The Making Of Troy Daniels
Undrafted to playoff hero.
In an era that craves marksmen from deep, it is baffling that every team looked the other way.
How crushing must it be? Put in the work, grind for years. Life becomes a never ending desire to make the cut. Signing with an agent, getting thousands of shots up per day. Then draft night delivers a spanner into the works.
Undrafted.
Every single team passed. All that work was fruitless. It wasn’t good enough, or so it appears. It’s at this point that many prospects head overseas to play in Europe or China and build up their body of work in the hopes of fulfilling their dream in the future.
Troy Daniels was having none of that.
Let’s be honest here. As good as organizations have become at sifting through prospects and finding NBA talent, they still make mistakes (see Royce White). In saying that: how did they miss on Daniels?
Daniels played four seasons at VCU under Shaka Smart; whose body of work has seen him earmarked for higher honours in the NBA coaching ranks.
Under Smart, Daniels carved out a solid college career. In his senior year, on January 2nd 2013, Daniels catapulted his name into the record books. He shot 11–20 (a VCU and Atlantic division record) from downtown in a victory over East Tennessee State. En route to the 109–58 romping, Daniels poured in 33 points along with 10 rebounds.
In the same season, Daniels drained 124 treys, a VCU single season record. By the time Daniels declared for the 2013 NBA draft, he was second all time at VCU for career threes made, with 251.
In an era that craves marksmen from deep, it is baffling that every team looked the other way. Many would falter in the same position, or not have the heart to truly push on. But Daniels knew he was good enough.
Head down and bum up, the sharp shooting two guard immediately set his sites on the D-League. Daniels signed with the Charlotte Bobcats in 2013 for the summer league, but was waived just 10 days later.
He signed with the Houston Rockets on the 18th October but was released from his non-guaranteed deal on October 26th. Daniels then joined the Rio Grande Valley Vipers, which signalled the turning point of his fortunes(the Houston Rocket’s D-League affiliate team).
Daniels was right at home in the valley, where the concept of ‘Moreyball’ reigned supreme. The threes and layups philosophy provided the perfect launching pad for Daniels’ resurgence into the spotlight.
“Obviously when I went undrafted, it was tough. Finding my way to Rio Grande was almost a blessing in disguise.
“Playing in a system where shooting the three was prioritised really allowed me to show what I could do, I knew it would translate at the next level.” Daniels recalls of making his way into the d-league.
It wasn’t long before Daniels found his way onto the end of the Rockets’ bench, and then his moment came.
“It was unbelievable. It sounds cliche but I still remember that moment like it was yesterday. We were in trouble.” he recalls candidly.
Of course, Daniels is referring to game three of the 2014 playoffs.
The Rockets lost home court advantage and were staring in the face of an 0–3 deficit. The game had tightened up, and the Rockets needed a basket with just 30 seconds left. Dorell Wright stripped Harden as he went to his right, and Lin hustled to gather the loose ball.
“Lillard was on me in the left corner. The play was broken up. Jeremy Lin somehow got the ball back, and Lillard relaxed just enough.”
“I realised they weren’t going to rotate in time. He passed me the ball and I ended up making the three. We needed that game for the series. It was an unbelievable moment, and when I got to the locker room my phone froze up. All the messages were piling in, the phone calls were piling in. It was just an unbelievable moment for me and my family.”
From there his career has gone from strength to strength. After being traded by Houston to Minnesota, Daniels then spent two seasons in Charlotte. On January 25th 2016, he buried eight three pointers and had a career high 28 points in the Hornets win over the Sacramento Kings.
In a case of deja vu, Daniels hit a 28 foot bomb over Darren Collison to seal the contest, via Jeremy Lin.
In the 2016 offseason, Daniels was acquired in a sign and trade (three years/$10 million) to the Memphis Grizzlies, in what proved to be an exceptional fit for both parties.
Despite being one of the West’s most consistent teams over the past decade, the Grizzlies lack of outside options limited their ceiling in seasons gone by. Daniels has been a solid contributor under Coach Fizdale in year one, connecting on 39% of his three point attempts.
“It’s obviously sad when you leave a team behind, but signing that new deal and being at Memphis has been another progression in my career, and I am really excited about it.”
“We’ve had a lot of injuries but our resilience as a team has been great. Coach Fizdale deserves a lot of that credit. He’s been great at trusting me to make decisions off down screens and things like that, I feel I am more than just a pure spot up shooter, so that’s been nice.”
“Playing next to guys like Mike Conley is unbelievable, his leadership on the court and off it is up there. Being able to spend time with players like that is an experience all in itself.” Daniels explains.
And of his journey from the 2013 draft to today?
“Never stop believing in yourself. When I was a kid; we all played basketball. But I kept at it, I knew I would make it. The support I’ve had has been tremendous.
“When my name wasn’t called out, it was crazy, but I’ve always been a shooter growing up, it’s always been my thing. I knew what I had to offer.”
Regardless of how the post season rounds out for the Memphis Grizzlies, one thing is certain: Troy Daniels has a habit of bobbing up in the big moments.
He’s made a career out of it.
