Here’s Why Kasparas Jakucionis is WAY BETTER Than You Think… | Miami Heat Film Breakdown

Here’s Why Kasparas Jakucionis is WAY BETTER Than You Think… | Miami Heat Film Breakdown

So, Casper Yakonis has had an uneven summer league, which is okay. It’s he’s 19 years old. It’s to be expected, but I don’t think he’s as bad as everyone says that he is. So, in today’s video, we’re going to look at his first quarter against the Pistons and break down the good, the bad, and most importantly, why I think he’ll be a better player when he’s playing with NBA level teammates. and their first possession of the game was a good example of that and also a good example of why you can’t judge a box score by its cover because I know it happened a lot in college and several times in summer league where Yakonis would have a game with more turnovers than assist or more turnovers than field goals made and I don’t think a lot of those are his faults. In this first clip, for example, you’re going to see Eric Stevenson get the dribble handoff from Vlad Golden. Stevenson does a nice job giving Casper the ball in the corner who’s going to do a quick attack to the close out and find Golden inside who just bobbles the ball. You’re going to see here as soon as the defense closes out to Casper, he does a good job quickly beating him off the dribble. Keeps the ball in his left hand so he has his body to protect the ball from the defender. He’s going to draw the defense in the middle of the paint right here and do a beautiful dime to Vlad Golden or you could see the ball hits his hands right here. That is a perfect pass. And if he catches it, he’ll be wide open for a little layup, dunk, little push shot, whatever the case may be there. And this is a play that, you know, if this is in the league and this is Khil Wear, we’ve seen his hands on the lob. We know Bama Deio sometimes has decent hands, but those guys are lightly catching this ball. And then we both know that they have that pretty good push shot from six or seven feet out. So, if this was one of those guys, they likely catch it, finish the play, and then that’s another play. That’s another assist for Casperis off a pretty decent read. And in this next clip, you’re going to see a strong aggressive take to the rim by Casperis. He just happens to miss a layup that I’m sure he’ll usually make 99% of the time. The thing I like about this clip though is you’re going to see him coming down the court quick in transition and then you see the Pistons big man, his arms out. He’s calling out the defense because the defense isn’t set yet. But Casper is going to recognize the mismatch on the slow-footed big man. He’s going to do this nice right to left cross with a little bit of hesitation right there, which gives him the leverage that he needs to blow past the big and get right to the rim. He just happens to smoke the layup this time. I do like though he went to the left hand on the left side of the rim, but maybe he could have went righty here just to get it under the long arm of this shot blocker right here. But either way, this is a shot that I’m sure Casperis will make almost all the time. He just missed it here, but I still think it’s a very good aggressive take. And in this next clip, you’re gonna see Casperis get absolutely swatted on a layup attempt leading to a fast break for the Pistons. So, it was kind of like a turnover. Some of this was his fault, but not entirely. You can see the play is going to start right here with a dribble handoff from Vlad. This time to Casperis. The defender is going to fight over the screen. So, now Casper has a free lane into the paint where he’s going to go up and get blocked right there. I think there was a couple things he could have did different here. I don’t think he had the lob to Vlad because you could see the Pistons big man here, number 35. He’s kind of sagging off. So, the lob really isn’t there. But I think what Casper probably should have did is right here. He should have went up for a little bit of a floater, took it in about an extra step, and then he went right into the shot blocker there. So, one read would have been to take this floater here. Another read would have been to kick this out to Eric Stevenson right here in the top right wing. We see the Pistons defender helps way too far off Stevenson. he probably shouldn’t have. So, I think the two right reads would have been to either take the floater or kick it out to Stevenson here. But the reason this isn’t entirely his fault is because the spacing still isn’t great. You see, once Casper gets a foot in the paint, he has four Pistons defenders around him. And the reason that this one is in the paint is because look who’s spotting up in the corner. It’s Dane Danger, a guy who is not a floor spacer, not a threat from out there. So the defense is able to sag off him completely and that forces Casperis to adjust his shot a little bit here too which means that he was able to get blocked by the other Pistons player. Now I want you to imagine that in the corner right now instead of this being Dane Dana imagine it’s Bam Bio who shot like 40% from three the second half of last season. Imagine it’s Khil W who’s been lighting it up in summer league. The Heat do have some big men. Nicole Yoic we know he’s a pretty decent three-point shooter. Imagine it’s one of those guys in the corner. And then if the defense wants to sag off, well, now Casper can hit this corner guy as well who we trust to hit the three. Or maybe the defense knows they can’t sag off of Bam or Yoic or where. And that’s going to give Casper the extra step he needs to maybe get a little bit further in the paint to make this a harder shot to block for that Pistons big man. So some of this is his fault, some of it not exactly, but I do think when he gets some better spacing on the NBA level, he’ll be better at driving into the paint as well. And this next clip shows another strong, really aggressive take from Casperis in transition to get to the free throw line. You’re going to see it starts with that little stutterep hesitation change of pace dribble right there. And I’ve been telling y’all a lot for a guy who’s not the fastest guy on the courts like Casperis once he makes the NBA, it’s going to be hard for him a lot of times to get past his defender. One of the ways you’re able to counter that is by knowing how to change pace like he did just there. because he’s going to do that little stutter stutter step. The defender is going to relax and that gives him the leverage that he needs in addition to this monster screen from Dane Danger to go ahead and get past his defender, get to the line. And the defender sees that he’s getting beat. He’s going to get a little bit handsy right there. Wrap up Casper and Casper is going to the line for two free throws. So, another nice take by him. And this next clip shows a very strong defensive possession from Casperis that then in turn leads to another aggressive take in transition where Casper is able to get to the free throw line. Once again, I want to start with the defensive side of things here where he’s going to go under this initial screen. And now it’s isolation right here. No one is coming to help you Casper. And he does a great job maintaining his his offensive player who’s trying to make a move. I will admit this Pistons player doesn’t look the quickest or sharpest with the ball, but he tries a couple times there to break up Casperis and Casperis is going nowhere. Forces the offensive player to pass the ball up and then once you know the the guy with the ball gets rid of it, Casper doesn’t relax. He doesn’t stop being active. No, he chases his guy around the court, makes sure that he can’t catch the ball on this dribble handoff here. Does an excellent job cutting him off right here. And that’s just great defensive e effort by Casperis that we’ve been talking about all summer league. Eventually, the Heat are able to force the turnover. He’s going to catch the ball up here. Look, he’s aggressive. He’s calling for the ball. He wants it. I love to see it. And now he’s just a bull running to the rim. Gets fouled again and is going back to the free throw line. So, when we talk about his defensive efforts, this is what we are referencing. He’s relentless. He never backs down. He never takes a play off. And when you do that, good things happen. and he definitely earned this ball in transition to get to the free throw line again before the defense is set right to the rim. Another great take by Casperis. And in this next clip, you’re going to see another great dime from Casperis that doesn’t end up in an assist. The thing I like about this play is it’s going to start with Marcus Williams ball handling. Casper is going to come off an Omar Balow screen up top here in order to get a little bit of a lane to the rim. This is important that Casper continues moving without the ball because when he does play for the Heat, he’s not going to have the ball a ton in his hands, at least not all possession, every possession because you still got Tyler Herro who has a high usage rate. DaVon Mitchell had a pretty high usage rate when he played. So, he’s going to have to share the ball with other guys. So, it is nice to know that even when he’s off ball, he’s still able to make plays in the half court like this. So, he catches the ball off the curl. The defense is going to completely collapse onto him. You see three defenders right around him. So what is Casper going to do? Look, he’s trapped here. He has two defenders in his grill. And he does this beautiful, dare I say, Luca-esque wraparound pass to right in the shooters pocket for Eric Stevenson who’s wide ass open. And for some reason, Stevenson doesn’t shoot it. Why does he pump fake and drive and take this heavily contested floater? That’s not your game, Eric. Not your game at all. But this is an absolute beauty of a dime from Casperis. Something that I think went underlooked just because Stevenson didn’t make the shot. Now imagine instead of Stevenson, this is I was about to say Duncan Robinson. Not no more. I wish. But Norman Powell, Fonteio, it’s Tyler Herro. Imagine it’s one of those guys sitting here in the corner who I shouldn’t have put Fonteo in the same category as Powell and Hero, but you get the point. Put an actual NBA shooter. No disrespect to Stevenson. He’s had a he’s had a decent summer league, but put an actual shooter in the corner who’s not afraid to fire that. And this is very likely another assist for Casper Yakonis. Uh absolute dime. And in this next clip, you’re going to see Casper do a beautiful job breaking down his defender and finding Omar Balow wide open who gets to the free throw line. Of course, this won’t count for an assist because he was fouled, but it theoretically is still something that should have counted in the box court. You’re going to see Caspers does a great job even with the fullcourt pressure staying with the ball, not turning it over. He’s able to dribble the ball in his left hand, able to get it back to his right hand here. And then does another great change of pace crossover right here. Defense is going to relax. Crossover. Boom. Beats his defender. Help defender right here. Steps up and immediately Casper throws a great pass to Balo who’s able to roll right to the rim. And Balo is so big. Of course, they got to foul him. But look at this beautiful read. Look how open that paint is for Balo. they have to foul him. And this should have been an assist for Casper if Bow doesn’t get fouled. But another excellent read from Casper to break down his defender in the half court. And in this next clip, you’re going to see another great example of incredible defensive and rebounding effort from Casperis. We’ll start the play from the top here where he’s going to be guarding number 39. He’s going to go under the initial screen and then once his man catches the ball, he is going to get caught on this screen a little bit, but he doesn’t die. He doesn’t give up. He immediately hustles to try to go over the screen. Can’t quite get there in time, but you’re going to see Omar Balo and Steve Settle do a pretty decent job rotating over to help Casper on his man. But Casper doesn’t give up. He’s immediately going to sprint to the corner on the closeout. So now he’s guarding this guy in the corner here. You’re going to see he does a great job cutting him off. Steve Settle is now going to switch. That’s a good job by Settle. And now Casper has to go back to this guy in the corner here and then does a great job keeping an eye everywhere. is gonna make sure that his man isn’t going nowhere. He’s playing the cutter. He’s playing the shot. But I want you to watch as soon as the shot goes up. The shot’s gonna go up right here. And immediately what Casper does is he’s going to look at his man right here because you don’t look at the ball first when a shot goes up. You look at your man because you need to box out. Casper is going to identify the location of his man and immediately turn his body to put his ass into the offensive player to box him out. And look at this box. I mean, yeah, he’s grabbing him a little bit with the hand here, but they’re not gonna call that. They’re not going to call that on the the 65 Lithuanian white dude. No, this is great hustle by him. There’s no shot in hell number 39 is getting this rebound. And that’s because Casperis immediately identifies where the offensive player is and puts his ass into them. This is a textbook a textbook box out something that I think Khil Wear needs to do a little bit more. Obviously, wear is so used to being the tallest mo most most athletic guy in the court. But that’s not always in the case in the NBA. Sometimes being tall and athletic is not good enough. You have to learn to box out. And I think Casper Shakonis does an excellent job here. And finally, in this last clip, you’re going to see the final possession of the first quarter in which he does have another turnover that I do think is mostly his fault. He does a great job trying to break down his defender, but then kind of jumps in the air without knowing where he wants to go. I do like though he starts attacking with about 7 seconds left. I know they say for last possession of a quarter of a game. Start attacking with about six to seven seconds left. You’re going to see that him do that right here with about about 8 seconds left. He starts his drive. Does a nice right to left cross to act like he’s going to the left. And then he gets that pivot foot on the inside right here. Does a decent job spinning off his defender. But now he jumps in the air with really nowhere to go. He also jumps off his right foot on the right side of the rim. So, he’s kind of offbalanced because if this defender here bumps him a little bit, you’re going to see him sort of get offbalanced and the paint is just really clogged at this point. Again, the the spacing is also not great because obviously you’re going to see the defender that’s guarding Balow just sag in this paint the entire time. And then also the defender who’s guarding Steve Settle is also in the paint. So maybe with some better spacing, Caspers has leverage to get to the rim, but I still think it’d be difficult considering he took off way too early. He basically is just a foot inside the the free throw line and he’s on the wrong foot. The right foot, but the wrong one on this side of the hoop. And I don’t think there was any way he was getting to the rim either way, even if he had better spacing. So this time just attacked a little bit too reckless. But again, I’m not going to fault the kid for an aggressive take. Uh, and I do think he has a really nice spin move in general when trying to get to the paint. That’s all I got to say for this video, though. So, let me know your thoughts down below on Casper Yakonis. Do you think he’ll be a heavy rotation player this year? Are you optimistic, pessimistic? I’m very curious to hear what y’all think. Also, make sure to like the video and subscribe cuz your support is greatly appreciated. The Heat do have their final summer league game tonight. I don’t think I’ll have a postgame video for it. I’ll probably still be out, but we’ll be recapping the summer league probably in in the next video in a day or two. So, subscribe so you don’t miss it. I’ll see y’all in the next one. Peace out, everybody. I don’t need no dead weight. Had to kill them off. Yeah, I need a head space. You know this homegrown don’t a fan.

Discussing Kasparas Jakucionis of the Miami Heat and doing a film breakdown vs the Detroit Pistons in Summer League. NBA and Miami Heat News featuring Bam Adebayo, Tyler Herro, Andrew Wiggins, Kel’el Ware, Kasparas Jakucionis, Terry Rozier, Nikola Jovic, Jaime Jaquez Jr., Duncan Robinson, Kevin Love, Haywood Highsmith, Pelle Larsson, Keshad Johnson, Erik Spoelstra and more. Subscribe for more Miami Heat, Miami Dolphins, NBA and NFL news.

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