NBA Portrait | Kobe Bryant fanatics, NCAA famous scene backdrop, Heat rookie to challenge James
Wembanyama's 2023 draft has been in the spotlight because of his unrivalled talent, Wembanyama topped the rookie prediction before the start of the season with 98% of the vote, and now more than a third of the time is over, one rookie is challenging Wembanyama's dominance, and he is Jaime Hakes Jr. of the Miami Heat.
Jaime Hakes Jr. is the 18th pick in the first round of the 2023 draft, he quickly entered the role as an older pick, and won the trust of coach Spoelstra with his solid style of play and solid defense, according to statistics, he is currently the top five players in the league in terms of fourth quarter minutes, and he is also among the top in various technical data on the rookie list, there is no doubt that he has gained a foothold in the league, and because of his highly recognizable image, he has gained a lot of popularity, and today I will bring you the basketball story of Jaime Hakes.
Born into a basketball family, Jaime is originally from Mexico, if you've played Red Dead Redemption 1 generation, you can understand a piece of Mexican history, in the 20s of the last century, the Mexican Revolution broke out, and there was a scuffle between various factions, during which a large number of Mexicans immigrated to the United States to escape the war, and Jaime's grandfather Ezequer immigrated from Mexico to Oxnard, California, USA with his parents in that era, Ezequer received an American education since he was a child, and he was very fond of the new thing basketball, Ezequel's father made an ultra-simple ball frame for him and his brother Dick with wire, although the size was very non-standard, but the brothers had a lot of fun.
Little Jaime with grandma and grandpa
Ezequir maintained a huge passion for basketball, and by the time he graduated from high school, he had become a well-known basketball player in the California region, first recruited by Ventura Community College, and later transferred to the University of Arizona for his excellent skills, he was the first Mexican-American basketball player in the United States, and after graduating from college, he returned to a high school in Oxnard as a basketball coach, and Marion Jones, the American 100-meter flyer, was his proud disciple.
Azequel as a young man
Azequil later married another Mexican immigrant Gloria and gave birth to several children such as Jaime Sr., under the influence of Azequel, several children are all avid basketball lovers, among which Jaime inherited his father's excellent basketball genes, and was the main force of the school basketball team at Concordia University in Irvine, California, in addition, he was in school with Angela of the women's basketball team and combined with each other, basketball genes expanded again, on February 18, 2001, the crystallization of the two love, little Hamel Haks was born, and later gave birth to a daughter and son。
Little Jaime's family
Old Jaime recalled with a smile that the first toy he bought for Xiao Haimei was a mini basketball, Xiao Haimei laughed excitedly after seeing the ball, basketball genes are like something engraved in the bones of children, and so on after Xiao Haimei can walk, Lao Haimei became his basketball enlightenment coach, starting from the most basic basketball skills, Xiao Haimei is now showing a calm style in the NBA arena is completely because of the solid basic skills training since childhood, in addition, his father also took time to take the brothers and sisters to Stapps Arena to watch the Los Angeles Lakers game, Xiao Haimei is a loyal fan of Kobe, he told his father that he dreamed of becoming a star like Kobe, and his father told him about the Mamba spiritIf you want to become a basketball player like Kobe, you need to pay dozens of times more effort than ordinary people, since then Xiao Haimei's training has been harder, he gets up at five o'clock every day to run and fitness, classroom-gym-basketball hall three points and one line, under the efforts of personal super self-discipline, under the professional guidance of his father, his basketball skills have improved by leaps and bounds.
In Camarillo High School, Coach Michael To-Smith was attracted by Jaime's skills and immediately began to focus on development, and in his freshman season, he was entrusted with important responsibilities, averaging 15.3 points, 10 rebounds, 2.3 assists and 2.6 steals per game, helping the team achieve a 25-7 record and reach the semifinals of the California Intercollegiate Conference, missing 12 games due to an ankle injury in the sophomore season, but still averaging 24.1 points and 10.9 rebounds per game, and his data rose to 31.7 points and 11.7 per game in the junior season rebounds, helped the team win the first-ever Coast Canyons Conference championship, was named to the All-California First Team, and became the all-time scoring leader with 2,653 points.
After graduating from high school, he received invitations from the University of Memphis, the University of Utah, and his hometown team, UCLA and other well-known universities, ESPN overall score of 83 four-star high school students, this year UCLA turmoil, meritorious coach Alford was fired because of poor performance, Mick - Cronin took office, the future of the team is full of uncertainty, which also led to the school in the recruitment process of the year is not competitive, they tried their best to win Xiao Haimei, Xiao Haimei chose here mainly because he did not want to be far from his family, the school is less than 50 miles away from his home, every school game day, relatives in the family will form a cheerleading team to cheer for him on the field, two years later his sister Gabriela also entered UCLA University and became the main force of the women's basketball team, the task of the family cheerleading team has increased.
In the summer of 2019, because of his Mexican ancestry, the Mexican Basketball Association found and invited him to join the Mexican national team to participate in the Pan American Games held in Lima, Peru, where he met Mexican national player Lorenzo - Mata, Mata went to school at UCLA from 2004 to 2008, led the team to the NCAA Final Four twice, and was very well-known both in California and Mexico.
In the freshman season, Mick Cronin immediately arranged the main position for Jaime Jr., who relied on excellent defense to build prestige, averaging 8.9 points and 4.8 rebounds in 26 minutes per game, and the team had a 19-12 record, but the season was canceled due to the epidemic, and Johnny Juzan, a talented scorer with Vietnamese descent in his sophomore season, transferred from the University of Kentucky to UCLA, and the team's strength increased greatly, and Jaime Jr. continued to play steadily, averaging 34 minutes per game (first on the team), averaging 12.3 points and 6.4 rebounds per game. With 2 steals, his super defensive ability is always the opponent's arrowhead, and the team went all the way to the semi-finals of Crazy March.
In the semifinals, they encountered Gonzaga University led by Jalen Suggs, Gonzaga University won 31 consecutive games without losing a game all season, this semifinal is also one of the most classic games in NCAA history, the two sides played extremely anxious in regular time to enter overtime 81-81, the two sides continued to alternate leads in overtime, the last 3.4 seconds of the game Juzan layup scored to move the score to 90 draws, Gonzaga University Suggs received the ball in the backcourt and quickly dribbled through the half court and shot a long-range shot near the center circle in the last 1 second, when Hamme Jr. had retreated to the basket and watched the ball fly into the basket as a background boardThis stunner has also become the best famous scene in NCAA history.
In his junior year, Jaime Jr. began to improve his offensive skills while maintaining his super defensive ability, and his average points per game rose to 13.9 points that season, and the team advanced to March Madness with a 25-7 record, and won against St. Mary's University in the second round of March Madness, but Jaime Jr. sprained his ankle in the second half, and the injury affected his competitive state, and in the third round against the University of North Carolina, he missed the shot, shooting only 1 of 11, and the team was eliminated by the University of North Carolina, and this year he was selected to the PAC-12 Division All-Defensive Team and All-NBA First Team.
In the senior season, Zhu Zan participated in the NBA draft and left the team, and Xiao Haimei became the offensive and defensive core of the team, he played an average of 33 minutes per game and scored 17.8 points, 8.2 rebounds and 2.4 assists to lead the team to a 29-5 record, and stopped in the round of 16 in Crazy March.
As an older rookie, Jaime Jr. has a very good immediate combat ability, excellent defensive ability, solid style of play, and high maturity are his advantages, of course, insufficient lateral movement and unstable projection level are also problems, he was finally selected by the Miami Heat, and now it seems to have become a match made in heaven, Miami Heat has a very unique team culture, and they are more interested in the player's hard-working attitude. Striving for the fighting spirit, the management believes that talent can be compensated for by attitude, and skill can be improved through acquired training, and Jaime Jr. is the team's favorite type of player.
His teammates gave him the nickname "John Wick" based on his appearance, which is the name of Keanu Reeves' character in the "Fast and Furious" series of movies, hoping that Xiao Jaime can continue to maintain his cold-blooded killer nature and become a bright new star in the league.
Before the start of the summer league, Jaime Jr. was ambitious, speaking to reporters that he wanted to defend James against him, and he showed a very mature style of play as a key focus in the summer league, and many players and coaches commented on him as "not at all like a rookie" In August, there were constant trade rumors about Lillard going to the Heat, and Jaime Jr. was involved in trade rumors, and it was rumored that the Trail Blazers executives named Hame Jr., and after the start of the new season, Hame Jr. quickly proved himself, he occupied the main position with an extremely efficient performance, and became the team's starter in the third game of his career.
In the game against the Eastern Conference powerhouse Philadelphia 76ers on December 25, 2023, he even exploded with 31 points and 10 rebounds.