Marquis Daniels and the "Tweener" Shot

(CBTC)


By: Greg Payne

Marquis Daniels impressed me Wednesday night against Houston. He effectively handled and distributed the ball for the second unit and finished with seven points and five assists in 18 minutes of action.

When I finally switched the television off to head to bed Wednesday night, my thoughts weren't on Kevin Garnett's knee or Rasheed Wallace's technical (last night hopefully was evidence that the techs won't be a game by game trend), but rather, on Daniels' jump shot.

Daniels is not a shooter, per se. Shooting mid-range or three-point jump shots doesn't fuel his game the way it might drive Eddie House's or Ray Allen's. Daniels actually air-balled his first three-point attempt against Houston. It happens. It happened to House last night at one point. So, while I don't expect Daniels to be pulling up and draining three-pointers in transition, or to park himself in the corner and go bombs away like Brian Scalabrine, I am very, very confident that he can single handily disrupt a team's defense by continually slashing into the middle and taking a variety of short pull up jumpers, which I like to call "tweener" shots.

Sometimes he'll fade to the left and sometimes he'll fall to the right. Sometimes he'll lean in and sometimes he'll fall back as he shoots. He might be five feet out or ten feet out. However, at 6'6, he has a seemingly perfect balance of quickness and strength, which often will put the defense on the ropes. But no matter how they're taken, they'll almost always be taken somewhere in or just around the paint.

I made a point to keep track of Daniels' "tweener" shots last night (I think "tweener" is a good word to describe these attempts) and I counted him going 1-3. His impact wasn't felt as greatly in general last night, despite playing 19 minutes. He finished with a modest three points, three rebounds and no assists, while shooting 1-5 from the field overall.

But, perhaps credit those numbers to Wallace netting three threes on his way to 13 points, or Scalabrine lighting up the net from the corner, nailing a trifecta of shots from three-point nation as well, en route to nine points.

There will be plenty of nights when the offense is spread throughout the second unit, meaning Glen Davis will score a few points, House will knock down a three or two and 'Sheed, Scal and Daniels will all contribute as well. It will be a group effort.

Then there will be the nights when the heavy hitters take over. Wallace will get hot from deep and the bench will ride his three-point prowess into the night. The same can be said for House on occasion, as he's not one to shy up if he's feeling good coming off of a screen. Davis is also capable of posting up big points with a steady concoction of inside reverse layups and mid-range jump shots.

Then, on some nights it'll be Daniels' turn to take over. He'll cut through the defense like a butcher, freeing himself up to knock down the tweener shots. Or, when the defense finally decides to adjust, he'll be able to dump the ball down to Davis, or find House, Scal or Wallace spotting up alongside the perimeter. Plenty of nights this season we'll remark afterwards about how Daniels took control of the game, but not just by scoring. I wouldn't be surprised in the least if we routinely see Daniels put together 8-10 point and 8-10 assist lines, all while recording a block and a steal or two on the defensive end.

But I believe it starts with those tweener shots. Those shots will be the basis of his offensive game and we'll be remarking on a consistent stream of those as the season progresses. While I was hoping to see more last night, I'm not discouraged, partly because of Wallace and Scal taking over. Before the preseason ends, we'll see Daniels take over a game, which will only reinforce our appreciation of Danny Ainge bringing him to Boston.