Jaden McDaniels has been steadily improving his game throughout the year, and last night marked one of Jaden’s best all-around games in his young career. On Monday in Dallas, McDaniels faced one of his toughest defensive assignments of the year, guarding perennial MVP candidate Luka Doncic. While it’s near impossible to completely shut down Luka, McDaniels and the Timberwolves didn’t allow him to take over the game. They held Luka to 33 points on 50% shooting from the field, just below his absurd season averages. The Dallas Mavericks were minus-12 in Luka’s minutes. The Wolves would have run away with a blowout, if not for Kyrie Irving’s 26 points in the fourth quarter on 11-of-12 shooting.
Jaden’s impressive defensive performance culminated in the final play of the game. The Mavericks were only down by three and had a chance to tie the game with 14.8 seconds left. But when the Mavs attempted to inbound the ball to Luka, McDaniels used his long arms to reach into the passing lane and tipped the ball into the backcourt. Luka had to chase the ball down, taking four precious seconds off the clock that Dallas could have used to run a play. McDaniels immediately recovered onto Luka, then seamlessly shifted over to help double Irving with Anthony Edwards when Luka passed him the ball. McDaniels bounced back and forth applying pressure to both guards until he and Ant forced Kyrie into a bad pass, which Taurean Prince scooped up to end the game.
That was some of the most impressive defense I’ve ever seen — on two of the best offensive players in the NBA, no less. McDaniels and Ant worked together to get the game-winning stop. However, while Jaden’s defensive ability is becoming world-class in front of our eyes, he is also quietly developing his offensive move set too.
Jaden did everything on Monday night:
- He sank threes
- Hit midrange daggers before the defense was set
- Got a steal that he was able to turn into an and-1
- And had two putbacks off offensive rebounds.
Jaden was also incredibly efficient. He went 7 of 8 from the field. On the one shot he missed, he grabbed the loose ball, and drew a foul to get himself to the line.
However, the Kyle Anderson slow step is possibly the most interesting skill he’s added to his game recently. When I first saw him do an exaggerated slow step in their most recent game against the Denver Nuggets, I thought it may have been an aberration. McDaniels went from nearly full speed to a crawl, planted on his third step while his defender fell away, and got an open shot at the rim in what looked like slow motion.
This crafty move looked so similar to Slo Mo’s signature gather that I had to wonder if they had been working on offense together in practice.
While it could just be a coincidence, this deliberate off-speed final step and hang in the air isn’t something we saw Jaden doing often before Anderson joined the team. However, last night we saw Jaden use the move twice.
Both times, the defender’s momentum carries them away from Jaden, and he is able to get an open shot at the rim. If Slo Mo is teaching McDaniels some things, this could be great news for both his development, and for the future of the team. We know Jaden can already shoot off the catch with aplomb and is adept at finding the right moments to cut to the basket. However, he still has a ton of raw offensive talent that he has yet to realize in the NBA.
McDaniels’ speed and handling ability are impressive for his height (6’10”), and make him a matchup nightmare for smaller wing players. While we have yet to see him impose his will with his size consistently on offense like he does on defense, his 50-point game in the Seattle Pro-Am suggests that he can exploit mismatches when he has the confidence to take over. We may never see him hit 50 in an NBA game against better defenders. But if he can translate more of the confidence and creativity he plays with when he’s feeling comfortable in Pro-Ams to the NBA, he may become a serious offensive threat.
Allow me one small criticism of Jaden’s offensive game. He can sometimes look a little out of control on the dribble when he has to create space for himself. While his spin move and crossover have gotten a lot tighter this year, his movement can still get a little loose. Sometimes it is due to lack of experience against NBA defenders or slight miscalculations of an angle. Regardless, it can occasionally lead to a wild shot or pass that likely could have hit it’s target had his body been more under control.
However, that’s precisely what makes Anderson a great mentor for Jaden. Slo Mo is a master of body control. His long, deliberate strides may be “slow” compared to other NBA players. But they allow him to stay in control of his body’s momentum and observe what the defender is doing to try to stop him in mid-gather. Therefore, he adjusts accordingly to get the best angle on the shot either before jumping or in the air. If Slo Mo is able to teach Jaden how to consistently make defenders adjust to the pace he dictates and continue to be patient for the defense to make a mistake, it could add a lot to his game.
Slo Mo has made his mark on the league with both his defense, and his craftiness as an offensive player. If Jaden has learned the slow step already, then perhaps he will be able to take a few other pages out of the Slo Mo handbook. Anderson is great at catching unsuspecting defenses with push shots near the rim and hitting hook shots over big men. I know hook shots are extremely difficult to make, but they are nearly unblockable when executed correctly. If Jaden can add a few more tricky moves like these to his offensive package, then he is going to become a really dangerous paint scorer in a hurry.
Anderson and McDaniels have fairly similar body types, so a lot of Slo Mo’s moves should be translatable to Jaden’s game. They both have incredibly long wingspans, and are about the height of a typical 4. They are skilled and quick enough to guard 1 through 4, or 1 through small-ball-5 in Anderson’s case.
If Jaden adds a few more moves to his bag and gains more fluidity executing them, he has the potential to become a superstar two-way player. Maybe he will live up to the lofty Scottie Pippen comp that Chris Finch gave him early on in their partnership.
