http://www.nba.com/pistons/news/trueblu ... 00315.htmlHighly Skilled
Continuing our look at the Pistons’ three rookies through the eyes of Steve Hetzel, player development coach for the Pistons who came to Detroit along with John Kuester from the staff of the Cleveland Cavaliers: Austin Daye – While Daye’s playing time is more sporadic than Jonas Jerebko’s, Hetzel is more often now seeing the same ability in Daye to translate what they constantly work on in their sessions over to games. “I think Austin is the most efficient offensive player of the three,” he said. “His skill set is right there with like a Ben Gordon. If you put him in drills and he’s going to get to his one-dribble pull up or make three in a row, he’s going to do it and do it well.”
While many NBA draft experts thought Daye ranked right behind Stephen Curry as a perimeter shooter in the 2009 class, his 3-point shot has been erratic, connecting on slightly less than 30 percent. Not to worry, Hetzel said. The predraft analysis was correct. “Three-point shooting in games, a lot of it has to do with confidence and playing time,” he said. “If you look at Jonas’ percentage, it’s not the best, but how he’s playing right now, his confidence is at a high level and that’s because he knows if he shoots it he’s not coming out. He’s playing. It’s a completely different mind-set. When Austin has the ball in the corner, he’s thinking, ‘I better make this, because I want to keep playing.’ As he gets seasoned and playing time is there for him, he’s going to be all right. Because he really is very, very skilled.”
Hetzel puts all three rookies through a variety of shooting drills, including the practice of taking runners or floaters with either hand while dribbling from the wing or the baseline. Daye has an uncanny ability, especially for a 6-foot-11 player, to feather those shots home. “I can’t take credit for his skill,” Hetzel said. “We work on all kinds of shots. With Jonas now playing the four, we have to do different work. But at the beginning of the year, I tried to put Austin, DaJuan (Summers) and Jonas in spots on the floor … we play a lot of pick and roll, and they aren’t in the pick and roll, so they have to be in the positions to make a play. The throw-ahead man off the pick and roll of the corner, which is a swing-swing pass. So from there, you have a series of shots – the one-dribble pull up, two-dribble, one-dribble floater. “We work on all of them. But Austin’s already got it. I’ve told him many times, ‘I’m not going to make you much better than you already are. You just have to continually work – and work hard – at these shots you’re going to get.’ He’s really taken that. Everything we do in warmups, he performs well on the court. That’s all you can ask for – seeing it translate from workouts to games. I give him credit. He does exactly what we work on. I can’t take credit for his ability to shoot it, but the practice – we do work on him getting to that shot, but the skill is all him.”
