We've Never Seen A Defender Like Jaden McDaniels

Jadon McDaniels over the past two years has quickly become one of, if not the best, perimeter defender across the NBA. At 6'9 with a 7 foot wingspan, McDaniels' height and length is enough by itself to make him an elite interior defender, simply being able to use that height to alter and eliminate shots. But what really makes Jadon special defensively is going to be his quickness. On top of that verticality, Jadon also has the foot speed to step up and pressure the ball on the perimeter, and he's got the foot speed to quickly slide and keep himself in front of the ball, where he can then use that size to disrupt the shot. You'll see Goran here drop down into a drive right off the catch, but notice how Jadon is able to swivel his hips and scramble down to swap this shot. And that blend of size and mobility also makes Jadon a monster when navigating around ball screens. Throughout the playoffs, Minnesota has been going up against some mid-range assassins who love to navigate and create contact out of pick and roll, where they can then create space for these in-between pull-ups. But Jadon's ridiculous size takes all that away. Notice how Booker on this play is going to slow down and put McDaniels in jail. And from this spot, Booker is normally able to initiate contact and separate out into his pull-up. But Jadon's height takes all that away, and he funnels Devon down into a drive, where he clearly has the size advantage. And McDaniels has also been giving Jamal Murray headaches in pick and roll. Watch Murray here refuse to screen. Then he also tries to slow down and keep Jadon on his back, but McDaniels has the quickness to shift down and get himself back in front of the ball, and Murray from here has no chance of elevating over him. And I also think Jadon has really underrated strength, which adds another layer to his defensive back. You'll see Booker here playing with a head of steam in transition, and he's going to try to move McDaniels off the spot by lowering his inside shoulder. But Jadon has the stability to keep his balance, to then reach out and tie up the ball. And throughout the Denver series, McDaniels in spots has been able to switch and hold his own against Nikola Jokic, both having the strength to wall off his back down, plus the length to extend up and bother his shot. I like this play here, where Jadon is able to scramble over and wall off Nikolas initial drive, and he forces Jokic into a tough shot that only he can make. Now McDaniels also provides a ton of value playing off the ball, where his size and length can make passing reads way more difficult. One big adjustment Minnesota made in game 6 was putting Jadon on Michael Porter Jr. or KCP, and this just added some additional size off the ball and mucked up the flow of Denver's offense. And it wasn't like McDaniels was making a bunch of crazy defensive plays, but I do think his presence on the weak side of the floor did push Denver's looks outside of the paint. Now when moving on and looking at Jadon's offense, he does a vast majority of his work as a spot up shooter, and so far in the playoffs McDaniels hasn't been shooting the ball great from 3. And granted this is only over a 10 game stretch, so it is a pretty small sample size. But going forward McDaniels being able to knock down open 3's is going to be crucial for Minnesota's offense, not only because it puts points on the board, but it also spaces the floor. And obviously if you're the Timberwolves you don't want the defense to stop respecting Jadon as a shooter, and that was starting to happen over these last few games. There were many plays where Denver was completely ignoring him on the perimeter, and that's clearly a problem because that allows the Nuggets to load up in the paint and be willing to give up these McDaniels 3's. And that also allowed the Nuggets to double Minnesota's primary playmakers, to again leave McDaniels wide open for these standstill 3's. And Jadon not being able to knock down these open jumpers did hurt the spacing and flow of the Timberwolves offense, and that did play a big factor in their offensive struggles in games 3-5. But in game 6 Jadon did have a really good shooting night, and again when he's knocking down shots and pulling the defense out towards the 3, that in return opens up the floor for Minnesota's playmakers. Now when playing off the catch Jadon also has the ability to put the ball down and attack closeouts, and Jadon has a really good feel of reading angles. You'll see him here start this playoff in the corner, and as the ball starts coming downhill watch how Jadon is going to shift up towards the wing, and when he catches this pass notice how he's going to skip up and flow right into this drive off the catch. He's going to hit the same move on this play, where again Jadon's going to pick up momentum by skipping off the to then explode into this baseline drive. This is a sneaky move right here, where McDaniels is going to catch on the wing with MPJ closing out, but as he receives the ball notice how Jadon is going to get Porter off balance by shifting his weight to his left foot, which moves him out of his frame giving McDaniels a straight line drive to the middle. When attacking downhill Jadon is a pretty consistent finisher around the basket. If there's any open space in the paint and Jadon can get a clean blow by on the perimeter, he easily has the size, length, and explosiveness to generate points. And when playing against traffic or going up against lengthy defenders, McDaniels does have the strength and stability to initiate contact into his finishes. Over the last 2 years I also think Jadon's ball handling has gotten much better. I still don't think he has the most dynamic game off the bounce, but he is showing some pretty clear improvements. This is one of the best moves I've ever seen him hit, where he gets to this left to right between and skips up selling the right hand drive, and when he gets Porter to open up his stance, Jadon is going to cross the ball to his left and pick up into this finish. Now if the defense is able to slide and wall off Jadon's initial attack, one of his go-to counters is to stop and turn out into the short 12 foot jumpers, which McDaniels can easily create due to his height and length. You'll see Duran here slide and wall off Jadon's drive to the middle, but McDaniels is going to simply give him a few shoulder bumps and turn back towards his left with his jumper. But this leads us to one of McDaniels' biggest weaknesses offensively, which is going to be his strength and stability. While Jadon in spots does have the ability to initiate contact and play fiscal with the ball, I still think at times he can be pretty unstable with the rock. When dealing with contact around the basket, Jadon commonly loses his balance and gets pushed out into these more difficult looks, and athletically I don't think Jadon has the best vertical pop off the floor. So if he's going up against the big who can match up with his height and length, McDaniels doesn't have any real answers. So because Jadon lacks the strength and vertical pop to consistently finish in traffic, he commonly settles for these less efficient and off balance pull ups. You'll see him here cut down and catch the ball in the paint, and from this spot it's just him and Duran playing 1 on 1. I would love to see Jadon from here attack KD's body and generate a layup or foul at the rim, but he instead takes a dribble out and gets into this tough fadeaway. We can see the same thing here, where McDaniels catches right on the block and instead of exploding up towards the basket, he takes a dribble out for another difficult jump. Now I don't think Jadon is necessarily afraid of contact. Because he's young and still growing into his body, I think Jadon is going to naturally develop that stability over the next few years. But regardless, I do think McDaniels offensively has been steadily getting better year after year. He's developed a really good feel for attacking defensive rotations, plus he's starting to develop the on ball skills to create for the standstill. If McDaniels can become a more consistent outside shooter, and be more stable with the ball in the paint, that could turn him into the best 2 way player across the league. If you enjoyed this video please like and subscribe, and let me know in the comments what you think of Jadon McDaniels' game.