So you view Kevin Huerter as having defensive potential, but Khyri Thomas' defense might not translate?... He reminds me of a slightly smaller Wesley Matthews. Wes had the same issues as a prospect and it let to him getting undrafted. Wes wasn't athletic, but he defended with effort, heart, strength, and smarts.. Thomas reminds me of him on that end. Matthews didn't have much offensive game outside of jumpsuits and the occasional drive.. I don't see any reason Thomas couldn't do what Wes did in the offensive end.
You're the only other person who I've seen suggest targeting McDaniels. I really hope he stays in & Portland drafts him
Both have defensive potential. In terms of DRPM, I see both topping out as net neutral defenders for SG's which is pretty good, but Khyri's D is much more important towards whether he thrives at the NBA level since I don't think he brings the same potential offensive value Huerter does. And I know you think Huerter is a slow lateral athlete but I think he moves better than Khryi, who I view as having more NBA SF level athleticism (hence the Martell Webster comp).
That kid has freaky movement skills. He's not as long, but he reminded a lot of KD in this area. Was watching his game vs Wyoming back and he hit on off the bounce J moving to his left that looked eerily similar. Here it is: Needs to get stronger and played a pretty limited role for SDSU, but like he's said in interviews, I think there's a lot more to his game than he was able to show in college.
I mentioned mcdaniels before, just cuz I’ve seen him play in person living in SD. He’s going to need to develop physically but the tools are fun.
They're nothing close defensively. You know who Khyris defense reminds me of? Kadeem Allens. But you were super high on his defense...
Kadeem posted a better standing vert, max vert, shuttle run, and 3/4" sprint than Khyri at their respective combines plus a higher ft rate, blk rate and defensive box plus minus during college. I'd I've watched a lot of both and never have I seen Khyri display this level of athleticism...
I've seen Wiggins do that but he is a horrible defender. Some of the best perimeter defenders in the NBA over the years (Tony Allen, Patrick Beverley, Avery Bradley, Chris Paul, etc) aren't the most athletically gifted guys. What does ft rate have to do with defense?
FT rate s highly correlated to athleticism, especially for guards. And yes, athleticism is only a part of D but it's certainly needed to be truly elite. All of those guys you listed are very athletic in many ways and posted high ft rates college minus bradley. But people forget that Avery was a top 5 HS recruit. And to the Wiggins point, Andrew was just an ok defender in college and has always had more of a scorer's mentality. That Kansas team also was outside the top 100 defensively despite have Joel Embiid protecting the rim.
Avery is an elite one on one defender vs pg's but average to below average everywhere else. Sneaky bad team defender and just doesn't have the size the be a multi positional defender. Klay is very good and the stats def underrate him. Great size, smarts and competitiveness. Underrated agility.
IQ is the main reason Avery is an overrated defender (it's why he's a bad team defender) so yes, IQ is massively important. And I noted it as why Klay is underrated. But look at the playoffs, if you don't pair it with size, strength and athleticism, smart teams will take advantage of that guy.
Not the main thing, but despite the wingspan advantage, Huerter still has a slight edge in reach. Huerter is also over 6'6" w/o shoes. And I just think Huerter is the better overall athlete with similar IQ. But again, I don't think either project to be super impactful on D.
A longer wingspan means a bigger threat for steals and deflections. Thomas will be a good defender and 3pt shooter. His floor is that of a serviceable 3-and-D guard. Those types are always drafted too low.
