DeAndre Jordan
Denver Nuggets

Player Facts

Height: 6'11"
Weight: 265lbs.

Wingspan: 7'6"

Date of Birth: July 21, 1988
College Experience: Texas A&M (1 year)

Selections

All Star: 1
All-NBA: 3
All-Defensive: 2

Player Grades

Speed/Explosiveness: 6
Physical Strength: 9
Positional Size: 10
Positional Wingspan: 10
Paint Scoring: 9
Midrange Scoring: 2
Three-Point Scoring: 1
Dribbling: 3
Passing: 5
Perimeter Defense: 4
Interior Defense: 8
Rebounding: 10

Embed from Getty Images

JUMP TO SECTION

> Intro

> Finishing in Flight

> Screening-and-Diving

> Rim Runs & Putbacks

> Paint Protection

> P-n-R Defense

> Man Defense

> Getting on the Glass

> No Jumper

> Overzealous Passes

> Not All That Switchable

> Beacon Bacon

>Link to Player Contract & Salary Info

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*All statistical data courtesy of NBA Advanced Stats

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STRENGTHS

Intro

DeAndre Jordan at his peak was an exciting, featured member of LA's "Lob City". More recently, the 6'11" center remains a capable interior defender and glass-cleaner. His huge 7'6" wingspan aids his lob-catching on one end and his rebound-snatching on the other.

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Finishing in Flight

He is arguably the most at-the-rim centric scorer in league history. Meaning, an overwhelming percentage of his personal scoring output is right at the iron. For instance, he shot 264 times in the restricted area during 2019-2020 with just 23 attempts everywhere else (0 threes).

DJ has been able to stay impactful with his limited scoring zones by being an absurdly efficient finisher. He has outright led the league in two-point percentage, effective field goal percentage, and traditional field goal percentage five times respectively.

All of those league-leading campaigns came while DeAndre was a Clipper. Pinpoint passes from Chris Paul and short roll lobs from Blake Griffin were a big part of these seasons for DJ. Combining CP3-DJ and Blake-DJ link-ups that year, Jordan received 772 passes from these guys.

DJ continues to be a strong rim-finisher. 2019-2020 saw him finish 68.9% of his looks in the charge circle. His once-preposterous catch radius is still large, blessed with plus-plus length and great bounce.

DeAndre serves as the interior pressure release when teams converge on a slasher inside. The Texas A&M product catches lay-downs and quick flip lobs with great effectiveness.

The star Nets trio of Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving, and James Harden enjoyed having a talented resident of the dunker spot like Jordan. Then with the Sixers, he was be fed helpers from players like James once again, plus Tobias Harris, Danny Green, and Tyrese Maxey.

When he gets hacked in these spots, he's a much-improved free-throw shooter compared to what he once was. Gone are the days of "Hack-a-DeAndre" thanks to some mechanical improvements in his form and ultimately greater confidence. DJ managed to hit 68%+ of his foul shots over 2018-2019 and 2019-2020.

Screening-and-Diving

His rolling-to-score game has been a pillar of his offense for years. DeAndre was super athletic as a five-man but with all the size, length and strength still in place. An extremely high comfort level finishing lobs with a single hand has helped him cap off some off-target alleys with a resounding oop still.

That wide frame of his helps start his dives with a true two-on-one scenario. One forward step of commitment from the opposing big to the ball-handler is enough for DJ to launch skyward in behind him. He was a prolific roll man on both the left side and the right side of the floor.

2017-2018 had DJ in the 83rd percentile for roll man scoring. The next year saw him split time with Dallas and New York, climbing over the 90th percentile rolling in both jerseys. 2019-2020 saw an 85th percentile mark as the scoring screen-setter.

DJ and his great on-ball picks have produced roomy driving lanes for many teammates. In 2019-2020 he notched 5.7 screen assists per-36. That figure bested Nikola Vucevic, Joel Embiid, Bam Adebayo, and Nikola Jokic.

He also helps out his teammates with some facilitation from the high post. He's got the touch to dime up cutters like he did with Joe Harris as they go backdoor against over-plays. Furthermore, Jordan will throw the odd "touchdown pass" – a deep one-handed outlet to a leaking out teammate.

Rim Runs & Putbacks

Powering from end to end has been another staple within Jordan's game. Just like in half-court sets, he gets fed to score at the rim when his counterpart can't get back in time. Some of his greatest in-game dunk highlights have come within fast break situations.

Finally, his scoring analysis ends with his second-chance buckets. DJ peaked at a 4+ O-REB per game guy and has remained strong even with some drop-off. The subsequent second-chance points are a tidy value-add to his squad.

Paint Protection

The former Aggie was a defensive stalwart in his prime. The shot-blocking machine also deterred opponents from going in altogether. He's been on the All-Defensive team twice and has notched multiple seasons averaging 2+ swats/night.

The current version of DeAndre is still a strong rotator as the help man. He gets over and uses that huge block radius to get a piece of the ball or alter shots. Save for some lapses on this end, Jordan will offer some quality interior deterrence.

With that elongated 7'6" reach in tow, oncoming slashers really have to re-adjust in-flight to finish around him. He tends to cause opponents to shoot 6-10% below their averages when against him at the rim.

The big man was a bit more foul-prone earlier in his career. He's since cleaned that part of his defense up to rim-protect mostly without hacking.

P-n-R Defense

DeAndre's pick-and-roll defense is also serviceable and can go up a notch when fully engaged. He's always been a mobile guy at his height, and he'll slap down with quick hands to dislodge. 2019-2020 had him in the upper half of the league in terms of defending roll men.

Man Defense

DJ's on-ball defense is formidable in the right settings. He can use his size against face-ups, elbow touches, and with guys going back-to-the-basket on him. On the whole, he held people he guarded directly to 39.6% shooting from the field in 2019-2020.

Post defense is another defensive strength for the big man. A 265-pound frame alone does a lot of the work here, but he couples it with sound defensive footwork. 2019-2020 had him in the 98th percentile checking post-ups.

Getting on the Glass

DJ is a monster on the boards. His per-36 numbers have always been jaw-dropping. He only fell below 11 rebounds per-36 three times from 2008-2009 all the way to 2019-2020. Though he has declined, he still nabbed 12.3 boards per-36 in 2020-2021.

He's a two-time rebounds champ (both per-game and total volume). Additionally, DJ has been in the top five for defensive rebounding percentage in 6 separate seasons. When he can't snare it himself, Jordan helps by forcibly boxing people out.

In breaking down his rebounding technique, DJ applies a simple style. For starters, he is strong enough to fight for positioning while on the ground. After getting into solid position, he lets his length and leaping ability take over.

WEAKNESSES

No Jumper

DJ has stayed within that rim-runner, garbage-bucket offensive archetype his entire career. Even then, his hands have become notably shakier attempting to make catches in traffic on dives.

While he's been excellent within these traditional center strength areas, greater jump-shooting would have possibly helped extend his prime. Even a modest set of post moves would have perhaps done the same.

Defenders can play way off of him from the elbow area or higher, clogging up passing lanes or disrupting other actions altogether. He's never fashioned a reliable dribble-drive game to attack these gaps. While they aren't in nearly the same offensive class, guys like Giannis Antetokounmpo and Ben Simmons understand how to use space to ramp up their drive.

He absolutely has to glass-crash and cut to the right spots to make himself a dump-off/lob target for him to be effective off-ball. Otherwise, DeAndre's a vast negative from a scoring perspective. Bigs can go sell-out to help at the rim with zero concern for leaving DJ on the perimeter.

Overzealous Passes

A solid playmaker, Jordan could clean up his decision-making a bit here. He'll occasionally try to thread the needle to cutters with a minuscule margin for error. Sometimes these passes work out, but they result in live-ball turnovers when they don't.

Not All That Switchable

DJ was once a strong defender in space considering his size and weight. Since this athletic heyday, he has understandably lessened as a perimeter defender.

The odd switch can be contained by him but guards get the blow-by quite a bit. Now's he's more of a drop big in the pick-and-roll and his broader defensive impact has waned noticeably altogether.

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bacon
Beacon Bacon

DJ's full name is Hyland DeAndre Jordan Jr.