Jaime Jaquez Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Heat Notes: Adebayo, Hampton, Swider, Jaquez

October 11th, 2023 at 2:05pm CST by Luke Adams

Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra had another impressive showing in John Schuhmann’s annual general manager poll, earning 73% of the GMs’ votes for best head coach in the NBA. However, when he was asked about that survey during a media session on Tuesday, Spoelstra ended up bemoaning the fact that Bam Adebayo didn’t receive a single vote as the league’s best defensive player.

“That one is just unbelievable to me,” Spoelstra said, per Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald (Twitter link). “I think Bam is the best defensive player in the league and I just can’t understand why he’s not recognized for how impactful he is on that end of the court. So he’s just going to have to prove it again and just do it this year until everybody notices.”

While Spoelstra acknowledged that the pursuit of certain individual awards can interfere with team success, he suggested that Defensive Player of the Year – which Adebayo has talked about wanting to win – is “a good award to go for.”

“I think he just has to be who he is, do what he does and just be that dynamic force on that end of the court,” Spoelstra said. “Then I think he’s going to get recognized for that and hopefully we’ll have a great defense this year and he leads us on that end of the court.”

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In a notebook column for The Miami Herald, Barry Jackson explores whether Thomas Bryant has the right skill set to share the court with Adebayo, notes that Kevin Love has no preference between starting or coming off the bench, and relays Spoelstra’s comments on camp invitee R.J. Hampton. “(He’s) an out-of-this-world athlete,” Spoelstra said of Hampton, adding that he led the Heat in deflections and steals during training camp. “But he has to find a template to find immediate success in a role.”
Cole Swider‘s impressive fall continued on Tuesday as he poured in five three-pointers in the Heat’s preseason opener. While the camp invitee has made a good case for a promotion to a standard contract or two-way deal, he’s not taking anything for granted, writes Ira Winderman of The South Florida Sun Sentinel (subscription required). “I mean, I’m not on a contract, still,” Swider said. “You know what I mean? There’s nothing to be really excited about. … I just want to keep on stacking one day at a time, keeping on trying to help myself and help this team get to a point where I’m in the rotation and helping this team win.”
Coming off a strong preseason debut in which he scored 13 points on 5-of-8 shooting, Heat rookie Jaime Jaquez strained his left groin during Wednesday’s practice, tweets Winderman. The severity of the injury isn’t yet known, but the team will likely be in no hurry to get Jaquez back on the court.
While it may not have been ideal for young players like Jaquez and Nikola Jovic to have their names bandied about in trade rumors all summer, Spoelstra believes there’s a silver lining, according to Winderman (subscription required). “It’s not easy for young players to have their names thrown out there in the media. It’s just happening more and more each year, it seems like. And it’s not exclusive to us. I think it’s just league-wide, so you have to learn how to manage all of that,” Spoelstra said. “… And I think that’s a good thing for young players to experience early on — all the different components of being a professional basketball player.”

NBA GMs Like Celtics’ Offseason Moves, Title Chances

October 10th, 2023 at 11:59am CST by Luke Adams

The Celtics and Bucks made the best overall moves this offseason, according to the NBA’s general managers. In his annual survey of the league’s top basketball decision-makers, John Schuhmann of NBA.com writes that 23% picked Boston as having the best summer, while another 23% picked Milwaukee. The Trail Blazers (17%) and Lakers (13%) were among the other clubs who received multiple votes.

Of course, the Celtics’ and Bucks’ pre-camp trades for Jrue Holiday and Damian Lillard, respectively, were huge factors in the positive perception of their offseasons. Of Schuhmann’s GM respondents, 47% said the Lillard acquisition was the most impactful move of the offseason, while Boston’s addition of Holiday placed second at 13% (the Celtics’ trade for Kristaps Porzingis tied for fourth, at 7%).

Both Boston and Milwaukee are viewed by the league’s general managers as good bets to compete for the title in 2024. The Celtics were selected by 33% of Schuhmann’s respondents as the team that will win the championship the season, while the Bucks got 23% of the vote share. No other Eastern club received a vote, with the Nuggets (33%), Suns (7%), and Clippers (3%) representing the only other teams that were chosen as potential champs.

Here are a few more interesting results from Schuhmann’s GM survey, which is worth checking out in full:

As much as the NBA’s general managers like Boston’s roster, it was the Grizzlies‘ acquisition of Marcus Smart from Boston that was voted as the most underrated player addition of the summer (17%), narrowly edging out the Mavericks‘ sign-and-trade for Grant Williams (14%).
The NBA’s GMs are high on the Thunder. Oklahoma City was the runaway winner as the team with the league’s most promising young core (73%) and also earned the most votes for which club will be most improved in 2023/24 (30%).
Spurs rookie Victor Wembanyama got plenty of love from the league’s GMs. He was the top choice for Rookie of the Year (50%) and was the overwhelming pick for which rookie will be the best player in five years (90%). He also placed second among the players Schuhmann’s respondents would most want to start a franchise with today, with his 23% vote share trailing only Nikola Jokic‘s 33%.
NBA GMs expect Ime Udoka of the Rockets to be the head coach that has the biggest impact on his new team (57%), followed by Monty Williams of the Pistons (17%).
Jordi Fernandez of the Kings, viewed as a future NBA head coach, comfortably won the vote on the league’s best assistant (31%).
The NBA’s GMs consider Timberwolves guard Anthony Edwards (23%), Pistons guard Cade Cunningham (20%), and Magic forward Franz Wagner (13%) the top candidates for a breakout year.
Which rookie was the biggest steal in the 2023 draft? Rockets wing Cam Whitmore (43%) was the top choice, with Jazz guard Keyonte George, Trail Blazers guard Scoot Henderson, and Heat forward Jaime Jaquez each receiving 10% of the vote.

Heat Notes: Ellington, Roster, Jaquez, Lillard

September 29th, 2023 at 7:12pm CST by Rory Maher

Wayne Ellington, a 13-year veteran whose last NBA stint came with the Lakers in 2021/22, has joined the Heat as a player development coach, writes Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald. Ellington will replace Anthony Carter, who left Miami a couple months ago to join the Grizzlies.

Ellington, 35, hasn’t officially retired, but the fact that the longtime shooting guard is joining Miami’s coaching staff is an indication that his playing days might be coming to a close.

According to Tim Reynolds of The Associated Press (Twitter link), Ellington was considering continuing his career in a front office role, but the Heat offered him a job as a coach and he accepted it. The team just made the announcement, but Ellington has already been acting in an unofficial capacity for several weeks, Reynolds adds.

The 28th pick of the 2009 draft, Ellington has played in 770 regular seasons games (20.9 MPG) for nine teams during his career, averaging 8.0 PPG and 2.1 RPG while shooting 38.2% from three-point range. He had his most productive seasons during his tenure with the Heat from 2016-19, averaging 10.5 PPG as a shooting specialist (38.4% from deep on high volume).

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Anthony Chiang and Barry Jackson of The Miami Herald explore what’s next for the Heat after they were unable to trade for Damian Lillard, who landed with the Bucks in a three-team blockbuster. As the authors note, the Heat will have to fill their 14th standard roster spot before the season starts — they currently only have 13 players on standard deals, including Orlando Robinson‘s partially guaranteed salary.
First-round pick Jaime Jaquez was involved in the Lillard trade rumors and he admits he heard the speculation, he told Chiang of The Miami Herald. “I won’t lie, at first it was in the back of my head,” Jaquez said earlier this week. “Like what’s going to happen? Am I going to leave? You never know. But as we moved on and time went on, I just got really comfortable in my situation that whatever happens happens. I just believe it’s all a part of a bigger plan. Things happen for a reason. If I stay, great. If I get traded, it was fun while it lasted. But I try not to worry about that. I can only control what I can control.” The former UCLA standout also said he’s fully healthy following a shoulder injury in Summer League and has been working on his shooting and defense ahead of his rookie season.
Missing out on Lillard is “close to a worst-case scenario” for the Heat, contends William Guillory of The Athletic. As Guillory writes, Lillard would have been an ideal fit on the offensive end, and he’ll also be joining the rival Bucks, which not only improves Milwaukee’s roster but also may make Giannis Antetokounmpo more likely to sign an extension. Guillory believes the Heat can’t just stand pat and need to bolster their offensive firepower to make another deep playoff run. He also wonders if Tyler Herro will have any lingering resentment after being involved in trade rumors all summer.

Heat Notes: Lillard, Jovic, Martin, Love

September 27th, 2023 at 10:01am CST by Luke Adams

Despite the recent deluge of rumors linking Damian Lillard to the Raptors, Toronto-based reporter Michael Grange of Sportsnet.ca (Twitter link) says the growing consensus around the NBA is that the Trail Blazers guard will ultimately land in Miami, his preferred destination.

If Lillard is sent to Miami, what would the Heat realistically have to give up? One veteran scout who spoke to Barry Jackson of The Miami Herald believes that a package of Tyler Herro, three first-round picks, cap filler (likely Kyle Lowry‘s expiring contract), and one player from the trio of Nikola Jovic, Jaime Jaquez, and Caleb Martin would make sense for both sides.

“If I’m the Heat, I offer two (first-round) picks, Herro and one of the three young players, preferably Jovic or Jaquez, and see if anybody tops that,” the scout said. “If you have to give up one more pick, fine. Three picks are rich for a guy who’s 33 with ($216MM) left on his contract. But I could understand offering a third. I would do it if that made the difference in making the deal.”

Previous reporting indicated that Miami initially made an offer that included Herro and two first-round picks.

Because they owe a protected 2025 first-round pick to Oklahoma City, the Heat can currently only include two first-rounders in any trade package, due to the Stepien rule. They would have to reach a separate agreement with the Thunder amending the terms of that traded pick in order to free up a third movable first-rounder. Alternatively, they could offer one or more first-round pick swaps.

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Speaking to Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald, Nikola Jovic discussed his experience playing for Serbia in the FIBA World Cup, the status of a back injury that bothered him earlier in the year, and how it felt to have his name pop up in the Lillard trade rumors. A busy summer helped Jovic not spend much time thinking about that trade speculation, he told Chiang. “You just concentrate on other things. I was just so concentrated on basketball there that I didn’t have time to think about what’s going to happen,” Jovic said. “It’s a business. So what happens happens. But of course, right now when I’m (in Miami) and more people talk about it, it’s different than when I was there and just playing and being in the game all the time.”
Chiang also interviewed Caleb Martin, who said that Miami feels like a “second home” to him after two years with the Heat and spoke about the offseason departures of Max Strus and Gabe Vincent. “We have to find that new connectivity and chemistry with the new guys,” Martin said. “But I feel like we got the right type of guys who fit that system and that shouldn’t be hard. It seems like everybody is about winning. You know what it is when you come to play for the Heat. So you just gotta jump in line with the culture. I feel like we got the right guys to do that.”
In a pair of articles for The Sun Sentinel, Ira Winderman evaluates the Heat’s depth chart at small forward and power forward. As Winderman observes, one starting lineup decision on tap for Miami will be whether to try Martin as a starter at the four again or stick with a more traditional power forward like Kevin Love.

Jazz, Bulls, Hornets, Nets Interested In Tyler Herro

September 22nd, 2023 at 9:44pm CST by Rory Maher

Add the Jazz to the list of teams that could be involved on the periphery of a Damian Lillard trade, writes Jake Fischer of Yahoo Sports.

In particular, if the Trail Blazers eventually trade Lillard to the Heat, the Jazz, Bulls, Hornets and Nets are all thought to be interested in acquiring Tyler Herro in a multi-team trade, sources tell Fischer. Portland is reportedly unenthusiastic about Herro, in part because the team already has a trio of young guards in Scoot Henderson, Shaedon Sharpe and Anfernee Simons.

League personnel also expect the Blazers to ask the Heat for Jaime Jaquez in a possible deal, according to Fischer. A small forward out of UCLA, Jaquez was selected 18th overall by Miami in June’s draft.

Brooklyn has long been considered a team with a level of interest in Herro. The other three teams are new possible landing spots for the 23-year-old, however, from what we’ve seen reported in recent months.

Trade talks for Lillard have picked up steam ahead of training camp, though a deal isn’t considered imminent. The Bulls and Raptors are reportedly among Lillard’s other suitors, despite the veteran guard making it clear (via his agent) that he wants to land in Miami.

Multiple sources tell Gerald Bourguet of PHNX Sports that the Pacers are another team that could potentially help facilitate a Lillard trade, along with the Suns.

Indiana is looking to move Buddy Hield after extension talks fizzled. It’s unclear where Hield would be headed in that scenario — or if he’d even be involved. Dallas, Philadelphia and Milwaukee are rumored to be interested in the veteran sharpshooter.

Erik Spoelstra Discusses Heat’s Roster, Offseason Moves

August 18th, 2023 at 4:00pm CST by Luke Adams

There’s a sense that the Heat‘s offseason remains unfinished, with the Damian Lillard saga unresolved and Miami still looking like the overwhelming favorite to trade for the Trail Blazers star sooner or later.

However, speaking to ESPN’s Brian Windhorst on NBA Today on Thursday (YouTube link), head coach Erik Spoelstra suggested that he’d be happy to head into the 2023/24 season with his current roster, noting that the team “had most of our work done” by the time he reported to Team USA for the summer.

“We’re bringing back the majority of our players and that’s a luxury in this league,” Spoelstra said, per Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald. “Things are so transient, things are moving fast. It seems like it’s moving faster now than even four, five, six years ago.

“We feel great about our group. We made some nice additions, we feel. Josh Richardson, getting another family member back into our program. Thomas Bryant, who we’ve been a big fan of. And [Jaime] Jaquez as our draft pick. We’re excited. He’s a guy you can plug and play right now. He’s a little bit older and he has a great deal of experience. So we’re adding those guys to our mix and bringing everybody back. Tyler [Herro] is healthy, Jimmy [Butler] and Bam [Adebayo], that’s a great core. So we’re excited about it.”

Spoelstra obviously can’t publicly discuss the possibility of adding Lillard and is unlikely to be directly involved in trade negotiations for the star guard, which will be handled by the front office. So the fact that he’s speaking positively about his current group is no surprise.

Still, Spoelstra is putting a positive spin on what has been an up-and-down offseason so far for the Heat. While Miami did well to get Richardson and Bryant on minimum-salary deals, the team lost two key rotation players – Gabe Vincent and Max Strus – in free agency. The Heat should be competitive again with no additional roster changes, but acquiring Lillard would almost certainly increase the club’s ceiling.

Players Who Signed July 1 Are Now Eligible To Be Traded

July 31st, 2023 at 9:22am CST by Arthur Hill

The peak of the NBA’s transactions season has calmed down after an active start to July, but a few more players have become eligible to be traded on the final day of the month, notes Bobby Marks of ESPN (Twitter link).

The 30-day trade restriction window has expired for draft picks who signed their contracts on July 1, along with six players who inked two-way contracts on that date.

The designation won’t matter for those at the very top of the draft, as the Spurs and Trail Blazers obviously won’t consider trading Victor Wembanyama and Scoot Henderson, respectively. However, it could come into play for a few others, especially if more big-name players are on the move as the summer winds down.

In addition to those top-three picks, first-rounders who signed on July 1 are the Magic’s Anthony Black and Jett Howard, the Pacers‘ Jarace Walker and Ben Sheppard, the Trail Blazers‘ Kris Murray and the Heat’s Jaime Jaquez. The No. 18 pick out of UCLA, Jaquez has been mentioned as a potential asset in a trade to bring Damian Lillard to Miami.

Two-way players who signed on July 1, according to NBA.com’s transactions log, are the Sixers‘ Terquavion Smith and Ricky Council, the Heat‘s Dru Smith and Jamaree Bouyea, the Trail Blazers‘ Ibou Badji and the Rockets‘ Trevor Hudgins.

Most veteran free agents who signed this summer won’t become eligible to be traded by their teams until December 15 or January 15, depending on their circumstances. Those signings didn’t become official until July 6 or later because of the NBA’s summer moratorium.

Heat Notes: Jaquez, Haslem, Jovic, Lillard

July 24th, 2023 at 11:58am CST by Arthur Hill

When Jaime Jaquez was drafted by the Heat last month, one of his first actions was to send a text message to Udonis Haslem, writes Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald. Haslem has retired after 20 seasons in the NBA, but he still represents the epitome of Heat Culture and Jaquez thought it was important to show respect.

“I know he’s the OG of the Miami Heat,” Jaquez said. “I felt it was only right that I reach out to him first and just let him know that I’m excited to be here and ready to work.”

Haslem said during a recent radio interview that Jaquez is “definitely a culture guy,” and they continued to text each other throughout Summer League. Jaquez grew up in California as a Lakers fan, but he followed the Heat closely as well so he’s aware of Haslem’s importance to the franchise.

“I’m a basketball fan, I was a Heat fan,” Jaquez said. “I always loved the Lakers, but the Heat was always my No. 2 and I’ve just always known about him and his presence in the organization. Being a basketball fan, you know who he is.”

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Even though Haslem is officially retired, he’s still serving as a mentor to many of the team’s young players, Chiang adds. “I continue to stay connected to Orlando (Robinson), who had an amazing Summer League,” Haslem said. “I continue to stay connected to (Jamal) Cain, who had a hell of a Summer League, Niko (Nikola Jovic), who played well in the beginning (of Summer League), all these guys. There’s a next generation and I just continue to build relationships and bank equity with those guys.”
Jaquez made a positive impression on Heat officials during Summer League, even though he was held out after injuring his shoulder in the second game, Chiang states in a separate story. Miami was also encouraged by the play of Jovic, last year’s first-round pick, who appeared in four games before joining the Serbian national team. “There’s a lot to like about his development so far,” coach Erik Spoelstra said of Jovic. “… You see the rebounding, you see the off-ball awareness defensively, his ability to take a rebound off the glass and push it in transition. These are skills that are really tough to teach. He has great vision.”
Former NBA star Gary Payton, who was in Miami on Sunday as a coach in the Big3 League, sees Damian Lillard as a perfect addition for the Heat, per Ira Winderman of The Sun-Sentinel. “Dame had to make the decision: Do I want to keep doing what I do, or do I want to try to win a championship? And that’s what he wants to do now,” said Payton, who followed a similar path before coming to Miami late in his career. “It is just time, time for him to make a move to where he wants to go.”

Heat Notes: Lillard, Peterson, Jaquez, C. Butler

July 16th, 2023 at 4:00pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

Although Heat rookie forward Jaime Jaquez Jr. played in just one full Summer League contest and less than half of a second before being shut down due to a shoulder ailment, Miami already likes what it’s seeing out of the UCLA alum.

Heat general manager Andy Elisburg raved about Jaquez’ fit during an interview on WQAM, as recounted by Ira Winderman of The South Florida Sun Sentinel.

“I think he’s our type of guy,” Elisburg said. “I think he comes from the same kind of ethos that we think we value, with players that we value. He has that kind of competitiveness and the work ethic that you want to see.

“… You’re excited to see what he’s able to do as he takes his game and grows it. At this point in time, he’s got things he does well, things he can do better at. And the great players take the things that they can do better at, and become better at that.”

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Given how pricey the final two years of Damian Lillard‘s contract are, the Heat are currently not particularly inclined to increase their offer for the Trail Blazers point guard, Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN recently revealed during an interview on the network (Twitter video link via ClutchPoints). “The Miami Heat, the team that is most motivated to trade for Damian Lillard, where he wants to end up, they don’t want to be in a situation where they’re bidding against themselves right now,” Woj said (hat tip to HoopsHype for the transcription). “They look out into the marketplace, they see teams that are – they know the market does not love the idea of paying Damian Lillard a $60MM average at 35 and 36 years old over the last two years of that deal. If this was a contract with two years left, it would be different, perhaps. So there’s no rush for either side to be real aggressive in their conversations with each other.”
Drew Peterson, an undrafted combo forward out of USC, has been making waves as a sharpshooter while playing for the Heat’s Summer League club. Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald wonders if the 6’9″ prospect could become Miami’s latest undrafted diamond-in-the-rough discovery. He will reportedly sign an Exhibit 10 training camp deal with the team. His size and shooting ability already appears to be intriguing the club. “Because he caught on to the team continuity and understood the concept of what we were trying to get accomplished,” assistant coach and Summer League head coach Caron Butler said. “From the spacing standpoint, playing off the other guys, the handlers, catch-and-goes, he’s done a remarkable job with that.” Across his three games with the Heat, Peterson is connecting on 57.1% of his 4.7 long range tries per contest.
Butler, an All-Star in his playing days, has unexpectedly fallen in love with coaching, Chiang writes in another Miami Herald story. “I didn’t know that I was going to fall in love with the game and the teaching and all those things,” Butler told Chiang. “But it’s something that I just can’t see myself not doing now because of the connection with the players and seeing them get it and the information that you instill in them. That feeling is priceless.” After retiring from the league in 2016, Butler served as a TV analyst, first for the college game with ESPN in 2017, and subsequently for the Lakers, Wizards and the NBA at large with various networks. He joined Erik Spoelstra‘s coaching staff for the 2020/21 season.

Heat Notes: Jaquez, Jovic, D. Robinson, O. Robinson, Richardson

July 9th, 2023 at 1:01pm CST by Arthur Hill

Heat players are trying to focus on their Summer League games, but trade rumors are never far away, especially for those who might be sent to Portland in a potential Damian Lillard deal, writes Ira Winderman of The Sun Sentinel. First-round pick Jaime Jaquez was held out of Saturday’s game and Nikola Jovic stayed on the bench for the final 7:59, leading to speculation that the Heat are trying to protect their trade assets. Both players have minor injuries that coach Caron Butler didn’t want to risk aggravating.

“I don’t mind trade talk,” said Jovic, a first-round pick in 2022. “I’m not that much on Twitter. People from Europe don’t use it that much. I heard a lot of it was on Twitter, so I’m trying to keep away from that.”

Duncan Robinson, another potential trade piece because of the three seasons remaining on his five-year, $90MM contract, attended Saturday’s game and talked to the Heat’s broadcast team about what it’s like to constantly be involved in trade rumors. He said it’s important to avoid being consumed by the speculation and to stay away from social media as much as possible.

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Orlando Robinson showed off an improved three-point shot as he posted 36 points in Saturday’s win over the Celtics, observes Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald. The 23-year-old center has been working to improve that part of his game after going 0-for-6 from long distance during his rookie season. “I definitely tweaked some things, keeping my arm closer to me and keeping it more in line and getting more arc on it instead of flat,” Robinson said. “And just repetitions. Just getting up as many threes as possible, so I can mentally get those reps and just feel it. So when I get into the game, I can shoot confidently.”
Jaquez may not play at all in Las Vegas after hurting his shoulder on Wednesday in the final game of the California Classic Summer League, Chiang adds in another Herald story. “My goal is I want to play if I can,” Jaquez said. “I want to be out there with the guys and showcase what I can do. But at the same time, understanding that you got to take care of your body as well. It’s just kind of finding that in between. But day-to-day right now.”
Josh Richardson had better offers from other teams, but he opted to sign for the veteran’s minimum because he wants to return to Miami, per Barry Jackson of The Miami Herald. Richardson started his career with the Heat before being shipped to Philadelphia in the Jimmy Butler trade in 2019. “Sometimes you have got to sacrifice certain things,” he said. “I had talks with coaches and after weighing the options, I thought that it would be in my best interests and everyone involved to come back and give it another go.”