FILM BREAKDOWN: What can Tyrese Proctor bring to the Cleveland Cavaliers in his rookie season?

FILM BREAKDOWN: What can Tyrese Proctor bring to the Cleveland Cavaliers in his rookie season?

It is time to do a little video deep dive into Tyrese Proctor, the Cavs second round pick, number n 49 overall. Apparently, he was telling teams, “Don’t draft me because Cleveland has a fully guaranteed roster spot that I want to be a part of. I want to sign that four-year $ 8.3 million contract and be a part of the Cleveland Cavaliers.” Now, it’s worth mentioning Ammani Bates was the 49th pick and he never got a shot to play at the NBA level. Tyrese Proctor in a bit of a different situation as the similar 49th draft pick two years later. So, I got some clips, Jason. I want to run through some of the things that I think will translate for Tyrese Proctor to the NBA level. Are you ready?
Let’s go.
First and foremost, it’s the shooting. We’ve talked about the shooting in the past. I gave you guys the numbers the day after the draft in terms of what Tyrese Proctor does off the dribble, off the pick and roll as the ball handler, but his number one skill, the number one thing he’s going to immediately bring to the Cleveland Cavaliers is his ability to shoot the basketball. And we got some clips here that show it. Jason, first and foremost, as this runs through, I’m not going to stop on certain plays. I’m just going to let this roll. Look at how quickly Proctor sets his feet, transitions into the shot, and gets it off. When they drafted Jaylen Tyson last year, my big complaint with Jaylen Tyson, at least through the tape, was he had a slow release. That is not an issue with Tyrese Proctor. That is a fluid all-in-one motion. This a little off the dribble, which is an incredible move. By the way, we’ll talk about his off the dribble shooting here in a second. But this comes from a pass allin-one motion. It’s not Sam Merrill speed, but for a 21-year-old coming out of college, that is a lightning quick release. He made over 40% of his threes. He made 13 threes from 25 feet or deeper this season, Jason, which was one of the top marks in college basketball. So, he certainly has the range. Off the dribble, he made 47% of his three-point shots. Typically, off the dribble is even harder than catch and shoot. He was 43% on catch and shoot threes this year. That was the 95th percentile in the entire college basketball world. And as a pick and roll ball handler, he shot 46.4 4% on threes last season at Duke. The Duke can shoot the ball. He has some other flaws we’ll get to in a sec, but in terms of shooting, that is a skill that certainly translates from the ACC to the Cleveland Cavaliers. All right, keep going.
All right, let’s go to his pick and roll ability here. I mentioned the shooting off the pick and roll, but he’s not just a shooter off the pick and roll. He was able to score in a variety of different ways. And the one thing that stands out to me in terms of his usage of the pick and roll Jason and watch it in some of these clips is the way he changes tempos. The way at times he explodes, at times he plays slow using his 66 frame with an even longer wingspan to generate some space. This first clip comes against UNC and he’s using uh Malawak as a screen. Gets the defender on his hip. Kind of slows down, plays at his own pace here. Gets a foot in the paint with a little turnaround jump shot. He’s not too aggressive. We’ll get to his finishing in a second, but he kind of understands, do I have a lane? If yes, go. If not, let me pivot, turn around, and try and create some space with my frame. But I love the way, especially on this clip, puts the guy in his hip. I’m going to see if I could rewind just a little bit. I know it’s it’s tough on this particular uh system.
You got it.
But he gets the guy right there on his hip. That little half dribble back into the defender. Creates a little more space. It shows that despite his frame not being that big, Jason is a little bit wiry, strong enough to take that contact and with his big man sealing, UNCC’s big man puts him in a perfect position for a little floater. That one to me in particular may have been the most impressive use of the pick and roll here. Dribble into the shot. We talked about his shooting off the pick and roll from beyond the arc. Incredibly impressive there. A little hesitation dribble then explodes into it. He’s just a smart player, Jason. He’s not going to overly wow you with his athleticism. He’s not overly quick. I think he uses his size to create space in a way that is pretty helpful to uh the overall makeup of his offensive game. But I thought he was really patient and smart with the way he attacked in the pick and roll more than the oh my god, I can’t believe he just dunked this or oh my god, I can’t believe he’s getting to the paint over and across those angles. I think he’s more of a smart pick and roll player and sometimes being smart and slow is a lot better than being athletic and fast. He’s not Luca Donuch by any means, but Luca plays at his own pace. It It’s almost Ty Jerome picking.
I was just going to say, I got to tell you, it sounds like you’re describing Ty Jerome. That’s what I was sitting here thinking. There’s a lot of Tai Jerome in the way he does pick and roll. I mean, I mean, this clip I I mentioned it earlier, Jason, tell me Ty Jerome, it’s the next one. But that clip against UNCC, tell me that’s not exactly what we saw Ty Jerome do right here. Absolutely.
87 times this year has he made a gajillion floaters. Yeah.
But it’s not just floaters for Proctor. He can finish and he can finish with a little bit of power, too. Uh
he’s not a subpar athlete. Is he an elite athlete? No. But I mean, some of these are pretty sweet. I would kill to have one of these on my highlight tape. Uh he’s got a couple and he can finish with either hand. Much better going to his right. Loves to go to his right when he drives. Much more patient going right. He does have a couple clips here where he goes left, but a lot more comfortable when he’s coming from the left side of the court to the right to the middle to his right hand, but I mean 66 with a 67 and a half wingspan and bunnies like this. Uh, you got a place in the league. And last but not least, his passing. A lot of this comes off the pick and roll, Jason. But just like we talked about with his finishing in the pick and roll, just a smart player and a really good lob thrower, which should be a good pairing with Jared Allen, with Evan Mobley, with Larry Nance Jr. Now, Duke obviously had some significant size advantages in the collegiate ranks. They had some elite athletes. I mean, three of their guys got drafted in the top 10, but all in all, a patient, experienced player off the pick and roll who I think more often than not makes the right decision over trying to make the flashy pass. Just a solid passer. And right here, I mean, that’s highlevel stuff, Jason. Reading the defense, figuring out where the help’s coming from. Do you have the lob is he? And and I want to show that last one again because I did a bad job explaining in the first when he comes off this pick and roll. Watch the patience he holds. You see the defender and drop coverage right in the middle, Jason. He’s got down the
Watch how he holds him just long enough to allow Malawak time to get to the paint and force the big man to have to make a decision. Do I drop and give him the open layup or do I stay up on Proctor? He gives him just enough of a hesitation right here. Big man gives one false step as soon as he sees that one false step forward. There goes the lob. There’s no recovery. So all in all, I’m not sure if he has topend elite level skill in any one thing. Shooting is by far his best skill, but he is certainly a smart, experienced player, Jason, who for a 49th overall pick in the draft. I’m not expecting a giant impact. I’m not sure he’ll get a ton of opportunities, but I do think certainly as a game that translates to a multi-year NBA guy who can have a pretty successful career in a variety of different roles, whether it be for Cleveland or for someone else down the road.
I I think they’re going to have to get something out of him. Not necessarily this year. I don’t know if you’re really counting on him for a lot this year, but uh moving forward, when you are in the tax bracket that the Cavs now find themselves in, you’ve got to get something on the margins. And they’ve done a nice job of developing guys on the margins and turning undrafted Dean Wade into something. And uh you know, finding Sam Merrill on the scrap heap and turning him into, you know, someone that they obviously believe in. And Jaylen Tyson’s going to get his opportunities this year and uh Proctor will eventually be that guy as well because you have to keep cutting where you can to survive where they are. Uh I totally off the topic of Proctor, but I do think it’s worth pointing out, you know, we mentioned on the show, I think it’s easier for them to get out of the second apron now by the trade deadline if they so choose.
If if Lonzo gets hurt again, which it’s not an if but when with him. Um, you know, if it becomes where he can’t really help them, I think it’s a lot easier to get off that money. Now, that opens a spot. Um, Dean may not finish the, you know, I’m just, he’s a guy
Dar is going to miss the first couple weeks of the season potentially, which gives him more opportunity for Proctor early as well. Yeah. Yeah. He may have pockets here and there. Uh but you know when when when you don’t have a lot of first round picks like they don’t and they’re not high picks uh when you’ve got seconds and and undrafted free agents and two-way guys, you’ve got to get something out of them. And we saw them move on from Ammani. I think Ammani was more of a JB guy than a uh than a Kenny guy. I think that might have gone into decision a little bit to move on from him. I think JB was higher on him than probably Kenny was. Um, so now you start over on that two-way slot. We talked about that on the show. They’ve invested a couple of years into these guys and now you cut them loose and now you got to start that process over. Uh, but, you know, no one’s asking them to start on day one, but they’re they’re going to need like the pressures on to continue to develop these guys um and to continue to sort of find value in places where other teams aren’t looking. And I think to add on to that before we wrap this up, Jason, with a second round pick, you can go one of two ways. You can take the high upside swing like an Ammani Bates, like one of these European guys that you hope can hit in in two, three years, or you can find a guy who you think may not be and may not have as high of a ceiling as some others, but could be a contributor in some degree at the NBA level. And a lot of those guys are the guys that played three, four, in today’s day and age, five, six, sometimes even seven years of college basketball who may be closer to a finished product, but have a higher floor and have a better sense of how to fit in, right? And Proctor, for better or worse, came into Duke as one of the highest rated point guards in the entire country. Came out of Australia, the Australian Basketball Factory, was a top five or a five-star prospect. I’m not sure his exact ranking, but was a five-star prospect. played on the ball as a point guard as a freshman and by his junior year transitioned to more off the ball, right? So, he’s done a little bit of both. He’s been the I don’t want to say go-to scorer, but he was asked to carry more of an offensive load earlier in his Duke career than he was later when they had Kanipple and Cooper Flag and other guys who were able to score. So Proctor, who played three years of college, which feels rare in today’s day and age,
Yeah. comes into the Cav situation being a guy who has been the highly recruited prospect, had been the number one offense at a a number one offensive option at a high level school, has then been an offball guy, has been a role player alongside other superstars, knowing how to play on and off with those guys and when to attack, when to defer. So, I think they looked at him and and circled Proctor as a guy who, yeah, maybe he doesn’t have the high-end ceiling that another player at that position would have, but can come in, can fill a role, can play, is experienced enough. And I said this about Ty Jerome earlier. I said this when they signed Lonzo Ball. You can’t have enough ball handlers and playmakers in today’s NBA, Jason. You simply cannot have enough ball handlers and playmakers. Look at the Indiana series. Look at the finals. Look at what Chris Finch said, the Timberwolves coach after they lost to Oklahoma City. He said, “Yeah, it’s great to have shooters, but if we don’t have anyone who can get them the ball, it doesn’t matter.
You need playmakers.” And Proctor should be a guy, and it’s a big should because he’s a second round pick and he can never guarantee it, but should be a guy who at some point in his NBA career, and hopefully a lot sooner than later, could not only create for himself, but generate some open looks for other guys on the team,

The Cleveland Cavaliers selected Duke guard Tyrese Proctor with the #49 pick in last week’s NBA Draft.

Proctor comes to Cleveland as an experienced playmaker with Duke with real ability to change the game.

Let’s dive into some of the film to see what aspects of Proctor’s game translate best to the NBA level and how that fits in with Kenny Atkinson’s offense.

The Cleveland Cavaliers have signed 2025 NBA Draft pick, guard Tyrese Proctor to a multi-year contract, Cavaliers President of Basketball Operations Koby Altman announced today from Cleveland Clinic Courts.

Proctor (6-4, 183), who was selected with the 49th overall pick in last week’s draft, appeared in 38 games (all starts) as a junior for Duke this past season, averaging 12.4 points, 3.0 rebounds and 2.3 assists in 29.9 minutes. Proctor also ranked fourth in the ACC in three-point percentage (.405) and three-point field goals made per game (2.34) while also ranking fourth in program history (25th in NCAA Division I) in assist-turnover ratio (2.33). Proctor also led Duke to its 23rd ACC Tournament championship, contributing 19 points on a career-high six three-pointers made in the game and was named a 2024-25 All-ACC Third Team selection and ACC All-Tournament Second Team pick. In his career with the Blue Devils, Proctor appeared in 106 games (97 starts), averaging 10.8 points, 3.0 rebounds and 3.0 assists in 29.9 minutes. The NBA Academy alumnus was the 14th player to be drafted or sign with an NBA team.

Proctor will wear jersey #24 for the Cavaliers.

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