Tyrese Proctor looks built for the NBA

• Sydney-born Tyrese Proctor makes his first start of his very young NBA career.
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It’s early days, but Tyrese Proctor looks built for the NBA.

Proctor, 21, has made a seamless transition to the game’s highest level after a promising Summer League, followed by two double digit preseason games across four appearances,

So are we seeing an errant hot streak to start his professional career, or are witnessing the full talent of Tyrese Proctor now fully unlocked?

Delving into recent draft history, it’s not unprecedented for players to play better in the NBA than in college, particularly amongst the NCAA’s true blue-blood programs such as the Duke Blue Devils.

Look no further than Devin Booker, spot up shooter for the 2014-15 Kentucky Wildcats, a team filled with nine future NBA players, reductively-labelled defensive stopper Russell Westbrook for the 2006-07 and 207-08 UCLA Bruins, or the modestly productive Chandler Parsons for the Florida Gators across 2007-11.

All three went on to highly successful NBA peaks, and all three were bound to their roles on talented college teams. That’s not to say they were surrounded by less talent upon entry into the NBA, but over the long haul of their development cycle, they were afforded more scope to exercise their skill-sets and grow into their long term potential.

In this regard, Proctor carries some similarities. Across his three years at Duke, Proctor shared the floor with the following NBA  talent - Cooper Flagg, Kon Knueppel, Khaman Maluach, Kyle Filipowski, Jared McCain, Dariq Whitehead and Derek Lively. This is not to mention other elite college talent such as Jeremy Roach.

Over this time, we saw Proctor’s role become more and more defined. Having seen Proctor’s exciting on-ball potential as a facilitator and shot-creator, Duke handed Proctor the keys at point guard as a freshman, and despite flashes of success, his youth equated to inconsistent ACC play, and as more NBA talent rolled into the program, Proctor’s role shifted away from on-ball scoring, and further leant into his off-ball floor spacing capabilities.

For Duke, this was a win. Proctor found much more effectiveness providing a winning role playing off Duke’s other talent, and he would end up eclipsing his previous shooting numbers, knocking down 40.5% of his threes and finishing in the 95th percentile in spot up efficiency college wide.

What we didn’t see much of from Proctor at Duke was the level of scoring off the dribble that he's shown so far in Summer League and the NBA's pre season.

While elements of the catch and shoot game he mastered at Duke haven’t gone anywhere, it’s evident just how many of Proctor’s buckets were created off the dribble in his Summer League outburst against the Kings. In fact, Proctor’s 35 points was 9 points clear of his career high 26 points over his three seasons at Duke.

There’s a newfound empowerment in Proctor’s game with the Cavaliers. The now 21-year-old is an evolved player from the underaged freshman that re-classed forward to join the Blue Devils as a freshman, and after several years of growth, the flashes of on-ball talent that led to the point guard experiment early in college may now have had enough time in the oven for him to now cook in the NBA.

In the words of Reggie Miller, on broadcast for Proctor’s preseason game against the Bulls, “this young man has a chance to be special.”

There’s both a skill and an audacity in Proctor’s ability to create jump shots off the dribble, thanks to a great handle and fantastic footwork, which are resulting in elite moves such as below.

Not only are we seeing Proctor unleash his scoring off the dribble, but Proctor has always been a handy playmaker, a skill that lay dormant playing off the ball. We’ve seen some early passing flashes already.

Four games into the preseason, and any takeaways should be taken in slow measure, but the early indications are positive. At 7-23 from three point range, Proctor has actually been shooting well below expectations; though somewhat reflective of his more wide-ranging shot diet

There are ongoing concerns about his limitations on the ball; specifically around his burst off the dribble and physicality at the rim. These may have inhibited the ability to put the ball in his hands full-time at the college level, but as a secondary ball-handler in the NBA, requirements are different.

These same limitations could also be applied to a player such as Derrick White - who shares similarities as a big guard with who impacts both ends of the floor, takes a lot of threes at a high clip, has a limited three throw rate and can create for himself or others, matchup dependent.

We won’t know for a while whether Proctor can reach anywhere near the heights of a Derrick White just yet, given the Cavaliers deep guard rotation, but the immediate returns while we get to see Proctor on get some NBA opportunity suggest he’s ready to contribute when his name is called.

Not only does Proctor’s game make a lot of sense in the NBA’s world of outside shooting and limitless ball-handlers, but these signs bode well for his Boomers projection, too. On a roster bound to orbit the ball-handling of Josh Giddey and even Dyson Daniels, and soon to be absent the world-class shot-making of veteran Patty Mills, the national team is crying out for not just shooting, but shot-making, and Proctor might be that release valve to play off the stars and create tough looks off the dribble in equal measure

With Donovan Mitchell, Craig Porter Jr, Lonzo Ball, Jaylon Tyson and eventually Darius Garland all ahead of him in the rotation for now, we might not see what Tyrese Proctor can do beyond preseason, but it feels like his bright future is inescapable.

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