I think many of us were very wrong about DD. Because of the setback last season, many assumed that DD's peak was 2013-14 and he would never again surpass that level of play. In retrospect I think we have to look at how his injury (yes I know he was playing poorly before the injury, but he's also got a track record of slow starts) and the laser-focus on iso-ball might have affected his play.
Really with DD there has been somewhat of a trend to his improvement it's just a really weird one. Adding strength, improving his ballhandling, improving his playmaking skills, becoming one of the best in the game at creating contact and drawing fouls, etc. None of that though really showed any tangible statistical improvement until 2013-14 and I think now that he's starting to really put the mature, mental aspect of the game together he's reaching a different level.
What's interesting is that there's still room for improvement. He can still take more of his offense inside imo and opt for the pass more often instead of the long two and the corner 3 is something that's vanished this year which he had been showing significant progress in. I'd like to see that come back and the majority of his 3PT attempts (which shouldn't be many) coming from there. That'll only help him be more efficient.
Anyway as for the Bulls game, he played a great floor game but wasn't super aggressive, which we kind of needed since a lot of guys didn't show up to this game. Wonder if he was even more focused on taking good shots than normal because of that Lowry interaction, but the shot chart was great. 9 out of 14 shots came in the paint, only 1 long 2, 3 15 footers and a corner three attempt.
Really with DD there has been somewhat of a trend to his improvement it's just a really weird one. Adding strength, improving his ballhandling, improving his playmaking skills, becoming one of the best in the game at creating contact and drawing fouls, etc. None of that though really showed any tangible statistical improvement until 2013-14 and I think now that he's starting to really put the mature, mental aspect of the game together he's reaching a different level.
What's interesting is that there's still room for improvement. He can still take more of his offense inside imo and opt for the pass more often instead of the long two and the corner 3 is something that's vanished this year which he had been showing significant progress in. I'd like to see that come back and the majority of his 3PT attempts (which shouldn't be many) coming from there. That'll only help him be more efficient.
Anyway as for the Bulls game, he played a great floor game but wasn't super aggressive, which we kind of needed since a lot of guys didn't show up to this game. Wonder if he was even more focused on taking good shots than normal because of that Lowry interaction, but the shot chart was great. 9 out of 14 shots came in the paint, only 1 long 2, 3 15 footers and a corner three attempt.
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