Minnesota Sports Forum

I also want to give him credit in the area of rebounding. 5.1 rebounds per game since Kat has been out and 2.3 rebounds in games Kat played.

Jaden has not taken the we all wanted this year but he is still an elite defender and very good player. Needs to hit shots in the playoffs though because I’m guessing teams are going to let Jaden shoot

Lipoli390 wrote: ↑Wed Mar 27, 2024 9:25 am https://twitter.com/danemoorenba/status ... 60923?s=21

Just extraordinary defense against an elite offensive force.

Glad to see kek's post also about rebounding. KAT's absence has helped him (more rebounds to get, but more importantly, he finds himself closer to the hoop defending PFs when Finchie runs his three guard lineup), but it's nice to see him step up though.

Impressive stuff. And yeah, his ability to hit the open 3 could be a huge difference maker for us in the playoffs. So on that note, he's 8-16 from 3 over his last three games after going a miserable 3-28 in his prior eight games. We really need him and NAW confident in their 3-point shot heading into the post-season.

We've lamented NAW's troubling trend starting with the post-season. On that note, I'm liking Jaden's upward trend:

Points/Rebounds/Assists/FG%/3Pt%/PER
Per 36 minutes in '23-24 regular Season: 12.9/3.8/1.7/48.9%/33.7%/9.4
Per 36 minutes in 2024 Playoffs: 13.1/4.1/1.2/51.4%/42.9%/13.8
Per 36 minutes in the Pre-Season: 16.7/7.2/3.8/57.1%/62.5%/18.2

The pre-season is small sample size theater of course (especially the 3-point shooting). I really think the process of reducing our dependency on Mike Conley is starting in earnest this season. You can see that in the way we increasingly run sets where Ant, DDV, Randle, or Jaden are the ones initiating the main action and getting the assist.