Jakučionis’ natural instincts as a passer, combined with his willingness to drive to the basket seem like a hand-in-glove fit with the Heat’s faster-paced drive-and-kick offense.
Additionally, he’s flashed the ability to stay in front of guys on defense, showing off active hands and defensive awareness. Combined with his 6’6″, 205-pound frame, (and a 6’8″ wingspan), signs point to him being capable of handling either fighting over screens or switching like the Heat have been this season.
Even with the intrigue that comes with a (rare) Heat point guard prospect, along with the fit with their revamped offense, the path to regular rotation minutes is unclear, at best.
The Heat are kind of rolling right now. Although the 4-3 record doesn’t jump off the page, they currently have the fifth-best Net Rating in the league, (third-ranked defense, 12th-ranked offense), despite being without Tyler Herro for all of the games and Norman Powell for three of them.
Moreover, their bench has been a huge part of it, ranking second in the league in bench points per game, first in assists, True Shooting percentage and second in total plus-minus.
Their current point guard rotation of Davion Mitchell and Dru Smith has been very good for them on both ends, and they have a high-usage player that will take up about 35 minutes in the guard rotation likely returning this month.
Pelle Larsson, who started out the season out of the rotation, is now a starter. It seems as though there are simply too many players ahead of him in the rotation as things currently stand.
Last season, as a freshman at Illinois, Jakučionis averaged 15 points, 5.7 rebounds, 4.7 assists (to 3.7 turnovers) and a steal per game, converting on 44 percent of his field goals, 31.8 percent of his threes and 84.5 percent of his free throws.
For the first half of the season, Jakučionis was largely considered to be the second best point guard prospect in his draft class before seeing his production and efficiency plummet after dealing with a forearm injury.
Prior to the injury, he averaged 16.4 points, 5.5 assists and 3.2 turnovers, converting on 59.4 percent of his twos, 41.4 percent of his threes and 87.5 percent of his free throws to 14 points, 4.1 assists and 3.9 turnovers while hitting on 49.4 percent of his twos, 25 percent of his threes and 83.1 percent of his free throws.
