Q: Jaime Jaquez is getting flipped in the Damian Lillard deal. – Danny.
A: Look, I can appreciate the thought that not all is as it appears when it comes to the NBA draft, considering how players are on stage in one team’s colors while already having been traded to another. But if this is a snow job with Jaime Jaquez, it is a heck of a choreographed effort, considering the effusive praise from the front office and the talk of how coach Erik Spoelstra was overwhelmed by the choice. And then to have family in for a media session Friday at Kaseya Center while something is being plotted behind the scenes all would seem a bit much for the team of Culture. This does not have the look of having plans to flip the already-made pick. Then again, the Timberwolves had a heck of a press conference at this time a year ago with Walker Kessler, who would go on to 2023 All-Rookie fame with the . . . Utah Jazz.
Q: Jaime Jaquez over Cam Whitmore? Projections had Jamie being a late first-rounder and Cam as Top 10 or Top 5. Being both small forwards, why choose the reach player versus the player who dropped? – Kris, Oceanside.
A: The last time the Heat moved to a player who slipped, they selected Justise Winslow at No. 10 in 2015, despite not having worked out the forward out of Duke. Three picks later, a player projected by many to the Heat, Devin Booker, went No. 13 to the Suns. The lesson is you don’t always take what falls to you; you take what you want. And with Cam Whitmore, it’s not as if the Heat were the only team that passed. Nineteen other teams passed. So if it turns out the Heat erred, so did two-thirds of the league. The Heat took the surer thing, which in the middle of the draft is prudent.
Q: I’m not crazy about our draft choice. Forget the Heat culture. The Heat need to get bigger and more athletic. The last thing they need is a 31% 3-point shooter. – Joel, Fort Lauderdale.
A: They assuredly would agree. But the Heat also believe they can bring out more in that regard. But along the lines of your thinking, in Jaime Jaquez the Heat added yet another player whose forte is two-points shots, adding him to the two-point mix of Bam Adebayo, Jimmy Butler and Tyler Herro. That’s a lot of attempting to trade twos for threes. It is difficult math to overcome.
