Why Spoelstra needs to take out his pen. And why Butler went to see Dragic before return
If Erik Spoelstra hasn’t yet replaced his No. 2 pencil with a pen, he must be getting awfully close.
Spoelstra noted on the eve of training camp that Derrick Jones Jr. last season “made us at one point [believe] we had to play him. But he wasn’t someone who you saw we put him in ink. That’s the next challenge for Derrick Jones, to make sure we have him in ink as someone available and reliable.”
Jones has essentially done that, producing some of the league’s best defensive metrics for a small forward and improving his perimeter game to the point that he’s now a legitimate threat from distance.
“He is building on last year,” Spoelstra said after Jones produced 14 points, seven rebounds and a block in Friday’s 129-114 win against the Knicks.
“He can give you productive minutes, can guard multiple positions. Offensively his game is growing and putting pressure on the rim with his vertical spacing, cuts and playing defense. He is improving his shooting weekly, ready to take advantage when teams give him open looks. He does so many things to help the team.”
A career 29.5 percent three-point shooter, Jones has made 7 of his last 14 beyond the arc, to raise his season three-point percentage to 34.6 and his overall shooting percentage to 54.4.
Opposing players “are getting a whole lot closer,” Jones said of defending his three-pointers. “They aren’t letting me get the ball in the corner and take my shots no more. Once they start playing closer and I catch the ball, I’m going to get to the [basket].”
Generally, throughout his career, Jones said “teams try to sag off me and think I’m the weakest link out there. As long as they keep doing that, my teammates have the utmost faith in me and I’m going to just keep taking the shots they give me.”
Among small forwards who have defended at least 100 shots, Jones has allowed the third-lowest shooting percentage (36.4, 43 for 118), behind only Indiana swingman Justin Holiday (35.2) and OKC’s Darius Bazley (36.3).
Jones, who’s averaging 7.9 points and a career-high 20.8 minutes, should be even more effective with Goran Dragic back with him on the second unit. Dragic fed Jones for two alley-oop dunks Friday.
“Goran gets downhill, makes my guy guard him and he just puts the ball in the air and lets me do the rest,” Jones said. “He picks the defense apart.”
The growth from Jones in the past two years “is really amazing,” Dragic said. “First of all, everybody talks about his jumping ability. Now you can see he’s a great defender. He can play defense from all the positions and he can make the shots now. He’s a great cutter and it’s always nice to have some players who can do multiple stuff - cutting, dunking, shooting threes, setting a good screen. He rolls really fast and that really helps us as a creator to try to pass on the lob.”
Jones’ improvement might compel Spoelstra to play a 10-man rotation when Justise Winslow returns from a back injury. Winslow has missed eight games in a row, but ESPN reported on its Heat-76ers broadcast that the team believes his return is close.
DRAGIC’S RETURN
After a nine-game absence because of a groin injury, Dragic was sharp in an 18-point, 8-assist return on Friday. Was he surprised he wasn’t rusty?
“It’s always about rust if you don’t play for three weeks,” he said. “I put a lot of work in and it’s tough to simulate the game. I was surprised that my conditioning was good.”
Dragic said he’s not surprised to see the Heat playing at this level, at 21-8 and with the fourth best record in the league.
“I see those guys every day in practice,” he said. “You can see we have a deep bench. Everybody can play. We got Jimmy [Butler]. He’s a great leader.”
Dragic and Butler have cultivated a strong relationship, and Butler went to AmericanAirlines Arena on an off day Thursday to watch Dragic work out.
“I hadn’t seen him in almost seven days; I had to go check on him,” Butler said. “I miss G. The energy that he brings [and] he can obviously put the ball in the basket. Everyone loves being around that guy.”
BUTLER DEFERS
Could Butler ever have envisioned the Heat scoring 129 points on a night he attempted just three shots from the field and scored only nine points?
“Everyone is always working on their game, so it’s no surprise,” he said. “I’ll shoot zero times if you can guarantee me a win. I’ve never been a person in my career to shoot a lot anyways. Everybody is happy sharing the ball and seeing other guys score. I think that’s a great part of this team. When a guy is open, you have all the confidence in the world that they’re going to make that shot.”
Butler - who made two of his three shots from the field and four of six from the line - had eight assists, five rebounds and three steals in his 28 minutes on Friday. The last time Butler played at least 15 minutes and attempted three shots or fewer was as a member of the Bulls in March 2014.
What stands out with Butler, according to Duncan Robinson, is “how egoless he is and how willing he is to get other people involved. We’re all lucky to have a star like that who’s just willing to defer. He should have shot the one in the corner and I let him know about it.”
This story was originally published December 21, 2019 at 10:28 AM.
