Austin Daye is currently in the middle of his second stint in the Las Vegas Summer League, and the one thing you notice about his play is that he just looks comfortable.  Kevin Arnovitz noted it in his Summer League Day 2 Roundup:

I’m not sure what’s more fun — watching Austin Daye create for himself, or for others. Daye missed 12 of his 20 shots from the floor on Saturday, but he was clearly the best player on the court for the second consecutive game. Daye sees the floor with clarity and and is forever a half-second ahead of the defense, which is an eternity in basketball. He can deliver a pinpoint pass — no matter how fast he’s moving or how fierce the pressure — and is aware of his teammates strengths and weaknesses.

Daye showed an ability to use his length to either get himself to the rim (to either finish or find a teammate) or to get off an open jumper:

Here, Austin Daye puts the ball on the floor, gets to the rim, and uses his long arms to be able to get a shot up and over a defender.

Here, Daye makes the catch on the break and then uses his long arms to get a pass around the defender getting back on defense.

And finally in this clip, Austin Daye makes a quick step back move and pulls up for the jumper.  Daye is so long that a step back move like this frees him up more often than not, and here he is able to use the move to knock it down.

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This is stuff Austin Daye was able to do last season with Detroit, but Daye really seemed uncomfortable with the physical play and the body contact last year when he was on the court.  Austin Daye is a skinny guy, and despite saying he put on some weight during the offseason, he still looks small.  However, with that being said, Daye looks comfortable so far during the past two days:

Here, Daye makes the catch with his back to the basket, turns and faces despite the contact, and gets himself to a position on the court where he can take advantage of his length and get off a clean look.  He misses the shot, but the important part of this possession is just getting to the scoring area.

Again, here Austin Daye makes the catch with his back to the basket. The defender tries to push up on him, but Daye doesn’t let the contact bother him and he faces up. He then makes a step back move and hits the jumper.

Finally here, Daye makes the catch at the high post and the defense really pushes up on him.  Instead of panicking and getting rid of the basketball, Daye simply pivots, keeps the ball up high away from the defender, and enters it into the post.

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I think Austin Daye’s length will allow him to be successful in the midpost area, along the baseline.  Daye’s arms are so long that he makes it so easy to enter the ball into him in that position.  Daye can then face up, keeping the ball high and either penetrate or hit attempt a step back jumper (something Austin Daye seems pretty effective at doing).  The problem with playing in this area (and while playing with his back to the basket) is that it invites contact.  This is one of the reasons why he didn’t work the midpost area too much last year.  As Dan Feldman from PistonPowered told me:

Aggressiveness was an issue last year. I think Daye didn’t put himself in that position because he was uncomfortable with it.

This year, Austin Daye seems to be comfortable playing in this position.  However, this is only summer league and Austin Daye is going to have to prove he can do this when he has NBA sized defenders covering (and being very physical with) him.