Finishing: Good finisher with very soft touch. Even though he has a thin frame and does not attack the rim that often, Halliburton has shown soft touch and body control around the rim. Crafty finishes and does a nice job avoiding contact without getting himself out of position for a good angle – he adjusts for an angle he can use without getting hit. Does not take contact well, which makes sense given his thin frame. He is able to get by with his frame due to body control, contorting his body and release angle (though can use some work here), and very soft touch Opportunistic crashing the offensive glass. Although he does not attack the glass that often, when he does, Haliburton does a nice job timing his finishes, in addition to taking smart angles to the ball, leading to some nice putbacks. Nice job using his length to get finishes off. Has nice pop going downhill off one in space
Shooting: Weird form – though the form looks better than last year (and it is still
very unorthodox). The mechanics once he brings the ball to his shot pocket aren’t horrible, though still odd – his elbow is nice, relaxed, and not flaring (nice job pointing it to the rim); he has a quick release and does not get phased by closeouts; the ball looks like it’s coming off the correct fingers; he has a nice follow through; and the shot is released from around head level. On the flip side, the ball starts low, it’s more of a set shot (which leaves room for the shot to be blocked); and his feet are often close together (and often times pointed away from the rim). It works for him in C&S situations and potentially off some screens / flares, but I do not think it is conducive to an off the bounce game…or at least having it be a sizable part of his game.
Shot Versatility: Not much versatility here – will likely be someone who will be pretty limited to C&S, with maybe some pullups out of the PnR and some basic flares off screens – small sample size, but he did a
very nice job reading and running off baseline screens, and then setting and getting the shot up quickly. Does a nice job moving to the open spot without the ball. In terms of off the bouncer jumpers, while he has looked better taking off the bounce jumpers / pullup jumpers (at the very least, he looks more willing to take these), he is still a bad shooter in this area. 16/57 on off the bounce jumpers, which ranks 327th out of 383 division 1 players with 50+ attempts. His form is not conducive to taking pullups, so I don’t project this being a big part of his game going forward. However, I do think he will be able to shoot in the PnR if the defense goes under the screen.
Shot IQ: Good shot IQ – both in terms of playing to his strength and playing to the modern NBA. In terms of playing to the modern NBA, he took very few jumpers from midrange. Out of 137 jumpers taken in the halfcourt, 112 of them were threes – which he hit at a 38.4% clip (81st percentile). Haliburton’s shooting motion does not lead to many off the bounce jumpers, so aside from dribbling to get into rhythm and dribbling in the PnR as the defense goes under, Haliburton will likely not be taking many off the bounce jumpers – he took 57 in the halfcourt in college, 36 of those were from 3. Haliburton did try taking some midrange jumpers, but it was not something he did breaking from the offense (or very often). If I had one quip with his shot locations, it would be the fact he took only 38 attempts around the paint in the halfcourt. Although he was a very efficient finisher, ideally the volume goes up a bit more – especially if he is able to get a little stronger. He has awesome touch, and if he is able to get downhill a bit more, if you couple that with his touch and passing ability, his PnR ability levels up.
Basically, jump shot selection is good but would like to see him attack the rim a bit more
Handle: Does not have a great handle in terms of advanced moves, but has an efficient handle – he knows the moves he has in his bag and uses them effectively without turning the ball over (it’s a functional handle and does not let the ball get away from him). Does a nice job using hesitations to help beat defenders. Can piece together multiple moves in flashes, but it’s not something he goes to often. Ball can get a little loose when pressured, but still does a nice job keeping overall control. Needs to do a better job “feeling” his defender (being aware of where he is) and shielding the defender from the dribble – ball can get poked away from him.
Net Rating: +1 Athleticism / Frame Overview: Pretty quick hips and feet (when in his stance). Measurements are not available, but he looks long – somewhere around a 6’11 wingspan,...
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