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Fans have spent a lot of time monitoring a Frenchman named Killian at the top of the draft boards, but there’s another Frenchman named Killian who will likely go in the second round or even undrafted who could be a great fit for a team at the power forward or center position. I’m talking about Gonzaga's Killian Tillie.



I don’t know why more fans haven’t looked at him as an option before. Maybe it’s because he’s a senior four-year player at Gonzaga. Maybe it’s because he’s dealt with a number of injuries over the past two seasons. Maybe it’s because he’s never put up great rebounding numbers. Maybe because I’m not sure draft analysts know what NBA position to project him at. But at Gonzaga, he proved he was a capable scorer on the low post, a very good to elite 3-point shooter (every year over 40.0% with a career average of 44.4%) with quick shot mechanics, a solid shot blocker (averaged roughly 0.9 blocks per game over last three seasons) and a pretty good passer (over 1.5 assists per game in each of last three seasons). And maybe not noteworthy to some, but he comes from pretty strong athletic lineage as his parents and brother were all former professional volleyball players while another brother played college basketball at Utah and professionally in Europe for a decade.



You can see his versatility on display here at the 2017 U19s...



Or even a couple of years earlier in a U18 3-on-3 setting...



NOTE: There were maybe a dozen posts that referenced Tillie in last year's Gonzaga thread. Since it's a thread that barely mentioned him and is buried 10 pages deep without a new post in nearly a year, I figured it okay to start a new thread dedicated solely to Tillie, but I linked the old thread just in case.

If he stays healthy he is Robert Horry

Maxi Kleber 2.0

Only issue is health. When he's healthy, big fan of his game, really complete skill-set, high IQ player.

Also wow at what he looked like in that 3x3 video! Come a long way physically.

Also wow at what he looked like in that 3x3 video! Come a long way physically.

Gives me alot of hope for Poku to gain mass.

As for Tillie, I like him alot as a 8th man type. I dont think he will ever be as strong or defensively talented as Maxi, but their offensive games are very similar.

Looks very polished. I wouldn't mind the Raptors selecting him in the first as a back up at the 4.

GimmeDat wrote:Also wow at what he looked like in that 3x3 video! Come a long way physically.

I like to try to pull up a prospect's high school or even AAU type film, especially for big men. Not only for physical development, but looking at skill levels. NCAA is a halfcourt game, and many times guys don't get to truly show their full arsenal. It can really show if someone has a basic or more advanced skillset.

I also wondered why Tillie was getting little to no pub. Has a lot of skills that teams desire, good numbers, and isn't that old. I guess the injury concerns are real? Looks like a solid player to me.

KqWIN wrote:I also wondered why Tillie was getting little to no pub. Has a lot of skills that teams desire, good numbers, and isn't that old. I guess the injury concerns are real? Looks like a solid player to me.

maybe real maybe just reason to devalue his draft stock and not move him completely off radars.
Kid has skills and will be a NBA rotation player somewhere.
That being said if there are no options for him to get physicals for teams with interest he could fall to the 50's or udfa pretty easily,
of course if he does have those ops and passes them up, it's a huge flag and he might be playing in Europe.

love Tillie, would be a lotto talent for me if he wasn't old and made out of glass

love Tillie, would be a lotto talent for me if he wasn't old and made out of glass

Ya, he has that skillset that screams high end role playing big on a really good team. He is the type of guy that good teams want. Wont get you 20, but will do a ton of stuff on the court. Again, alot like Maxi Kleber. Just solid as hell.