Clearly he did not want to go out in the 4th when LeBron came in. But man, is that like 4 straight good games for DK now? Dude is really showing why he belongs, and why we might not want to trade him… Pure stroke, pure shooter. Amazing form. What I love about him too?? He really gets up to rebound and uses 2 hands. Seemingly just gets up to grab them during timely moments. Love it. Keep it up kid! I know you didn’t want to go out tonight, but man, keep up the great play DK!!
he got lost a couple times on defense for easy buckets early, but jj stuck with him (not sure i would have, tbh), and he made a couple plays on d and a couple shots later. trusted with 4th quarter minutes in this one, too.
I expect with the way every single other young player including Rui has taken their game to a higher level under JJ’s watch and coaching style …. that DK will also, in his rookie year, by the time of the playoffs …. have much improved over the early months. May not be enough on defense for rotation minutes but I wouldn’t necessarily bet against it any sizable amount of coin.
I like the optimism. But a few games ago (the game Reaves got injured), JJ had talked to Knecht about dropping out of the rotation entirely - but Reaves, Rui and Goodwin’s injuries brought him back in. I think it’s likely that when the guys get back, in the playoffs, we’ll tighten up to Luka / Reaves / Rui / Lebron / Hayes with Gabe, DFS and Vando. Prior to that I think Goodwin and Jemison will get the game time because of how hard they fight defensively. Have to say DK really bounced back from the trade and some poor mid season play. I hope he stays ready and continues to develop. Should be even better next season.
don't trade the kid unless we're talking about a huge upgrade he's going to be a 50/40/90 player in this league, and we have this kid locked in through the best years of his career for peanuts.
possibly...though i'd imagine his best years should be those just following his first extension (when he's played three years) and is in his mid to late 20s. but yeah, we need to focus on developing him for several reasons.
Bummer of a game tonight losing to the C Bags and LeBron getting hurt, but I liked what I saw from Dalton. Only one made three but he had a few other nice plays and held up pretty well defensively. His issues on defense are mostly mental, he’s plenty athletic enough to become an average NBA defender.
Deserves more mins. Solid rebounder. Best stroke. Our best catch and shoot guy easily. Feisty, loves to get after it. Athletic. Keep playing him more and more JJ.
That’s why I’m saying I don’t expect him NOT to get some regular minutes in the payoffs if he keeps improving in that area even if it’s not a lot. That’s part of developing him in giving him some playoff experience if he is hitting some shots and getting better on D. I agree that he is already and another month and a half to the playoffs. He’s moving better laterally too. He’s got the athleticism to do it.
He’ll continue to get lots of time with Lebron and Rui off. This is his chance, if he can continue to hit the long ball and improve defensively, he can stake a claim to more time.
