[ad_1]
Several mock drafts have Phoenix selecting the Iowa State guard 10th overall next month. Why is he an ideal fit with the Suns? What makes him so special? The two thoughts go hand and hand.
Basketball player first.
Point guard or shooting guard second.
Tyrese Haliburton can be all those things and more in the NBA.
“I’ll do whatever I got to do to be on the floor,” he said.
The self-proclaimed best “facilitator” in this 2020 draft class is a projected lottery pick with size, length, high basketball IQ, and the ability to score and find teammates.
“With the way the NBA is played now, with it being wide open, the spacing and having room to attack on the offensive end, I think that’s where he’s at his best,” Alabama coach Nate Oats said. “He’s pretty slithery, he can get in the paint and he makes good reads. He fits the way the NBA is going now with bigger guards and their switching more on defense.”
Several mock drafts have Phoenix selecting the 6-5 Haliburton out of Iowa State with the 10th overall pick Nov. 18. Haliburton’s seen as a successor to veteran point guard Ricky Rubio and an ideal complement to All-Star Devin Booker, but as of last week, the Suns hadn’t interviewed him.
Haliburton confirmed during Zoom media interviews New York, Detroit and Golden State have. The Warriors have the second pick while the Pistons and Knicks are slotted seventh and eighth, respectively.
“I’m coming in as a guy who can make shots,” said Haliburton, who shot 50.9% from the field overall, 42.6% from 3 in his two-year college career. “And someone who can facilitate at a high level and I think I’m a really good off-ball defender. My IQ is very high. I know where to be at the right time.”
In two years
Earlier this week, Iowa State coach Steve Prohm said Phoenix hadn’t talked to him about Haliburton, but he sees the versatile talent being “a great fit” playing for Monty Williams.
“They’re one of the teams you hear about,” said Prohm, who coached Suns guard Cameron Payne at Murray State.
Haliburton has gone from being a three-star recruit whose mom, Brenda, thought he might redshirt, to a top-10 draft prospect.
“I love Tyrese,” said TCU senior guard Desmond Bane, a projected first-round pick. “He’s a great kid and it shows on the floor with his enthusiasm and the way he conducts himself. Ty is a really good player.”
A broken wrist on his non-shooting hand cut Haliburton’s sophomore year short a month before the coronavirus pandemic abruptly ended the 2019-20 college basketball season in March.
Now healed and training in Las Vegas, Haliburton is working on his on-ball defense, finishing with either hand and scoring on pick-and-rolls in preparing for the draft.
“I’m expecting to be given a role and excel at that role, no matter what it is and no matter where it is,” Haliburton said.
‘I hated being a big man’
Haliburton has NBA genetics.
His cousin, Eddie Jones, played 14 years in the league.
He has basketball insight. Haliburton has been breaking down film since his mom videotaped his middle school games. He sees film study as a great way to address player-coach conflict.
“Eighty-five percent of the time, it’s just a misunderstanding,” he said. “Once (players) fix those things and the coach understands what they see and it’s a transparent relationship, it fixes everything.”
Skills and smarts aside, Haliburton needs more size and strength.
He was listed at 175 pounds in college, but Prohm noticed Haliburton’s changing physique when he visited Ames to watch last weekend’s Iowa State-Oklahoma football game.
“He’s put some weight on,” Prohm said. “His upper body looked really good.”
Haliburton was the tallest player on his team as a fifth grader.
He quite naturally played center.
“I hated being a big man,” Haliburton said.
He recalls grabbing a rebound in practice and bringing the ball up the court.
“I told Coach, ‘I can play the point, let me play the point,’” Haliburton said.
Point taken.
With Magic Johnson and LeBron James as his inspirations, Haliburton is a natural floor general.
“If the defense is a second late or makes a mistake, he’s making the right read,” Bane said.
Team USA
Haliburton averaged 6.8 points and 3.6 assists as a freshman. He played off the ball for the first time since fifth grade, but Haliburton started all but one game for the Big 12 Tournament champions.
Shooting 51.5% from the field, 43.4% from 3, Haliburton led the Cyclones in steals (54), blocks (30), was second in total minutes played (1163) and committed just 28 turnovers.
“He was really good when got here on campus,” said Prohm as Haliburton led Oshkosh North High to a Wisconsin state title with a 26-1 record. “He did a great job of fitting in.”
Later that summer, Haliburton was one of 32 invites to USA Basketball U19 World Cup training camp in Colorado Springs – and emerged as one of the team’s best players.
Back at point guard, Haliburton averaged 7.9 points on an eye-popping 68.9% shooting, a tournament-best 6.9 assists with a 6.0 assist-to-turnover ratio and 2.3 steals.
Hitting 10-of-18 shots from 3, Haliburton earned all-tournament honors in winning gold.
“To get back to that role, Coach (Bruce) Weber entrusted me to play that role,” Haliburton said. “With all the guys that were on that team, that was big. That instilled a lot of confidence in me.”
Haliburton took that momentum and exploded early in his sophomore season.
“His year-to-year improvement was as dramatic as I’ve ever seen,” TCU coach Jamie Dixon said.
Fast start
In his second game at Oregon State, Haliburton opened the second half with 12 points and seven assists that resulted in another 16 points to turn a nine-point deficit into a 66-65 lead.
“He hit some threes, got to the rim and showed his ability to be able to score when called upon, but when to set the table for his teammates,” Beavers coach Wayne Tinkle said.
Tinkle’s son, Tres, gave his dad and coach some insight on Haliburton as the two roomed together at a Nike Skills Academy in California before Iowa State ventured to Italy for a summer tour.
“He came back saying what a greater passer he was,” said Tinkle about his son, the all-time leading scorer at Oregon State with 2,233 points. “He said he was a great person, but man, he said the guy could really see the floor and thread the needle and was fun to play with.”
Haliburton showed his passing ability, but wasn’t much fun playing against as he finished with 15 points, all in the second half, 12 assists and seven rebounds in Iowa State’s 80-74 loss.
“The thing I was really impressed with was just his demeanor,” Tinkle said. “He never got low. He never got too high, which is something that will help him translate at the next level.”
‘A little unorthodox, but he makes it’
Haliburton continued with an eight-game tear of averaging 21.1 points on 54.2% shooting, seven boards and 6.75 assists. He shot a scorching 46.4% (26-of-56) from 3 and committed just 22 turnovers.
And this was against household programs.
Michigan. Alabama. Seton Hall (twice). Iowa.
“His shot is a little unorthodox, but he makes it.,” Oats said as Haliburton had 23 points, 11 rebounds and nine assists in an 104-89 win over the Crimson Tide in the Battle 4 Atlantis in the Bahamas. “Defensively, his length and athleticism causes problems, too.”
Haliburton capped that strong stretch with a triple-double – 22 points, 12 rebounds and 10 assists in 45 minutes – in an 81-79 overtime loss at TCU.
“He just makes the right play every time it seems,” Dixon said.
Ouch
Haliburton missed the previous game against Florida A&M after initially hurting his wrist in practice. He responded with that triple-double, but Big 12 ruler Kansas was up next.
The Jayhawks limited Haliburton to five points on 2-of-7 shooting (1-of-5 from 3) in a 79-53 obliteration.
“He’s not the quickest player,” said Kansas sophomore point guard Devon Dotson, a projected late first/early second round pick. “We just tried to stay in front of him as much as possible.”
In turn, Dotson dropped 20 to go along with six assists and five boards. Kansas was clearly the better team, but something else was also apparent.
Haliburton’s injury was an issue.
“Going to my left and finishing with my left because if it got hit and I fell on it, it would be numb for the rest of the game,” Haliburton said.
In his final 10 games, Haliburton only averaged 12.3 points on 44.5% shooting, six rebounds and just 4.7 assists. He shot 41.1% from 3 (21-of-51) but committed 32 of his 61 turnovers during that stretch.
“I’m not trying to make excuses by any means because I don’t believe in that, but I think that had a big deal to do with the majority of my sophomore year,” Haliburton continued.
‘Winning qualities’
Haliburton’s season ended with that wrist fracture Feb. 8 against Kansas State. He played just 22 games as Iowa State finished 12-20.
“He handled it as well as he possibly could,” Prohm said. “He did a great job of really, really staying engaged from a standpoint of being there for his team.”
A month later, Haliburton declared for the draft.
The Suns are sitting there at 10. Haliburton may be gone by then, but Phoenix has made moves in the previous two drafts with General Manager James Jones part of the decision-making process.
If the Suns believe Haliburton can someday replace Rubio and complement Booker like several mocks suggest, they’ll interview him by draft night.
“He seems to me like he’s a great kid,” Oats said. “He shows a lot of winning qualities. He’s a guy that impacts the game in a number of different ways.”
Have opinion about current state of the Suns? Reach Suns Insider Duane Rankin at [email protected] or contact him at 480-787-1240. Follow him on Twitter at @DuaneRankin.
Support local journalism. Start your online subscription.
[ad_2]
Source link