Miami Heat: 3 Goals for Derrick Jones Jr. in the 2019-20 season

Become a Better Ball Handler

While Derrick Jones Jr. isn’t absolutely terrible when it comes to his ballhandling and dribbling ability, he won’t ever be confused with Allen Iverson, but that isn’t exactly who he needs to be either. Ballhandling will be important to Jones Jr.’s future development for a few reasons that will make complete sense once it’s laid out.

The first reason has everything to do with the fact that he is a very versatile guy position-wise, having the size and length to play as high as the four-man and the athletic ability to guard as low as the point guard. While he won’t ever serve as the main ball handler for the Miami Heat, he could find himself matched up against any position defensively, from one through four. Within all of this crossmatching occurring, there will also inevitably be times where he is faced with a mismatch guarding him.

In these situations, he must be able to take advantage of the mismatch opportunity. Improving his ballhandling will be crucial to allowing him to do so, whether that means getting by the defender or using it to set the defender up for something else.

The next reason has everything to do with him improving his jump shot as well. Once the jumper starts to fall for Jones Jr., the counter to that will be going by his defender for what will most likely be a poster of a finish at the rim.

However, in order to successfully capitalize on these opportunities, he must be able to handle the ball well enough to convert. That is why the second goal for Jones Jr. should be to improve upon is his handle.