Miami Heat: Jaquez and Swider show out in preseason debut | Five on the Floor

Welcome to Five on the Floor, a daily insider show on the Miami Heat and the NBA, featuring Ethan Skolnick, Greg Sylvander, and Alex Toledo, plus others from the Five Reasons Sports Network. Welcome to the first preseason postgame edition of Five on the Floor. I am your host, Greg Sylvander. Today's floor plan, tonight's floor plan, we're going to dissect the 113-109 Miami Heat victory at the Casillas Center tonight over the Charlotte Hornets, preseason game one. Lots to unpack from this game because it was a fun one. It was a close one. There were some clutch plays. There was some fun stuff from some Rooks that we're going to talk about and some vets, so lots to get into. In addition to the floor plan, I want to introduce who we have on our show today, and that is Alex Toledo. Follow him at Tropical Blanket. We also have Eternal. You can find him on our playback channel. He is always one you can find there, but also he's on Twitter as well. And then for his maiden voyage on Five on the Floor, we have Matt Hannafin. Welcome to the show. Follow him on Twitter as well because dude is a wealth of knowledge. We are happy to have him on the program as it relates to the game of basketball. But before we dive into basketball, and trust me, I want to talk basketball, we got to shout out the official postgame sponsor for this entire Miami Heat season, for the 2023-24 Miami Heat season, and that is A. Aggressive Insurance, the insurance broker agency that's been servicing South Florida for over 16 years, offering auto insurance, retirement programs, condo insurance, homeowner's insurance, free notary service to all clients. They represent the leading insurance carriers all throughout South Florida, so if you have a bad driving record, no problem. No driver is refused. Free phone quotes. The website is insurancebylinette.com, so remember that, but also 954-581-8800. Again that's A. Aggressive Insurance, 954-581-8800, insurancebylinette.com. Okay fellas. So that was fun. Lots to talk about. Tyler Hero was comfortable on offense if inefficient. Bam Adebayo looked sharp, but let's cut to the chase. Jaime Jaquez was the talk of the night. Just in terms of the way he looked, the things he did down the stretch, I thought he was just confident beyond measure. Looked like he belonged physically in terms of that he didn't stand out as the scrawny rookie on the court, that the speed of the game was impacting him. I was pleasantly surprised by more than Jaime Jaquez, but Jaime Jaquez Jr. is where we start. And Matt, as it is your maiden voyage on the program, want to go to you first as we talk about this game. We're going to get to everybody, but we're starting with Jaime Jaquez Jr. Talk about what you saw from this dude coming off the bench, being super aggressive, and just your thoughts on his game. Again, it's preseason game one. It's against Charlotte. Let's temper expectations, but it was positive stuff. What did you see? I mean, he was remarkably fluid. He never looked sped up. He was going at his own pace. The footwork, I think, is the one that stood out to me the most, where his footwork in the low post, he was getting to his spots, and he was pump faking dudes, and he was creating angles for himself at and around the rim. But also defensively, I want to shout out defensively, what's going to get talked about again is his offense, and understandably so, and how he was making every single right decision whenever he had the ball in his hands, but I mean, defensively, again, this guy was an all-pack 12 defender, and he was staying in front of every single dude that was going up against him. Late in that fourth quarter, he was guarding Brandon Miller really well. I mean, Brandon did hit a couple of shots on him, but that's what top three picks do. He was doing a really good job staying in front of guys. He stayed in front of Terry on a couple of possessions throughout the game. He showed that lateral quickness and that lateral foot speed that I don't think many people expected out of him out of UCLA, because people questioned his athleticism and not really just his vertical athleticism, but his horizontal athleticism and his lateral athleticism, and I thought he did a really good job displaying that tonight, and just his instincts really stood out to me on that end of the court. Hooper. Certified Hooper. Eterno, I come to you next, because when we were on playback, just for context for our podcast listeners, we watched this game on playback. You should come on playback TV and check it out so you can watch the game with us. We kind of comment, chop it up while we watch, commentate about the game, so definitely check that out. Eterno was loving Jaime Jaquez's game. We all understood why, particularly some of the stuff he did late. What jumped out for you most, and I know you've been on since all summer, just for context also for our listeners, Eterno, friend of the program here, has been on Jaime Jaquez and Niko Jovic as being guys that are significant young players that can eventually grow to be real contributors, and Jaime Jaquez is kind of making him look like he was onto something. What did you like most? Man, you know, the biggest thing to me is how many ways can you impact the game of basketball? And I think what really stood out, like Matt said, like you said earlier, he just looks so comfortable out there. And I think a lot of that had to do with a lot of the L.A. runs that he had with Paul George and a lot of NBA stars coming out there during the summer, playing ball with them and kind of being able to watch them up close, and you kind of seeing it translate to his game on a college basketball court. You saw a little bit of it during summer league, and you know, he's been getting a lot of raving reviews from Jimmy, from Coach, Spoe, and a lot of them doing training camp. And so, you know, seeing that tonight in live game action, right, like we all have the same opinion, like, okay, so we hear all these things, so what can we see doing live game action? And I think it just jumped off immediately, jumped off the board, like his ability to process the game of basketball and being able to make the right play. He had a couple of turnovers, but you could tell that his vision, his thought process was in the right place. And just his activity, I mean, we looked at the stat, you know, stat sheet after the game and was like, that's it? That's all he got? Because it just felt like he was everywhere on the court, both offensively and defensively. So to me, the biggest thing that really jumped out to me was just his high basketball IQ. Yeah, that, it really, and the intuitive Hooper stuff, I don't even really know what we can call it. There's lots of names for it. You could just see it with certain guys, and you saw it with him for sure. I don't want to just skip over Tyler and Bam and Josh. Welcome back, Josh Richardson. It was nice to see Josh Richardson back in a heat jersey. The pre-game routine where Bam Adebayo is lifted up off the court that used to take place with Udonis Haslam apparently took place with Jay Rich and Bam. Shout out to Heat vs. The World. I think they were the ones who tweeted that out, just so I credit everyone. Alex, I want you to get your Jaime Jaquez thoughts in, but we've gone Jaime Jaquez heavy at the beginning of this episode. Feel free to jump in there, but the entire starting five, because they're kind of guys we know are going to be in the rotation, and Josh, Bam, Tyler, who I mentioned, Kyle Lowry and Kevin Love. What were your thoughts overall from the starters? I mean, honestly, Josh was definitely the thing to talk about from the starters. I mean, Tyler looked comfortable. Like you said, it's not like he had the most efficient shooting night, but we already expect him to come out firing this season, and we know what he can do. I think he's going to have a great year, but just having Josh back and seeing the stuff he can do, right? It was a limited amount of playing time. He only played 21 minutes, but in those 21 minutes, showed you why I think he's such a clean fit for this Heat team and the role that he's going to be playing in. I know we were talking about it on playback, but nothing spectacular when you look at the stat line. Again, not representative of the total minutes you'll probably be playing during the season, but seven points, four rebounds, three assists, one steal. Just kind of doing a little bit of everything here and there on the defensive end. On the offensive end, again, we talked about it on playback, he just looks more comfortable with the ball in his hands, and I think the way that he moves with the ball in his hands and the way that he's making quicker decisions than he did when he used to have the ball in his hands the first time around. It's what you would expect from a guy who's made his way around the league and has come back full circle. I just think he's more poised. The way that he, it feels like night and day from some of the stuff that people were complaining about with him when he was here the first time, where he would make some of these kind of boneheaded decisions with the ball, and now that there isn't so much pressure on him when the foundations of the team are there, Jimmy Bam and Tyler, I think he's just going to fit into that role so nicely. You saw it tonight. He gives you a little bit going to the rim, a little bit in the mid-range, can hit the open three, and great size to guard one through three, and that's easily what stood out to me from the starters. It's just cool to have him back because it's a perfect fit, and Jaquez, unbelievable, man. Unbelievable first game, unbelievable debut. He did not look like a rookie playing in his first preseason game out there, not even a little bit. It's just hard to say something different than what you guys said at this point. It's true, though. He looks like a natural hooper. He's playing at his own pace, does not look sped up by the game at all. Yeah, he's playing against a team with mostly young guys, but he had that one play where he made Gordon Hayward look stupid with all the pivots and upfakes and all that. It's incredible. He's natural out there, and he had a couple of passes that he whiffed, but I just thought the way that he gets to it, it's like he is a natural shot creator, and he was making pretty good reads. Some of it is more timing and speed of making the reads, which obviously is going to come with the reps, but it's all about you want to see these guys stand out in these preseason games. Jovic was cool, but Jaquez was the standout tonight. Jaquez is the guy who, look, if he can give you this sort of shot creation and somewhat rim pressure, being able to make an open three, and he looks pretty good defensively, like Matt said, and again, we talked about this on playback as well, he was dealing with those ankle injuries towards the end there at UCLA, and it's like maybe he's more athletic than was given credit for. He made you, if you're Spoh, you're looking at tonight's game and the way that he played and you're like, okay, this guy is making me think, do I have to put him in the rotation? I don't think it's that crazy to say, I know it's one preseason game, but I was that impressed by it. I thought the way that he flowed into his game while also fitting into what the heater trying to do was really impressive, because he did not pound the ball, he was making quick decisions, getting to his spots, making the passes, he wasn't just trying to get up a shot every time, he was just reading the game and playing, it was all very natural. And then, of course, the other guy that really stood out was Cole Swider, I mean, just fourth quarter killer, all his points in the fourth quarter, they apparently grow Duncan Robinson's trees. They do, and we're going to talk about that in a moment, but first, alright, welcome back, we are going to introduce a new segment on 5 on the Floor specific to our postgame shows, and that is our ROK Gamer of the Night. You need to head over to Miami's FIRST Gaming Lounge, ROK Esports Center, to eat, drink and play all day, host your next birthday party with them, located at 15305 South Dixie Highway in Palmetto Bay, they have a 5500 square foot state-of-the-art center equipped with high-end power of industry titans Corsair and Origin PC, play all day passes available for $25, professional level gaming at the most affordable price in town. You got to use the code 5RSN for $5 off your first purchase, over $20, join them for their watching gaming party starting on October 27th, again, that's ROK Esports Center, check them out, use that code 5RSN for $5 off your first purchase, over $20, and the ROK Gamer of the Night, Alex almost spoiled it before the segment, but that's okay, because it queued it up nicely, Cole Swider, y'all, what is happening here? So this is how I picture this. My son plays a game called, I think it's called Jurassic World Evolution on PS4, and essentially you continue to like make these hybrid dinosaurs and you can just mix up the DNA of all these different dinosaurs and you release them out into the wild, right? That's what happens in the game as you play it and you advance and keep going. That's kind of what the Heat is starting to do with these shooters, y'all, like they just go into the lab and they mix some stuff up and all of a sudden they release them out and Buddy comes out, Matt, I'm coming back to you, with 17 in the fourth quarter, just giving us Duncan Robinson flashbacks. What stood out most, and don't just say shooting, tell us about Cole Swider. Well, like, I've talked about this with Eternal on Playback before and how his shot form is so like it's the same every single time, whether it's his lower half, upper half, and like no matter whether he's coming off the screen, he's curling, he's standstill, like it's always the same. And so like, no matter where he was out on the floor, whether it was in the corner on those baseline out of bounds, or whether it was above the break, or whether like off a spot up attempt, it was always the same form. And so I think that obviously translates to success and at the same time, like he's kind of like Max in the sense that it feels like he never sees a defender, like, even though he's 6'8", 6'9", he's always able to find a way to rise up over guys without it, like he doesn't see the contest. He's just always super confident in his shot and that's just stuck out to me. He's like, no matter if he's, he seems like a guy who's like no matter if he's 0 for 10 or 7 for 7, it's always going to be the same thing every time and in a good sense. Yeah, it's like Duncan Robinson movement with some Max Bruce mindset. And that is, it's an interesting 13 minutes, 17 points, five of nine from the field, five of nine from three, so that's all he doing. Had a couple boards, got to the line, made both free throws, just a bucket getter, right? And Eternal, they need shooting. Duncan was 0 for six tonight. I don't know what we should make of that. Probably not a ton because it is preseason, but it was nice to see another guy step up. We haven't talked a lot about Niko Jovic. So I do want to also give you the opportunity to talk about him as well. But overall, Swider, Jovic, what were your highlights from those two guys that maybe we haven't touched on? Well, I mean, I don't think it's fair to really talk about Jovic. I mean, he didn't really play much tonight. We still haven't heard anything as far as why he wasn't available for the second half. But I think, you know, for the stuff that he, you know, was on the court for, you know, a Charlottes employee, he got, I think, I think he got one assist or something like that. But it was a breakdown, attacking a closeout and kicking it out for Kyle for three. And, you know, getting, I think, an easy putback or something like that. But Cole, man, he's everything that was advertised, everything that we heard, you know, from insider sources, everything we heard from just, you know, just the talk around camp. When Bam was asked who was like the most impressive young guy, he answered Cole Swider. And I think that was just, I mean, he came in to the full court, didn't play any other minute. Came in the full court and got 17 points, was getting them up. And I think also who also was like really impressive was Thomas Bryant. You know, my biggest concern with Thomas Bryant was his defense, and I think he played the dropper of the wheel. Matt mentioned that earlier on playback. You know, I think also he got a blocked shot in a full court pass to Josh Richardson. I think that, to me, was the highlight of the night. It was. That was a great play. It was a great play. He showed a lot of great activity around the rim as far as defensively, just being active and boxing out and things of that nature. So I think Cole Swider was everything as advertised, and I think Thomas Bryant showed us some encouraging glimpses for backup fire today. Agree. And Orlando Robinson came in, went right to work, getting up as many shots as he possibly could in 14 minutes, got up nine shots and a couple threes. Was positive minutes. Two players, Alex, Heywood Highsmith and Drew Smith, and I don't want to end the podcast on a bad note, but we need to, we're going to, we're going to go there. Heywood Highsmith, to me, looked like the guy who nobody's really going to like, remember how he played tonight, but that's the kind of stuff I think you're going to be able to see from him all season. Am I overreacting or do you think that that's probably the right projection for Heywood Highsmith? And then Drew Smith, he just couldn't, he couldn't shoot. He turned the ball over a ton. I guess he got the ball back more than he turned it over. But your thoughts on the fact that Drew Smith was kind of given the first shot at young point guard on the rise on the roster and didn't have a great showing. How much should we read into it? Interested on, on both of those guys from your perspective. So for Drew Smith, I mean, it's clear that they like him, not only because they kept, you know, bringing him back and then, you know, as everybody knows, Bo was talking to him up at training camp, did it a couple of times. And like we mentioned on playback, sorry for, you know, sounding like a broken record with that. We just, we talked about some of this stuff so much already. So, you know, I recommend you guys check that out, playback.tv slash 5RSN. But another guy, you know, in the heat's mold of end of rotations or excuse me, end of roster point guard, where it's like, you know, this guy can defend, he's got some stuff on defense, but the offense is, is a concern, right? And they're not all the same players, but they feel like they're all more or less in that mold. And I feel like RJ Hampton is kind of in that mold too, because the difference is Hampton kind of came up as a big name. And so he was thought to have more, you know, of a scoring arsenal. But I think right now, you know, Hampton is basically trying to fit into a role, right? And into that kind of defensive hound. You know, we heard a lot of stuff about him being the guy who led camp and deflection and steals. And that's what Drew was doing tonight. Drew Smith looked great on the defensive end and was making stuff happen there. Offensively, it was just wonky. And I think that's gonna be the thing is like, are either of their point guards, their two-way point guards, ready to get minutes? And I think that's gonna be a question because they don't need any, they don't need one of those guys to step up into it right now. But it's more like for, you know, nights when they have injuries, if Kyle's out, if Tyler's out for those types of things, that's when we'll see them. But I think that's right. That's why right now, it's just like, you know, Kyle is important still, because he's gonna be somebody who can, you know, bring up these bench units, because I just don't think like these types of point guards that he bring on are not necessarily lead guards, especially the end of roster ones. It's like these combo guards who are there to play a role. And so Smith and Hampton are not like, bring up the ball and get you into your offense type guards. But they can do it a little bit here and there. And I guess, I mean, with Highsmith, Highsmith is a different story, man. Like, I don't really have to see much from him, but I almost put him in the same category with some of these other like rotation players, Caleb, Jimmy Bam, Tyler, Kyle, like just these guys who I already know what I'm gonna see from them. And yeah, like seeing like Tyler and Josh play together is important. But again, like, most of these guys, I already know what they're gonna bring me. And Highsmith, as far as I'm concerned, has already earned that rotation spot. Because like I was mentioning tonight, like, oh, a fun bench unit would be Kyle, Duncan, Caleb, Hakez, and Jovich. Like that would be probably the most fun outcome. But I already know Highsmith is gonna be in there somewhere. And he has to be. Like the guy has played some incredible defense, and I think he's shown growth as a cutter and mover. And just, he's pretty perfect for the role that they need from him. So I think he's gonna be in there somewhere. And you know, that's just kind of where I'm at with him. Like I would be shocked if he wasn't in the rotation to start the season. Wholeheartedly agree, Heywood Highsmith will be in the rotation. I think that the point guard situation is precarious, and we just need to acknowledge that. It doesn't mean that they can't get by. It doesn't mean that they can't manufacture offense. It doesn't mean that they can't bring the ball up to court. I think that they can find capable ways of doing that stuff. But I don't know that it is a long-lasting formula to go with the point guards that are on this roster and the guys that can get you into offense and get you organized long term. You know, Ethan went as far as to say this may be the worst group of point guards that the Heat's ever had on a roster. I would need to do some historical research to confirm that. But I do know that when I went over in the Riley era, all the starting point guards that they've ever had. If Kyle Lowry is the starter on game one, he will be one of the, I guess, players that just from a statistical perspective will be one of the least productive if we just look at what he's done recently. So hopefully they'll figure that position out. I do not want to end this podcast on a bad note. So final thoughts from everyone on the night. I obviously think that there was a ton of good things to take from this game because it appears the Heat is deep. They may have some shooting replenished. So these are key points we were looking to see. And in game one, some of it we saw. So around the room quickly, Matt, final thoughts, Eternal, final thoughts, Alex, anything, jump in here and then we close out. Was that the most fun preseason game y'all have seen in some time from the Miami Heat? Like that was a lot of fun. Let's just come on. It was. And it was close. Had a great time. Let's do. Let's do more preseason games like that. That was fun. In fact, so far, the NBA preseason in general has been pretty fun, especially with the Wembley Chet Holmgren matchup the other night. There's been a couple other matchups and good performances out there. So so yes, the NBA is back. We are back with postgame additions. Check out a aggressive insurance, Rocky Sports Center. Have a good night. Peace out.