Tyson's an ok ball handler. He has fine control of the ball most of the time and is effective when driving to the rim or when trying to create. Showcases a fine dribbling package, not too flashy but shows he has a little something in his bag. Felt like in most of his games he would lose the ball in the first minutes of the match, being a little careless and not very focused (a pattern that he has, I'll expand on it later), but it doesn’t put me off too much on his dribbling ability because it's almost like jitterbugs, since he gets those 2-3 loose ball turnovers and then doesn't turn the ball over again for the rest of the match... still something to note though. Some games he doesn’t showcase his ball handling too much, but when he does, it looks solid. Tyson could be a better ball handler, but what he provides now is enough.
Although not that noticeable, Tyson has made a leap from his previous year at TT to his current season at Cal. Yes, some of his stats got worse, but his game took on a new form and he's been able to keep around the same percentages for most of his stats with heavier usage. You could make the argument he hasn't really gotten better, but I think he has (slightly).
Tyson has a good frame for a PG being 6'6 and 215, while also having a, not ideal, but fine enough, size to run SF minutes, which is what I think his natural role is (I think Cal had Tyson running PG due to some injury problems in their roster). I view Tyson more as a big guard than a SF, but I feel like he could find a good median between both of those roles by being a point forward where he can successfully execute both sides of his playing style.
I don't mind Tyson as a rebounder, I think he's alright. He picked up a good number of boards this season, 6.8, but it was a little hard to see that on film since he had a couple of games where he only got 1-2, maybe even 0 rebounds... still showed flashes he was a good rebounder even in those lackluster nights though, so can't knock him down completely. He’s a great offensive rebounder, averaged 1.6 per game, while also being a great defensive rebounder, averaging 5.2. Made efforts to get the ball before someone else by utilizing some quickness and getting to the glass before anyone else could, which was nice, but in terms of boxing out and looking for a body, he wasn’t doing that. Some of his boards did have him endure through some contact and having to fight to end up with possession, but I’d say like half of his rebounds were free or not too heavily contested. There's more to like than to dislike with Tyson's rebounding ability, and if him as a rebounder didn't originally pass the eye test, his good stats should've pushed him over the edge and solidified him as, at the very least, an ok board getter.
His FG percentage at the end of the season was ok; 46%.
His shooting efficiency was also just ok, not anything special but not bad.
Filled up the stat sheet well for a PG/SF this year, got 8 double-doubles.
+
Worries:
On film he seems somewhat athletic, but his combine performance suggests he's not that athletic. Tyson would at times show off his vertical in games through his dunks (not very often though), and his quickness looked average, not too fast but not slow, at least offensively, defensively he could look slow at times. His performance in the vertical drills at the combine weren't anything impressive, but a bit above the average of how other players were performing. Unsurprisingly, he didn’t do great in the agility drills at the combine, but he was also slightly above the average... didn't expect him to excel here anyways because he never showed he had anything impressive in terms of quickness. Him not having the most ideal combine performances + not looking that athletic on film, mostly with his speed, is barely enough for me to not put this as a like. I debated it for a while, but he's not doing enough to be impressed with what he's offering.
Tyson isn’t awful defensively, he’s more like mediocre. He can apply pressure well on the perimeter at times, but he’s not consistent at doing so. His efforts defensively are questionable, his inconsistency is pretty bad, one half he can really be engaged on-ball and excited to play defense, then the second half all that fire he had in the first burns away and he’s no longer trying, he’s getting blown by, he’s fouling (a bit too much, averaged 2.1 fouls per game), he’s failing to recover, and he’s playing minimal or bad off-ball defense. In general, Tyson doesn’t really offer anything off-ball, it’s not often he is playing off-ball, but when he is, his close-outs aren’t the greatest and he doesn’t seem to care as much compared to when he's on-ball. Not to say he’s fully inactive, he does try to keep up with his opponent and provides help (rarely), but his impact is barely noticeable, and he’s not being very productive. I don't even think his on-ball defense is that great to brush aside the little he does off-ball. He doesn’t really cause turnovers with his pressure; it’s more just preventing a drive or forcing bad shots and remember he's not even doing this consistently... his impact isn’t that good even if he is putting in effort. He gets his steals (1.2 per game) and occasionally some blocks (0.5 per game), but it's not very impressing considering his stats aren't really all that and it doesn't look like he's getting those stocks too often on film. I like his possible versatility to guard guards and smaller forwards, but I don't want him guarding forwards too often even if he can. He had a couple of games where he just wasn’t doing anything defensively, but to be fair, it might’ve just been the film I was watching which showed none of his defensive plays... still noteworthy. Like I said at the start, Tyson isn't awful, I just can’t be sold on what he offers if I have to worry about him losing interest defensively in the second half of the game + he's still flawed right now.
I'm conflicted on Tyson's shot. He’s inconsistent, some games he started off cold, then heated up in the second half, and was like 50/50 for the entire game. Sometimes I feel like he’s not looking for his shot, and when he does, he doesn’t really hit. Some games he’s just not shooting the ball and has like one or two attempts. Some games he just has bad performances. Overall, not great. He can still hit his shots, he can have ok / whatever shooting nights, but it’s not consistent, but it’s also not bad enough to put it as a dislike. What makes it hard for me to grasp how good of a shooter Tyson is is his stats. He was 36% from three, which is below the average for a PG, but not bad, and was 79% from the FT line, which also isn't ideal, but not bad either and a promising sign his shot is translatable. His film and splits don't correlate, which makes it tough for me to make an opinion on his shot, but with his film not being great and with him having stats which could've been better, I have this as a worry but it's really close.
Similar to his shot, Tyson’s ability to finish at the rim was a little hard for me to decide whether I like or not. He’s far from a bad scorer at the basket, he can have some nice takes, some crafty finishes, a dunk here and there, and it’s not rare for him to score through contact, but he’s very inconsistent. Tends to heat up in the second half or as the game progresses after being cold in the first. In almost every game of his, he was 50/50 whether he was scoring at the rim or not. Either gets stopped or just struggles to convert once at the basket. The games where he has successful nights in the paint are games in which he doesn’t drive too often, so he’s scoring, but in low volume. I think there’s BARELY more to like than to dislike, but his lack of consistency is enough for me to put this is a worry and not as a like.
Tyson's not awful off the ball, but he’s not doing much either. Rarely cuts, he repositions himself more often than anything and when he does actually move around, he does it with no intention of scoring (which is whatever). Not to say he doesn't always fail to score, he could at times have decent looks and opportunities which he rarely failed to capitalize on. Occasionally set screens and popped them which would help him get a better look from three or better positioning to drive or play make. Again, Tyson's not bad off the ball, but he's far from great.
Already an older prospect, but not too old. Is going to be 21 on draft night and 22 this year in December.
Although his offensive game can look a little smooth, Tyson's not a polished player overall considering he still has a couple of prominent issues in every category, and his consistency issues (will expand on next) is something a refined and older player shouldn't have. His body language and efforts are also questionable, a bit more minor though. Not raw, but I wouldn't say he's fully NBA ready yet due to him still being flawed.
+
Dislikes:
Unreliability is something I've mentioned a lot with Tyson (maybe not directly until my last point, but I've implied it). His inability to consistently perform and only stepping up in the second half of games (sometimes the opposite, being hot in the first and cooling down later) is very worrisome. While at least he’s still performing at some point, his efforts would be appreciated much more if he was consistently playing at the level he showcases when he rises to the occasion. He’s 50/50 in nearly everything he does, there’s multiple question marks with him offensively (how good is his shot, can he finish at the rim well) and defensively. For a player his age, having to worry as to whether he’ll heat up in the 2nd or have an off night entirely shouldn’t even be a point of discussion in my opinion... we should be past that. I'm not just spouting up claims saying that he's not consistent, his scoring efficiency not being good this season supports what I've been saying. How much of his game is going to translate, and how effective will those translatable aspects of his be?
Even though he ran PG this season, and he should be running it once in the league, I don’t like Tyson as a passer. He seems to throw more turnovers and bad looks than successful passes. The passes he throws which do connect are always fairly basic and aren’t creating scoring opportunities or really moving any plays, he may have one or two good looks but he’s not doing much other than that. Tends to have nights where he doesn’t really attempt to pass the ball either, or if he does, it’s minimal. He only averaged 3.5 assists and had an unimpressive 1.1 assist/turnover ratio due to him averaging way too many turnovers, 3.1.
+
I've heard a lot of praise accompany Tyson's name, and I kind of understand it. I do think his consistency brings him down a lot for me personally because it creates so many questions and it shouldn't even be a problem someone for his age. I think it's safer to believe that Tyson most likely becomes an ok player in the NBA instead of a bad one, but at the same time, I wouldn't be surprised if his game didn't translate well, and he was an inconsistent liability. Still, there's a couple of things to like about Tyson and he's an alright prospect.
