Player Facts
Height: 6'8"
Weight: 245lbs.
Wingspan: N/A
Date of Birth: Apr. 4, 1992
College Experience: N/A
Selections
All Star: 0
All-NBA: 0
All-Defensive: 0
Player Grades
Speed/Explosiveness: 5
Physical Strength: 7
Positional Size: 5
Positional Wingspan: 6
Paint Scoring: 8
Midrange Scoring: 5
Three-Point Scoring: 4
Dribbling: 4
Passing: 4
Perimeter Defense: 5
Interior Defense: 8
Rebounding: 8
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STRENGTHS
Intro
Daniel Theis is an undersized big that manages to overcome this with length, mobility, and smarts. As a 6'8" center, Daniel does all of the little things that you love to see in your five-man. His intangibles such as toughness and resilience on both ends accompany all of the dirty work he does.
Leveraging Mobility
Theis is fleet of foot as a big. He sprints down the gut of the defense if he sees his man roaming elsewhere. Daniel gets off the floor quickly, regularly finishing these basket cuts with a flush.
The active Theis doesn't lazily idle when he is not directly involved in the play. He cuts, screens off-ball, and can even knock down the odd spot-up three. The big man can convert midrangers when left alone, to the tune of an even 50% mark in 2020-2021. He will even attack defenders lunging due to that modest jumper threat.
Daniel uses his quickness to fuel his swift slips to the hole. He has the hands and footwork to skillfully catch and finish as he dives. Theis rolls with conviction, doing a good job of showing his hands and wanting the ball.
As a lob threat, Theis is a premium option. He has everything in his physical toolkit to be great here save for actually being a seven-footer. His 2021-2022 Boston stint saw him place in the 92nd percentile for scoring as the roll man. He tallied a higher points-per-chance mark than players like Anthony Davis and Jakob Poeltl.
Scoring Inside
Theis finishes almost everything on the inside. He looks to dunk first but makes good use of the backboard on further-out finishes. The German big is a formidable threat in the dunker's spot as such a high-accuracy paint finisher.
Specifically, Daniel made 73.6% of his restricted area shots in 2021-2022. He made 76.4% the year prior, and 71.2% this season before that. Circling back to 2021-2022, Theis still managed 73.4% shooting efficiency on two-pointers taken with a defender tight (2-4 feet away).
Simplifying Teammates' Tasks
As a center should, Daniel scraps and battles to make the jobs of his teammates easier. He'll get his feet set quickly on ball screens and nimbly flip the pick when he sees fit. From carving out space for Kemba Walker to Jayson Tatum, his work here led to 10 screen assist points per game in 2019-2020 (average points scored by the ball-handler he screened for).
Daniel counters dropped bigs by rescreening/sealing in this action. After the first screen on the opposing ball-handler, Theis navigates down to wall off the sagging big in the key. When correctly executed, Daniel opens up a pristine look at the cup for his ball-handler.
Contributions as a Passer
On the short roll, he can pass enough to keep defenses honest. Theis maintains his court awareness rather than becoming singularly focused on scoring. He is capable of making all the basic reads as a big too, from the high-low feed to a simple post entry pass.
He'll even occasionally throw slim-margin-of-error passes. However, Daniel picks his spots for when to make these riskier feeds. This vigilance allowed him to average a measly 1.0 turnovers per game in 2021-2022.
Attacking + O-Glass Work
Theis has passable ball-handling skills at the five. They are adequate enough to let him catch and attack from the outside. Opponents tend to respect his ability to hit a three from the top, making him put it down and drive which he can reasonably do.
Daniel crashes the offensive glass forcefully. In 2018-2019, he grabbed 3.4 offensive boards per 36 minutes. He snared 3.2 per-36 his following campaign. Theis gets hacked here sometimes, landing him at the stripe where he is respectable.
He will reach over lazy bigs that are unaware of his location. When Theis is on the perimeter offensively, he darts to the net as soon as the shot goes up. With the head of steam, Daniel can fly over or around the unsuspecting paint-bound big.
Running the Floor
Theis makes a concerted effort to change ends with urgency. He tries to create man advantages for his squad. This one element is a window into showing how hard Daniel plays on both sides.
Floor & Air Rim Protection
Daniel provides solid rim protection in spite of his undersized frame. He times up when to leave his man and help on the drive. He then springs upwards, leading to swats that he wisely tries to keep in play. Theis blocked 1.7 shots per 36 minutes in 2018-2019 and 1.9 per 36 in 2019-2020.
To go along with his shot-blocking, Theis is one of the more prolific charge-takers at the center spot. He was eleventh among centers with seven charges drawn, doing that in only 24.1 minutes per game in 2019-2020.
Daniel is also one of the most straight-up fearless rim protectors. He belongs to a small group with players like Jarrett Allen and Rudy Gobert that try to protect the paint at all costs. What makes this cluster special is that they don't care about getting posterized or embarrassed like numerous players unfortunately do.
Schematic Versatility
His mobility makes him a solid big in pick-and-roll coverage. Theis can flexibly be incorporated into multiple different defensive strategies. For example, he can hedge, be set in a drop, and is moderately switchable at the five. Daniel is also fluid when backpedaling as he's being driven at.
Theis is serviceable defending in space as a big. He slides his feet well to limit blow-bys. Moreover, he'll flip his hips and chase down drivers that initially beat him. He contested 711 total shots in 2019-2020, more than Myles Turner, Giannis Antetokounmpo, and Serge Ibaka.
WEAKNESSES
Scoring Limitations
As is the case with more throwback centers like Theis, his scoring value beyond the paint is limited. He attempted only 24 midrange shots across the entire 2021-2022 year. From three, he's a low-volume guy as well whose accuracy also hovers around league average. Daniel fails to be a lethal pop man in the vein of some other bigs – he typically needs ample time and space to knock down jumpers.
Theis doesn't have much of a post game either. When in these situations, Daniel looks to pass out or put up a mediocre shot. His lack of size or relative mass further compound the problem.
Defensive Dilemmas
On defense, Daniel has issues against pure size. This is most glaring when defending post-up powerhouses. Theis is listed at 245 pounds which is a little light for a center. He was in only the 22nd percentile out of all the 2018-2019 post defenders, and the 24th percentile the next year.
Also because of his size, Theis can struggle to check powerful roll men. Daniel doesn't shy from the contact and plays tough in general, but much brawnier players can give him fits. Defending roll men, he was in the 4th percentile in 2018-2019 and the 17th in 2019-2020.
Theis is forced to foul as a result of his height and explosiveness disadvantages. Beyond these types of hacks, he commits some more irrational ones that are largely inexcusable. All in all, Daniel was eighth in the NBA with 219 fouls committed in 2019-2020.
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