How Jaime Jaquez is excelling as a rookie

Before the 2023 NBA draft, the name on everyone’s mind was that of eventual No. 1 pick, Victor Wembanyama. And although he’s been outstanding so far in his first NBA season for the San Antonio Spurs – as has fellow Rookie of the Year candidate Chet Holmgren – another rookie who has been surprisingly great through the quarter mark of 2023-24 is Miami Heat swingman Jaime Jaquez Jr, the No. 18 pick in 2023.

Over his last 19 games, Jaquez is averaging 15.9 points and 3.9 rebounds per game while shooting 52.7 percent from the floor and 45.0 percent from beyond the mark, the latter mark being particularly impressive considering Jaquez got to the NBA with questions surrounding his shooting stroke.

What’s more, Jaquez ranks third league-wide in our Global Rating metric among rookies, trailing just the two aforementioned high draft picks, Wembanyama and Holmgren, so we thought it time to break down the impressive rookie’s game and figure out in what facets of offense he’s been excelling.

Let’s jump right in.

Transition scoring

Points per possession: 1.23
Percentile rank: 71st percentile
Ranking on the Heat: 2nd

For an offense like Miami’s, which can stagnate from time to time due to a lack of truly elite one-on-one bucket-getters – especially with Tyler Herro out injured – scoring easy baskets in transition is vital, and that’s one area in which Jaquez excels.

Producing 1.23 points per possession on the play type, which places him in the NBA’s 71st percentile – ahead of the likes of LeBron James (1.22 PPP) and Anthony Edwards (1.13 PPP) – Jaquez uses his athleticism, speed and bounce to do some serious damage when running the floor, something that has given the Heat’s offense a needed boost.

Athleticism was actually one of the question marks Jaquez had surrounding his game as a draft prospect – if you don’t believe us, just read what The Ringer wrote about him in their final 2023 mock draft…

….so his proving that wrong this quickly is one of the main reasons why he’s been such an effective rookie so far.

Jaquez has outright said he’s interested in doing this year’s Dunk Contest if he’s asked to, so fans might get a chance to see even more of his high-flying ability on a bigger stage coming up relatively soon.

For now, his production as a transition scorer is helping him outperform expectations so far early on in his NBA career.

Running the pick-and-roll

Points per possession: 0.87
Percentile rank: 50th percentile
Ranking on the Heat: 3rd

Ranking in the 50th percentile – pretty much the average range – in a play type might not seem like something to celebrate but considering Jaquez is a rookie and that this stat doesn’t include passing out of the pick-and-roll, merely scoring, then it starts to get more impressive.

For starters, compared to the top rookie wing in his draft class, 2023 No. 2 overall pick and young Charlotte Hornet Brandon Miller, the numbers look favorable to the Heat’s first-year swingman, as Miller is producing just 0.75 PPP as a pick-and-roll ball-handler to place in the league’s 24th percentile, showing just how advanced Jaquez is for his age as a scorer and playmaker out of the all-important play type.

But it’s actually Jaquez’s passing when using a screen that really stands out, particularly as a first-year player. Instead of always forcing things to his roll man, the former UCLA standout knows when to hit the corner for a skip pass instead…

…to set up one of the most efficient shots in basketball, the corner three.

Here’s an even prettier example, with Jaquez finding elite three-point shooter Duncan Robinson in the corner instead of forcing the ball to his roller, to set up an easy two after a hard closeout by the defense:

Jaquez has a highly elevated feel for the game, one that always showed itself in college and has translated well in the NBA so far. Considering he’s merely 26 games into his pro career, those types of reads and plays should only continue to improve, too.

Posting up

Points per possession: 1.09
Percentile rank: 69th percentile
Ranking on the Heat: 1st

This is probably the area in which Jaquez has been most impressive this season, and the play type that leads to the most comparisons between the young rookie and his All-NBA-level teammate, Jimmy Butler.

Currently ranked as statistically the Heat’s best post-up threat, including over All-Star big man Bam Adebayo, Jaquez has been quite impressive with his back to the basket, showing a high degree of skill and feel for the game when getting buckets in the old-fashioned way.

Jaquez is producing 1.09 PPP on post-ups, a higher mark than traditional big men such as Jonas Valanciunas (1.04 PPP) and Jusuf Nurkic (0.95 PPP), and only has room to get better as a post-up scorer.

Jaquez has the size and strength just to bully smaller defenders and brutishly get buckets:

But the 22-year-old isn’t just going to back down smaller opponents and throw up the same flip/hook shot every time down; he’s got turnaround counter moves that will keep defenders in check and allow him to hit old-school post-up fadeaway jumpers from time to time, too.

Just look at how smooth this is:

What’s more, Jaquez is also showing a lot of juice in his playmaking ability, not just forcing his shoulder into opponents and throwing up awkward shots but also knowing when to hit a cutter for an easy basket out of post-up attempts:

That was against the league’s best defense, by the way.

There might come a day when opposing teams simply won’t be able to hide smaller defenders on Jaquez anymore, and that day might get here sooner rather than later considering how well the young forward is already doing as a post-up threat.

Although it’s not like Jaquez is scared to post up centers, either:

The most promising thing about the young Heat swingman other than his vision might already be his post-game, as Jaquez is showing such a high ceiling on what he’ll be able to develop into as a scorer based on his early-career ability out of the low block, a very difficult area to score out of.

Scoring off of dribble hand-offs

Points per possession: 1.00
Percentile rank: 60th percentile
Ranking on the Heat: 4th

Jaquez’s feel for the game and change-of-direction ability help him produce well out of dribble hand-offs, too, mainly because once he has a bit of momentum on his defender, it becomes far more difficult for opponents to know what the former Top 20 pick is going to do next.

We can ask DeMar DeRozan about just that. Josh Richardson comes down and hands the ball to Jaquez out of a dribble, leading to Jaquez gaining a step on DeRozan and the former using the latter’s momentum against him to score the flashy bucket.

For a slasher as effective as Jaquez, the dribble hand-off is going to continue being a great weapon, as defenders will have trouble staying in front of him with a teammate standing between the two, shielding the ball and handing it off to the 6-foot-6 swingman, giving him a blocker and a head full of steam to attack the basket like a running back.

Areas for improvement

Surprisingly, Jaquez is merely producing 1.27 PPP off of cuts to the basket, which sounds high but ranks in the league’s 39th percentile, below players like Max Strus and Ziaire Williams, who aren’t exactly known for their abilities as slashers. Regardless, he’s still scoring 66.7 percent of his baskets as a cutter, a healthy mark, so this number could and should improve as the season continues.

As purely an isolation one-on-one scorer, meanwhile, Jaquez also struggles a bit, producing 0.81 PPP out of the play type to place him in the NBA’s 36th percentile. That might be where his lack of super top-end quickness hurts him a bit, as he isn’t able to blow just by defenders in isolation situations for easy buckets. It’s hasn’t really been a part of his game yet, though, as Jaquez is averaging just 0.8 isolation chances per game so far, and considering how well he does when posting up and off of quick dribble hand-offs, the lack of iso scoring shouldn’t be a huge concern – at least for now – as the Heat rookie can get efficient buckets in other ways.

Finally, Jaquez could also stand to clean up his spot-up shooting a bit, as he’s scoring 1.03 PPP out of the play type, placing him in the league’s 47th percentile. That’s by no means a bad or worrisome mark, though, especially for a player who came into the NBA with serious question marks about his outside spot-up shooting. If anything, it’s promising that Jaquez is already at least an average spot-up shooter so early on in his career when he shot just 30.0 percent from three over his final two combined seasons of college ball at UCLA.

In all, Miami has to be thrilled it has been able to land such a perfect fit for its system with merely the 18th pick in the NBA draft. We haven’t even touched on Jaquez’s hard-nosed, versatile defense but even just on offense, his feel for the game has been able to shine brightly on a Heat team with such a high basketball IQ, with so many great passers and cutters, and so many unselfish players.

For a team coming off of a Finals run (two in the last three years), Jaquez has been able to provide a spark of energy and a breath of fresh air, flashing the makings of a player who could be developed into an All-Star by head coach Erik Spoelstra and Co. with time.

Story originally appeared on HoopsHype