Learn about Gradey Dick, the newest Toronto Raptor

Amit Mann is joined by Corey Tulaba of NoCeilingsNBA to discuss how NBA-ready Gradey Dick is on offence and defence along with how the Raptors could deploy him.

Video Transcript

AMIT MANN: And there are two guys that stand out right now who the Raptors have been linked to, along with many other teams, it's Gradey Dick and Jordan Hawkins. Let's start with Gradey. How NBA ready do you think his shooting is? I'll put it-- I'll start there.

COREY TULABA: I mean, the shooting's NBA ready, like yesterday. That's what he does. He's a-- he's a shooter. You know what I mean? Like he's 6' 8". He's got a high release, smooth shot. I mean, he's been a really good shooter everywhere that he's been.

He was a great shooter at Kansas this year. This is just a dude who is going to come in, and at the very least, you know his one elite skill that he offers to an NBA team. And that's shooting. A lot of guys, the jack-of-all-trades kind of guys, you're like, oh yeah, but what do they do at an elite level?

Gradey has that. He is an elite NBA shooter, 40% from 3, 85% from the line. outside of the 40%, the 85% from the free throw line, that's a really encouraging sign, too, for how he projects as a shooter in the long term. Those are the kind of markers that elite guys get to. So shooting, there's-- he's unquestionably ready to shoot from day one.

AMIT MANN: That's a beautiful thing. Darko, we know what he's been talking about over the past week or so since he's been introduced. And a lot of it has been about development. It's about players accepting roles and getting players to accept those roles in the greater perspective of the team.

And what's cool about Gradey is like, I know who I am. So how do you guys want to fit me in? And obviously, there are some things that he could probably do a little bit better as he continues to hone his skills and be more of a threat in the NBA. But the shooting is already there. And that's a great sign. And at 6' 8", high release, he doesn't need much time to get it off. He relocates really well. His sidesteps, transition 3's, it's all kind of there for him.

But how soon do you think he'll be able to-- when he does get chased off the line, how quickly will it be able to make those fast decisions where maybe he's got to make a pocket pass, maybe he's got to drive to the lane, and he's got to finish over a NBA big, not necessarily college big. Do you think that's probably his future? But how quickly can that happen?

COREY TULABA: When he does get run off the line, I think the thing that he does really well is step into a one or two dribble like mid-range pull-up. Like usually, these 3-point shooters, you don't really think of their in-between game as a big part of it. But I do think that he has this really, really advanced one, two dribble pull-up, where he could be off balance. He could be fading.

A lot of times, he'll go left, fade to the left. And because he's so confident as a shooter, he could shoot it over defenders and it's repeatable. It's smooth. I think he could bring that. That's easy. He's been doing that all the time.

I think the passing, I mean, he got better throughout the course of the year. I don't think that he is a very high level playmaker, passer kind of guy. Maybe the NBA's spacing will help him. But I think that one of the things that he does struggle with, and he's struggled with dating back to high school, is the athleticism and strength of defenders.

And I think that having to make quicker reads in the midst of guys being able to reach over quicker, get to spots quicker, I think that's going to be a work in progress. I don't ever really foresee him being a guy who's like a guy, you would say is a plus passer in the sense that he's going to run like high ball screens or anything like that. But I think that as a connective piece, he has that potential. But I do think that's something that is going to take a little bit more time than the shooting is, where he can come in and knock down a couple of shots, get hot really quick.

AMIT MANN: And that's going to be probably his biggest asset. And that's going to be the reason why probably he's going to at least carve out some sort of role off the bench, at the very least, on whatever team he plays for. It's cool that the things that he's doing and things that he's running right now in college are going to be pretty similar probably to what he might do with the Toronto Raptors.

You think about like a blind pick action, where you're have a big at the elbow. It's the backdoor cut, or it's maybe someone's top blocking. You go back door, or maybe it's the other way around and he has to come around a screen. And getting downhill with athleticism may take a little bit of honing, necessarily. But you can project that he's going to probably get there.

And just the size at 6' 8" is such a difference maker from compared to a Jordan Hawkins, for instance. That's 3 inches. And the sight lines are very different up there as opposed to someone like Jordan.

COREY TULABA: You can't teach height.

AMIT MANN: No, you can't. You can't. You can't.

COREY TULABA: No, and I do think he has that going for him. So even like with regards to his finishing at the rim, I think when he's got a head of steam and a clear lane, he's a little bit bouncier than he'll get credit for. I'm sure that he's going to be referred to as sneaky athletic at some point during his rookie season.

But regardless, he needs to get stronger. If he is cutting off ball and Bam Adebayo is meeting him at the rim, that's going to be a different scenario than some of the guys that he fared against in college, even dating back to high school. I remember when Sunrise Christian was playing, IMG and Jarrus Walker was waiting for him at the rim. He just kind of bailed. And the ball went flying into the stands because he kind of got shook a little bit.

So I think that the athleticism in that regard is going to kind of hamper his ability to get stuff at the rim early through contact and around defenders. But the height, and I think he's going to be able to put weight onto his frame. I don't think he's going to be super bulky or anything. But he's not like the guy who looks like he's going to be scrawny his whole life. I think he'll be strong enough to deal with some kind of physicality. And it'll be a process for him. It'll be something that he's going to have to willingly embrace and seek out. But you can't teach 6' 8".

AMIT MANN: You can't. And his reason, his decision making, you have to think that that's going to get faster over time.

COREY TULABA: Yeah, reps.

AMIT MANN: For sure, and with the Raptors and the system that I think they're going to want to play, with 0.5 style, get off the ball quickly, I don't think Gradey is someone who wants to hold onto the ball very long anyways. If it's not-- if the chance isn't there, then he's going to be moving on to the next action. And that's-- he really is like a natural fit. Both of the shooters are in some ways.

But Gradey himself, because of the Raptors' size is going to be-- yeah, he's well positioned to be a great Toronto Raptor just because of his shooting. And even if it is just be a spot up guy, he could probably do that too. But defensively, how is that going to look in the NBA, in the early going?

COREY TULABA: Probably really bad. In the early going, I would say really bad just because most rookies, even the ones who are good at defense look pretty bad early on. You'll see signs, you'll see flashes. But it's the inconsistency of having to-- a lot of teams want to play 0.5 basketball now.

So just like Toronto, a lot of these teams are swinging the ball around, have got multiple guys that could handle and are going to put you in pick and roll all over the court. So even the guys who could process that end of the ball really quickly tend to come along slowly on that end. There's a lot going on in the NBA offenses.

Gradey, this is a guy who's never going to be someone you go, this is our lockdown guy. Let's put him on our best defender. So I think he's going to struggle at the beginning of his career. If the Raptors are going to be a team that can live with that early on and, obviously, having the whole squad be 6' 9" and switchable will, I think, help him. Maybe you could hide him. And that'll be the goal early.

But he's going to get targeted. And I think teams will find that he's maybe a little bit better on the ball on an island than he's given credit for. But also they're going to put him in ball screens. And that's where I think he's going to have a lot of issues with a lot of these quick, shifty, strong NBA guards.

AMIT MANN: Yeah, 6' 8" 205 is where he's at right now. Not bad numbers necessarily. But the athleticism, getting around screens, it's just going to be-- it's just a lot harder. And if you're not already the best at shuffling your feet, that could be a problem for you.

Jordan Hawkins on the other hand, is a bit of a different story, which we'll get to in a second. But among other NBA shooters that we've seen. Think of like a Kyle Korver, for instance, no I'm just not naming another white guy for the hell of it, CJ Miles. Those guys were able to-- in different ways, they're able to carve out a role that was a little bit more than just a spot up shooter, just a movement guy.

And they were able to do that through years of practice, years of honing. So do you think Gradey could be that in five years? Is he just a movement shooter? Or is there something like we've seen from Duncan Robinson in these playoffs, where we're like, OK, he's putting the ball on the floor. He's getting to the rim. He's finishing over some bigs. He's making those pocket passes. He's recognizing where the help is and he's finding the open man. Is that where he can get to? Does he have that IQ already?

COREY TULABA: I think he is more like Duncan than like a Korver type. Because Duncan's a good movement shooter. But he's also not like running laps around the court like Kyle Korver was. A lot of the ways that they use Duncan will be like-- they'll run him on floppy stuff. And he could choose what direction. But it's like pre-ordained. And he might come off a DHO. And he could make a quick decision or attack down-- but it's all like within the set, within the offense.

I don't-- he's not necessarily like creating the chaos in the same way that I feel like Kyle Korver did. Kyle Korver created chaos in that you never knew what direction or where he was going to end up on the floor. And because of that, I think Brad Stevens said Kyle Korver might average 13 points. But you have to guard him like he's averaging 30 because he just-- you always had to be glued and pay attention to him.

So I feel like Gradey, I don't think he's that kind of movement shooter. But I do think that he's a really good movement shooter. It's just he's moving less on the floor than a guy like Kyle Korver did. If that kind of makes sense.