Tyler Ennis: Cold as Ice

 Syracuse’s Floor General Seeks New Battlefields

Syracuse Freshman floor general Tyler Ennis might just be the first point guard taken on draft day. Marcus Smart might not be a PG and Dante Exum is an enigma so NBA GMs looking for new leadership at the 1 could very well select the cool, calm, and collected Canadian. The good news for Ennis is the draft is not swarming with PGs, the bad news is the league is fairly over saturated with young PGs already.

Ennis quickly became a sports media darling with his natural leadership ability at the point for a freshman. You could not watch a Syracuse game this year without hearing a color commentator drooling over his play, and for good reason. A pure point that looks to make plays for others before calling his own number, Ennis directed his Orange teammates like a symphony maestro. Ennis oozes intelligence and savvy without necessarily looking flashy by making simple passes and great decisions. Drive and kicks, post entry passes, extra passes; Tyler Ennis makes it all look easy, maybe too easy. Ennis can be a magician in the lane by finding teammates out of nowhere. In terms of floor vision and passing ability there may not have been a better player in college this year and his 5.5 assists and 1.7 turnovers per game help back that up.

Ennis is such an adept passer in part thanks to his scoring ability. He’s not a cold-blooded scorer or anything but a good enough shooter to keep defenses honest. He has solid, NBA-ready range and good elevation on his jump shot. Not a shooter per se but definitely not a guy you want to leave unguarded as he is more than capable of hitting clutch shots. At any rate, there is not much reason to think he cannot improve upon his respectable 35 percent from three.

Assessing a player’s defensive abilities when they play zone all year is generally a fool’s errand. Michael Carter-Williams certainly helped ease some GM’s concerns about his ‘D’ translating from ‘Cuse to the pros and Ennis has a lot of the same things going for him. Not as impressive a physical specimen as MCW, Ennis still comes in a solid package of 6’2″ tall with a 6’5″ wingspan. Using his length and basketball IQ Ennis is terrific at playing passing lanes and stripping opponents with his quick hands, averaging a nice 2.1 steals per game. On the downside, Ennis seems to possess very average athleticism and speed which may make him a defensive liability in today’s ‘no hand-checking’ NBA.

The lack of quickness and athleticism is his biggest weakness, contributing to a poor first step, lackluster finishing ability in traffic, and impeding his ability to create his own shot. These aren’t glaring faults but definitely something GMs will mull over, much like they did with Trey Burke last year. Generally, Ennis is able to smooth over these rough spots with his above-average handles and high IQ. Another slight knock is he is fairly old for a freshman, just ~2 months shy of his 20th birthday at draft time. Listed only at 180 lbs, Ennis will definitely have to add some muscle to his frame to endure the grueling NBA season.

Depending on how the draft plays out will decide how high Ennis goes on draft day. He’s a 2nd tier talent at best and more likely to go to a team needing a PG like Orlando or a solid backup like Chicago. He could see his stock drop from poor combine measurements or workouts because his game relies on an organized setting to shine. On the other hand, a GM could see him as the next Steve Nash and shock the world by reaching on him high in the lottery.

NBA comparison:  Jose Calderon, Jeremy Lin.