CLEVELAND – Even amid the whirlwind, the work did not stop for Jaime Jaquez Jr., all of which has the second-year Miami Heat forward believing he’ll have a better shot next season.
Last Sunday, with coach Erik Spoelstra holding out most of his regulars, Jaquez went for a career-high 41 points in the regular-season finale against the Washington Wizards. Then Wednesday and Friday nights, with the rotation back in place for the postseason, Jaquez did not play in the play-in victories over the Chicago Bulls and Atlanta Hawks that landed the Heat in this best-of-seven first-round playoff series against the Cleveland Cavaliers.
“Just being the best teammate I can,” the 2023 first-round pick out of UCLA said, with the Heat opening the Cavaliers series on Sunday night at Rocket Arena.
All the while, Jaquez spent the close of the regular season and the play-in round working with Heat shooting coach Rob Fodor, with Jaquez’s field-goal percentage down to .461 from his rookie-season’s .489 and more significantly his 3-point percentage down from .322 to .311.
“We get up a lot of shots,” Jaquez said of the sessions with Fodor, which remain ongoing, with ample practice time amid the two two-day breaks at the start of the Cavaliers series. “I think one of the things with me is technique, my hand placement, getting my elbow where it needs to be, and my release, just get it out early. Those are the kinds of the things we talk about frequently.”
Jaquez said the goal has not been to reinvent his shot, but rather to refine, with these practice reps having to replace game reps, with Spoelstra’s reserves of choice now standing as Davion Mitchell, Haywood Highsmith, Duncan Robinson and Kyle Anderson.
“I guess just looking for more of the details and stuff like that,” Jaquez said of this dive into his shooting form. “I don’t think really trying to change your shot. I don’t think my shot needs to be changed. ‘Tweak’ I think is a different word I would use, make a little bit of tweaks there, adjustments, and just trying to find consistency, doing the same things over and over again.”
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With Jaquez on opponents’ scouting reports in his second season after making first-team All-Rookie a year ago, Spoelstra said from the start it has been about evolve or be extinguished.
“I think his biggest adjustment is just learning how teams are scheming against him and playing more physical and so it just requires a little more intention, the fundamentals, the footwork, things that he already has,” Spoelstra said. “It’s fine tuning it now versus teams that have him on the radar.”
To Jaquez, it is about subtle strides, first building back up to what previously was in place, then moving forward from there.
“Because as a shooter, sometimes you miss a shot, you try to make adjustments,” he said. “And also just trying to find that trust, because sometimes you’re going to miss shots, and that’s OK.”
And then there are moments like Friday morning, as the Heat prepared for the Hawks at State Farm Arena, with the typical shooting contests following shootaround.
“I just beat Duncan Robinson and Nikola Jovic in a shooting contest, so I would say it’s pretty helpful,” Jaquez said with a smile of the byproduct of the shooting sessions with Fodor. “I give it all to Rob, man. He’s been great.
“I think also along with having great shooting work with guys like Duncan, Niko every day it’s just really encouraging me to become better and get better. Going against guys like that who can really shoot the rock, you start to figure it out.”