The Hawks have one exhibition game under their belt, and plenty of positive things stood out on video. One of them was the play of newly acquired guard Dyson Daniels.
It’s a small sample size, but Daniels made a strong case for why he could be the right fit alongside Hawks guard Trae Young. In only 22 minutes on Tuesday night, Daniels made an impact on the floor, even as the team struggled to slow the Pacers’ 22-5 opening run.
With 8:27 to play in the first quarter, Daniels read the Pacers defense and caught Pascal Siakam looking at Young as he drove into the paint. As Siakam moved in to help Andrew Nembhard close Young’s lane, Daniels made a backdoor cut. Young threaded the defenders to find Daniels for the Hawks’ first field goal since Jalen Johnson’s opening midrange jumper.
“Trae’s one of the best passers in the (NBA),” Daniels said. “And he’s gonna find you if you’re open. He’s gonna find you on backdoor cuts. He’s gonna throw the ball ahead, kick out stuff like that, and playing with a guy like Trae, you always got your hands ready because you never know when it’s going to come. He might not be looking at you, but the ball’s going to be coming your way. So especially, I’m looking forward to, you know, getting to play with you more, building that chemistry. But I think we’re off to a good start.”
Daniels created looks for himself as he moved around the court constantly until the ball found him again. In the second quarter he caught a pass from Young on the wing, pump-faked then drove toward the basket. When Siakam moved in to cut off the lane, he spun around him and banked in a high floater.
He also showed that he could make a difference as a creator. Midway through the first, Young quickly pushed the ball up to Daniels on the wing. The 21-year-old quickly saw De’Andre Hunter wide-open across the court and lobbed the ball to him as he cut to the basket.
The Pacers adjusted, though, and broke up Hunter’s dunk attempt. While not every look Daniels created resulted in an assist, he showed that he could help Young and the Hawks create numerous high-percentage opportunities.
“Dyson did a lot of good things,” Hawks coach Quin Snyder said. “I thought defensively, we’ve talked about his presence on the court defensively. But, I thought he made the game simple. He made the right pass when someone was open, he passed to them. He moved without the ball when he needed, and he was spaced. It’s such an elusive thing to talk about spacing all the time, but if you’re not spaced, it’s hard to play together. Dyson does all those things. He does them intuitively, and he’s committed to them, and as a result, he’s someone that makes his team better.”
Daniels’ ended his exhibition debut with the Hawks with 14 points, one rebound and three assists on 5-of-8 shooting overall. But his help on the defensive end was visible, too, with his speed and knack for moving around the court. He looked like he was everywhere and quickly got back out to his man to contest a shot. Though all of his defensive prowess may not have shown up on the box score, a couple of plays made the highlight reel.
With 5:20 to play in the second quarter, Daniels picked up Siakam at halfcourt and never stopped moving his feet. After fighting through a screen from James Wiseman, he kept moving with Siakam, driving him toward a bottleneck with Hawks rookie Zaccharie Risacher.
The tight quarters gave Risacher time to disrupt Siakam’s dribble, and Daniels picked the ball away. Daniels then found Risacher in transition, where he took the ball to the cup for his first NBA bucket.
“I mean, we have a plan defensively as a team, what we want to take away,” Daniels said. “And every team’s different. (The Pacers) have so many good individual players, and a guy like Siakam, you want to take away his right hand. A guy like (Tyrese) Haliburton, you want to take away his step back. So, you have to know personnel.
“But it’s also just about being in the right spots and making plays. You know, sometimes you’re going to mess up on defense. That’s about rotating for each other. And I think that’s something that, I really thrive at, is when we’re scrambling around, being able to be in the right spots, getting in the passing lane and stuff like that. So, defense can be a little messy sometimes, but if you make it look clean, and everyone’s on the string, then that’s how it’s meant to be.”
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