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TJD’s newfound fury offers Warriors much needed optimism originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

SAN FRANCISCO – Even as the Warriors have spent the past six weeks crawling through darkness with only occasional flickers of light, there is one object that seems to shine a little brighter each game.

Trayce Jackson-Davis is the emerging shiny object. Passive at times earlier this season, the second-year center is raising his game in real time, trending from occasional highlight creator to frequent force.

The 6-foot-9 product of Indiana University suddenly is a more consistent menace in the paint on offense and on defense. He is more assertive with his physicality. It’s as if TJD has studied Kevon Looney’s hard-hat approach but is using superior athleticism to fortify it.

Jackson-Davis, 24, level of fury lately makes him considerably more effective. Moreover, that growing dawg is something the Warriors – a relatively subdued bunch with the notable exception of Draymond Green – desperately need to have any chance of competing with the NBA elite.

“I’ll fight with him every day if I have to, to make sure that he gets that,” player development coach Anthony Vereen joked Saturday during an appearance on ‘Coaches Show’ with Golden State radio broadcaster Tim Roye.

“But he’s learning how to be a pro. And real pros don’t need to be angry. That’s just the standard that they have to play with. I think that’s what he’s learning in a year two, that this is how he has to play every game.”

Since reentering Golden State’s starting lineup on Dec. 21, Jackson-Davis is averaging 14.0 points, on 66-percent shooting from the field, along with nine rebounds, 2.6 assists and 1.8 blocks. He’s threatening to become the first Warriors center to average a double-double since Andris Biedrinš in 2009-10.

For months – no, years – observers inside and outside the Dub Nation bubble have made a reasonable plea for the Warriors, the shortest team in the league, to add a “big man.” Jackson-Davis is making a case to lower the volume.

Coach Steve Kerr, who has resisted voicing a need for more size, is gratified with TJD’s recent surge and believes it is sustainable.

“It’s his second year, so he’s figuring out the league,” Kerr said Saturday night after Golden State’s 109-105 win over the Phoenix Suns. “He’s understanding angles and, defensively, what he needs to do where he needs to be. He’s rebounding better. Four blocked shots tonight. The biggest thing is on offense is his threat as a dive man to the rim, a lob threat. It opens up the offense, too.”

Selected by the Warriors in the second round of the 2023 NBA draft (No. 57 overall), Jackson-Davis is climbing toward the ceiling the team envisioned the moment he arrived in the Bay Area.

Though he remains undersize when compared to such mastodons as Denver’s Nikola Jokić, Philadelphia’s Joel Embiid and the rising force that is Ivica Zubac of the Los Angeles Clippers, TJD is inching closer to being a quality alternative at center while sharing the position with the 6-foot-6 Green and the 6-foot-9 Looney.

“He just gives us another tool that we don’t normally have,” Vereen said of Jackson-Davis. “He’s a big, he’s a lob threat, he’s a shot blocker, and he has that youth on his side where he can really, really play fast. When he’s in the pocket, when he’s creating advantages for us, and then he can go finish the play above the rim. That’s just another level to what we could become and who we need to be.”

There was a crucial moment that stood out as the Warriors were making their fourth-quarter comeback against the Suns. With 29 seconds remaining, Golden State holding a 106-105 and Phoenix gaining possession, Kerr made a defensive substitution: Curry out, Jackson-Davis in. The Suns got the ball to Kevin Durant, who missed a 12-foot fadeaway defended by Green. The ball was loose, but not for long.

“I was happy with the contest that I got, but (happier) with the fight that Trayce and Dennis (Schröder) had to come up with that rebound,” Green said. “Because we’ve gotten stops like this in the past and just haven’t been able to come up with the ball. And Trayce and Dennis came (up with it), Trayce first having it and then Dennis coming up with that loose ball. That was the key. The stop was great. That’s cool. That’s what I’m supposed to do. But the way those guys came up with that loose ball was the play. It wasn’t necessarily me making him miss the shot.”

Jackson-Davis might not have dived into the scrum three weeks ago for was ruled a “team rebound.” He might not have been in the game.

That he was on the court in the final seconds testifies to Kerr’s trust. That TJD made an impact with the game at stake testifies to how far he has raised his game.

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