Every year, NBA teams enter the offseason with a list of ‘dream trade targets’—players who may not be available but would clearly improve the current roster. Given the Miami Heat‘s unceremonious postseason exit, their list of ‘dream targets’ is likely long and robust.
Bleacher Report’s Greg Swartz recently predicted each team’s top-three dream targets for this summer. For the Heat, Swartz had Trae Young listed at second, behind Kevin Durant, who is top of the list, for obvious reasons.
Young would be an immediate talent upgrade for Miami. Their guard position has been problematic for years. Terry Rozier has failed to plug the gap and is likely to be moved on this summer. As such, Pat Riley will undoubtedly be eager to find a long-term solution.
Young, 26, is an elite shooter and playmaker. However, his defense leaves a lot to be desired. It’s hard to envision him fitting into Erik Spoelstra’s defensive-minded rotation. However, when you have an elite offensive talent, you find ways to make things work on the defensive end.
This past season, Young played in 76 games. He averaged 24.2 points, 3.1 rebounds and 11.6 assists. He shot 41.1% from the field and 34% from deep. His production is exactly what Miami needs from a lead ball-handler. Unfortunately, it’s highly unlikely he hits the trade block this summer. Still, a team can dream, can’t they?
Heat is focused on Internal Development
Adding Young to the roster may be the dream, but for right now, the Heat must work with the talent they have. Jaime Jaquez Jr. is arguably Miami’s best young talent, both in terms of current production and overall potential.
Recently, Erik Spoelstra detailed what the next steps for Jaquez should be as the team continues to build itself up internally.
“Clearly he has to work on some things, which he will,” Spoelstra said, via Anthony Chiang of the Miami Herald. “He’ll work on defending in open space, defending situationally in our system. Outside shooting will be key again, but he was working on that last summer. I think a full summer again, I think he’ll see big progress. He was coming out of training camp shooting the ball great.”
Spolestra continued.
“So I think we can fast-track that. Then, ultimately, the hardest one is decision-making. Schemes have changed against him, and he has to be aggressive, but now there’s going to be different schemes, and you graduate to different levels of this. When there’s a second defender, making the right read and finding open guys when he’s in a crowd.”
Jaquez Focused on the Mental Aspect of the Game
During his end-of-season media availability, Jaquez pinpointed the mental side of the game as a potential area of improvement.
“I think the mental part of the game is almost more important than the physical,” Jaquez said. “That’s something that I’ve learned this year. You have to be mentally sharp at all times and never have any lapses. Because the second that happens, teams are taking advantage. So that was one of my biggest lessons this year. So, taking that into this offseason, it’s something I’m going to work on extremely hard. I’m looking forward to just learning and getting better.”
Jaquez’s commitment to improving himself externally and internally is an encouraging sign. Not only could it make him a better player, but it could also cause him to lead by example. Miami has multiple talented players who could benefit from improving their mental approaches to the game. It will be interesting to see how much Jaquez has improved once the 2025-26 season gets underway.
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