Kyle Kuzma became an NBA twitter favorite because he was selected late in the first round (pick 27) and has clearly out-done himself just half a season into his career. So now I’m about to take on the mission that all NBA general managers are: Who’s going to find the next Kyle Kuzma?
Picture this: you are at Boise State. You walk by the football stadium and you see the blue turf, but you keep walking. You walk into the Taco Bell Arena and you take a seat. You are here to watch a basketball game.
Wait, Boise State basketball? Why am I watching them? Did I get lost? There’s a chance, but if you happen to wander too close to Boise, Idaho you’ll no doubt here one name: Chandler Hutchison.
Hutchison produces, like one would have to to become a NBA draft prospect, for a program that has been to the NCAA tournament 3 times since 1994. On the season he is averaging 19.8 points, 8.4 rebounds, 3.4 assists and 1.2 steals per game. That’s pretty rare. But it’s the fact that Hutchison fills a role is what makes him valuable at the next level.
Hutchison profiles as a 3 & D with a little wiggle in the NBA game. Well what would make one think that he could fulfill that? Being 6’8” 215 pounds is a good start. Next, would be the fact that he’s banging home 41.4 percent of his shots from downtown. Getting over a steal a game doesn’t show well enough how much he is able to sit down and guard in space. His assist percentage is over 22% and Hutchison has a free throw attempt rate of .54, a very healthy number for a guy who profiles as just a shooter.
Now I could throw numbers out at you all day, but let’s take a deeper look into what he does that will project.
NBA Skills:
Shooting –
Boise State associate head coach Phil Beckner started working with Hutchison between his sophomore and junior year. Beckner, who was instrumental in helping develop Damian Lillard at Weber State started by rebuilding Hutchison’s shot. They moved his release point higher, tightened his elbow and culminated everything into a quicker release. His form isn’t perfect but he can knock them down – and it looks pretty going through.
Athleticism –
As you can see from the rest of the video, Hutchison is an athlete. He’s not overly explosive and he’s not De’Aaron Fox fast, but has functional athleticism. If given time to load up he can explode and finish over the top of guys. And when he’s not posterizing an opponent, he can use either hand to flick in shots off the glass around the cup. If he can put on some weight with NBA trainers and get to be a little more explosive off the bounce, his driving off a closeout might become his best skill.
Feel –
This is why Chandler Hutchison is the Kyle Kuzma of the 2018 NBA draft class. Hutchison has the feel which is even better than his skill. When attacking the defense Hutchison has natural feel finishing, he makes smart reads, he can run a secondary (probably in the NBA tertiary) pick and roll and he can make solid plays. The way that I like to explain it is that Hutchison is one of those players that can help you advance an advantage. He’s not the advantage creator – that’s your LeBron, Giannis, Harden – but if you have an advantage, it’s not lost by hitting Hutchison. So whether it’s finishing, knocking down from deep, or finding the next pass, Hutchison will provide value on offense.
Swing Stuff:
General defense:
How quick will he pick up defensive schemes and concepts will be critical to being a rotation player early on in his career. He won’t be a high turnover creator, so being able to play solid team defense and being in the right position will be crucial for him. His defense is only so projectable largely because he’s played in a zone during his career at Boise State.
Age:
Hutchison would be a 22-year-old rookie next year and one can only wonder how much of his development is already in the rear-view mirror.
Belief in the shooting:
With only a sample size of roughly 200 in-game threes it would be reasonable to think that Hutchison might not be a 40% NBA shooter. He has shot it well in college but we’ve seen that from prospects before. Justice Winslow for example shot 43% in his sole season at Duke and now is a career 29% shooter in the NBA.
Nearly every team in the NBA could use another long, athletic shooter on the wing. And Hutchison fills that role.
