[MFFL]

Tyrell Terry | G | Stanford | Birthdate: Sept. 28, 2000 (Age: 20) | 6-3 | 170 LBS | Hometown: Minneapolis, Minn.

BACKGROUND: Has been a winner across the board throughout his career. Mother is Carrie Grise. She is a physical therapist working in sports and raised Tyrell as a single mother for a long time. Has a younger brother that Terry watched as a babysitter for a long time when he was back in Minnesota. Elite character kid with high level of intelligence, which shouldn’t come as a surprise coming from a high-end academic school like Stanford. Terry was a role player as a freshman at DeLaSalle, a basketball powerhouse in Minneapolis. He entered the starting lineup as a sophomore, as the team won a state championship in both of those seasons. Terry became even more of a central figure as a junior, although the team did not win a state title. However, it rebounded to win a state title as a senior with Terry being the clear leader. He made first team all-state and was a finalist for Minnesota’s Mr. Basketball award, losing to his AAU teammate Matthew Hurt. Terry, Hurt, and fellow potential first round pick Zeke Nnaji also led AAU team D1 Minnesota to a successful run on the adidas circuit. Ultimately was a four-star recruit ranked just outside of the consensus top-100 kids in the 2019 class. Committed to Stanford over Baylor, Indiana, Minnesota and others, but Stanford was the clear leader the whole way. Was expected to be a certain multi-year player at Stanford even by the coaching staff and those around him, but blew up in his freshman season. Led Stanford to the brink of its first NCAA Tournament appearance under Jerod Haase. Made the Pac-12’s All-Freshman team ahead of five-star recruits like Josh Green, Isaiah Mobley, CJ Walker, and Jaden McDaniels. Quickly emerged onto NBA scouts’ minds, and morphed into a real prospect. Initially decided to test the NBA Draft waters when declaring, but received feedback that he was comfortable with and decided to go pro.

YEAR TEAM LEAGUE Age GP PPG RPG APG TOPG BPG SPG FG% 3P% FT%
2019-20 Stanford NCAA (Pac-12) 19 31 14.6 4.5 3.2 2.6 0.1 1.4 44.1 40.8 89.1

STRENGTHS: A winner and a great competitor. Battles all the time. Gets frustrated in the right ways you want to see on the court, while also being encouraging and not losing confidence. Plays with underrated fire and very high-level basketball IQ. Has good feel as an off-ball defender and plays hard on that end. Has a case as the best shooter in this draft class, and would certainly be in my top-five. Just absolutely elite off the catch. Hit at an absurd 75.0 effective field goal percentage. That means he made 50 percent of his catch-and-shoot 3s this year, which is a ridiculous number. He did so with NBA range, as well. Does so off of movement with ease. Can stop on a dime and run around off-ball screens to pop and make shots. Also can roll around ball-screens to fire. Off the dribble, good at firing off of one or two-dribble pull-ups. Great at the relocation pull-up 3 after a heavy closeout. Everything Terry does with his jumper is so smooth and easy. Aligns with the basket, has absolutely tremendous balance. It’s a quiet shot. Great prep work with his feet to get aligned with the basket. Typically has a small ball dip, but can also shorten that to get a quick one off if necessary. The release isn’t lightning quick, but everything else is there. He has great balance, great alignment, a very soft touch, a terrific follow through, great footwork, and an extremely confident stroke.

The threat of the jumper is what opens everything else up for him. He’s a patient driver, and can get all the way to the rim in advantageous situations. Once he gets there, he’s a really high-level finisher. Made 61.5 percent of his shots at the rim in half court settings this year, as he has a variety of contortionist finishes inside. Really creative and does a great job changing the angle on rim protectors. Uses his frame well. Didn’t make his floaters this year, but has all of the tools you need to have an effective floater at the next level.

I’ll also note that I think Terry’s 3.2 assists per game underrate his passing ability a touch. He’s a really, really smart player who sees all of the open passes and plays in an extremely unselfish manner. He’s more than willing to throw passes that don’t necessarily lead to assists around the perimeter just to keep the offense fine-tuned and moving. Always hits the open man when that guy is available. Terrific in transition at hitting the man leaking out downcourt. Very patient and draws defenders toward him, then hits the pass. Typically, much better hitting guys around the basket with little wraparounds and dump-offs. The way he plays is very conducive to a well-oiled, ball-movement offense.

WEAKNESSES: Having said that above on his passing, I’m a bit worried about him as an overall playmaker. He played this season at around 160 pounds, and is now up to 170 throughout the pre-draft process. He’s tough, plays hard and isn’t afraid of the contact, but it’s just really difficult for him to play through and absorb contact right now at that weight. Needs to keep getting stronger, otherwise some of the more physical defenders in the NBA could really cause him some issues.

What you see there now is that, in general, Terry isn’t a particularly high-level ballhandler. He doesn’t really create separation consistently enough and get into the teeth of the defense. He can do so with a ball screen, but more athletic players can recover onto him from behind. He tries to use his body to shield the ball away from defenders, but it doesn’t always work as well as you’d hope because of that lack of strength. He generally also has a pretty high handle, and doesn’t really have much in terms of stringing together advanced moves. Given that he also has a relative lack of burst, that can be an issue. Can pull off a hesitation followed by a crossover, but for the most part he’s driving in a straight line. Really needs to improve his handle in order to break down defenses. Last season, Terry only took about 1.6 shots at the rim in the halfcourt per game, a low number for a point guard. Also only created 10 attempts in isolation, period, all year last season. Needs a ballscreen to get free.

You also see this ball control issue a bit in his passing ability. Very good from a stationary position when he can survey the court, but not much of a live-dribble passer. Can make a few going toward the rim and hitting dump-off passes or rollers. But for the most part has to jump stop or settle quickly, then hit a pass. Not much of a one-handed passer on the move. He has the vision and sees the court well, I think it’s just a matter of being able execute some of the passes right now. I think I’d bet on him being more of a positive than a negative from a ball-movement perspective, but he might not exactly be a traditional lead guard in the heliocentric sense of the word within the construct of the modern NBA.

Finally, Terry’s defense is a very real concern simply due to his size, strength and athleticism. He’s really smart and knows where to be, but he just can’t stay in front of anyone and was typically a mismatch magnet even in college. Can’t play a switching defense with him right now. If you switch him onto an NBA big, he’ll get buried inside. Even on some of the bigger, stronger wings the NBA has to offer, Terry would get shot over the top of consistently. He also really struggles on screens right now. Basically, any on-ball action, I don’t have a ton of faith at the moment. I have some very real concerns about whether or not Terry’s offense will outweigh his defense enough for him to be a consistent starter in the NBA. There are definitely coaches out there who could actualize his ability to battle and willingness to make plays off the ball. But it’s going to be a bit situational.

SUMMARY: I really like Terry, and think he has a chance to be a major part of some winning teams. He’s a genuinely elite level shooter, a terrific decision-maker who processes the game at a really high level, and a very high-level competitor. I don’t think it’s an accident that Stanford got a lot better last year by essentially replacing 2019 No. 32 overall pick KZ Okpala with Terry. Terry is a winner. I’m just not necessarily convinced he’s going to be able to handle being a lead guard and top offensive initiator in the NBA, which creates some questions at his size. Honestly, the guy this skillset reminds me most of is Steve Kerr. Kerr was incredibly skinny entering his career at Arizona, but was a clear basketball genius who had an exceptionally high skill level – particularly as a shooter. They also overlap in how incredibly competitive they both are. To me, that guy is absolutely worth a first-round pick somewhere in the back half of the first round. You give me someone who I know will knock down shots, who I can trust to always compete, and who plays in a way that helps make his teammates better? Yeah, I’m in on that. It just might take some time as Terry keeps getting bigger and stronger.

GRADE: 80. Second half of the first round.