Deconstructing the DeAndre Jordan Dunk

A couple weeks ago during the Clippers vs. Pistons game, Clippers C DeAndre Jordan threw down a MONSTER (yes, all caps is necessary) slam dunk over the helpless and pathetic body of the Pistons’ Brandon Knight. The video of the “homicide” instantly went viral. Within minutes, “RIP Brandon Knight” was trending on Twitter. Blogs, sports websites, and other media news outlets were playing the footage over and over and over. Analysts and commentators on ESPN had a field day on Sportscenter that night, debating and quarreling about whether or not it was the dunk of the year, the dunk of the last ten years, or the best dunk ever.



Here it is.

Notice how even Knight's own teammates crowd around him, not sure to help him up or keep their distance from the evidence.

As a Pistons fan, my immediate reaction was to cringe.

I have deep, deep empathy for Brandon Knight. This isn’t the first time he’s been punked on the hardwood this season. But you have to give credit to him, he's shown that he won't back down from competition. In the All-Star weekend clip, he banked in a 3-pointer after getting his ankles sprained by Irving (figuratively, I mean; he literally sprained his ankle the day after the Clippers game against the Jazz, because, come on, why not add injury to insult?) The ensuing 1:30 of gameplay showcased Irving and Knight going one-on-one against each other, Irving perhaps getting the best of his Central Division rival point guard. But what Knight undoubtedly proves, in my opinion, is his rock-hard resolve. The Jordan dunk, while making a victim of him to the point of mockery, displays that resolve in Knight as well.

Before the dunk happens, you can see how the Clippers set up the play — might I add a brilliant one drawn up by Vinny Del Negro and his coaching staff. Chris Paul takes the ball down the right side of the court; indeed, the right side is the strong side of the play. The Clippers wings, Caron Butler (guarded by Kyle Singler) and Matt Barnes (guarded by Knight) set up on each of the corners, Butler to the right, Barnes to the left, or the weakside of the play. The two Clippers bigs, Lamar Odom (guarded by Charlie Villanueva) and Jordan (guarded by Greg Monroe) approach Paul's man, the newly-acquired Pistons PG Jose Calderon, as if to set a high double-screen for their All-Star floor general. Odom sets what ends up being a decoy screen while Jordan hightails towards the basket as he reaches the three-point line. Villanueva doesn't move off of his man, and rightly so (although I would love the vindication for my hatred of Charlie V.); he's reacting to a potential ball-screen. Instead of taking that screen, however, Paul bypasses it and dribbles toward Butler in the corner. Meanwhile Monroe, perhaps gravitating toward the potential play-making ability of Chris Paul, strays from his man, DeAndre Jordan, leaving Jordan a wide-open lane to the hoop. This is the mistake of the play. If Monroe isn't lulled by Paul, then he can potentially break up the alley-oop attempt by playing the passing lane a little bit tighter; however he isn't fully aware of where Jordan is relative to Chris Paul. The help comes weakside, from Brandon Knight who valiantly — and pitifully — attempts to stop the Jordan dunk.

The brilliance of the play is in its deception and execution. The decoy of the high double-screen (and concentration of Clippers on the strongside of the play) frees up Jordan, a highly-athletic 6-11 265lb. center, and forces the much smaller Knight (6-3, 189lbs.) to rotate defensively. The prospect of Paul either taking a mid-range jumper or driving to the basket allured Monroe to slide back off of Jordan and play a pseudo-zone. Paul's lob is perfect; just far away enough from Knight to ward off a potential steal and just close enough to Jordan for his ungodly wingspan and finely-tuned hand-eye coordination to throw it down with authority.

The dunk will surely be remembered for awhile, cemented in posterity through blog posts like this one and Top-Ten lists.

Joe Dumars is high on Space-Jam doppelgangers, and I wrap up the Pistons Draft.

After a night of prolonged kisses (and subsequent creeping to the max), impossibly pronounceable 2nd rounders (I'm looking at you Chukwudiebere Maduabum), and a fantastic steak dinner (thank you Grillmaster Dan Swanson), the NBA Draft has come and gone. It's too bad too; with a lockout looming and the Summer League cancelled, we don't really know when these young'uns can take their talents to the hardwood.

Anyway, to recap last Thursday, the Cavs took Tristan Thompson at #4 (shocker at the time), Brian Colangelo continued is European fetish by taking Jonas Valanciunas at the five spot, Washington took Jan Vesely at 6, then Charlotte took my preferred pick and Congolese Ben Wallace clone, Bismack Biyombo...leading to Brandon Knight falling into Joe Dumars' lap.
The second round saw Detroit taking Kyle Singler with the 33rd pick (I cringed when Stern called his name due to my innate disliking for MonStar look-a-likes), then Vernon Macklin with the 52nd pick. Here's a little summary of all three picks:

#8 Brandon Knight, PG, Kentucky:
The most promising thing when it comes to Knight: he played under John Calipari, following the likes of Derrick Rose, Tyreke Evans, and John Wall to come out of his system. So there's some optimism for you. Another, not so optimistic outlook that worries a lot of Detroit fans: he looked sorta like a combo guard in college and he's drawn some comparisons to, you guessed it, Rodney Stuckey. Knight is 6'3". He's strong(-ish), quick, athletic, and most importantly likes to shoot the basketball if it means driving to the hoop. That sounds a bit Stuckey-like to me, except that Knight is a much better shooter than Rodney was coming out of Eastern Washington.
Let me ease any of your concerns, because I really think that Knight's career arc will be a lot different than Stuckey's. Here's some reasons why:

1. Knight is smart. Like, really smart. He had a 4.3 GPA in high school and visited Yale, according to this interview with Art Van spokesman, Eli Zaret. (I recommend watching the whole thing if you want to get a good sense of Knight's personality). His intelligence bodes well in his development.
2. His Calipari pedigree. What I said above. Plus, Rodney Stuckey did not have this type of mentor at E. Washington.
3. He's a quick learner. Yes, Knight had some turnover issues throughout his season at Kentucky (3 games of 6 TOs and 1 of 8, albeit all against quality opponents) but for the most part those numbers dropped after the first seven games of the season.
Something else that could be of issue, however, is the fact that Knight never reached a double-digit assists in a game this past season, but considering Calipari had him play off the ball often, this isn't as disconcerting as it appears to be. If Dumars and the new coaching staff want Knight to be a true point, then it seems Knight will devote himself to his new role. Hopefully, his numbers will reflect that in the future; growing pains are expected much like Greg Monroe.
4. Speaking of the new coaching staff, Brandon Knight will have more coaching stability than Stuckey has had during his Pistons tenure. If Gores/Dumars/Checketts decides to go with either Lawrence Frank, Kelvin Sampson (which doesn't seem likely seeing as Joe D. is on a "Good Guy" crusade, and those sketchy NCAA violations are the exact opposite), or Mike Woodson, then I'm expecting that coach to stay for at least 2 seasons or more *knock on wood*.
5. He's got a chip on his shoulder. This kid thought he was gonna be a top 5 pick, with good reason. Then he dropped to number 8, and it looked like the Indian food he ate before going to the green room was starting to wreak havoc when he finally got called by Stern. If you don't believe he's got a beef, he chose to wear #7 (BG is switching to 8) because 7 teams (well, technically 6 b/c of Cleveland) passed on him.

So, basically, he's smart as hell, has the necessary physical tools, and he's motivated. I like his chances as the Pistons starting point guard moving forward.

#33 Kyle Singler, SF, Duke:
I know he looks like a doofus, and rabble rabble all of his highlights are trick shots rabble rabble, but I'm excited to see what Singler's role will be in Detroit.
Here's Zaret again. Singler is a team player, who says he will do whatever the coaching staff needs him to do, so that's good. Joe Dumars has made it clear that he thought Singler would be a first-rounder, and thought it was a steal for him to drop into the 2nd. Also, Joe likes high character guys, as mentioned above, and Singler is another one of these guys.
Singler's minutes next season will depend on the status of Prince and T-Mac (both likely gone to FA) and positioning of Jerebko and Daye (I'm guessing Jerebko plays a lot of 4, sometimes 3, and Daye will primarily be a 3, sometimes 2, sometimes 4). My hope is that Singler becomes a rebounder/banger/energy player off the bench, and someone who can reliably defend NBA 3s.
And also, c'mon guys say it with Coach K, Kyle...Gets...Buckets. Ummm, did I mention he looks like a doofus?

#52 Vernon Macklin, PF, Florida:
To finish off the "only pick guys from a college powerhouse" draft, the Pistons selected the Florida/Georgetown big man late in the second round. Patrick Hayes of PistonPowered profiled him on draft night:

Skill-wise, Macklin is athletic, strong, runs the floor and he’s a good finisher. He’s not completely devoid of post moves, but he’s also not projected to be a threat the Pistons are going to dump the ball into. He should, however, be a nice target for Greg Monroe, since he’s always active and around the basket. He didn’t block a lot of shots, but his 7-foot-3 wingspan and athleticism suggests he should at least be able to bother some.

Macklin can probably step into the line-up at some point next season, depending on if the Pistons want to resign Chris Wilcox. Macklin, at best, will be a 7th or 8th guy on an NBA roster. He definitely fills a need with his size, but I also expect Dumars and Co. to sign someone during the offseason (or whenever there is an offseason) or possibly doing a sign and trade with Prince, something that's been discussed for a while.

As I previously noted, Dumars wants high character guys on his roster, and he succeeded with the three picks that he made in this draft. I'm excited about Knight's potential, but also aware of his inevitable growing pains. If he's given the time and patience necessary by the coaching staff, then I expect him to blossom into a true-ish point guard and bona fide starter.