After a lackluster first half against the subpar Utah Jazz on Monday night, Anthony Edwards and the Minnesota Timberwolves came out firing in the third quarter. They built a lead that would get as high as 22 points during the frame thanks to an offensive flurry by Edwards, helping Wolves fans feel at ease that they were going to walk away with their fifth win in six games. However, despite the third quarter dominance, the Timberwolves only lead by 13 heading into the final stanza. While that was still a comfortable double-digit lead, there was a small seed of doubt that was placed.
Wolves fans have seen their squad drop these kinds of games before - you know the ones I’m talking about.
That seed only grew as an Ace Bailey dunk brought the lead down to seven points with just under nine minutes left to play. Too often in years past, most everyone watching would have the same thought: “Get Ant back in the game, we need him to get hot to finish this.” A reasonable thought, and one that rang true for much of the past three years. Think about a time when this team was teetering. Edwards would come through with one of his flurries to bury the other team, or more notably if that flurry never came, the game would go in the wrong direction.
As those fears started to materialize and eyes turned towards the scorers table as the camera panned back and forth to see when number five would remove his warmups to ease the worries, a spindly small forward with a stoic demeanor on his face eased those fears before anything could unravel.
One dribble, the defender goes under the screen step back three — Bang.
Slow step floater — Swish.
Semi-transition finger roll — Bucket.
Skip pass to the corner, one dribble — Slim slam.
Every time Minnesota would look for someone to get a bucket, Jaden McDaniels was right there to finish the job. He kept the lead hovering just around double digits, stymying any possibility of a comeback from the young opponent.
This stretch in the fourth quarter was a small microcosm of what McDaniels has looked like on the offensive end this season. The gangly forward is averaging a career-high 18.4 points per game on 55.0/53.8/84.4 shooting splits while showing consistency in an increased role. Not only has he been ultra-efficient, including being top five in league three-point percentage, but he’s shown a way to get those points within the flow of the offense.
Shooting with Confidence
The part of the offensive game that has always wavered with Jaden McDaniels is the jump shot. When he was mostly regulated to playing out of the corner, he struggled with the consistency of being able to hit that corner three. Part of that was confidence, and part of it was most of his shots coming out of rhythm. While it made sense within the ecosystem of the offense to have Jaden spacing to the corners because of the high usage rate of those around him, it is a great adjustment to not have him relegated to that part of the floor.
When the Wolves offense struggled in years past, the ball would stick to one side of the floor or to one single player. This year, it has flipped to being the ball movement-oriented offense Chris Finch has envisioned when he took the job years ago. This bodes well for Jaden McDaniels. He has more freedom within the offense to take shots from all over the floor, and not just a corner three with two seconds on the shot clock after he hasn’t shot for many possessions in a row. Because of this, he is more consistently finding spots where he is comfortable and knocking down what is available.
This has resulted in McDaniels’ most efficient three-point shooting season to date. Through 11 games, he is shooting 54% from three which tops the league when taking volume into account. He is also 11 of 18 from the corners, good for 61% (Shoutout Dane Moore for these stats).
Jim Petersen has mentioned on the broadcast several times that not only is McDaniels shooting the ball with confidence, but when he misses, he is not letting it affect his next shot. Too many times have we seen McDaniels miss a couple corner threes, get in his own head, then not be able to shake loose of that. Slim’s expanded role in the offense, and the entire offense moving the ball more, has him playing self-assured and in rhythm.
When he gets it rolling, McDaniels has been one of the most efficient players in the league this season.
Transition and Mid-Range
Shooting with confidence looks great on McDaniels, but as Finch always says, “Do what you do best, more.” Jaden has leaned into that ideology with his ability to score in transition and his patented lean back mid-range jumper.
Transition opportunities are one of the messages that was hammered throughout training camp as the Wolves searched for ways to improve their offense. While they are not atop the league when it comes to this (11th in transition frequency and 17th in points per game from transition, according to NBA.com), they are worlds better than what they have been the last two seasons where they ranked dead last in frequency last season and 28th the year before that.
This intention to get out and run has benefited McDaniels on the offensive end as well. Though a lot of his uptick from 12.1 points per game last season to 18.4 this season can be attributed to the uptick in three-point shooting, there is also the attention towards getting out and running in transition and semi-transition. It’s always been an area where Jaden has thrived offensively and that has surely helped his scoring numbers.
The other part of McDaniels’ offensive game that deserves its flowers is the mid-range game. He has always had the mini fadeaway in his bag, but now it seems like it is a bankable part of the offense as a whole. There have been more and more cases where the Wolves will set a pin-down screen for him to curl off of so he can get to his spot. McDaniels is shooting 44% from that part of the floor and it feels like he can get to that shot whenever he wants during times of need. Times such as the recent Utah game (again thanks to Dane Moore for this stat).
Timberwolves Offense as a Whole
With the personal growth of McDaniels, the growth of the team offense must be mentioned in the context of his improved scoring. Minnesota is currently fourth in offensive rating in the league at 120.0 and the growth they have shown looks sustainable. Their three-point shooting is also near the top of the league, as they are number two in percentage and eighth in makes per game. This has resulted in some of the best play on that side of the ball the Wolves have had in years.
In addition of the advanced statistics, the philosophy based on ball and body movement has seemed to take root in the offensive principals. Players are working off the advantages of Edwards and Randle to find themselves shots that they can make consistently. Jaden McDaniels has profited greatly from this shift. His ability to find the uptick in offense seemingly without going outside of his lane is a beauty to watch. He’s getting more touches, in better spots and taking confidence shots in rhythm.
Jaden McDaniels offense is growing right before our eyes and the small signs that were there in years past are now big parts of the Wolves offensive game. The next time you’re watching a game where Minnesota has a lead that feels a little too close for comfort, rest assured that Jaden McDaniels is now capable of picking up that slack.