After missing the last nine games due to an ailing ankle injury, Jaden McDaniels returned against the Washington Wizards on Tuesday. This season, McDaniels, an inconsistent offensive player, has been a constant driving force for the Minnesota Timberwolves’ newly-found defensive efforts. The Wolves made it through a treacherous stretch of games against some of the league’s toughest opponents without McDaniels, and there’s still a chance to avoid the play-in tournament. Jaden’s return couldn’t be coming at a better time.
The Timberwolves are just days away from their first postseason in four years. Having McDaniels available, who has routinely displayed the ability to be a point-of-attack defender, is vital to the Wolves’ success this spring. But as Minnesota looks to make an impression come playoff time, some have questioned the forward’s potential to be an impact player on both ends of the floor.
Gersson Rosas likely envisioned McDaniels would be a long-term project after taking him with the 28th pick in the 2020 NBA Draft. One that would need multiple stints in and out of Iowa so they could mold him into a player who could provide value to a playoff-caliber team. Hell, even McDaniels assumed he’d be sent to the minors before arriving in Minnesota.
During a pre-draft interview with the Utah Jazz, McDaniels stated that he “expects to spend some time in the G League.” Jaden knew why. With questions about his character and skill set, the former top-10 high school recruit watched as his draft stock took a nosedive during his time at the University of Washington. Fast forward 16 months and McDaniels has proven to be a key contributor in Minnesota’s push for the postseason, given his exceptional play and vast upside as a potential 3-and-D player.
By definition, “3-and-D” usually refers to a player who is not a star. Typically they specialize in 3-point shooting and defense, two skills that have become increasingly more important since the turn of the century.
Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr helped change the game, utilizing the greatest shooter of all time in Stephen Curry to focus on getting open looks from around the perimeter. It’s simple mathematics: Threes are worth more than twos.
Defensively, it’s never been more important to have players on the floor who can help cool off today’s hottest scorers. Possessing the ability to guard the best player on the floor while also creating floor spacing is one way for two-way players to solidify themselves in today’s league. And with these sorts of players being deemed so valuable, Minnesota can only hope that their Rising Star can become something of the sort.
Before they hear their name called on draft night, prospects are typically compared to other NBA players for front offices to better understand who they are drafting. Coming out of the U-Dub, McDaniels was compared to players such as Mario Hezonja and Jonathan Isaac, two long wings who came into the league without any defined strength in their skill sets. But given his ability to stop drives from the perimeter and the aptitude to score both off-the-dribble and in catch-and-shoot situations, Jaden’s begun to gain comparisons to some of today’s premier perimeter players – the most prominent being a young Kevin Durant.
McDaniels isn’t Durant.
The Oklahoma City Thunder handed KD the keys from the moment he arrived. Jaden is merely part of the supporting cast to Minnesota’s offensive trio of Karl-Anthony Towns, Anthony Edwards, and D’Angelo Russell. Still, no contending team can complete without their sharpshooting defender. There are many proficient 3-and-Ders in the league for Jaden to model his game after. However, one shines brighter than the rest.
Phoenix Suns forward Mikal Bridges.
McDaniels and Bridges are built differently. McDaniels is listed at 6’9”, 185 lbs. with a 6’11.5 wingspan; Bridges is listed at 6’6”, 209lbs. with a 7’1 wingspan. However, they are similar in how their first couple of seasons have gone thus far.
Looking at Bridges in Year 2 and McDaniels in Year 2. The numbers are eerily similar:
On top of their FG%, 3P%, 2P%, FT%, minutes, points, rebounds, assists, steals, blocks, and turnovers per game being almost identical to one another’s, the two wings had something else bizarrely similar to one another. They both somehow picked up their down three-point shooting numbers during the latter halves of their sophomore seasons in the NBA.
In his second season, Bridges had an underwhelming 3-point percentage (31.2%) from Oct. 2019 to Jan. 2020. Similarly, before this year’s All-Star Break, McDaniels could only connect on 29.6% of his shots coming from downtown. Coincidence? Maybe. But the chance that Jaden McDaniels becomes a defensive player of the year candidate with the ability to knock down threes is probable, at least in the minds of Wolves fans.
Sure, Bridges’ massive leap into being a household name can likely be attributed to his team adding Chris Paul, one of the greatest point guards of all time, to the roster. And although McDaniels isn’t being fed the ball by a player of CP3’s caliber (sorry, DLo), he still has a tremendous amount of latent potential. But for now, the Minnesota Timberwolves can only hope that Jaden McDaniels comes back in time for the postseason at full strength. And who knows, maybe the Wolves have the next Mikal Bridges.
