The Official Jaden McDaniels Thread

[Klomp]

He did get his first ever double - double, which is surprising. I am wondering why all our guys don't seem to rebound well? Randle is down over his career, Towns a lot better in NYC, even Wiggins got better at GSW.

I think some of it is an internal expectation that Gobert will be there for mop-up duty. Along with that, I think the coaches have preached "get out and run", and oftentimes, players can just be wired that way with the belief that someone else will get the rebound.

The Towns thing is 100% the difference between playing PF next to Gobert and playing C on a team where the next-best rebounder is 6-foot-4 Josh Hart.

[thinktank]

Who are other starters in this league that are 6-10+ and defend PGs all night. Dedicated. Nose of defense.

There is only one, right?

I’m just making the point that we should be essentially synpathizing with Jaden about that as we, extreme, rare dynamic.

The more he defends SFs and SGs the better he will play.

[Klomp]

Who are other starters in this league that are 6-10+ and defend PGs all night. Dedicated. Nose of defense.

There is only one, right?

I’m just making the point that we should be essentially synpathizing with Jaden about that as we, extreme, rare dynamic.

The more he defends SFs and SGs the better he will play.

Important clarification: POA is not always PG.

[TimberKat]

Who are other starters in this league that are 6-10+ and defend PGs all night. Dedicated. Nose of defense.

There is only one, right?

I’m just making the point that we should be essentially synpathizing with Jaden about that as we, extreme, rare dynamic.

The more he defends SFs and SGs the better he will play.

Important clarification: POA is not always PG.

I like to see him play better against Luka but that is a tall order. We got to find better rotation scheme to help defend KD, Luka, SGA (I think JMcD could handle him).

[shrink]

Who are other starters in this league that are 6-10+ and defend PGs all night. Dedicated. Nose of defense.

There is only one, right?

I’m just making the point that we should be essentially synpathizing with Jaden about that as we, extreme, rare dynamic.

The more he defends SFs and SGs the better he will play.

Important clarification: POA is not always PG.

I like to see him play better against Luka but that is a tall order. We got to find better rotation scheme to help defend KD, Luka, SGA (I think JMcD could handle him).

I agree with all of this. I don’t know if the numbers bear this out, but I think it’s Luka weight that makes him a tough guard for Jaden, while Jaden’s length helps on lighter, smaller scorers.

I’m curious who people would say is our best chance at defending some of the best scorers in the West? For me, it might be:

Durant: Jaden. Need the length regardless.
Booker: Jaden, but if he’s on KD, NAW is fine.
SGA: NAW? He knows his cousins moves.
Kyrie: I’d say Jaden’s length trumps NAW’s speed
Luka: Maybe Ant? Jaden and NAW are better defenders, but Ant has the size and strength to not get pushed around by Luka.
Fox?
Curry?
Ja?

[frankenwolf]

I agree with all of this. I don’t know if the numbers bear this out, but I think it’s Luka weight that makes him a tough guard for Jaden, while Jaden’s length helps on lighter, smaller scorers.

I’m curious who people would say is our best chance at defending some of the best scorers in the West? For me, it might be:

Durant: Jaden. Need the length regardless.
Booker: Jaden, but if he’s on KD, NAW is fine.
SGA: NAW? He knows his cousins moves.
Kyrie: I’d say Jaden’s length trumps NAW’s speed
Luka: Maybe Ant? Jaden and NAW are better defenders, but Ant has the size and strength to not get pushed around by Luka.
Fox?
Curry?
Ja?

Fox is so quick, maybe Dilly to match quickness, but NAW overall.
Curry - Ant or NAW
Ja - Jaden

[minimus]

Read on Twitter

[TimberKat]

I don’t know if the numbers bear this out, but I think it’s Luka weight that makes him a tough guard for Jaden, while Jaden’s length helps on lighter, smaller scorers.

I think the number is certainly there. Luka is deceptively big. He is build like Charles Barkley, taller (how Luka looked last year on TNT with Chuck), and more coordinated. Jaden rely on length too much so it's tough to get around or catch up to Luka. It almost looks like Ant had better luck with Luka.

[TimberKat]

I agree with all of this. I don’t know if the numbers bear this out, but I think it’s Luka weight that makes him a tough guard for Jaden, while Jaden’s length helps on lighter, smaller scorers.

I’m curious who people would say is our best chance at defending some of the best scorers in the West? For me, it might be:

Durant: Jaden. Need the length regardless.
Booker: Jaden, but if he’s on KD, NAW is fine.
SGA: NAW? He knows his cousins moves.
Kyrie: I’d say Jaden’s length trumps NAW’s speed
Luka: Maybe Ant? Jaden and NAW are better defenders, but Ant has the size and strength to not get pushed around by Luka.
Fox?
Curry?
Ja?

Fox is so quick, maybe Dilly to match quickness, but NAW overall.
Curry - Ant or NAW
Ja - Jaden

I will add:
Kyrie - maybe he is too old now
Jokic - Randle
Davis - ?

[thinktank]

Robson said it better than me:

“ On a personal level, McDaniels has earned every bit of his improvement. The wing-stopper role is exhausting and thankless and he has successfully inhabited it by becoming almost tunnel-visioned with respect to the task and extremely hard on himself when things don’t go his way.

Too often in the past, his temper would willfully overwhelm his judgment and he’d commit silly fouls or let ire cloud his focus. That hasn’t been the case lately. Nowadays, whether you regard the stat sheet as impressionistic or mathematical, the numbers are impressive. Meanwhile, the eye-test has been sublime.”

[TimberKat]

Robson said it better than me:

“ On a personal level, McDaniels has earned every bit of his improvement. The wing-stopper role is exhausting and thankless and he has successfully inhabited it by becoming almost tunnel-visioned with respect to the task and extremely hard on himself when things don’t go his way.

Too often in the past, his temper would willfully overwhelm his judgment and he’d commit silly fouls or let ire cloud his focus. That hasn’t been the case lately. Nowadays, whether you regard the stat sheet as impressionistic or mathematical, the numbers are impressive. Meanwhile, the eye-test has been sublime.”

That is a good call out about emotion control. I actually see him smile on the court in one of the games. His improvement on the D side will be how well he moves his feet. If he keeps it up, we will have our MJ/Pippen Minor. We also got an old BJ, a Harper, and a Rodman that can't rebound or defend

[thinktank]

It’s all about not using him at POA. That’s where he shines brightest.

Davion Mitchell would probably look pretty damn good next to Slim.

[BlacJacMac]

The resurgence of Jaden McDaniels is a major boost for the Timberwolves
Everything about his game is improving — defense, shooting and avoiding foul trouble.
by Britt Robson

https://www.minnpost.com/sports/2024/12/the-resurgence-of-jaden-mcdaniels-is-a-major-boost-for-the-timberwolves/

[shrink]

Read on Twitter

[Klomp]

Read on Twitter

I continue to believe this is key in unlocking more from McDaniels individually and more from the offense as a group when he is out there.

[minimus]

It looks to me like Jaden has been aggressive on defensive boards, also he cuts more, he crushes offfensive board from corner. If Rob can unlock our transition offense, I hope we will see our interpretation of GSW "lineup of death":

Reid-McDaniels-Edwards-DDV-Dilly

I am kind of pessimistic about smallball, but Edwards 3PT shooting progress, DDV and Rob acquisitions, McDaniels aggressiveness on boards AND Reid versatility can make it work. A man can dream

[Klomp]

I've been saying this for a while...

Read on Twitter

Really like how Jaden McDaniels has been empowered to play more like a big when playing next to Reid and Randle in the frontcourt.

Reid's ability to function as a true wing allows McDaniels space to be able to crash, cut, operate more in that interior space that is often reserved for the bigs (often Gobert, who isn't out there in this lineup).

It allows him to not always need to be the one the ball swing, swing, swings to for that open 3 (that he's just not hitting at a high clip).

[minimus]

Read on Twitter

[minimus]

Read on Twitter

More McDaniels as roamer

[winforlose]

32:53 on the video below. Paraphrasing, Jaden is the best long midrange shooter of any Forward in the NBA shooting 55%. This has a cutoff of 1000 minutes to exclude small sample sizes.

Watch on YouTube