Ready to get back to it with some more scouting reports? Today, we’ll be trekking up to Nashville and talking about Vanderbilt University. Vanderbilt had a surprising year after breakout star Tyler Tanner led the Commodores to a 5 seed in the NCAA Tournament. This is a very analytically-inclined team with a lot of potential fantasy options. Lots to talk about! Let’s get to it.
Tyler Tanner
One of this year’s big breakout stars is Tyler Tanner, who has become one of the most statistically dominant players in the country. He spearheaded one of the most fun teams of the season with his electric play, passing, defensive playmaking, and his athletic plays well above his size as a 5’10 PG. (Note: He did withdraw but when I uploaded this, he was still in)
On Drives: 60/93 = 64.5%
On Layups: 100/161 = 62.1%
On Pullups: 11/36 = 30.1%
On Dunks: 17/18 = 94.4%
(Note: Shot charts for Vanderbilt players are not 100% accurate due to court and arena design)
So, let me make this pretty clear from the jump. If Tyler Tanner was taller, he’d easily be in the top 10 for me. However, you watch the NBA playoffs these last few weeks, and you can clearly see all of these smaller players getting hunted on defense. Tyler Tanner is smaller than the small guys getting beat on defense. Yes, he’s got great defensive numbers, a lot like Reed Sheppard. However, this one is just a much harder sell due to the size. Yes, he’s athletic and he should be able to compete on that front. However, if he gets an injury that limits his athleticism at all, he’s not going to play. Teams have routinely told us that they aren’t valuing these pure PG’s. I do expect a small shift to head back towards that, but the margin of error is so small.
A very simple query here: BPM of at least 10 and 5’10-6’0. What do we notice? Well, immediately, there’s not much in the way of good NBA players, frankly. Ty Lawson played for a while, but it’s a completely different era now. The only strong example is Fred VanVleet who went undrafted, and I kid you not, has 30 pounds on Tyler Tanner, which is a big reason why he’s been able to hang defensively like he has. Tanner will likely measure in with a better wingspan than VanVleet (a +1.5 WS) and played in a better conference. It’s worth noting that, of everyone on this list, Tanner is the only SEC player. Yes, Tanner’s steals and block numbers are great, but is that really enough to be able to hang defensively? If he gets stronger, he might be able to. Currently though, I think the answer is no. If you’re watching the NBA playoffs and seeing how physical the league and its teams that are left are right now, how are you envisioning Tyler Tanner playing in the playoffs at all? There’s a route where this could work, but there’s more obstacles here than I would like to even admit.