OKC Thunder draft prospect profile: Killian Hayes

Killian Hayes strengths and weaknesses

Strengths:

He’s young, he’s raw, and he’s special. This is one of my favorite players in the draft and if pressed I’d have a hard time deciding if I’d rank him or Deni Avdija higher. Or course Avdija has the advantage of playing forward and being a bit of a unicorn at his position while Hayes could end up as the best point guard in a draft loaded with them.

He’s also one of the youngest having just turned 19 in July and yet he’s been playing with pros in the Euroleague for the last three seasons (two with France and this past season in Germany).

His growth in 2019-20 was palpable as Ulm allowed him to be the primary playmaker after spending most of the two prior seasons playing off the ball. That allowed him to finetune his passing which he took full advantage of.

With the German squad allowing him to make mistakes without fear of being yanked from the game his confidence grew and his shotmaking blossomed with it.  His 3-point efficiency improved to 39.0 percent on 4.1 attempts per game. He noted in his media session how he’s watched a ton of film of James Harden which may explain why his offensive repertoire expanded to include a dribble pull-up and side-step 3-point shots this past season.

Although he needs to add offensive versatility the fact he made such huge strides this past season and continually elevates his game should offer confidence for his drafting team that he’ll continue to grow.

Weaknesses:

One of the first calls Hayes should make upon reaching the NBA is to DeMar DeRozan. That’s so he can get the ins and outs of the shooting guard’s 2014 offseason homework. The current Spurs guard (then Raptor) is renowned for his offseason dedication to improvement and spent all of the summer of 2014  strengthening his left hand.

That included his basketball workouts where all dribbling and passing drills were done with his left hand. But, he also did all his daily activities with the off-hand including helping his daughter learn her ABCs as they would write them out together. DeRozan never became fully ambidextrous but he made enough strides and got comfortable enough to use his left hand more frequently.

While Hayes needs to improve his consistency from range, dribbling game, and defensive prowess gaining even a slight edge through using his right hand has to be his priority. It would open up the floor for him in all aspects of the game but particularly in playmaking.

Like many rookies, he’ll need to add size to deal with the physicality of the NBA pros.