Jaquez Jr., Jovic flash upside for Heat to open summer league: ‘They’re so naturally gifted’
The focus remains on Damian Lillard watch, but the Miami Heat’s two youngest players signed to contracts for next season are creating their own headlines.
That’s because the Heat’s last two first-round picks, Jaime Jaquez Jr. and Nikola Jovic, looked like the two best players on the court in Monday night’s 107-90 blowout win over the Los Angeles Lakers to open summer league action at the California Classic in Sacramento.
Jaquez, who was selected by the Heat with the 18th overall pick in last month’s draft, closed his summer league debut with a game-high 22 points on 8-of-15 shooting from the field and 3-of-7 shooting from three-point range in 22 minutes.
Jovic, who was drafted by the Heat with the 27th overall pick in last year’s draft, opened his second summer league with 21 points on 7-of-12 shooting from the field and 2-of-4 shooting on threes, eight rebounds and three assists in 27 minutes.
The Heat’s young duo combined to score an efficient 43 points on 27 field-goal attempts.
“You can teach a lot of things, but the feel of the game is just a gift. They have it,” Heat assistant coach and summer league head coach Caron Butler said, with the team taking the Fourth of July off before closing its two-game schedule at the California Classic on Wednesday against the Sacramento Kings at Golden 1 Center (10 p.m., ESPN) and then moving on to Las Vegas summer league.
“They have the feel of the game. High basketball IQ is one thing, but just the feel to make the reads, they’re very unselfish players. They’re unselfish to a fault, both of them. They’re so naturally gifted. ... They just did a remarkable job of playing well off one another and just finishing this game for us very efficiently.”
It didn’t take long for Jaquez, 22, and Jovic, 20, to build on-court chemistry. The two noticed their connection during their first scrimmage as teammates in the Heat’s second summer league practice on Sunday and it carried over into their first summer league game together on Monday.
“If you guys would have seen our scrimmage [Sunday], that’s the first time we actually played live and we already felt it,” Jovic said. “I got a couple of assists to him, he got a couple to me and that connection, with guys like that, it’s easy just to play with him.”
It helps that they enjoy sharing the court with each other.
Jovic said of Jaquez.: “He’s a great player. Before he came, I watched some of his college tapes. You can see that he plays team basketball. From Day 1 in the first practice, we’ve just really got along. He’s a great player, he knows how to play basketball, and it’s easy to share the court with guys like that.”
Jaquez said of Jovic: “He’s a great guy to play with. He’s always looking to pass, he’s always looking to pass, he’s always looking to make the right play, so playing with him has been really smooth. I’m excited where our chemistry goes. It’s only one game, and I thought we did really well and I’m very excited for Game 2 and the rest of this summer league to see how well we’re going to mesh together.”
One of the encouraging aspects behind their performances on Monday was that some of their perceived weaknesses turned into strengths — for at least one game.
Jovic, who shot 0 of 3 on drives to the basket during limited playing time in his first NBA regular season, was able to consistently attack the rim with the help of his Euro step to begin his second summer league. After adding about 20 pounds during the past year, the 6-foot-11 Jovic comfortably took the contact when in the paint to either draw the foul or finish over his defender.
“It’s really his added weight and now he has the confidence to absorb that contact,” Butler said of Jovic. “He’s getting downhill, he can do it either right or left. That’s the beautiful thing about him. If you put him in either slot, he’s going to have the advantage just because even with the weight gain and the muscle and all that, he still is so mobile. He can create an advantage immediately.”
As for Jaquez, he’s not known as a quality three-point shooter after shooting shot just 33 of 104 (31.7 percent) from three-point range as a senior last season and 116 of 354 (32.8 percent) from three-point range during his four-year college career at UCLA. But he shot 3 of 7 (42.9 percent) from beyond the arc in his summer league debut.
“I work on my shooting every day,” Jaquez said. “I think as basketball players, that’s like the biggest thing we all work on is just the ability to make shots. So that’s something that I’ve been comfortable with. The game is so much bigger and so much more free and you get a lot of time to set up and get an open look. I’m confident that I’m going to knock it down, my team is confident and coach CB is confident. So it’s really easy for me to just let it fly.”
Will Jaquez (can’t be traded for 30 days after signing his rookie contract on July 1) and/or Jovic be included in a potential trade for Lillard? That remains to be seen.
Their performances Monday to begin summer league turned into a showcase opportunity, but their value to the Heat as young players with upside was also on display.
“To win as many games as possible. I know they were telling me that they didn’t perform like they wanted to last year,” Jaquez said when asked about his summer league goals. “Coming into this, I have a goal of trying to win as many games as possible. Do well in this California Classic and then go to Vegas and hopefully win the summer league championship. That’s the goal that we have here.”
This story was originally published July 4, 2023 at 11:14 AM.
