I was going to wait and see with the Dirk like mid range fade, because he's brought it out in the past, but I never thought it was ever something that was a genuine part of his repertoire, he did it rarely, and he missed a lot of them.
But like his left handed finishing in his second season, that mid range fade looks like the new consistent addition to his game in his third season. He's hitting 50% between 10-16 feet this season after hitting just under 38% in his first two seasons. That is helping offset the fact he isn't quite finishing at the rim at the ridiculous Giannis like levels he was last season (a more human 67.5% within 3 feet, as opposed to the god tier 75.2% last season).
After a rough shooting start to the season, he's really got his shooting back on track for year on year improvement from both 3pt range and FT, but that mid range fade, if it stays as consistent as it has been and he uses it as regularly, IMO adds a huge extra dimension to his game, and I feel like it will also help prevent some of the small injuries he was rapidly accumulating last season, because whenever he chose to drive last year, unless he got off a pass, he pretty much had to find a way to manoeuvre all the way to the rim to get off a layup or floater. Being able to rely on a mid range jumper alleviates that need and both alleviates extra stress on his ankles having to do those extra euro steps and hesitation moves with a body right on him, and gives the defender an extra thing to think about on his drives. Obviously I hope he can sustain the 3pt and FT shooting, although we have seen him have wild swings in both those categories, but seeing how that mid range fade continues to develop to me is the most exciting development in his game, as I didn't expect it this season tbh.
But like his left handed finishing in his second season, that mid range fade looks like the new consistent addition to his game in his third season. He's hitting 50% between 10-16 feet this season after hitting just under 38% in his first two seasons. That is helping offset the fact he isn't quite finishing at the rim at the ridiculous Giannis like levels he was last season (a more human 67.5% within 3 feet, as opposed to the god tier 75.2% last season).
After a rough shooting start to the season, he's really got his shooting back on track for year on year improvement from both 3pt range and FT, but that mid range fade, if it stays as consistent as it has been and he uses it as regularly, IMO adds a huge extra dimension to his game, and I feel like it will also help prevent some of the small injuries he was rapidly accumulating last season, because whenever he chose to drive last year, unless he got off a pass, he pretty much had to find a way to manoeuvre all the way to the rim to get off a layup or floater. Being able to rely on a mid range jumper alleviates that need and both alleviates extra stress on his ankles having to do those extra euro steps and hesitation moves with a body right on him, and gives the defender an extra thing to think about on his drives. Obviously I hope he can sustain the 3pt and FT shooting, although we have seen him have wild swings in both those categories, but seeing how that mid range fade continues to develop to me is the most exciting development in his game, as I didn't expect it this season tbh.