Jaden McDaniels has long been one of the league's best on-ball stoppers. However, Chris Finch treats him like a superhuman, which he's obviously not. The Minnesota Timberwolves forward ranks in the 99th percentile for matchup difficulty per B-Ball Index.
At the surface level, that's not a bad thing, as noted, McDaniels is a fantastic on-ball stopper who can take stars out of games. His overall defensive field goal percentage of 44.2 is still stellar.
The problem is that you can't reasonably ask McDaniels to contain the league's best players every night, and when he struggles, Finch does little to support him.
McDaniels is overtaxed on defense
Wednesday night's game against the Los Angeles Clippers was the most egregious example of this problem. Kawhi Leonard scored 45 points (many of his points coming against McDaniels) en route to a 153-128 Clippers win. Nevertheless, Finch didn't double-team Kawhi enough. Sure, on some of his drives, the paint would collapse on him, but on a typical half-court possession, McDaniels was left on an island to guard Kawhi.
Let's be honest, when he has it going, nobody can stop Kawhi by himself. Thus, asking McDaniels to be the lone defender on him is foolish. Now, I'm not saying Finch's schemes were the lone reason the Wolves gave up 153 points. The poor engagement we saw from Anthony Edwards and Julius Randle certainly contributed to the Timberwolves' shortcomings. Regardless, Finch did McDaniels and the team no favors.
Additionally, this isn't a one-off problem; this season, Luka Doncic is shooting 64.7 percent against McDaniels, De'Aaron Fox is shooting 58.8 percent, and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is shooting 60 percent. McDaniels should be the primary defender on these elite scorers. Still, when they are having success against him, the Wolves need to utilize more double teams or even show opposing stars different matchups. The irony is that Edwards is doubled and blitzed more than nearly anyone in the league.
Finch could be waiting to show his hand until the playoffs regarding defending stars. However, seeding is important for the Wolves, and adjusting some of their defensive approach now would be beneficial.
McDaniels needs to be more involved in the offense
On the other end of the floor, McDaniels feels like the forgotten man, often being planted in the corner. This might feel silly to say, given that he's averaging a career-best 14.7 points. Regardless, when you watch the Wolves, it's clear that they very rarely run plays for him. Against the Clippers, McDaniels was 5-for-6 from the field with all but one of his shot attempts coming in the first half.
His teammates need to do a better job of involving him in the offense, but Finch also needs to make him a focal point of the offense. In the first half against the Clippers, he did that, but once again, McDaniels was abandoned in the second half. McDaniels has had 24 games with fewer than 10 field goal attempts despite having a career season.
In my eyes, it doesn't come down to a lack of aggression; it comes down to him not being prioritized by the entire team.
During the playoffs, the Timberwolves will need to better support McDaniels on defense and make it a point to involve him in the offense. Otherwise, they could be staring at an early playoff exit.