Film Festival Series: Part 2 with Doug McDermott – Quiet Potential
By Gideon Lim
Some shooters are more equal than others
Let us start with the obvious – Doug McDermott is a shooter. The question is, what kind of shooter is he?
The league’s gold standard of shooting is Klay Thompson. No matter what kind of shot he takes, his form is perfect. Yes, Thompson doesn’t use the hop, which is a technique more and more players use today to minimize excessive hip rotations. But, everything else from Thompson is ideal. Elbow-rim alignments, release points, front sway. There is hardly more a shooting coach can demand from him.
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After Thompson, the standard for shooting form starts watering down. The more athletic shooters around the league (athletic in terms of jump height and core strength) play on their physicality to maintain shooting form. Players like J.R Smith vigorously engage their core to combat momentum accumulated from spinning off screens.
Then there are the straight-up gunners. Players like Steph Curry make use of a quick pull-up to get their shot off before defenders can bother them with their length. Others, like former Thunder Anthony Morrow, don’t even bring the ball down to their abdominal area, instead going straight up with the ball to catch defenses unaware.
Who art thou Doug McDermott?
In some ways, Doug McDermott reminds me of Dirk Nowitzki.
They have their differences. But at the core of their games, both Nowitzki and McDermott build their games around their length.
Neither of them fall into the above categories of shooters. They can’t catch defenses by surprise with their quick triggers or hurtle around screens only to elevate gracefully into mid-air.
Instead, they make shooting over their defender their go-to move. Once defenses adjust to that, Nowitzki and McDermott bring out pump fakes to get around defenders. From there, even if their defender can bother their shot, they already have enough separation to get their shot off.
Look at this fadeaway from McDermott over LaMarcus Aldridge. His one-dribble pull-up looks so natural.
Even back in his Chicago days, McDermott already struggled with coming off screens at high speeds to lose his defender. Look at how he barely contains his body’s momentum as he comes off the screen, even though he is already taking an extra dribble to get into rhythm.
His play resembles a wing version of Dirk, doesn’t it? Being unafraid to take difficult mid-range pull-ups, safe in the knowledge that their length gives them an extra buffer.
Mission possible for Doug McDermott
Once this is understood, then it is easier to work out what the expectations should be for McDermott.
The clearest starting point for McDermott is he must come in and provide spacing for the team. But he doesn’t need to do it by subjecting himself to complex loop plays.
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Instead, McDermott must play to his length advantage to generate offense for the team – and do so consistently. He needs to watch out for his shot selection – in terms of where he is shooting and who he is shooting against. And, let it fly. McDermott is mostly a good shooter, as long as he can get into a good shooting rhythm.
Alas, there is also the issue of defense. The good news is he is long and decently mobile, so in theory, he should be a respectable one-on-one defender.
The problem is he has bad defensive instincts, so he is often caught in no man’s land when playing off-the-ball. No doubt his challenge on defense is to follow his man better.