The Toronto Raptors should draft forward Tyler Bey

Who is Tyler Bey

Tyler Bey is a combo forward out of Colorado. He stands 6-foot-7 and has a 7-foot-1 wingspan. Bey is extremely athletic and one of the best defenders in college basketball. He has also shown significant improvement during his three years of college.

Bey is taking the long road to the NBA. He grew up in Las Vegas. While in high school, Bey’s grades weren’t high enough to earn a Division 1 scholarship. He reclassified from 2016 to 2017. Before heading off to Boulder, Bey was viewed as a four-star recruit.

As a freshman, Bey played sparing. Things changed during Bey’s sophomore year where he started all 36 games. Bey averaged 13.6 points and 9.9 rebounds. He was named the Most Improved Player of the Pac-12. Bey was also named to the All-Pac-12 Conference First Team.

Even though Bey’s name was thrown around as a potential first-round pick before last year’s draft, he made the decision to return to school for his junior year.

Bey spent the summer working to improve his offensive game. He shot more than 500 three-pointers a day in an attempt to become a more consistent outside shooter.

This season, Bey averaged 13.8 points, 9 rebounds, 1.5 steals, and 1.2 blocks per game. He also shot 41.9 percent from three-point range (albeit on a small sample size of 31 attempts). Bey led the Pac-12 in rebounding and was named Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year.

Bey is a strong on-ball defender and plays good team defense. He is an explosive leaper. Despite being a wing player, Bey is a very good shot blocker. He is also adept at getting in passing lanes and causing deflections. Based on Bey’s length and athleticism he should be able to guard multiple positions at the next level.

Whichever team ends up drafting Bey will do so based primarily on his potential as a defensive stopper. Bey is still a work in progress on offense.

Bey needs to improve his ball-handling. At this stage of his career, he is not capable of creating much offense for himself or others. However, Bey has improved as a mid-range shooter. The hope would be that he can become a consistent three-point shooter.

Early in his career, most of Bey’s points will come in transition or as a spot-up shooter. Bey is capable of getting out on the fast break and creating highlight-reel dunks. He is also a strong rebounder, who should be able to provide a lot of second-chance opportunities.

If Bey can be an above-average three-point shooter, then he can become a coveted 3-and-D player. Bey only took 59 3s during his entire college career. However, Bey is a good free-throw shooter. He averaged 74.7 percent at the charity stripe (on 403 attempts). A player’s level of success at the free-throw line is often used as an indicator as to whether they can become a good three-point shooter.