurs. “He’s watched a great deal of Kobe and Jimmy.

“I think it takes a unique person to be that observant and then have that kind of patience to be able to work on something, particularly as a young player. Most young players are sped up, and they’re trying to do everything so fast. And he has a patience to him, his game.”

To Jaquez, it is as simple as the school yard, going old school on the blacktop as most his age were playing more in attack mode or loading up from the 3-point line.

“I think that goes back to my park days, just watching guys like down on the low post, on the elbows and just really trying to go to the park and put that into my game,” he said. “So it started at a really young age, and just the way they move.

Related Articles

“I think imitation is like a really great way of learning. So I just watched them and just tried to copy it, honestly. Yeah, that’s what I did.”

But not to the point of predictability.

In the NBA, once the scouting reports come out, all that does is get those attempts swatted back in your face.

“I would say it’s a lot of improvisation,” said Jaquez, who is listed at 6 feet 6, 230 pounds. “I’m not out there counting steps. It’s all just feel. It’s kind of like I react to the defense and not how the defense reacts to me.

“I just set up something, set up going one way, spin the other way, and it’s just a lot of feel. So if a guy is playing me on my back to one side, spin to that side.”

Sizzle with simplicity . . . but also with the force of build that at times had him playing power forward at UCLA.

“I want to say the word that comes to my mind is ‘methodical,’ but it’s not,” Spoelstra said. “Because he plays with force. He plays with energy. He plays with pace. But it’s on his terms. And that is unique for a young player.

“It’s tough to do, to observe something, work on it and then implement it. I think that also is a skill, which a lot of players don’t have, but he does.”

That his welcome-to-the-NBA move came against a veteran in Hayward who also is known for his footwork made it all the more special.

“Of course, he’s a guy I’ve been watching for a very long time,” Jaquez said. “All those types of players, I’ve watched very closely. I got to play chess with him earlier, even before I got drafted, so we have a pretty good relationship off the court, as well. And it was great to play against him.”

So able to play with force.

But also light on his feet.

And there is a reason for that, as well.

“I was at dance lessons, actually, when I was a kid,” he said with a smile and laugh. “I do like dancing a lot.”

Advertisement