Miami Heat forward Jaime Jaquez is in the middle of a busy offseason.
He recovered from a hip injury during their loss against the Boston Celtics in the playoffs. He's dealt with the success of making the All-Rookie team. He also spent time in Las Vegas training with Team USA.
Despite all of this, he still found time to improve an area his game was lacking. The Heat want to add Jaquez to the "let it fly" fraternity, what coach Erik Spoelstra terms players with the green light to shoot 3-pointers.
Jaquez had 23 points, five rebounds, two assists and two steals in Monday's victory against Oklahoma City. He was 3 of 5 from the arc.
"Being able to make defenders really believe in my jumpshot and have them closing out on me," Jaquez said. "I hit a couple 3s and all of a sudden, they're flying out. It opens up my drive game a lot more. Just continue to find my open shots and take them confidently."
Jaquez is done with the summer league after two games. He left Las Vegas Monday night but his 3-point training expects to continue the remainder of the offseason.
"That's something Jaime works on day in and day out with [assistant] Eric Glass, sometimes twice a day," Heat summer league coach Dan Bisaccio said. "He's obsessive with his craft with his detail ... I'm really happy to see it kind of progress like that."
Shandel Richardson is the publisher of Inside The Heat. He can be reached at [email protected]
