WASHINGTON — Over the years, the Miami Heat have become renowned for discovering raw or otherwise overlooked prospects and developing them into NBA players.
“It’s in our DNA,” Heat general manager Andy Elisburg said.
As the new season tips off, three members of Miami’s starting five have spent time with the Heat’s developmental-league team in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.
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Josh Richardson and Hassan Whiteside have since become household names in South Florida and around the league.
But Heat fans are just getting to know Derrick Jones Jr.
On Thursday in Washington, the 21-year-old forward from UNLV came within two points of tying his career high with 13 points in the first half — one which found him on the bench at the end with three fouls.
Jones ended up setting a new career high, scoring 17 points in the Heat’s 113-112 victory over the Wizards. Jones had just five points in the opener at Orlando, having fouled out after 17 minutes of playing time.
“I’m having a whole lot of fun, just playing the game that I love,” Jones said Thursday night. “Being able to go out there and do what I do is a great feeling.
“I didn’t know I got my career high tonight. That’s a great feeling, and to do it on another team’s home floor is kind of cool. But hopefully I get a new career high in our next home game.”
When Miami plays its home opener at AmericanAirlines Arena on Saturday against Charlotte, Jones should be introduced as a starter again.
From being declared ineligible at UNLV to spending most of two seasons in the NBA’s G League with Northern Arizona and Sioux Falls, Jones has certainly come a long way.
He knows he still has a lot of work ahead to get to where he wants to be.
“I’m real proud of him,” Dwyane Wade said. “When I came back last year, he was kind of in limbo going up and back from the G League. And now he’s starting for us. He’s getting his opportunity. We have a couple of veterans down, and he’s taking advantage. … I’m happy for the kid. He’s 21. He just needs to continue with the work.
“He’s part of the future of this organization. We just need to keep working with him so he continues to get better and become a star in this league one day.”
Jones is, without any doubt, an extremely skilled athlete who has been nicknamed “Airplane Mode” for a ridiculous 48-inch vertical leap.
At 6-foot-8, Jones is lean, long and versatile enough to move throughout coach Erik Spoelstra’s lineup.
But it’s not just his versatility that makes him valuable. The Heat have been impressed with the work Jones has put in to become more of a complete player.
“He’s a hard worker,” Elisburg said, “and we’re adding to his responsibilities. Our coaches are really putting their trust in him.”
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Coming out of UNLV, the knock on Jones was that he couldn’t shoot and couldn’t play the game at a high level. Jones, it was said, was a terrific athlete who still needed a lot of work.
“But the upside on him has always been terrific,” one scout said Thursday.
Jones has shown the Heat he is more than willing to do what it takes to make an impact at this level.
“You can tell he has the drive to be great,” said Nevada Smith, Jones’ coach with the G League’s Sioux Falls Skyforce. “I got to see him early in his career when he was with Northern Arizona, and you can see tremendous growth. In the past year, you see how hard he has worked and how he has become a reliable shooter. He knows how to cut, how to defend. The work he has done is terrific.
“To get where he is now is a testament to him. He has taken full advantage of everything the Heat organization has to offer. It has benefited both.”
Jones was a standout prep player in Philadelphia before going to UNLV.
The summer of his freshman year, the ACT test he passed at a a prep school in Baltimore was called into question.
By the end of his first season with the Rebels — he averaged 11.5 points with 4.5 rebounds in 30 games — Jones was declared ineligible by the NCAA as a number of tests taken at that site in Maryland were thrown out.
Despite a 3.25 GPA at UNLV, Jones now had not passed a required standardized entrance exam to be eligible. Not only could Jones not play for UNLV, he also could not transfer to another Division I program.
Jones became a one-and-done player, although not by choice, and he was not taken in the 2016 NBA Draft.
But his road to the NBA was just beginning.
After going undrafted, a groin injury kept Jones off the Sacramento Kings’ summer league team. Jones ended up with the Phoenix Suns, where he spent most of his rookie season with the franchise’s developmental team.
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“Being put down in (what was then called) the D-League is always a motivator, having to go back and forth all the time,” Jones said. “But it was good for me. You’re not playing against high school players, you are playing against NBA (caliber) players who want to be in the NBA. You have to give everything you have like it’s an NBA game or they’ll hand you your head.”
Once he was called up to the Suns, his immense talent began to shine through, even in the early games.
Despite only playing in seven NBA games at the time, he became the first active D-League player chosen to compete in the NBA Slam Dunk Contest at the 2017 All-Star Game in New Orleans.
Introducing 2017 @verizon Slam Dunk Contest participant: @TheRea1DJones aka Airplane Mode ✈️ https://t.co/VTEwhyvgFU
— Phoenix Suns (@Suns) February 3, 2017
Jones finished second to Glenn Robinson III in the dunk competition and gradually found more playing time in Phoenix later that season, finishing the year averaging 5.3 points in 32 NBA games.
Last December, however, Phoenix placed Jones on waivers.
On New Year’s Eve, the Heat signed him to a two-way deal. With injuries to players such as Dion Waiters, Wayne Ellington, Justice Winslow and Tyler Johnson as the season went along, Jones found himself shuttling back and forth between Miami and South Dakota.
“We liked him as a talent, and with a two-way (contract), it gives you an opportunity to sign a guy and to work with him,” Elisburg said. “He wanted to come here; obviously, we have a reputation as a place for development.
“He came into our program, we had some injuries, and he probably played a little more than we initially thought he would. That’s what happens sometimes. He got the opportunity and made an impact. We’re looking forward to seeing him continue to develop as a player.”
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Because of his contract status, Jones was only able to spend 45 days with the Heat until the G League season ended.
Jones started eight of his 14 games with Miami. He was with the team for its playoff series against Philadelphia, but because he wasn’t signed to a standard NBA contract, he couldn’t play in the postseason.
Jones got that contract this past summer and, therefore, will not be headed back to South Dakota this winter.
“I was on a two-way contract last year and, honestly, I loved every moment of it,” Jones said. “I elevated my game this summer and got the contract I wanted. Now I’m happier than ever.
“I’m 21, I have not reached my peak yet. Hopefully I don’t reach my peak for a long time — I just keep going up and up and up. I just keep working hard doing the things I need to succeed here.”
Udonis Haslem took a longer path to the NBA after not being drafted out of the University of Florida in 2002. Haslem spent a year playing in France before signing with the Heat in 2003.
Haslem, who says he always roots for the underdog, says he sees Jones’ confidence growing by the day. The big thing, Haslem said, is not giving up on the dream. That can be an easy thing to do.
“This has been a learning process for him, but he has a great attitude. He’s only going to get better for us,” Haslem said.
“It’s easy to get discouraged. This league can bring you to your knees. It can lift you up to your highest point and take you down to your lowest. You have to try and stay as even as possible. He has been doing that. Look at his demeanor: He’s an even-keeled kid. … He is very mature.”
Being a success on the court, though, isn’t the only thing that motivates Jones.
He may be just 21, but Jones is the father of two young children. Derrick III is 3, and Princeton is eight months old.
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Doing right by his family fuels Jones’ drive to keep moving forward.
“I cannot give up. A lot of people don’t know that I have two kids and (that) they are the reason I will never give up,” he said.
“I want my kids to have the life I didn’t have, and I’m going to do whatever it takes to get there.”
(Top photo: Geoff Burke / USA TODAY Sports)