The 2023 NBA Draft is now simply days away. And to organize for the NBA’s model of a midsummer traditional, we sat down with NBA draft prospect Ricky Council IV to interrupt down some tape and be taught extra in regards to the soon-to-be rookie’s psychological course of.
After incomes American Athletic Convention (AAC) Sixth Man of the 12 months (6MOY) honors in 2021-22, Council joined forces with head coach Eric Musselman and the Arkansas Razorbacks in 2022-23. Since then, Council produced a monster junior yr that has seen him soar up the ranks of NBA draft boards (at the moment rating thirty seventh on Swap Concept’s 2023 NBA Draft Huge Board).
Probably the most noticeable areas of enchancment for Council between his sophomore and junior marketing campaign was the advance in his drive sport. As Stephen Shea famous in his e book, “Basketball Analytics: Spatial Monitoring,” workforce driving effectivity is without doubt one of the most necessary indicators for team-wide offensive effectivity. So, this side of the sport must be an integral a part of the calculus when projecting a prospect’s NBA success.
As a sophomore, Council was robust, however not but robust sufficient to all the time have the ability to transfer defenders as he was going downhill. And his steadiness and management whereas navigating by visitors within the lane left one thing to be desired. Because of this (as you will notice within the first two clips of the montage beneath), a lot of his drives ended with pilfers or off-balance finishes.
Nevertheless, regardless of spacing situations worsening at Arkansas (they had been 317th out of 358 groups in 3-point proportion this previous season), Council managed to considerably degree up his drive sport by including power and bettering the reactivity of his deal with.
“We labored so much on excessive and low pick-ups this yr,” Council defined in an interview with SB Nation. “That actually helped me so much. Plus, I acquired stronger, even stronger than I used to be at Wichita State. I knew I needed to work on the talents of a excessive and low pickup as a result of I knew I used to be the workforce’s main scorer, and there was going to be a number of defenses collapsing on my drives. I needed to work on these expertise, or else I used to be going to get ripped a ton or referred to as for lots of costs.”
In that final clip within the montage above, you actually get a way of how a lot the sport is slowing down in Council’s thoughts and the way he’s capable of adapt his conduct to his particular opponent.
“I attempted doing a straight line drive early on this sport, however Texas A&M does a extremely good job of collapsing within the paint on drives,” Council defined. “So, this time, I simply tried my greatest to get to the center as a result of I’m actually snug from that a part of the ground. I used my left-to-right crossover to get to the center. From there, I knew the low man was going to step up for the cost – Texas A&M likes to attempt to draw a ton of costs – so the dump-off to Jordan [Walsh] was wide-open.”
Talking of driving, one other important a part of the sport of basketball is the power to increase/capitalize on offensive benefits. This typically comes within the type of driving closeouts. And this previous season, Council was one of many main specialists within the nation on this apply.
“Once I get the ball, the ground appears to be like fairly wide-open. The spacing could be even higher if Walsh was within the dunker spot on the alternative nook. In my head, I’m considering, ‘I do know I’ve a one-dribble pull-up if I would like it. I might snake-dribble and get into my floater. I might drive straight into the empty house and assault.’”
Council continued, “I find yourself driving the ball. I used to be capable of drop the ball off to Makhel [Mitchell], however I seen two folks operating to Mitchell and Davonte Davis wide-open out of the nook of my eye. So, I simply kicked it to him and hoped for the very best.”
Council credit his capability to make these split-second choices to 2 issues: 1) the bounce go (bear in mind, these are cool!) and a pair of) figuring out the place everyone seems to be on the ground always.
“I’ve all the time heard that bounce passing is unhealthy,” Council stated throughout a Zoom interview with SB Nation. “And to be trustworthy, early in my profession, it was unhealthy for me. I had a number of turnovers from attempting to leap go. But it surely’s one thing I’ve labored on, and as unhealthy as some folks say it may be, it is vitally useful for occasions like this. On this state of affairs, if I didn’t bounce go, I in all probability would have traveled.”
“It’s additionally about protecting my eyes open whereas I drive and ensuring I do know the place all my teammates are on the ground always, even when our spacing was unhealthy at occasions. On this state of affairs, I simply learn the place all people was. Two defenders ran to at least one man, so I simply kicked the ball to the man who was wide-open.”
Together with attacking within the halfcourt, Council is a pressure in transition (each as a scorer and facilitator).
“I like these sorts of conditions the place I see an open flooring and I do know I can assault the rim and make some kind of play. That’s my boy Bobby [Pettiford] standing in entrance of me, so I needed to assault him,” Council joked. “I seen that the left aspect was fully empty in entrance of me and that there have been solely two smaller guys again in transition for Kansas, so I knew I needed to make a play.”
As we’ve established, Council is an avid bounce go fanatic, and he couldn’t go up the chance to level out how useful that instrument was throughout this sequence.
“This play is one other instance of why bounce passing may be good. It provides you time to see what the protection goes to do. Right here, I used my in-and-out behind-the-back dribble to govern the protection. If [Joseph] Yesufu would have slid in to assist on Walsh, I might have kicked the ball over to [Anthony] Black within the nook for the wide-open three. However he didn’t. So as a substitute, Walsh was wide-open beneath the rim. He was so wide-open he in all probability might have simply stood there a second earlier than dunking it. Like I stated, bounce passing – not all coaches prefer it – however it actually helps at occasions!”
On the NBA Draft Mix, Council measured in with a 6’9 wingspan and posted a 37-inch max vertical leap. His mixture of size and verticality, coupled together with his robust understanding of defensive positioning, makes him an impactful rim protector/off-ball presence for his place.
“[In the first clip,] I knew I used to be guarding McCullar – who’s a reasonably good shooter, however not Gradey Dick degree. So, I used to be decided to assist all the best way on the rim. Plus, I trusted that Black was going to rotate to McCullar within the nook if the go got here there. I overhelped as a result of I knew it was an organized scramble state of affairs, which is one thing we work on on a regular basis in apply.”
“[In the second clip,] if I used to be guarding a much bigger man, I in all probability wouldn’t have dedicated a lot to overhelping as a result of that leaves me susceptible to the dump-off go beneath the rim. However I knew that [Dajuan] Harris – who’s such a wise/clever level guard – knew that dumping the ball off to Yesufu – who’s six foot – wouldn’t have been an excellent state of affairs within the paint for them. So, I absolutely dedicated to serving to there, utilizing my size to hassle a possible layup or go to the nook.”
With the ability to get some paint safety out of your non-centers is a big worth add for any workforce, particularly those that area a beginning massive man who doesn’t present a lot vertical resistance on their very own. It’s additionally an exquisite signal for his workforce protection transferring ahead that he’s snug trusting his teammates to make the right rotations behind him. Nevertheless, the true hallmark of Council’s protection is his knack for protecting the ball in entrance of him.
Together with the bodily instruments we’ve already highlighted, Council is supplied with fluid hips and fast toes, which permits him to tango with most perimeter gamers. The final clip we checked out with him is the right illustration of these options, in addition to a declaration of the fearlessness he possesses when defending the purpose of assault.
“Tristen Newton was their greatest participant. I believe he was their main scorer final yr. He was on the prime of our scouting report. I by no means actually had the prospect to protect the opposite workforce’s greatest participant as a result of Dexter Dennis – 2021-22 American Athletic Convention DPOY – was our greatest defender. So, I simply needed to point out I might guard him. I noticed my coach over there [Isaac Brown], and I believe he was sort of nervous like, ‘Don’t choose up a foul. Don’t choose up a foul.’ I simply needed to point out him I might do it.”
Council certainly confirmed him what he was able to together with his protection on that possession. And he intends to do the identical factor on the subsequent degree, with no matter workforce finally ends up deciding on him this Thursday.
