Detroit Pistons NBA draft option No. 1: Tyrese Haliburton
Tyrese Haliburton is an interesting prospect for the Pistons with their pick. He might be the closest thing to a finished product in the top portion of this draft class, and that’s not necessarily a great thing.
He’s a solid playmaker with some flashy assists on his film reel, and it’s not hard to see some of Magic Johnson’s influence on his passing decisions now and then. He has excellent spot-up shooting numbers and is deadly on the catch and shoot, scoring 1.493 points per possession last season which placed him in the 98th percentile of all college shooters.
Unfortunately, his form is bizarre and while he says he doesn’t think he’s going to need to re-work it, he probably will have to. While his catch and shoot output is fantastic, his numbers off the dribble are atrocious. He’s shooting just 28.1 percent off the dribble, good for .684 points per possession.
Haliburton struggles to get by his man off the dribble, and both athleticism and physicality are a real concern for him. He’s very slight, standing 6’5″ with a 6’8″ wingspan and weighs just 175 lbs, and his strength is certain to be an issue at the next level.
He shows some potential on defense, but he’ll struggle to keep up on the ball. Haliburton is probably not cut out to be a lead ball-handler, but he could play off the ball as a secondary ball-handler and benefit from his solid spot-up game.