NBA Notes: Jazz, Ace Bailey, Timberwolves, Jaden Daniels, Nuggets

Jazz

Ace Bailey isn’t lighting up the box score yet — 8.7 points on .415/.324/.824 shooting — but the Jazz like everything else they’re seeing.

The rookie has hit double figures in four straight and continues to win over veterans by doing the little things, as Andy Larsen of The Salt Lake Tribune wrote.

“He’s highly intentional,” Kevin Love said. “He, even at 19, fits in with us. He wants to do the right thing always. Ten games in, once he gets to 20, he’s gonna make another step — once he gets to 40, and once he gets a full season.”

Utah believes the scoring will come. For now, Bailey’s buy-in has been the headline.

Timberwolves

Jaden McDaniels has always carried the All-Defensive label. What he hasn’t carried is a major offensive load. That might be changing.

As Jon Krawczynski of The Athletic wrote, McDaniels is off to a scorching start in Year 6 — 18.4 points per game on .550/.538/.844 shooting and a usage bump to 21.3%.

The percentages will cool eventually, but the comfort level won’t. He’s handling it more, getting downhill, creating shots and reads, and generally looking like a player taking the leap.

“We’re going to keep giving him the ball,” star guard Anthony Edwards said. “He can play with the ball in his hands. If he makes the right play, we can be 10 times better… we just need him to be another facilitator for us.”

Opposing stars are noticing too.

“He’s one of the best two-way players in the league,” Knicks forward Julius Randle said, via The Athletic. “We’ve got to be consistent in that and keep feeding him confidence.”

McDaniels has already been valuable as a defender. If this offensive level sticks, even partially, the Wolves might have another star in-house.

Nuggets

Nikola Jokic is still Nikola Jokic. The difference this season is he doesn’t have to be Nikola Jokic for 38 minutes a night.

The arrival of Jonas Valanciunas has trimmed Jokic’s workload to 33.9 minutes and helped Denver survive non-Jokic stretches more comfortably — a -4.0 net rating when he sits, down from -9.3 last season.

Mark Medina of Essentially Sports spoke with both Valanciunas and coach David Adelman, who praised the veteran’s presence.

“Attitude-wise, culture-wise, statistically, everything has been positive,” Adelman said. “He brings such a good energy every day… he’s really enjoying being on a successful team. He can be an impact guy on that team and play really important games.”

Denver wanted a sturdier backup five. Valanciunas has delivered exactly that.