The Rundown:
Forgive me for sounding like a broken record, but lets talk about role for a little bit again. What are the necessary skills of a high level role playing NBA wing? What are the ancillary talents that they need to bring to highlight the abilities of the higher level players they are supporting? On offense, they need to shoot, they need to be able to pass well enough to continue to blender motion of an offense, they need to be able to move well off the ball, and being willing to attack a closeout and finish at the rim will never hurt. On defense, they need to be tough, big enough to battle and get some rebounds, and smart enough as a team defender to make up for the mistakes of some of the more high usage guys. If you can find a draft prospect that can do those things at a high level, you take that bet. For that reason, I have betting on Hyunjung Lee, and at the same time becoming more and more confused why more people aren’t (I have a guess but I wish to keep a bit of my faith in humanity).
Offensively, the first thing you see is that he is carrying on the legacy of shooters at Davidson. He is getting the majority of his shooting looks as an offball gunner, running off of screens and pindowns like a madman. One of the most important things someone advertising themselves as a high level shooter to NBA teams can do is shoot off of movement. The professional game is so quick that it isn’t always feasible to set up your shooting motion without a guy in sight, so if you are able to quench that worry AND open up a whole new world of dribble hand off plays you are immediately in a coaches good graces. With that said, Hyunjung Lee will gain a couple of important fans during the first practice he attends; his coaches. Lee is better shooting with a strong contest than maybe anyone in the class, he needs not an inch of space to get his shot off, which further boosts some of the ever present Duncan Robinson comps. I do not think that Lee will be as accurate of a shooter as Duncan was at his peak, in part due to skill level and in part due to his flexibility and speed running off of screens, but I think that he can reasonably be projected to provide more “luxury” skills than Robinson. One of the more hidden traits that he has is his very sound passing. He will never be someone operating the pick and roll, but he makes decisions very quickly and his crisp passes are always accurate. He seems to have great awareness of where his teammates are on the court, and while his skip passes aren’t anything exceptional, circling back to role as long as he can continue a blender and make good quick decisions he will succeed. Hyunjungs cutting is perhaps the most outlier of all of his skills, he is a master of manipulation and ankle breaking WITHOUT the ball in his hands. There is a legitimate case that Hyunjung will come into the league as a top 5-10 offball offensive player with the combination of his cutting and shooting, in a thick 6’7 frame. His onball potential is probably reduced to only attacking closeouts and maybe a 1 dribble pull up, but the potential of his complete offensive package is far more tantalizing.
With his offense in mind, on defense all Hyunjung needs to do is not die, as long as he is not a liability he is a successful NBA player. Luckily for us though, he is more than competent on that end of the floor. While it is true that he doesn’t have the quickest feet of all time, he has a sturdy frame and isn’t slow footed. He seems to revel in being switched onto guards, where he bumps and pushes the ball handler as much as the rule book allows. I am not sure how much this suffocation will slide in the NBA, with the ticky tack foul calls and the quicker guards, but it is pleasant to see his competitive fire and road map to being a successful switch defender. He’s no lockdown, but he won’t be taken advantage of as a point of attack guy, especially with his ever impressive happy feet, where he continuously moves his feet at an insane pace to try and keep up with the offensive player. Off the ball he is very smart, with the wherewithal to make highly sophisticated rotations and understand complex defensive schemes. He always seems to know where to be, so even if some of the physical stuff derails him on that end, he will never be a liability due to the frame, attitude, and intellect. There are still concerns though; a lack of wingspan, iffy footwork, trouble navigating screens. These aren’t huge problems at the collegiate level but once he makes it to the pros and the margin for error gets smaller and smaller I could see a world where he can no longer make up for his physical limitations with just I.Q. However, at the end of the day Hyunjung is a baller, a baller who can fill so many holes for so many teams. For a prospect to be elite they need to be elite at something, they need a calling card. For Hyunjung, it’s his entire offball repertoire, which makes me confident that high level role player is solidly in Lee’s future.
Elite at a few things, good enough at all of the other things to not be a liability. Smart passer, aggressive rebounder, dogged defender, all on top of his shooting and offball movement. Won’t be a star, but will be a star in his role. Will make lots of money.
Joe Harris, Duncan Robinson, a splash of 2015-2017 Joe Ingles