Ranking the 10 best lockdown defensive prospects in the 2023 NBA Draft
By Rowan Kent
Best Defensive Player #4: Taylor Hendricks, UCF
Before the season, few outside of Orlando had heard of Taylor Hendricks. Over the course of his breakout freshman season, all Hendricks did was establish himself as a tantalizing scoring prospect, emerge as a frightening defender, and play himself into lottery contention.
The appeal for Hendricks on the defense comes from his great physical tools and his nose for the ball. He’s long, athletic, and twitchy, which makes him a great weakside shot-blocker. Those blocks are vicious and perfectly timed, sending shots raining back to the earth, but Hendricks is also improving as a perimeter defender who can switch and contest shots beyond the arc:
Just a wild Taylor Hendricks play in crunch time
— Zach Milner (@ZachMilner13) April 26, 2023
Recognizes his teammate gets beat on the perimeter so he immediately steps back down to alter the first shot attempt with verticality, and then follows it up with his ability to get off the floor quickly to block the next attempt pic.twitter.com/BoOeNL1J24
His next team will likely want to play him next to a true center so that Hendricks doesn’t take too much physical punishment in his first few years, but that won’t stifle his rim protection. If he can reach his ceiling, Hendricks should become one of the best weakside anchors in the NBA while holding his own in a switching system, versatility that will be prized and coveted by all.