K.J. McDaniels could be the steal of the 2014 draft

Mar 2, 2014; Clemson, SC, USA; Clemson Tigers forward K.J. McDaniels (32) during the second half against the Maryland Terrapins at J.C. Littlejohn Coliseum. Tigers won 77-73. Mandatory Credit: Joshua S. Kelly-USA TODAY Sports

K.J. McDaniels is sort of like that nerdy girl in movies who’s beautiful the entire movie but for some reason no one notices until she loses the duct-taped glasses and overalls for prom night.

For whatever reason, people have overlooked McDaniels his entire life. In fact, Clemson was the only ACC school to give him an offer. During his three years with the Tigers, he ascended from a guy who barely cracked the rotation as a freshman to becoming the second player in ACC history (along with Josh Howard) to lead his team in points, rebounds, steals, blocked shots and three-pointers. Despite his first team all-ACC performance, McDaniels fell to the second round of this year’s draft.

And frankly, I have no idea why.

Sure, McDaniels played for a bad team at a non-basketball school. Yes, he only shot 30.4 percent from beyond the arc on 138 attempts last season. Yes, his offensive skill set lacks the refinement of a pricey Burgundy Pinot. But have you seen the man play?

The most valuable skill McDaniels brings to the table is his defense. The reigning ACC Defensive player of the year simply has a nose for the ball. Last season he ranked first in the ACC and seventh in the country in defensive win shares. Despite standing only 6’6, the do-it-all Tiger led the ACC in blocks each of the last two seasons. This season he swatted an incredible 2.8 shots per game as a wing! Blessed with explosive athleticism, excellent timing, great instincts, and an active motor, McDaniels has all the makings of a potential lock down wing defender.  Earl Grant, longtime Clemson assistant and current head coach at the College of Charleston, noted his uncanny ability to make plays in an interview with James Herbert of CBS Sports:

"“The ball is like a magnet to him,” Grant said. “He’ll be on one side of the floor, and his teammate will be taking a shot on the other side of the floor, he’ll shoot an air ball and, most kids, they can’t time that, they don’t really realize it’s going to be an air ball. But for whatever reason, K.J. would just somehow show up and put it back in. And the same thing with blocked shots. He wouldn’t be nowhere near the play, but it’s like all of a sudden there’s a magnetic force, it takes him to the ball and he just blocks it.”"

For a visual affirmation of this look no further than the highlights from the one-man block party that he waged against all 7 feet 3 inches of poor ol’ Boris Bojanovsky and the Florida State Seminoles last February.

Aside from the sensational, McDaniels fits very well within coach Brent Brown’s defensive scheme. Between Nerlens Noel, Joel Embiid and McDaniels, teams may never get a shot off against the Sixers. Brown likes to use his wings to help load the box and deny easy points in the paint. This requires a wing defender who is both long enough — McDaniels’ near-seven foot wingspan should suffice —  and athletic enough to effectively help out against bigs and quick enough to recover in time to defend his own man after helping. As with every rookie, there will be a steep learning curve adjusting to complicated NBA schemes. But if the pieces come together, look out. In addition to blocking a ton of shots and hounding opponents on the perimeter, McDaniels also pulled down an impressive 7.1 rebounds per game, good for ninth in the ACC.

Another place that McDaniels can help immediately is in transition. The Sixers like to run. In fact, they played at the fastest pace in the league last season. Among the small forward crop in this year’s draft McDaniels ranked first in transition points at 1.49 points per fast break possession.

While McDaniels’ defense is his meal ticket, he isn’t totally inept offensively. He posted a very respectable 17.1 ppg last season, at a 46 percent clip. Aside from poor three-point shooting, McDaniels was also knocked by scouts for subpar handles, not doing a better job of facilitating, and possessing only a so-so basketball IQ.

These are legitimate concerns, but there are a couple of things that McDaniels does to help mitigate those shortcomings. Namely, he finishes well at the rim and gets to the free throw line. He scored 1.36 points per possession around the basket last season, placing him third among small forwards in the draft class. Additionally, he shot 5.1 free throws a game (fifth in the ACC) and converted on 84.2 percent of those attempts. In fact, McDaniels improved this part of his game dramatically during his time at Clemson. From his sophomore to junior season, his free throw attempts and percentage jumped dramatically (2.8 to 5.1 and 68.4 percent to 84.2, respectively). Getting to the free throw line not only yields a high points-per-possession average, but it also gets the other team into foul trouble and cuts down on fast break points allowed.

This year, Sixers’ fans will be forced to suffer through yet another season of terrible basketball. This painful process will be made more palatable by a guy like McDaniels who works really hard and plays an electrifying style of basketball. In addition to his on court skills, he’s also a self-professed dog lover and by all accounts a polite and humble human being

McDaniels has a chance to be a really good player. At the very least he projects as the consummate role player, a guy who doesn’t need the ball in his hands to help his team win games. He may be asked to do more than he’s capable of this season, but if GM Sam Hinkie’s guys develop as planned, McDaniels will be exactly the type of glue guy needed to compliment the growing arsenal of young talent being amassed in Philly. You may not know him well now, but you will. Trust me.

All statistics for this article were taken from sports-reference.com unless otherwise noted.