The Lowdown on Tyreke Evans

By: Greg Payne

I'll be perfectly honest here: I know NOTHING about Tyreke Evans. I don't follow Memphis too closely on the college basketball circuit, so his name didn't mean a whole lot to me until the rumors sprang up that Danny Ainge had such a distinct interest in him. But even though I know nothing about him, I still have you covered.

Check out his entire draft profile on NBADraft.net, with detailed strengths and weaknesses explained, here.

To go along with that, here's another profile courtesy of Draft Express, complete with a combine video to go along with it.

Words don't always say enough, so here are some highlight videos to go along with those. Of course, only the highlights will be shown, but you might like what you see.





Here's what worries me about this kid: He's 6-5, maybe 6-6, so you'd most likely see him at the shooting guard position. What sticks out to me though, is his .274 mark from three-point nation, along with those profiles stating that shooting isn't one of his strengths.

I don't want to compare this guy to Tony Allen, because that's not necessarily fair. But we've seen what happens when we take on a shooting guard who can't shoot. Sure, even blind squirrels find an acorn once in a while, but we can't afford to rely on someone who can't necessarily put the ball in the hole from long range, especially if we bring him in at a position where that's more or less a requirement.

Watching those videos only furthered my worries. He certainly uses an unorthodox style to get his shot off and his release reminds me of DeShawn Stevenson's. But certain players have used nontraditional shooting styles before, including a man named Larry Bird, so maybe Evans can somehow turn this around to use to his advantage. And if LeBron James (As great as he is) can develop a reliable jump shot, I'm convinced anyone can. Did you see that thing when he first came into the league?

Again, I don't know quite enough to come to any distinct conclusion about Evans, such as what the Celtics should and should not be giving up in order to obtain his services, etc. But if you knew as little about him as I did, before reading this, I hope you at least have a mild understanding of his game now.

Stay Tuned.

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