Great for him to see the shot fall. Even got back to back 3s. Hopefully we'll see some less hesitation on the 3 out there. But... Yeah, the defense can be rough. Bad sequence as soon as he entered. Also Tatum cooked him loudly a couple times.
He played well defensively most of the game but he lost his guy twice who made two consecutive threes and was taken out immediately I was thinking in real time dude pay attention to your man! Then bang
that one was just effort, and that's weird for a guy trying to establish himself. it's ok to occasionally lose a guy (not ideal, but it happens), but to sort of half assedly jog over after you've done so...
JJ and staff are doing a nice job bringing Dalton along same as the great job with Max which really jump started the process of this team gelling. They’re not cutting DJ’s minutes and being patient with him and keeping his confidence up. Letting him play in pressure minutes like against the C Bags fairly late in the 4th quarter. His shot is starting to fall again more consistently. Looking at Max in the lineup now vs how he was struggling at the start of the season similar to Dalton in January, after a good December, I think it’s possible by the time we get to the playoffs he’s going to have made a similar leap in performance. He hasn’t even touched his coming shot creation talents especially having to execute the specific role they want him to concentrate on as a rookie. Look the H out IF he makes a Max like leap in the consistency of the things he’s already good at. I really hope we can keep him. He’s going to be really really good.
i'm not worried about his offense at all. but if the defense doesn't improve dramatically, it won't matter--winning teams won't be able to play him. but he's a rookie, and this is a big part of the rookie learning curve (team defense/speed of the game). doesn't matter if you're already 23--you've never played games like this.
I worry that his journey is going opposite to what AR and Max had. They grafted, got better and rewarded with minutes but DK got the success at the front end and needs to graft the other side of the game to maintain his minutes. His low energy close outs or getting lost is bad. And I don't like his body language when he makes a mistake and gets pulled. JJ also needs to take some blame, he puts him in with rotations that cannot defend
Really nice to see him (hopefully) finally get over that wall. Aside from the defense, biggest complaint: tunnel vision on fast breaks. Doesn't matter who is open or if they have a better look. If he has the ball in the open court, he'll go 1 on 4 and try to dunk it. Love the aggressiveness but let's keep the defense guessing just a little. It's like how Max would only attempt the two handed dunk for the first 3 months of the season.
Concerning Dalton’s defense in the upcoming offseason, I wish teams asked players to work on their defense as much as their offense during the offseason. You hear teams say work on free throws, work on 3s, but you never hear work on navigating screens, work on post position, etc. I’ve never heard of going to retired defensive players like Bruce Bowen, or Coop and asking for a summer clinic on defense the way Kobe asked to train on footwork with Hakeem. Ok maybe not Coop as he’s too far removed from todays game, but you get what I mean. That’s really what Dalton needs. An all around defensive clinic where he’s immersed in defensive positional awareness principals for a month or so. It would make him a much better basketball player all the way around. But I think it’s going to take a lot longer since no one does that. Everything’s always about offense.
Defense is a tough ask though for a summer program. Most offense stuff can be solo or you and your trainer or you and 5 elementary kids with the pads hitting you when you drive to the rim. Whereas defense you need reps, game simulations, talent to guard, organized groups. Sure there's guys in the gym all year, so you can find a game somewhere... but it's different. A lot is team concepts, so pulling up to a UCLA scrimmage where you might find 4 other NBA players but asking them to run through this JJ set with you... unlikely.
I get that. I don’t think it’s as easy an ask, but I do think it’s something players could do. Especially man defense should be something you can work on with retired great s and you never hear of it really.
