Talen Horton-Tucker
Making the Leap to Varsity
Talen Horton-Tucker, aka THT and Thicc Van Exel (I’m getting this nickname to stick, damnit!), is coming off a mostly redshirt season for the Lakers. He only played in 8 games (including the 2 playoff games), only 5 of which with non-garbage time minutes.
Horton-Tucker just turned 20 years old, around the same age as the lottery picks in the 2020 NBA Draft. After spending most of last season with the South Bay Lakers, the varsity team basically acquired a rookie.
THT is a physical specimen. At the 2019 NBA Draft Combine, he measured at 6’4” in shoes, weighed 235 pounds, and sported a Goliath 7’1” wingspan and 8’7” standing reach. He is also blessed with a Rucker Park handle plus And-1 mixtape finishes.
Considering his play in the Bubble, I want to examine how this might project for his potential role next season. Let’s watch the Lakers’ Baby Yoda conjure up the force and see why patience is key with this padawan.
Shot Creation
Thicc Van Exel’s shot creation is like watching Picasso paint. It’s quirky yet beautiful. His dazzling handle and silky touch makes him an intriguing offensive weapon.
This is just a beautiful read in the pick-and-roll. THT, coming off the wide pin down from Kyle Kuzma, spurts into a dribble handoff from LeBron James. THT sees LeBron is re-screening in the opposite direction. He astutely performs an overhand crossover which gets his man jammed on the LeBron screen. This freezes Malcolm Brogdon, LeBron’s defender. THT utilizes a counter-crossover and extends for the silky reverse layup, a favorite finish of his.
This handoff action was run a lot for Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Avery Bradley, and Alex Caruso. Now, have it run by a dynamic ball-handler in Thicc Van Exel who attacks with full control of his body and the basketball. This gives the screener’s defender, Bogdan Bogdanovic, no chance to cut him off. The rim protector slides over to contest him at the rim. But, THT eludes him at last second with the reverse.
The combination of ball-handling and finishing (70% at the rim) at his age is extremely rare. On top of that, while not special, he is a heady passer.
THT cunningly snakes around the gambling defender which freezes Dwight Howard’s man, who becomes the lone help. This causes the strong side wing defender to rotate down. THT makes the smart read to the open Alex Caruso who misses the 3.
Again, THT is not a special passer, but he will make the simple reads. He is not a black hole and is very willing to make the extra pass.
I love seeing this from a young player. He makes the simple, correct basketball play with no hesitation. As Anthony Davis makes the skip pass, THT astutely examines the 2-on-1 with him and Danny Green versus PJ Tucker. This is excellent composure from a 19-year-old in the second quarter of a playoff game.
Attacking Out of Triple Threat
Warning: a Sacramento King was burned at the stake by Thicc Van Exel.
I love how Horton-Tucker uses the jab step to freeze the defender. Mastering the simple fundamentals will get you anywhere on the court. While not lightning quick, he understands manipulating his man to create space. He rarely looks sped up and can adjust on the fly.
Myles Turner is one of the best rim protectors in the league. THT drives off the great pass by LeBron and fakes a pass to Dwight getting Turner to bite. That slight manipulation creates just enough space for the floater. Moves like these get you minutes on the varsity team.
This is just unfair! It takes a lot of strength to knock Eric Gordon off his spot. THT’s sharp shoulder dip into the Euro step creates Goldilocks separation for the floater. Not many teenagers have this move in their bags.
As mentioned earlier, THT however lacks elite quickness even though it is good. This is what happens when his fundamentals are not the sharpest.
First off, the Lakers ran a clear-out for the rook against James bleeping Harden in a playoff game! You can see Rajon Rondo waving at him to attack. That shows how much confidence they have in him. Secondly, the move is not bad. He gets a decent look and THT can hit these crafty shots.
But it is a tough shot. That first dribble severely limits his ability to create. Coaches teach the first dribble out of a triple threat has to go somewhere. That first dribble goes nowhere, kills the triple threat, and telegraphs the drive.
Moreover, Horton-Tucker only attempted 4 free throws in the 8 games he played in. In the G-League, he only averaged 1.9 FTAs in 29.8 minutes per game. Besides a wide-open layup, a free throw is the most efficient shot in basketball. With his size and frame, he should initiate contact more. That is one of the biggest leaps to take to grow his game.
Jumpshot
In the regular season and playoffs combined, Horton-Tucker shot 6/18 (33%) from 3 last season. THT is capable of becoming a good shooter. He has mostly good techniques, but not without flaws.
THT shot 3/7 (42.8%) from the corners, but just 3/11 (27.3%) on above-the-break 3s. Like most players, this stark contrast is probably due to corner 3s being shorter shots.
Furthermore, he shot 4/11 (36.4%) on catch-and-shoot 3s and 2/7 (28.6%) on off-the-dribble 3s. These are all incredibly small sample sizes, but let’s examine his strengths and weaknesses on these two different types of shots.
Catch-and-Shoot
THT looks very comfortable catching and firing here. He does a great job sitting in the corner to space the floor in transition. As he gets the ball, he taps his right foot to get perfect balance with the feathery follow through. Shots like these show that THT has potential to be a competent spot-up shooter.
But, sometimes his follow through is a little inconsistent as he does not get the ball to smoothly come off his “peace sign” (the index and middle fingers).
Usually, shooters do not have clean follow throughs because they rush their shot to avoid it getting blocked. With the defender closing out, THT wants the quickest release instead of the perfect release. This is a bad habit every single basketball player has, but it is important to minimize it. Plus, his legs lunging shows he is off balance.
With his off-the-dribble 3s, these weaknesses are even more exacerbated, but there should be optimism for his improvement.
Off-the-Dribble
While the percentages are poor on a tiny sample, THT has shown glimpses of brilliance. But first, let’s identify the weakness: legs!
THT needs to work on his gather for the stepback. He rushes the move which does not attain enough strength, causing the shot to fall short. But, it is a sick move that he has had success with.
When it works, the move is sick! The balance and follow through are on point and he creates beautiful separation with the jab step into the stepback.
The tools are clearly there for THT to become a good shooter. His motion is smooth. His release point is mostly good. He just needs more repetition and he should be fine.
Defense
This is where THT’s condor wingspan really shines. While he is a tad late to rotate, he does a nice job bothering Austin Rivers’ layup.
His defensive rotations, especially in the playoffs, were beautiful. He covers a lot of ground with his length. That’s why he accumulated 10 steals in 8 games, which is far more impressive in limited minutes.
THT’s biggest strengths on defense are roaming and helping. He traps well and disrupts shots against players of different sizes. Sometimes he has some communication errors or is late to rotate, but he was a rookie and even Anthony Davis has those issues occasionally.
However, THT had some on-ball struggles. Like I mentioned earlier, he is not the quickest or fastest player. On offense, he can get away with that because he can dictate the pace. Defense is mostly reactionary and he can give up some drives to guards.
THT cannot open up his hips to allow Eric Gordon to drive middle. The first rule of defending the ball is to shade your opponent away from the middle. Because he is not super quick, he cannot get away with poor technique. But, given how good he moves off-ball, some of that should translate on-ball. Like his shooting, he just needs more reps.
Overall, THT is probably best defending wings and should be put in lineups where Caruso, KCP, or Dennis Schroder can guard the opponents’ top ball-handler.
What to Expect Next Season
Talen Horton-Tucker is still only 20 years old. He will still make young player mistakes. But, he can still carve out a role next season. He can be a good secondary playmaker in lineups with LeBron or Schroder. He can score off the dribble, put pressure on the rim, knockdown open 3s, and defend multiple positions. That is a valuable rotation piece.
With COVID cases and injuries bound to happen, I expect THT to get valuable minutes this season. He may even climb up the rotation ranks. It is up to him to capitalize on the opportunities. As we saw in the playoffs, I have no doubt he will rise to the occasion. May the force be with our Baby Yoda!