Driving to the Basket: A Detroit Pistons Podcast - Episode 103: 2022 NBA Draft Prospect Shorts - Tari Eason and Jeremy Sohan

Episode Date: June 20, 2022

This episode takes a succinct look at 2022 NBA Draft prospects Tari Eason and Jeremy Sochan.

Welcome back, everybody to Drive into the Basket, part of the basketball podcast network. I am Mike with you here again today for a couple of prospect shorts, this time about Jeremy Sohan and Terry Eason. And as I said in the last episode, these are largely against the possibility of the Pistons acquiring another draft pick in a Jeremy Grant trade. Hopefully the pick, either within the lottery or just outside of it. And there's no knowing for sure if Jeremy Grant's going to be traded. I think it's very likely. that's based on everything we've heard. But there's no knowing.

Pistons like him a lot. They're not going to trade him for a bad package. And if they do trade him, of course, there's no knowing exactly what the return will be. So this series, and the first episode of it was posted yesterday about Jalen Dern and Mark Williams, is just about guys the Pistons could be interested in if they got that second pick. So as I said, today, Jeremy Sohan, Terry Yason, the defensive prizes of this draft. So let's start out with Terry Eason. So 6'7 forward out of LSU, the giant 7 foot 2 wingspan, weighs about 220.

It would be about 21 at the draft. Guys got huge hands, just extremely athletic, explosively quick, agile, very good leaper, just pretty darn good functional NBA athleticism from both on and off the ball. So as far as statistically speaking, last season at LSU primarily came off the bench. and we started four out of his 33 games. About 24 minutes per game, 17 points, 6.5 rebounds, one assist, two steals, one block, two and a half turnovers. A gigantic usage rate, about 32%.

And fairly efficient from the field overall at around 61.5%. Though it really took an enormous number of his shots from around the rim. We'll talk about that. So, Ethan, as far as his pros, like I said, highly athletic. I mean, this guy is an excellent athletic upside. And good size, great length. And his number one pro, really, he did score a lot at OSU, in part because he took a tremendous number of shots, but he was pretty efficient. But his number one pro is his defense.

I mean, the guy is a strong, long, hardworking, and switchable, and very smart defender. He's got great hands, good awareness. He explodes into passing lanes. He sees the pass is coming. He gets there. Good at stealing from on the ball as well. Very good at knowing when to come help in a way that will allow him to strip the ball away. And when he does any of that, he takes it down the floor explosively in transition.

He usually gets a bucket out of it. Excellent lateral movement. Can stay with his assignment super well on the drive. And not only that, but when they get close to the basket, can sky to block them while he's still moving laterally. He's got the explosiveness and foot speed to chase pretty much anybody. and the lateral movement to stay with pretty much anybody. And just high IQ could probably guard, point guard, shooting guard, small forward,

and some power forwards even. And, yeah, just very smart, very athletic, and uses his size and his length very well. So definitely a super promising defender at the NBA level. On offense, he can create off the drive. I mean, the guy's explosive, and he can elevate really well near the bottom. basket. He's strong. He takes contact well. He was very good in the NCAA getting into the line. Averageed about six free throws a game, six free throw attempts, excuse me, and sank them fairly

well, around 80%. He drives hard on the interior. Definitely does not shy away at all from contact. And I can get to the line as well by just mucking around near the basket for loose balls and whatnot, which he's pretty good and he works hard. He's a strong scorer on the basket when he gets there. Again, scores well through contact. He's good at scoring also when he's not on the ball, when he gets it bypass around the basket. Very functional dunker. If you feed him the ball, the guy's going to go up fast and he's going to dunk the ball really quickly. And strong dunker with the ball, so for what that's worth. Many of it just likes watching exciting basketball. I mean, for my part, as long as the business is scoring at school, but exciting basketball is fun.

You can see him lay down some pretty nasty dunks off the drive. as far as his handle fairly good. I mean, he can make moves with the ball, not elite, but promising definitely super strong transition score. It just, I mean, the guy can explode down the floor, and then it's tough to stop him. So also strong rebounder, thanks to just his aggressiveness, is athleticism.

He boxes out. He's a good weeper. He fights for rebounds and chases them down. and just high motor player, just involves himself consistently. On defense, of course, but even on offense on the fairly rare occasion when he wasn't operating on the ball. He definitely was just finding ways to move around in the interior, or when he wasn't shooting also, finding ways to move around in the interior and get himself in a good position. And when a rebound would have come down, the guy was always fighting for it.

So those are what I would list as his pros. The guy has excellent defensive upside. He's super athletic, and he's got potentially high offensive upside if he can address some of the issues that we'll talk about right now in his cons. So one of his cons is his age, and I'm not talking about just the fact that he's going to be upwards of 21 at the draft. I'm talking about the fact that he is still pretty raw on offense, even at that age, which is a little bit concerning because, as I said yesterday in the segment about Duren, there are some guys who, I mean, everybody has a ceiling in certain respect. and sometimes players just never improve in certain ways. And Darren's 18 and a half. I mean, well, if you want to hear about that,

listen to yesterday's episode. But Eason, at upwards of 21, still being fairly raw, is a little bit concerning. Still definitely time for guys to improve at that age. But it's a point at which maybe you start worrying a little bit because his level of refinement on offense is not very high. It's probably understating the situation, actually, to say that it's merely not very high.

Like, for example, the bread and butter of his offense at LSU was attacking the net off the drive. And he did this primarily just by means of his athleticism. He was largely a straight-line driver. There was a very little finesse to his game on his weight of the basket or when he was attempting to score there. And it's unlikely to be that simple in the NBA,

where, don't get me wrong, it's extremely helpful to be an elite athlete in the NBA. I mean, it's a great asset to have. have, and particularly if you're trying to attack off the dribble, or certainly, I don't know particularly, but certainly if you're trying to attack off the dribble. But just trying to jet your way in there in the NBA against just drastically better defenses and drastically better defenders than he faced in the NCAA is not really, is very unlikely to work anywhere near as well. And that ties into another issue, another issue rather, another one of his.

chief issues, which is that he is absolutely terrible at setting up his teammates. He has poor awareness for it and rarely tries, and there's just a pretty unskilled and shaky passer in general. I mean, all of this be reflected by his obscenely high usage to assist, usage percentage to assist percentage ratio. I mean, the guy took a lot of shots, really did not set up his teammates very much at all. He can make basic passes from a stationary position, but he's awful at it off the drive. He's really bad at taking advantage of his gravity on the drive to pass the teammates. And he might just be bad at it. And you really don't want to be a black hole in the NBA unless you're absolutely, didn't completely elated attacking the basket. Even then, not good to be a black hole.

And the reason this ties into his issues, you know, the issues he might have in the NBA on the drive is that he will not pass when he should shoot. He just gets himself into bad situations. and if he gets stopped, he's very likely to force up a bad shot. Like, just gets very much tunnel vision on the basket. Forces bad leaners, floaters, et cetera, when he gets stopped and or just makes dumb decisions and gets himself into double coverage, triple coverage on the drive and turns it over. And really struggles when he gets crowded,

even when he is not on the drive. But when he is on the drive, he runs into double coverage. He's fairly likely to give up the ball. I mean, the guy, it should be just to contextualize this average more than twice as many turnovers as assists, despite being on the ball a tremendous amount. So, yeah, when he gets the ball and he's trying to attack the basket, he is just depending on his athleticism to get him there.

And he doesn't really make very good decisions. You know, he's not going to, you know, again, you can grow out of this. But at this point, you know, it's not a good look, and it's not very encouraging, to put it that way. he'll shoot when he should pass and just get himself in a situation he shouldn't and when he's attacking he's just relying on his athleticism

it's just a certain run as to it or you've got to ask yourself is this likely to improve and it's possible that it will but it's also possible that it won't so there's also a shooting small sample size he averaged less than one make per game

which you know he'd like to see more than that but he was really focusing and attacking the rim I mean, he only sank 28 threes over the course of the season, only attempted 78 of them. His percentage was not bad, 36%. And he shot very well on unguarded threes, but he only attempted 33 of them. So you have some concerns definitely about his form.

And, I mean, the thing that does count in his favor is that high free throw percentage is a positive indicator in terms of development as a three-point shooter. And again, Eason wasn't bad, but it's just there's so few attempted threes so rarely, relatively speaking, that you just can't really say if the guy's going to be a good free throw shooter, you just don't have those indicators. But, you know, on 5.7 attempts from game with the free throw line, he shot 80%, so that's a good sign. But the three-point shot is still a question. Again, the guy wasn't bad, but it's still a question.

So, you know, just beyond that, overall IQ on offense just doesn't seem that great. And that's an issue in the NBA, especially if you're a guy who's just jetting toward the rim. You know, if that's something, well, who knows if that would be a part of his game in the NBA. But, you know, it's the NBA, you've got to be able to make split-second reads and split-second decisions in a very, very fast game against incredibly potent defenses. So that's another question about him. So fit with the pistons. I would classify Yessen as a high-ceiling prospect. with some bus potential.

If he can just get it together as a three-point shooter, then cool. You've got an elite highway-switchable defender who can shoot threes, and that's fantastic, and I don't think that's necessarily an unlikely outcome. He does have a higher ceiling than that, and that if he can get it together on the drive somehow, if he can just improve his level of refinements and improve his handle a bit, then cool, you've got a guy who might be able to really effectively attack off the dribble too, you know, a genuinely good player, or genuinely good scorer who,

you know, ideally in that situation, is shooting threes also. He's going to have to be able to shoot threes regardless. So, yeah, his upside is as an elite defender who can create, and that's a very, very valuable player. And even if he can't create, that's still a very valuable player. Where it could go wrong is if he can't shoot. And again, we just don't have enough data on that. Because if he can't shoot, I mean, you just have to be able to shoot.

Like you have Matisse Thibel on the Sixers who can't shoot. He's an elite defensive guy. And he, I mean, some of it is mitigated by the fact that he's on the floor with other guys who can create. You know, Maxie, Embed, even Tobias Harris, but it still hurts. So, and that's sort of a niche situation. Yeah, in any case. So high ceiling, but bust potential if he doesn't get his shot together. And everybody loves switchable defenders.

I mean, this is a kind of guy that every NBA team would like if he can get that shot together. So how you feel about Eason, I should say, is depends on how confident you are in his, in his offense in terms of his ability to get that shot together. And beyond that, if you really believe in his potential, is his ability to become effective as a guy who attacks off the dribble. And it's possible, who knows, despite his current struggles as a passer, there have been guys in the NBA who have come in as very poor passers but are effective at penetrating in the basket

and can develop a basic drive-and-kick game to an open man. Like you think about Kawhi Leonard, for example, and I hate this. I hate saying that because there are a lot of comparisons between he and YSin, which I think are just based largely on the fact that these guys are highly athletic. They're not great shooters coming out of college. They're really high-level defensive guys. You know, if they can, you know, and that's true. But Kauai is such a rare outcome for anybody.

I mean, this guy is going to be in the Hall of Fame. He's developed into just an incredible score along, you know, and on top of being an elite defender. So I think that's shooting a little bit high. I think it's kind of a difference between can happen and how likely is it to happen. In any case, you got a high ceiling on him. Is he likely to get there? I don't think so. Is he likely to get his three-point shot together?

I think there's a good probability of that. And if he can, then that's a player who can start for any team in the NBA. But he's not there yet. So I would consider taking Yason probably 10 and later. And then comes his actual fit with the Pistons. definitely like I said everybody loves strong switchable defenders but I think that for example in watching the series or basically watching in the first place how well Boston did with the lineup full of switchable defenders but also watching how well Golden State did on defense in the playoffs

basically defense becomes more potent in the playoffs absolutely true and it is very very valuable to have a strong defensive lineup however it is also essential to have these high-level creators in the playoffs, guys who can go out and get a bucket. And I feel like for the Celtics, they just really ran out. There are only two guys in their lineup who could really go out and create. Also, Marcus Smart can't really shoot or be as highly unreliable. But whatever the case, just to say it is absolutely essential that you have strong creators in your starting lineup as well.

And maybe you draft decent, and if he doesn't turn into a starter, then it's fine. You know, just a good 3-indy guy off the bench. But if you're going to have him in the starting lineup for the Pistons, I think you're really going to want him to be enabled. creator. And if that happens, then absolutely fantastic. You've got a strong guy in the wing, a guy in the wing who can really help take some of the onus off of K. But it's just like at this point in the draft, you know, if the Pistons get a pick, 10 plus, you don't necessarily need to be thinking about the starting lineup. You can take a guy whom you hope has the upside to be in the

starting lineup, but you're fine if he turns out to be a role player. I don't feel like that at all at number five. So, yeah, I think if the Pistons are picking a 10 plus, then easing could be a good upside choice. All right, so let's move on to Jeremy Silhan. But first, a quick word from our sponsors at Draft Kings. With an ad now that I'm like yesterday's is actually up to date. Hockey fans, pursuit for the Stanley Cup is on, and draft king sports book and official sports betting partner of the NHO has an unbelievable offer for the most exciting playoffs in sports. New customers can bet $5 in any team to win and get $100 in free bet. no matter what. Win or lose.

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and he didn't measure the combine, so we don't know how tall he actually is without shoes. So I would guess around 6'8's reported 7-foot wingspan, 230 pounds will be about 19 years old at the time of the draft. Came off the bench for Baylor West in this last NCAA season, average 25 minutes per game, 9.6 and a half rebounds, 1.3 steals, 0.7 blocks, 2 assists, 1 and a half turnovers. Sohan is the much less nuanced prospect of the two between he and ease. And one thing so on is, is just, I'll put it this way, he's a higher floor, lower ceiling sort of player, but we'll get into that.

But solid size, good wingspan, strong, very good lateral movement for his size, mobile, decent top speed. Not a great athlete, but a decent athlete. So where Sohan finds his value. I mean, this guy is as good as Eason, maybe in the NBA defensively. Sohan is really the defensive prize of this draft. And the guy has just absolutely elite defensive potential. He's an absolute dog on defense. And just excellent defensive IQ knows where to go, where to be,

fantastic lateral mobility, and just moves his feet super well, uses his length expertly elite positioning, navigate screen super well, recovers well. Like, I think Matisse Thibel, who's more athletic than he has. is, but is also part of what makes him so good in the NBA is that he's excellent of recovering. He's extremely aggressive, just absolutely hounds his assignment. We're talking toohan now, not thaible though he does do. Excellent at sticking with him wherever he's guarding, including fast players.

He's got the strength to handle larger players too. He positions himself super well for blocks. It can also come in help side when it's somebody he's not directly covering, directly covering, excuse me. Fantastic anticipating passes and playing passing lanes and just has great hands on defense overall. Always aware, he knows when to rotate, he knows when to help. If he's defending in a pick and roll, he can really defend both guys. He seems to participate in directing his teammates as well.

He calls out assignments, or at least I saw him doing so at times during his NCAA career. He could conceivably defend all five positions, as he's got the strength, the length, and the acumen to do so. Though I would say, I would describe him more as a one and a half, like 1.5 to 4.5 rather than 1 to 5, because there are some like super explosive guards in the NBA that he may not be quite as good at defending. And then, of course, there are the super beefy centers like Embed and Yokic and even guys like towns and so on, just who are just really big and super talented centers, I think that somebody of his size will have trouble with. but nonetheless, fantastically skilled and

versatile, and need was to say, entirely switchable defender. So that's really where his value is right now and he can come into the NBA and be a very, very good defender, I think, from day one.

He was a bit foul-up-run in the NCAA, and that's something YSAM was as well. That's something that is pretty typical with highly physical NCAA defenders and generally you see them get a handle on that in the NBA. can take a little bit of time. On offense, he's got the length and the acceleration speed to

create off the dribble a little bit, but his handle isn't very good. He's more of just a straight line driver who uses his length well, but these guys tend to struggle more to create off the dribble in the NBA. So I don't think he projects much as a creator. You know, thanks to the issues with his handle and the fact that he just doesn't have elite pop with the ball, excuse me, elite acceleration with the ball. But he's a fairly strong finisher around the basket when he gets. He's a there, whether he's on or off the ball. A capable rebounder, thanks to his size, his length, and his energy, and all told, just the super hard worker with a high motor. And just like Yason, he's got a high motor too. And team focus, more so than Yason, who admittedly was a guy who

was asked to do a lot more on offense. So in terms of his cons, athletically, not explosive, not an awful leaper, but definitely not good at it. And not. that quick honor off the ball. I'd liken them a little bit to Keegan Murray, though probably a little bit better in terms of his acceleration and his nimleness. Just not really particularly explosive. Better than Murray, but not explosive. On defense, he moves far better than Murray. There's not even a comparison there. Murray may well have his issues on switches in the NBA and so on, so on, likely to be able to switch well into just about anybody. But yeah, he's a functional athlete, but I would say average at best. It's not a weakness, but it does have implications for

example for his ability to create off the dribble or really gain good off ball separation. These are things that he's not going to be, I think, particularly good at in the NBA. And also when he's driving, you know, because he's not the most explosive, when he's driving, it depends a lot upon strength. Again, somewhat similarly to Murray. And that's, again, it's not going to serve him all that well in the NBA against defenders who are going to be a great deal stronger than the guys he faced off against in the NCAA. If we're comparing in Murray, as far as his ability off the drive, he's better because his handle is better. His handle isn't great, but it's kind of okay, and Murray's is pretty bad. But nonetheless, a combination of

that kind of okay handle, maybe a little bit, I would say a little bit below average at the NBA level, combined with the lack of good athleticism means that he's probably going to have trouble creating offense for himself off the dribble. And then there's the shooting, because Sohan has got major question marks as a shooter. Attempted them on low volume, but unlike Ysen, I mean, Easton's form has got minor concerns.

Sohan, it's more of a question of if he has the touch as a shooter at all, or if he just really does not have the touch. So the equation, or really the outlook isn't helped by the fact that he's also a terrible free-throw shooter. and free throws aren't an indication that a player is necessarily going to be good or necessarily going to be bad, but they are an indicator. Sohan shot 59% from the line, which needless to say is awful.

And so, I mean, there are just major questions about if a shot is going to come together. And so, I mean, beyond that, also inefficient by college standards, only about 54 and a half percent true shooting, or rather not inefficient by NCAA standards, inefficient by the standards of guys who are going into the NBA. So you have the combination of probably lack of acuity as a creator and also questions as a shooter. Not really all that strong in transition. So that's really where Sohan differs from Isan.

I mean, Isan has a much, much higher offensive ceiling, and I also think it's considerably likelier to get it together as a shooter. I mean, Sohan, sure, it's a small sample size, and he played only one year in college. But there's something about him that does not fill me with hope about his potential development as a shooter. And there are definitely guys like

this in the NBA. I mean, you can look at two elite defensive forwards from the recent past. Matisse Stuyble, excuse me, is a fantastic defender, still can't shoot. Andre Roberson, who's no longer in the league, an absolutely excellent defender overall. Could not get a shot together. So this happens, and unfortunately, the NBA is very unkind to players on the perimeter who can't shoot altogether, no matter if they are excellent defenders. And what you might provide on defense, you will likely lose on offense because you'll be a spacing liability and just won't have much to offer. But in any case, I would say his absolute ceiling in the NBA on offense is a guy

who might be able to shoot some threes, make some cuts, and put on some putbacks, I'd say he's got a relatively low offensive ceiling. He's got an extremely high defensive ceiling and a very high defensive floor. But it really boils down less for Easton. as to if you think he'll get it together to reach what might be his offensive ceiling. More for Sohan, if he'll be able to get it together enough

that he isn't a minus on offense. So when it comes to fit with the pistons, I'll say it again. At this point in the draft, you're happy if you can get a good starter. You're content if he's just a good bench player. Now, the swing for Sohan, of course, that huge swing skill is the shooting

because if he can get it together, I mean, that's a starter on almost any team in the league. If you're a solid three-point shooter who's an absolutely elite defender. If you can't get it together, probably a depth player. As far as fit with the pistons, I mean, we all want that lineup of long, strong switchable defenders, and you definitely fit there. If you're putting him in the starting lineup, though, next to Sadiek Bay, you better hope that you're going to be finding strong creators

at least one other position at shooting guard or at center, because you really need those creators, no matter how strong your defense is. So that's Jeremy Sohan and Terry Easton, and that'll be it for this short episode. Thank you all for bearing with what I imagine is a fairly raspy voice, as I mentioned in the last episode, I'm currently recovering from COVID. If you enjoyed this episode and other episodes, consider following the podcast on Twitter at To the BasketPod. As always, thank you for listening. Next episode, tomorrow will be Dyson Daniels. See you then.