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Listed at 6’5 Haliburton has the size and length to play both guard spots and I believe he’s equally comfortable playing the 1 or the 2...

 

His sophomore season was cut short after 22 games but he did enough to put himself in position to be a top 10 pick and would be a good fit for point guard starved teams like Detroit and New York, but he also has the versatility to share a backcourt with the likes of Steph Curry, D’Angelo Russell and Trae Young.

 

 

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Playmaking 

 

In my opinion this draft has 3 players who I believe in their primes will average over 8 assists per game and have multiple seasons ranked in top 10 in assists. LaMelo Ball, Killian Hayes and Tyrese Haliburton are all over sized point guards with high level passing instincts.

 

Haliburton has shown he’s capable of making every pass and does a good job of spreading the ball all over the floor. He makes accurate passes with both hands on the move whether it’s to the roll man or to a shooter sliding into and open spot on the floor.

 

He has a strong feel for the game and  does a good job of being patient and letting plays develop. 

 

Whether it’s pocket passes out of P&R, skip passes to shooters or probing on the baseline and firing bounce passes to cutters, Haliburton has all the tools I love to see out of a playmaking guard..  

 

I believe he was the best passer in all of college basketball this season. His basketball IQ, awareness and vision will make him a favorite on the court with his teammates. He posted a crazy 4.46 AST/TO ratio as a freshman...

 

Those numbers drop to 2.33 to 1 this season as his responsibility increased, but overall his 3:1 AST/TO ratio in his 2 college seasons is 

A strong indicators of his decision making and feel for the game..

 

Outside Shooting

 

Haliburton is an excellent shooter with his feet set. His form is far from textbook as he shoots an unorthodox flat push shot with a slow release. 

 

However....  The shot does in... at an efficient rate. He shot over 42% from 3 in 57 career games at Iowa State. What makes this stat even more impressive is the majority of his field goal attempts were behind the arc..  Over 55% of the shots Halliburton attempted in his college career were 3’s.

 

I believe his proficiency as a spot up shooter will allow him to play off the ball which makes him an even more intriguing prospect as teams with established point guards may still be very interested in drafting him too add shooting and ball movement to their offense..

 

 

Transition 

 

Another area where Haliburton can impact games is in transition. A lot of times when people think of great transition players, speed and athleticism come to mind..

 

Haliburton has been one of the best transition players in the nation over the last 2 seasons. 

 

He just simply just puts ball in the basket why he’s in the open floor. As a freshman he ranked in the top 95 percentile in transition by converting 66% of his attempts.... but it was his adjusted % of 76% that stood out. For those that don’t know the adjusted FG% determines the impact of 3 point shooting on a players FG% so basically Haliburton is a threat in transition running the floor or spotting up for 3’s..

 

In his sophomore campaign he topped those numbers with 76% FG in transition and an Eye popping 86.9 adjusted FG%... 

 

I can honesty say I’ve never seen an aFG number that high on my life...

 

I also like Haliburton as a transition playmaker. He’s an excellent rebounder for a guard and averaged nearly 6 rebounds per game in his sophomore campaign. Guards that attack the defensive glass and pass the ball ahead will always be viewed highly on my draft boards. I’d love to see him in an uptempo offense where he’ll have a lot of opportunities to make plays on transition because he’s a threat to fill the lane, knock down 3’s and he’s such a good decision maker you know he’s going to make the right play and whether it’s for himself or his teammates...

 

 

Floater 

 

If you’ve watch some of my other videos on guards then you know how I feel about the floater. I strongly believe every guard needs a floater in their scoring package to avoid shot blockers around the rim....

 

Haliburton loves to use soft touch finishes in the paint and also has pretty good range on his floater.. However.. I think he relies on it too much, but that’s something I’ll cover in another video.

 

He was effective with his floater and shot a little under 45% on floaters this season and ranked in top 74% percentile in the nation  

 

 

Overall I’m high on Tyrese Haliburton as an NBA prospect. I think his style of play fits well with most of the teams in the lottery....

 

Although I have him going to the Bulls on my latest mock draft the team I believe is the best fit for him is the Golden State Warriors...

 

I see him playing the Shaun Livingston role but instead of scoring from the mid post and mid range, he’s spacing the floor and giving the Warriors another ball handler and playmaker for their small ball lineup... 

 

Pull up Jumper 

 

I feel Halliburton must improve his pull up jumper to maximize his skills.  Although he shows flashes of being able to shoot off the dribble, his game is looks like he was built in a Daryl Morey lab as he only shoots 3’s and layups in transition with a few floaters sprinkled in every now and then...

 

 

He has the ball handling and length to shoot over the top of smaller defenders but this is where his slow unorthodox release comes back to bite him... 

 

According to Synergy he only shot  on jumpers off the dribble...

 

 

Which leads to me next area for improvement. 

 

Pick & Roll Scoring

 

 

The pick & roll is so important in today’s game for ball handlers, and in order for Halliburton to really showcase and flaunt his outstanding  passing skills, I feel he needs to be more of a threat to score out of ball screens..

 

He’s somewhat predictable and thinking pass first which causes him to get hung up in the air sometimes..

 

He also needs to add a little more wiggle and creativity off the dribble to his game. While he’s improved in this area since his freshman year, I feel like teams can switch bigs on him and he doesn’t fully take advantage of the mismatch. 

 

Attacking the rim 

 

Lastly I think Haliburton needs to be more aggressive and look to attack downhill. Although he has a good floater package which  is definitely necessary, it seems as if he’s looking to avoid contact and would be prefer the floater over going all the way to the rim.

 

This is likely due to his skinny frame and not wanting to take on the punishment that comes with attacking the paint, but I think he needs to do a better job of getting to the foul line. 

 

He’s only averaged 1.2 FTA per game in his 57 game college career. Yes, 1.2 FTA per game and only 71 free throws..

 

Rafael Barlowe - May 27, 2020

 

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Tyrese Haliburton had a quietly impressive freshman season on a talented Iowa State where he put himself on NBA scouts radars due to his passing ability, outstanding decision making and his 43% shooting from deep..

 

Haliburton is the epitome of a game manager that makes good decisions and takes excellent care of the ball. ln 2018-19 he dished out 125 assists and only 28 turnovers. Usually when you see a point guard with a crazy high assist to turnover ratio like Haliburton's its because he does not take risks and plays conservative. Listed at 6'7, Haliburton has the ability to see over defenders and has a knack for whipping flashy cross court passes to open shooters in the corner.

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He reminds me of Lonzo Ball with his size and passing instincts and has some of the same question marks about his game. 67% of his shots were from behind the 3 point line and the only other way he scored as a freshman was in transition. He also does not show much game off or offensive creativity off the bounce.

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Rafael Barlowe - November 11, 2019

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