Talen Horton-Tucker, Los Angeles Lakers
It might have been a year early to put Horton-Tucker here, even before he tore a ligament in his thumb; he is competing for minutes with a pile of veterans, and he hit just 28% on 3s last season -- including a hideous 15% from the corners. There are many miles between those marks and shooting well enough to play alongside LeBron James. No one will guard Horton-Tucker on the perimeter until he makes teams pay.
But he is by far the most important young player on an old team; the Lakers signaled as much by re-signing Horton-Tucker to a three-year, $30.8 million deal, effectively choosing him over Alex Caruso, and coaches discussed the possibility of starting Horton-Tucker this season, sources say.
2021 NBA preseason
NBA teams have reported to training camp, and the 2021-22 season is set to tip off on Oct. 19.
• Preseason power rankings
• Marks: Big questions for all 30 teams
• Projected standings: East | West
• NBArank: 100-51 | 50-26 | 25-6 | 5-1
The Lakers are searching for two-way wings to round out Anthony Davis-at-center lineups, and Horton-Tucker could be one the moment he hits enough open 3s. He has the profile to guard across the positional spectrum: quick feet, stoutness, and a giant, 7-foot-1 wingspan. (He led all returning L.A. rotation players in deflections per minute.) Horton-Tucker makes typical young guy mistakes -- he can be reckless gambling for steals -- but he tries hard, always in a stance with his head on a swivel, and reads the game.
Frank Vogel inserted Horton-Tucker for Games 4 and 5 of the Lakers' 2020 Western Conference semifinals series against the Houston Rockets -- the only two games Horton-Tucker appeared in during L.A.'s title run -- to see what he might do against Harden. "We all felt we would look back and ask ourselves: Why didn't we try him?" Vogel recalls.
Vogel spent part of the team's post-championship flight home raving about Horton-Tucker to executives.
Horton-Tucker also can be a deterrent at the rim. During one recent practice, he caught James with a chase-down block -- a role reversal that excited coaches and executives, sources say.
Horton-Tucker's ballhandling would seem less useful with Russell Westbrook joining James -- and presumably running things when James rests -- but it's part of the intrigue. The deeper you advance, the more ballhandling you need. Horton-Tucker's jagged, stop-and-start rhythm is tough for defenders to grasp. A ridiculous 53% of his shots came at the rim -- a 99th percentile share, per Cleaning the Glass.
Horton-Tucker can screen for James, dart into open space, and make plays off the bounce. That opponents often hide point guards on Horton-Tucker only lends that two-man game power: You either switch that little guy onto the game's all-time chess master or put your defense into rotation.
Horton-Tucker is also big enough to eventually bully those guards in the post -- if he hones that skill. Right now, he settles for too many spinning fadeaways:
Horton-Tucker can zoom up from the corner and into empty-side pick-and-rolls with Davis -- with no defender in traditional help position:
Such quick-hitting action makes it harder for defenses to duck picks against Horton-Tucker. (He also is good at using screens two and three times until one of them hits.)
He is decisive catching and slashing into open corridors when defenders slough away from him:
In rehearsing zone defense and offense during camp, the Lakers found this sort of slashing through gaps made Horton-Tucker a zone-destroyer. "He knifed through the zone four or five straight times," Vogel says. "We looked at each other and thought, 'That's better than any perimeter shooting or movement sets we could use against the zone.'"
Horton-Tucker is a slick interior passer; he dished five dimes per 36 minutes last season. The Lakers want to run, and Horton-Tucker is another guy who can grab and go after rebounds.
But he can get frenetic in traffic -- prodding into nothingness, missing passes, even colliding with teammates. Note James motioning for Horton-Tucker to pass once the play is dead:
Gaining James' trust can be hard for role players -- doubly so for blah shooters. Horton-Tucker played just 43 minutes alongside both James and Davis last season -- shockingly low, even given injuries to both L.A. superstars.
Still: It just feels like the best version of these Lakers -- both this season and maybe more pointedly next season -- involves a decent amount of Horton-Tucker.
It might have been a year early to put Horton-Tucker here, even before he tore a ligament in his thumb; he is competing for minutes with a pile of veterans, and he hit just 28% on 3s last season -- including a hideous 15% from the corners. There are many miles between those marks and shooting well enough to play alongside LeBron James. No one will guard Horton-Tucker on the perimeter until he makes teams pay.
But he is by far the most important young player on an old team; the Lakers signaled as much by re-signing Horton-Tucker to a three-year, $30.8 million deal, effectively choosing him over Alex Caruso, and coaches discussed the possibility of starting Horton-Tucker this season, sources say.
2021 NBA preseason
• Preseason power rankings
• Marks: Big questions for all 30 teams
• Projected standings: East | West
• NBArank: 100-51 | 50-26 | 25-6 | 5-1
The Lakers are searching for two-way wings to round out Anthony Davis-at-center lineups, and Horton-Tucker could be one the moment he hits enough open 3s. He has the profile to guard across the positional spectrum: quick feet, stoutness, and a giant, 7-foot-1 wingspan. (He led all returning L.A. rotation players in deflections per minute.) Horton-Tucker makes typical young guy mistakes -- he can be reckless gambling for steals -- but he tries hard, always in a stance with his head on a swivel, and reads the game.
Frank Vogel inserted Horton-Tucker for Games 4 and 5 of the Lakers' 2020 Western Conference semifinals series against the Houston Rockets -- the only two games Horton-Tucker appeared in during L.A.'s title run -- to see what he might do against Harden. "We all felt we would look back and ask ourselves: Why didn't we try him?" Vogel recalls.
Vogel spent part of the team's post-championship flight home raving about Horton-Tucker to executives.
Horton-Tucker also can be a deterrent at the rim. During one recent practice, he caught James with a chase-down block -- a role reversal that excited coaches and executives, sources say.
Horton-Tucker's ballhandling would seem less useful with Russell Westbrook joining James -- and presumably running things when James rests -- but it's part of the intrigue. The deeper you advance, the more ballhandling you need. Horton-Tucker's jagged, stop-and-start rhythm is tough for defenders to grasp. A ridiculous 53% of his shots came at the rim -- a 99th percentile share, per Cleaning the Glass.
Horton-Tucker can screen for James, dart into open space, and make plays off the bounce. That opponents often hide point guards on Horton-Tucker only lends that two-man game power: You either switch that little guy onto the game's all-time chess master or put your defense into rotation.
Horton-Tucker is also big enough to eventually bully those guards in the post -- if he hones that skill. Right now, he settles for too many spinning fadeaways:
Horton-Tucker can zoom up from the corner and into empty-side pick-and-rolls with Davis -- with no defender in traditional help position:
Such quick-hitting action makes it harder for defenses to duck picks against Horton-Tucker. (He also is good at using screens two and three times until one of them hits.)
He is decisive catching and slashing into open corridors when defenders slough away from him:
In rehearsing zone defense and offense during camp, the Lakers found this sort of slashing through gaps made Horton-Tucker a zone-destroyer. "He knifed through the zone four or five straight times," Vogel says. "We looked at each other and thought, 'That's better than any perimeter shooting or movement sets we could use against the zone.'"
Horton-Tucker is a slick interior passer; he dished five dimes per 36 minutes last season. The Lakers want to run, and Horton-Tucker is another guy who can grab and go after rebounds.
But he can get frenetic in traffic -- prodding into nothingness, missing passes, even colliding with teammates. Note James motioning for Horton-Tucker to pass once the play is dead:
Gaining James' trust can be hard for role players -- doubly so for blah shooters. Horton-Tucker played just 43 minutes alongside both James and Davis last season -- shockingly low, even given injuries to both L.A. superstars.
Still: It just feels like the best version of these Lakers -- both this season and maybe more pointedly next season -- involves a decent amount of Horton-Tucker.
