UCLA Basketball: Jaime Jaquez Explains How 4-Year Bruins Run Helped Prep Him To Succeed In NBA
Through 18 games this season, former UCLA Bruins forward Jamie Jaquez Jr. has been showing exactly why he was a first-round draft pick this year. The Miami Heat took a chance on him, and he hasn't let them down at all.
He is averaging 11.3 points, 3.8 rebounds and 2.6 assists per game, while also shooting 39.3 percent from beyond the three-point line. Jaquez Jr. has fit in very well with this Heat squad, and he credits his four-year run with the Bruins for helping him find success.
“I think it’s that I was able to play in valued games like the NCAA Tournament and learn how to win. In college, it’s a lot different," Jaquez said. "You’ve got two games a week. Each game is like war. You’re preparing the whole week for a team. In the NBA, it’s a lot different. We had a game yesterday, and now we have a game today, and then we’ll fly back and have a little break. There’s a lot more intensity. I think that stuff from college translates, especially with the NCAA Tournament and doing things to help impact winning.”
Being able to play in a lot of big games with UCLA gave Jaquez Jr. the confidence and experience needed to play in the pros. He is taking that experience and putting it toward how he approaches the NBA.
"I think it’s just really buying into the team and putting winning first," Jaquez opined. "I think that’s the biggest thing. Coming together as a collective unit and doing things to help us win and keeping the main thing the main thing, winning games."
He has become a mainstay for this Heat team and is averaging 26.2 minutes per game. Jaquez Jr. is a consistent part of the rotation and he has earned everything coming his way.
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