As he goes through his third season with the [Miami Heat](https://heatnation.com/), Jaime Jaquez Jr. is experiencing the best year of his young NBA career.
The 24-year-old is averaging career-highs in points per game (15.6) and assists per game (5.0) on 51.2 percent shooting from the field. The 2023 first-round draft pick is doing all of this as a sixth man off of the bench, having yet to start a single game during the Heat’s first 25 games of the season.
> “I think just playing as a team,” Jaquez told Heat Nation in a one-on-one interview of the key to his success. “I think we got a lot of great guys who can facilitate. I’m really just trying to be a recipient of my teammates this year.”
Jaquez has a point — he’s playing with a stacked team this season, guys who have impressive resumes. It’s a big reason why Jaquez hasn’t started a game this season, even in the early season absence of Tyler Herro, who didn’t make his season debut until Nov. 24.
The Heat have established veterans such as Herro, Norman Powell, Bam Adebayo and Andrew Wiggins. Powell is currently leading the team with 24.6 points per game and is a candidate to go to the All-Star Game for the first time this season. Meanwhile, Herro, Adebayo and Wiggins have all been named as NBA All-Stars and have made deep playoff runs during their careers.
While the Heat have slowed down a bit after a hot 14-7 start — they’ve lost their past four games — they still remain a formidable foe. Miami has clinched six consecutive playoff appearances, and it has the opportunity to clinch its seventh consecutive postseason appearance this season. That’s the fourth-longest current mark in the NBA.
A big reason for that is “Heat Culture,” which is the stability of the franchise under the leadership of team president Pat Riley and head coach Erik Spoelstra.
> “It’s the foundation of this organization, it starts from Pat Riley all the way down to Coach Spoelstra and then down to the rest of the team,” said Jaquez. “We just try to emulate that every single day, the hardest working, most professional, best conditioned, all of that. Every single day, we try to bring that to the court.”
When asked what is the biggest thing he’s learned under the tutelage of Riley and Spoelstra, Jaquez says it’s being a “competitor.”
> “I learn from Spoelstra every single day,” said Jaquez. “Just really learn how to be a competitor, and really learning what it takes to win in the NBA.”
Jaquez was selected in the draft shortly after the Heat made a surprise run to the 2023 Finals. The third-year Jaquez is looking for his first deep run in the playoffs, with the Heat having been eliminated in the first round in each of the past two seasons. Miami has won just one playoff game in the past two seasons.
Even though he’s a candidate for the Sixth Man of the Year award, Jaquez downplays the potential of winning the award and instead is focusing on the team’s objective, which is winning a championship. The Heat are seeking their first title since the 2012-13 season.
> “Yes, the objective is to try to win an NBA championship,” said Jaquez.