Q: Ira, what to make of Jaime Jaquez Jr.? He looked good in Orlando, better than anyone on the bench. – Santos.
A: And because of that, this is not the time for backhanded compliments. But . . . the fact that the Heat had to use and rely on Jaime Jaquez Jr. that much in Wednesday night’s loss to the Magic also is telling. No player for either team played more in the fourth quarter than Jaime’s 10:39. What that says is Nikola Jovic was not up to the challenge in Orlando and that Erik Spoelstra didn’t believe he could trust Kel’el Ware at the moments of truth. Further, Jaime played 29:49 overall, with no other reserve besides Simone Fontecchio (18:58) playing more than Kel’el’s 13:48. The depth simply may not be as billed. Granted, without Tyler Herro, the entire rotation has to be adjusted, but the support system is not overwhelming. But none of that should take away from Jaime looking highly impressive on a night he scored 13 on 6-of-7 shooting, with six rebounds and two steals.
Q: Ira, time to turn up the heat (no pun intended). With Kel’el Ware’s ankle sprain, how do we go without a veteran backup center? Precious Achiuwa would have cost the minimum. Webster’s first definition of minimum: “The least quantity assignable, admissible, or possible. Keep expenses to a bare minimum.”
A: First, always a good lesson that Webster’s remains a thing. (I probably have one next to the set of encyclopedias [kids, look it up].) But the reality is that Precious Achiuwa was part of the Heat’s mix when they were getting pummeled on the glass by the Magic in the preseason, and Kel’el Ware’s ankle sprain did not occur until four days after Precious was informed of his release. In the bigger picture, it comes down to this: Should a team that is not a contender be paying the luxury tax? Again, it is about far more than the money, but rather restrictions that come in concert, including potentially triggering the highly punitive repeater tax. Sometimes you have to recognize who you are, what you are, and that it also can be about the future. All of that said, Kel’el was available Wednesday night and got only 14 minutes of action, so it’s not as if another center would have played. But those minutes for Kel’el, good, bad or indifferent, that can’t happen.
Q: I watched Tyler Herro’s video and he’s still saying he will be back soon. How soon? – David.
A: What Tyler Herro said in his YouTube video was, “we’re headed in the right direction.” But that also means work remains. The way the Heat’s schedule is built, with a four-game western swing after the upcoming two-game homestand, it hardly would make sense to travel a player in the midst of rehabilitation. So we probably remain where we have been all along, with the initial Heat timetable of recovery sometime around the third week of November. His offense could have helped at Wednesday night’s close, but the question is whether the Magic would then have isolated against his defense for easier scores. That remains the tradeoff.