A look at DeJon Jarreau’s impressive Las Vegas run, and other Heat summer league takeaways
During a Miami Heat summer league campaign dominated by Max Strus and Omer Yurtseven headlines, DeJon Jarreau arrived to Las Vegas Summer League a bit under the radar.
It didn’t help that the undrafted Houston guard missed the Heat’s two games in Sacramento to open summer league because of a thigh contusion. But after games moved to Las Vegas, Jarreau was one of the Heat’s most consistently impressive players.
Jarreau, 23, closed summer league with 12 points on 5-of-11 shooting from the field and 1-of-3 shooting on threes, 10 rebounds and two assists in Tuesday’s 83-82 loss to the Dallas Mavericks in Las Vegas, but missed what would have been a game-winning driving layup at the final buzzer. The Heat finished with a 4-3 overall summer league record — 2-3 in Las Vegas and 2-0 in Sacramento.
Marcus Garrett, Strus, Gabe Vincent and Yurtseven were held out of the Heat’s summer league finale.
Used primarily in a point guard role, Jarreau (6-5, 185) averaged 11.6 points while shooting 47.7 percent from the field and 36.4 percent from three-point range, 6.6 rebounds, 5.8 assists and 1.4 steals during the Heat’s five-game run at Las Vegas Summer League.
“With DeJon, it’s just his makeup,” Heat assistant coach and summer league head coach Malik Allen said. “He finds a way to put his imprint on the game ... He has the vision and it’s just a matter of trying to harness the things that we see so he can keep growing and getting better as an NBA point guard. Someone who handles the ball. Because I think the vision is there, the understanding of where the ball should get is there and he has got to just keep growing as a floor general.
“But he has been great. You see the potential and the growth that he can grow into as he keeps working and keeps learning.”
With Jarreau’s strong showing in Las Vegas, he has emerged as one of the top candidates for a two-way contract from the Heat. Both of Miami’s two-way slots are open after last season’s two-way contract players, Strus and Gabe Vincent, were recently promoted to standard NBA contracts for next season.
“It has been a dream come true,” Jarreau said of his Heat experience. “Something I’ve always dreamed about growing up. To be able to represent an organization like the Miami Heat — a great organization, great culture and all about family. It has just been a dream come true. I’m just enjoying the whole process.”
One of Jarreau’s summer league highlights was his 10-assist performance against the Memphis Grizzlies on Aug. 11, which matched his collegiate career-high. He only recorded double-digit assists once in his four college seasons.
“In the NBA, the floor is a little bit more spaced to make those type of passes, where in college it’s more stacked,” Jarreau said. “I feel like my length helps me see over a lot of guys and it just makes it easier for other guys to just catch and shoot or put it on the ground. I pride myself on that, seeing my teammates have success.”
Jarreau’s do-it-all skill set has been on display, with his length and athleticism at point guard making him an above rebounder and defender at the position. But outside shooting will be important in his development, as he shot 38 of 130 (29.2 percent) from three-point range in his final two college seasons.
If Jarreau sticks with the Heat, he could spend most of this upcoming season with the Sioux Falls Skyforce in the G League.
However, a potential two-way contract with the Heat could mean meaningful NBA minutes because of questionable guard depth on the roster, with guard Victor Oladipo expected to miss at least the first few months of the season as he recovers from May knee surgery.
“He’s got good vision, he knows the plays,” Allen said. “It’s just now he’s in the process of learning how to deliver what those plays are because he can see them. He’s comfortable with the ball in hands, making a call and running a team. Those are the intangibles that he has offensively. So that skill set is there. It just needs maturing and growth and learning the position a little bit more. ... Then defensively, he has great length, he has quickness, he’s disruptive. So he has some NBA tools that are there that he can keep growing into, for sure.”
THIS AND THAT
▪ Summer league had been a struggle for Heat forward KZ Okpala. He totaled just 25 points on 8-of-34 (23.5 percent) shooting from the field and 4-of-17 (23.5 percent) shooting from three-point range, 27 rebounds and seven assists in his first four summer league games.
But Okpala, who is entering his third NBA season, turned in his best and most efficient summer league performance in the finale with 16 points on 6-of-11 shooting from the field and 4-of-5 shooting on threes, four rebounds, three assists, one steal and one block on Tuesday.
▪ Yurtseven earned a spot on the Heat’s roster for the upcoming season in summer league, literally. The 23-year-old 7-footer opened summer league as a free agent and closed summer league with a guaranteed contract from the Heat for next season.
Yurtseven, who spent most of last season in the G League after going undrafted in 2020, averaged 22.4 points on 50.6 percent shooting from the field and 8-of-22 (36.4 percent) shooting from three-point range, 11.2 rebounds and 2.4 blocks in the five summer league games he played in.
▪ Strus spent summer league as the Heat’s primary offensive option, and the results were positive. He averaged 22 points while shooting 41.2 percent from the field and 41.1 percent from three-point range, six rebounds and 2.2 assists in the five summer league games he played in.
Strus, who spent last season on a two-way deal with Miami, is one of four players on the summer roster who have guaranteed standard contracts with the Heat for next season along with Yurtseven, Vincent and Okpala.
▪ Along with Jarreau, Garrett is another clear-cut candidate for one of the Heat’s two-way deals. The undrafted Kansas guard is known for his defense, as he was named the Naismith National Defensive Player of the Year as a junior and finished as a finalist for the award last season.
But Garrett, 22, also was an efficient offensive player during summer league with 44 points on 26 shots in his first four games with the Heat. He averaged 11 points on 17-of-26 (65.4 percent) shooting from the field and 3-of-7 (42.9 percent) shooting on threes, 5.8 rebounds, 1.5 assists, 3.3 steals and 0.8 blocks during that stretch before his availability was limited during the final three summer league games because of an illness.
▪ Vincent, who spent last season on a two-way deal with the Heat, did not play in a summer league game this year. He arrived to summer league a few days late after representing Nigeria in the Tokyo Olympics.
▪ The Heat announced Tuesday that it signed undrafted Mississippi State guard D.J. Stewart. The deal is an Exhibit 10 contract, according to league sources.
Exhibit 10 deals usually come with an invite to training camp, with the Heat’s preseason roster now at 15 players — 14 standard guaranteed NBA contracts and one Exhibit 10 contract. NBA teams are allowed to carry up to 20 players during the offseason and preseason.
Both of the Heat’s two-way contract spots remain open, with two-way and Exhibit 10 deals not counting toward the salary cap.
▪ On Tuesday, the NBA released the national television game schedule for opening week and Christmas Day. The Heat, which hosted the New Orleans Pelicans on Christmas last season, did not make the list.
The full 2021-22 NBA schedule will be released Friday at 3 p.m.
