ThunderBolt wrote:Spoiler:Funcrusher wrote:Andre Roberstan wrote:
I don't know anything about him but he's one of the prospects people have been talking up that could be in our range.
I'm not a college ball guy and DX went the way of the dodo so there's less easy-to-find draft stuff out there.
Well i'm pretty high on him and honestly who i'm hoping the Thunder snag. His physical profile is probably the thing that stands out the most about him. 6'4, 6'2.5 without shoes with a 7'1 wingspan. 235 lbs, a big bruiser for an off guard/wing, and uses every bit of his size and length functionally on drives. As far as skill level, he's got great handles, he's a great finisher (probably the best non Zion finisher in the country), and has pretty advanced wiggle/shotmaking ability off the dribble at this stage (can generate Harden-esque space on stepbacks).
As an athlete he's pretty meh, not a lot of vertical pop, not amazing first step or burst off the dribble (though I wouldn't say it's non-existent, his first step is above average just not elite), not a quick twitch athlete, his best athletic trait is probably his body control and agility on drives (low center of gravity + length/size make him a really effective slasher). There's potential for athletic improvement if he slims down a bit, he's extremely young as a prospect and his body isn't really developed at this point, he's still got a lot of baby fat on him that he can shred if he makes a commitment to getting in shape.
The jumper is a little shaky, his free throw/3pt percentages are bad, and his midrange numbers in particular are abysmal, though the shooting can in large part be contributed to really bad shot selection (I think in general his catch and shoot numbers were much better than his off the dribble stuff). The shot selection is concerning, but not damning considering his age and the fact that there wasn't much of a system at Iowa State to reign him in, lot of chuckers on that team that pretty much did whatever they wanted. Overall I'm pretty high on him offensively as a secondary ballhandler/initiator type.
Defensively there are more question marks. In theory with his length and frame you would envision him as a switch guy and POA defender, but right now he's not the most fleet of foot moving laterally (and not really a guy that can switch onto bigger players in the post yet). A big problem for him on both ends is that he plays flat footed, which is another reason why you want him to lose weight. And at this point he's just very raw and undisciplined defensively, which is somewhat excusable considering his age (he won't be 19 until this November). I'm optimistic he can become at least an average defender, but he's probably not going to provide high level value on that end given athletic limitations and lack of high level instincts/anticipation.
Overall he's a project, and, at this point, Thunder fans may not want to draft that type of archetype again, but he IMO has the highest upside of anyone in our range. To me his comp is a longer, bulkier but less athletic D-Mitchell.
Your assessment is a little different than what TI had yesterday. They said his handles suck. I don’t watch enough college basketball to know.
https://thunderousintentions.com/2019/05/28/talen-horton-tucker-prospect-okc-thunder/
that article is legit nonsense.
