Shooting Guard #10: Jaime Jaquez Jr., UCLA
The idea of a player having a “throwback style” is often used as a veiled insult. In the modern NBA, reminding evaluators of players of yore equates more to being a poor shooter and stiff defender than it does to be an actually valuable player.
That’s what makes the idea that Jaquez Jr. is a “throwback player” a bit of a misnomer: while he is a great post player and mid-range shooter, there’s a lot of his game that makes him a great fit in the modern NBA. After a great combine, it makes moves like this all the more appetizing and likely to work at the next level:
Jaime Jaquez has an unreal half-spin turnaround jumper, and an overall excellent spin move
— Mavs/Magic Draft (@MavsDraft) June 2, 2023
With Jaquez being a tweener forward at 6'6, having this patented move that defenders struggle to guard will go a long way in helping him stick in the NBA pic.twitter.com/7owPEBSkWy
Jaquez Jr. does need to improve from deep and become a better perimeter defender, but it’s still easy to see him fitting into a number of teams’ bench rotations as soon as next year due to his maturity and polish. He probably won’t sniff the first round, but he should be one of the first shooting guard prospects chosen in the second.