Minnesota Timberwolves: Exploring Jaden McDaniels’ potential
By Zach Lung
Where Jaden McDaniels’ offense must improve to help the Timberwolves
The offensive side has been a mixed bag thus far for McDaniels.
On the one hand, he has averaged less than seven points per game this season and has only reached the 20-point threshold once. On the other hand, he has already flashed the shotmaking and cutting ability to be a serious offensive weapon in the future.
McDaniels has molded himself into a positive offensive asset by playing a specific, yet efficient, role for Minnesota.
More than 52 percent of his field goal attempts have come from beyond the arc, and he is shooting 37.2 percent on 3-point attempts, good enough for fourth-best on the team behind the expected culprits: Towns, D’Angelo Russell, and Malik Beasley.
Beyond 3-point shooting, McDaniels has been focused on moving the ball quickly to avoid poor shots or turnovers. His usage rate on the season is just 12.3 percent, ranking towards the bottom of the league among rotation players. This type of supplementary role has proven to be incredibly important on a team consisting of high-usage players such as Towns, Russell, and Edwards.
The question becomes whether or not McDaniels is capable of taking on a larger offensive role in the future.
His shot mechanics are great and his mixture of size and athleticism imply that he could get his shot off at almost any time. Unfortunately, he has thus far been hesitant to attack the rim off the dribble, thereby resulting in few trips to the free throw line. And, on the rare occasion that he is able to draw a foul, he has only managed to make 59 percent of his free throw attempts. The result is a team-worst 6.3 percent of his points coming from the line.
Learning to attack with force off the dribble and draw fouls is the obvious next step in McDaniels offensive repertoire.