We’re seeing the birth of an NBA star before our eyes with Aussie young gun Dyson Daniels.
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Daniels continued his breakout season with his biggest statement yet in the Atlanta Hawks’ shock upset win over reigning NBA champions Boston Celtics on Wednesday.
Stepping up for an Atlanta side missing Trae Young, Daniels went off for a career-best 28 points— shattering his previous best of 18 — on 12-of-21 shooting from the field with seven assists in his best offensive performance yet to go with six steals.
There was so many impressive elements including the defensive dynamo locking up another superstar in Jayson Tatum, holding the Celtics stud to 21 points on 5-of-16 shooting.
The Aussie effectively went toe-to-toe with the best team in the league in their own building and up against one of the best players … and won.
Daniels kept his freakishly high steals streak going, marking a third-straight game with six-plus steals.
The 21-year old is now youngest player in NBA history to have three games in a row with six steals — a feat only achieved by three other players.
He also became the first Hawks player since Looky Bullock in 1995 to get four steals or more four games in a row.
The NBA’s leader in steals (3.6 per game) and deflections (7.6), NBA University posted a graphic combining the two stats with Daniels comfortably in the lead ahead of … MVP favourite Nikola Jokic.
The wild steals numbers also has Daniels just a shave off the all-time leader of 3.7 per game by Alvin Robertson in 1986.
Declaring pre-season it was his game to make the All-NBA First Defence team, Daniels would well and truly be in there right now.
“Dyson Daniels was unbelievable. He’s been incredible so far defensively, not just tonight, but for the season,” Locked On Hawks’ Brad Rowlands said.
“I think he’s been full stop the best defenders in the entire NBA. Does that mean it’s going to continue? Maybe not. But I think he’s going to be awesome no matter what.
“He is comfortably leading the league in steals despite missing two games and almost doubling the field in deflections. It’s been unbelievable how good he’s been defensively.
“As (Hawks coach Quin Snyder) said earlier this week, it’s not just the steals, he’s also solid while getting steals. That’s hard to do, most guys can’t do that, and he did that in this game.”
NBA analyst Bill Simmons described Daniels as “the best defensive swing” in the NBA right now, comparing him to “free safety in (American) football)” with the way he terrorises his opponent.
“I was blown away by him,” Simmons said of Daniels on his podcast.
“I don’t think Tatum should’ve played, I think they made a mistake because Giannis (Antetokounmpo) stepped on his foot in the Bucks game … but he kind of ate up Tatum.”
As impressive as Daniels’ defensive performance was, it was nothing new this season in an area he’s well and truly shined.
It was the other end of the floor where he really levelled up though, playing point guard for a large chunk of the game with Young out.
Daniels ‘takes aim’ at former team | 00:19
Hall of Famer amazed by Daniels layup | 00:34
As valuable as Young has been for Daniels in putting him in good spots to score and generally opening up the offence drawing so much attention, it was an exciting glimpse into what the Aussie could be with more opportunity and responsibility.
He passed the test in flying colours.
“The shooting is still a question, but he was aggressive getting downhill — he had a career-high 21 field goal attempts and was 11-of-16 from two with a bunch of floaters that went in and a career-high 28 points,” Rowland added.
“On the road in a role he has not been in in his NBA career very much — primary initiator for large swats of this game alongside Jalen (Johnson) — the two-headed monster.
“Incredible story, it’s not all about one player in this particular game, the Hawks had a lot of different things go well for them. But if you were trying to find a player story, it was definitely Dyson.”
Indeed, the future bright is bright in Atlanta with the likes of Daniels, Johnson, who had a triple-double against Boston, and No. 1 draft pick Zaccharie Risacher.
Bill Simmons has seen enough from Daniels in a bigger role across his first 10 games for the Hawks — now averaging 14.3 points, 1.1 3-pointers, 4.3 rebounds, 2.9 assists and 3.6 steals in 33.1 minutes — to suggest Atlanta won the off-season trade with New Orleans that saw it land the Aussie, Larry Nance and two first-round picks in exchange for Dejounte Murray.
In fact, Simmons called for the Hawks to now explore the trade market for Young and “build the team around Jalen Johnson and Dyson Daniels”.
“It’s a team without Trae I thought fell into place … I was watching the game honestly thinking Murray versus Daniels, who would I rather have? I just think Daniels is a better asset, what he does is more unusual,” he said.
“He’s 21 and somebody who never really got a chance to play on the Pelicans because they had so many wings.
“I think if you did it over again, just Daniels for Murray feels like a pretty fair trade, not to mention all the other stuff they had — that’s one of the better trades anyone’s made.
“It almost makes up for all the s*** they gave up for Murray in the first place.”
The Ringer’s Kirk Goldsberry agreed, saying Daniels “is the defender Atlanta thought they were getting with Murray” when it sent multiple first-round picks to the Spurs to get the guard to years ago.
The backcourt pairing of Young and Murray never really worked though, with Murray struggling to get back to his best defensive heights … and certainly not the current level Daniels is producing at.
“I love Dyson Daniels, he’s had freakin’ six steals three games in a row, that is Kawhi Leonard stuff. We don’t see those numbers,” Goldsberry said.
“He’s a legitimate Defensive Player of the Year candidate. You’re right, looking back at that trade, it’s fair to be on Atlanta’s side of the deal at this point. Larry Nance also played very well and is at least a nice rotation piece.
“Jalen Johnson is the other revelation, this dude had a triple-double … I think this game at least makes you think about an Atlanta future without Trae Young in it.”
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