If the Mavericks struggled to beat the Thunder, at the start of their preseason, they still had to do without Luka Doncic, Maxi Kleber and Tim Hardaway Jr. Behind in the third quarter, the Texans recovered to a rookie, Jaden Hardy, to regain the lead in the final period.
The 37th choice of the last Draft thus scored 16 of his 21 points. Even though Dallas only scored 25 points in total in the final round…
“Once I’m in the ‘zone’ like that, it’s hard to get out”, he explained. “I tell myself that everything is rolling, so I just think about doing the right thing. I’m just trying to do the right thing, the right reading. »
Passed by the G-League Ignite last year, Jaden Hardy turned there to 17.7 points, 4.6 rebounds and 3.2 assists per game but it is his address (35% including 27% from afar) which lowered his rating with the NBA franchises. Very courted when he left high school, he fell in the second round of the last vintage.
“I’ve been saying this for a long time, but Jaden Hardy is a ‘steal'”, assures Christian Wood. “His confidence and energy has been awesome, and I’m really proud to see that. »
Christian Wood brings an extra dimension to Dallas
For the interior, there is also nothing surprising to see the rookie take the “money time” in hand.
” That’s what he does. Everyone has a lot of confidence in him, and he has a lot of confidence in him for a young player. But that’s what we like to see from a rookie. »
For Jason Kidd, this explosion is a sign of the work done by Jaden Hardy since the Summer League. The coach was also generally satisfied with his team, in particular with the way Spencer Dinwiddie and Josh Green organized the Dallas game, but also with McKinley Wright IV, author of 10 assists.
He was also able to appreciate the new dimension that Christian Wood offers to the attack of the Mavericks, being able to provide a solution in the air on the pick-and-roll… or come out to shoot at 3-pointers.
“I tried not to force things”explained the former Rocket, author of 16 points (7/13) and 13 rebounds in 25 minutes. “It’s all so new to me, so I’m just trying to figure out where I fit offensively with these guys. It took me a while to find the rhythm, but once I got there, thank goodness Coach Kidd let me play a little more than I was supposed to today. »
