It feels like a second if you’re going about your day, but it sure feels like an eternity when it comes to a basketball game.
In that sliding scale that felt like it leaned towards more of an eternity, 10 minutes is how long into the Minnesota Timberwolves’ game against the Miami Heat it took for Jaden McDaniels to record his first points, coming at the charity stripe.
But just 30 seconds later, a universally shorter period of time, he recorded points three and four. From there? The Wolves’ starting small forward would go on to assert himself at the most important times of the game.
“I know if I’m not scoring or shooting the ball, I can do something else,” McDaniels said in the locker room after the game.
Often watching the volume scorers in Anthony Edwards and Julius Randle take turns landing the first few punches early on in games, it’s been made clear from McDaniels that scoring isn’t his only way of generating the mean streak that inevitably drives some of his best offensive performances. A steal later on in the first quarter that generated a fastbreak for the Wolves and ended in a 360 assist to Rudy Gobert is one of those ways.
Head Coach Chris Finch lamented before the game for his All-Defensive wing’s involvement in the previous few games, and was left with no choice but to be pleased with how things shook out just a couple of hours later.
“Coming out of the holiday period, it was a priority to get Jaden back in the mix offensively, whether it be playcalls or finding him in the flow, and he’s really responded there,” he said after the game.
Heading into Tuesday, McDaniels was averaging just 8 points and four rebounds in the last four games, while still posting formidable shooting splits (50 percent from the field, 66 percent from three). It was a clear sign that while the Wolves had won three of their last four, their winning trend was not sustainable without him back in the fold.
Finishing the game with 19 points and a plus-18 on Tuesday night, McDaniels proved to be one of the most crucial players in the separation phase of the game. Especially in the third quarter in which the Wolves saw the bulk of their separation from Miami happen in the eventual blowout, McDaniels put six points on the board and was aggressive in attacking on both sides of the floor, crucial to forcing some of the Heat’s 17 turnovers and the 21 points off of them.
“It’s huge [when Jaden is involved], but it starts with us getting him involved,” Rudy Gobert said, reflecting on his own 13-point, 17-rebound performance that saw chemistry between him and McDaniels bubble throughout. “Jaden has all of the tools to create…and has shown he can pass the ball,” as a grin started to form across his face, and a look was shot over to McDaniels’ locker.
“I’m telling them you can pass!” he cracked.
Scoring, passing, defending, generating turnovers, it’s all crucial. But when McDaniels scores 15 or more points this season, the Timberwolves are 11-5, with one of those losses being the heralded Denver Christmas Day game that slipped away due to a myriad of factors.
“I mean this as the ultimate compliment…he is the glue guy on a really good team,” Heat Head Coach Eric Spoelstra said after the game. “Everything that they need him to do, in terms of defending, taking on all of the best challenges, rebounding, he puts the ball on the floor, is a catch and go guy, and his three point shooting has improved quite a bit.”
High praise from the best coach in the game, and someone who has developed quite a few disruptive wings in his coaching career alongside it.
To put his impact in perspective, the Wolves’ net rating is four points better with McDaniels on the floor than it is off the floor, with him spending nearly double the time playing than not playing.
Timberwolves Net Rating with McDaniels on/off PBP Stats
Taking it a step further, we can look a little harder at his essential pairing with the frontcourt duo of Naz Reid and Julius Randle. A pair that’s proven to be a defensive black hole for the better part of the season and not efficient enough offensively to make the lack of defensive presence worth it, McDaniels has proven effective in weathering the storm in the non-Rudy Gobert minutes, with a decisive net rating boost on the floor versus off of it with Reid and Randle.
Net Rating of the Naz Reid – Julius Randle pairing with McDaniels on the floor vs. off of it PBP Stats
Put plain and simply, this team will go as far as Jaden McDaniels can take it. His importance on both sides of the ball is paramount, and his offensive development and consistency have buoyed this team during extremely difficult points in which a normal operating system has felt non-existent.
Over the next few weeks, trade chatter will inevitably heat up (no pun intended), and players will be put on an imaginary block with the hopes that the Wolves can reach the harrowing next step of moving past the Western Conference Finals. Perhaps that trade bloc is necessary. Though McDaniels won’t find his way anywhere close to it, I’ll continue to make the argument that contributions from him night after night, similar to Tuesday, will be the single most important thing in getting them there (paired with Gobert’s offensive renaissance).
There’s no one fix solution that currently exists on the market, and sometimes the solution that accomplishes more of what you’re trying to is right under your nose. I think Chris Finch would tend to agree.
“We can’t let him go missing inside of our own team.”
