Q: I hope Jaime Jaquez Jr. has a lot of warm clothing to bear the Sioux Falls winter. – Mitchell, Key Largo.
A: Because, as we all know, the first week of summer league determines the entire course of a rookie season. Just as with Jaime’s 22-point performance in the Heat’s summer-league opener, perspective is paramount. In many ways, summer league can be the worst setting for complementary players amid the chaos of teammates learning systems on the fly and players playing for their own statistics. A player such as Jaime is best when working within a system with well-defined roles. That is what training camp is all about. Based on his pedigree, age and collegiate experience, I’m not sure there will be any G League in Jaime’s rookie forecast.
Q: Last I checked, you can’t field a team with three players, no matter how good they are. I am concerned that there will be no one left after a Damian Lillard trade, no Nikola Jovic, no Jaime Jaquez Jr., no Caleb Martin, no Tyler Herro, no Duncan Robinson, no draft picks. Doesn’t that concern you? – Andrew, Coral Gables.
A: No, because when considering salary-cap factors and roster limits, I doubt more than three Heat players, if that, go out in a potential trade for Damian Lillard. So there should be ample bodies to put alongside Lillard, Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo. It also is among the reasons the Heat likely moved so fast to add Josh Richardson and Thomas Bryant, as well as retain Kevin Love.
Q: Ira, what did Tyler Herro do to deserve this? He’s a good player, Sixth Man of the Year, and now everyone is saying he has no value? – Stephen.
A: It’s become theater of the absurd, as if, “How dare the Heat offer a player like Tyler Herro for a superstar like Damian Lillard?” Somehow, in the view of pundits, it’s as if the Heat have been trying to give away Tyler, offload him, and treat him as a salary dump. If that were the case, there wouldn’t have been the four-year, $130 million extension off his rookie-scale deal in October. Tyler Herro is a capable No. 3 on a playoff roster. The question is whether he is a top-three player on a championship contender. Just because Tyler might not be Dame doesn’t mean he’s not a quality component. But this is what happens when trade talk drags on, the scrutiny gets sideways. Often, unfairly so.