Miami Heat forward Jaime Jaquez has been among the league's best in this category
Miami Heat forward Jaime Jaquez Jr., had a phenomenal first season in the NBA.
He followed that up with somewhat of a sophomore slump. The good news is he has returned to being a vital cog in his third season with the Heat. He's played so well that The Ringer has pegged him as its Sixth Man of the Year.
Here's what the article wrote about Jaquez: "He isn’t the face of the Miami Heat franchise, but, to me, Jaquez has best personified its identity this season: It’s a brake pad–allergic team that’s perpetually rumbling downhill. Only five players have recorded more drives than Jaquez this season, and he’s scored more points in the paint than Luka Doncic, Kawhi Leonard, and Cade Cunningham. Every lane on the Jaime Highway is a passing lane."
The numbers are certainly in Jaquez's favor. Despite missing some time with nagging injuries, he's performed solid when healthy. He is averaging 14.9 points, 5.1 rebounds and 4.7 assists. All of the numbers are career highs.
The article continued, "Oh, and not to bury the lede, but he leads all bench players in scoring and total assists. He’s also in the 96th percentile among all forwards in assist-to-usage ratio. Jaime not only sucks backpedaling defenses into the paint but also picks them apart when help comes—only Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Deni Avdija have recorded more passes out of their drives this season. The crop in this category is thin, but Jaquez’s bounce-back season is one the Heat should be thrilled with."
Jaquez would become the second recent Heat player to win the award. Tyler Herro won it during the 2021-22 season.
“I think he should be the sixth man of the year,” Spoelsta said in a recent interview with Clutch Points. “I think when we're middling around at around .500, nobody was paying attention, I think beginning of the year, everybody was talking about it. And my point to the team, all of a sudden we're not winning at a high level, nobody's paying attention to it, and there's other guys being mentioned for that. We're not doing winning enough right now. But if we continue with that, then I think he would naturally get recognized for that.”
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Shandel Richardson is the publisher of HeatRoundtable. He can be reached at shandelrich@gmail.com