How Heat's Jaime Jaquez Jr. plans to fill the Caleb Martin void

Although some will point to the loss of Caleb Martin as a reason for the Miami Heat to take a step back this upcoming season, second-year forward Jaime Jaquez Jr. looks at it as an opportunity.

“Obviously, with losing Caleb this year, I think there’s definitely going to be a hole to be filled,” Jaquez told the South Florida Sun-Sentinel last week. “When it comes to the defensive side of the ball and a guy that can really go out there and stop the other team’s best player or whoever’s got it going that night.

“I think my role can definitely evolve into somebody who Coach just decides, ‘Hey, Jaime I want you to go guard the best player and chase him and stop him.’ I think that’s the way my role can evolve.”

For Jaime Jaquez Jr. to step into the role vacated by Caleb Martin, he'll need to be a better one-on-one defender.

The 18th pick in last year’s draft, Jaquez carved out a role as a rookie by filling in where the Heat needed help. Jaquez played 75 games and started in 20 during Miami’s injury-plagued season. He averaged 11.9 points, 3.8 rebounds and 2.6 assists. Some nights, like when Jimmy Butler was sidelined on Christmas Day, he was asked to lead the Heat’s offense. Others, he was tasked with guarding the opponent’s top player.

Throughout his rookie season, Jaquez spent time defending elite scorers like LeBron James, DeMar DeRozan and Jaylen Brown for stretches.

“Being able to guard guys like LeBron, DeMar, Jaylen Brown, it’s just a bunch of great, great guys that have really allowed me to learn from them, just by being able to guard them,” Jaquez said. “I think I’m going to take all that experience I had in my first year and use that to improve in my second.”

Despite the prestige of the assignments, the actual results were mixed (as should be expected). Jaquez was schooled by veteran scorers on several occasions. While he impressed with his ability to jump passing lanes and create turnovers as an off-ball defender, Jaquez has a lot of room to improve as an on-ball defender.

According to BBall Index, Jaquez grades out as an average overall defender. While he earned a B+ for his passing lane defense and a B as an off-ball chaser, he was given a D+ for his perimeter isolation defense.

Martin's free-agency departure to the Philadelphia 76ers this summer removed one of Miami's most trusted defenders from the rotation.

If Jaquez is going to earn a spot in the starting or closing lineup like Martin once had, he’ll need to be better in one-on-one situations on that end.

Based on Jaquez’s comments, he’s confident he can be.