San Francisco Chronicle - (Sunday)
Iowa State’s Haliburton owns intriguing skill set
Iowa State men’s basketball coach Steve Prohm sat down in his office last September with Tyrese Haliburton and the sophomore guard’s parents, John and Brenda, to prepare for what figured to be a chaotic season.
For about a halfhour, Prohm talked about limiting the distractions — agents, scouts, national media — that highly touted NBA prospects must navigate. This might have seemed odd to the casual observer, given that Haliburton had averaged 6.8 points per game as a freshman.
But Haliburton’s play can’t be distilled to traditional stats, which is why, after watching him help lead Team USA to a gold medal at the U19 World Cup in Greece last summer, NBA front offices started to view him as a firstround draft pick. A year removed from that meeting in Prohm’s office, Haliburton — a once overlooked recruit — has transformed himself into a likely top10 selection in October’s draft.
Some prognosticators believe he could go No. 2 to the Warriors, who are known to like long, versatile playmakers in Haliburton’s mold. His feel for the game, willing defense, passing ability and efficient shooting might make him the ideal prospect to help maximize what’s left of an aging core’s prime.
Haliburton can play both guard positions and small
forward, which would give head coach Steve Kerr flexibility with his lineups. It doesn’t hurt that Haliburton, who wasn’t made available for this story, is an easygoing teammate who would fit Golden State’s laidback ethos.
“You look at Golden State’s personnel and style of play, and I’m not sure there would be a better place for Tyrese to land,” said Prohm, who watches video of the Warriors to study their ball movement. “He’d immediately understand the spacing they preach, and I know he’d love learning from Steph (Curry), Klay (Thompson) and Draymond (Green).”
Fifteen years ago, before analytics became part of scouts’ evaluation process, Haliburton probably wouldn’t have been lottery bound. Unlike many of his highusage peers, his greatness is rooted in what he doesn’t do on the court.
Haliburton seldom attempts bad passes or shots. Before suffering a seasonending wrist injury in early February, he averaged 15.2 points on 50.4% shooting (41.9% from 3point range). His 6.5 assists tied for 11th in the nation.
Equipped with a 6foot7.5inch wingspan, the 6foot5, 175pound Haliburton is a master at getting into passing lanes and making life difficult on the opponent’s top scorer. In nearly twothirds of his games last season, he nabbed at least three steals.
“The thing people love about him is that he directly impacts winning as much as anyone else in this draft class,” said a
Western Conference scout, who spoke under the condition of anonymity because he’s not authorized to talk publicly about the draft. “His understanding of spacing is elite. The guy just doesn’t make a ton of mistakes.”
Haliburton’s basketball IQ was forged at a young age, when he often stayed up late watching YouTube videos of Magic Johnson and LeBron James with his dad, a high school referee in their hometown of Oshkosh, Wis. By the time he got his driver’s license, Haliburton had made a habit of getting up shots at Oshkosh North High’s gym around 2 or 3 a.m.
Most players of his caliber join AAU teams affiliated with Adidas, Nike or Under Armour, but Haliburton stuck with his grassroots program, Wisconsin United, out of loyalty to head coach Bryan Johnikin. This limited Haliburton’s recruitment because United didn’t participate in the shoesponsored tournaments that draw hundreds of college coaches.
Entering the summer before his senior year at Oshkosh North, Haliburton had received interest only from midmajor programs. Northern Iowa, which has never sent a player to the NBA, was his frontrunner.
During a recruiting trip to Las Vegas that July, an Iowa State assistant encouraged Prohm to stop by a lowertier tournament to watch Haliburton. Within 10 minutes, Prohm knew that the gangly teenager had the court vision, creativity and leadership the Cyclones needed.
Brenda Haliburton assumed that her son would redshirt to add muscle, but Prohm realized during the first week of practice that Tyrese was one of Iowa State’s best five or six players. Playing mostly off the ball as a freshman, Haliburton averaged 33.2 minutes per game for a 2312 team, shooting 68.5% on 2pointers and posting an assisttoturnover ratio of 4.5to1.
When NBA scouts visited Cyclones practices that season to see future secondround picks Marial Shayok and Talen HortonTucker, they often told Prohm, “Tyrese is your best prospect.” Haliburton probably could have gone in the early second round that year, but he wanted to assume more of a leadership role with Iowa State and boost his draft stock. Last summer, when he arrived at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs to compete for a spot on the 19andunder World Cup team, Haliburton wasn’t sure whether he’d make the roster. But after beating out elite high school recruits who had Team USA experience, he emerged as a steadying force for a group loaded with future NBA players.
In 24.7 minutes per game, Haliburton averaged 6.9 assists to guide the U.S. to a 70 record and a gold medal. Scouts who’d barely noticed him as a freshman were touting him as a potential franchise point guard.
As the Cyclones’ goto option last season, Haliburton organized a young team, maintained his efficiency and cemented his case as a lottery pick. After Haliburton broke his left wrist in a Feb. 8 win over Kansas State, Prohm invited him to his house and thanked him for all he’d done for the program.
The two didn’t discuss the NBA, but Prohm knew that Haliburton had played his final college game. The plan his parents and Prohm outlined for him last September worked.
Now, as Haliburton trains in Milwaukee with Johnikin, he is left to wonder where his NBA career will take him. If Prohm had his pick, it’d be San Francisco.
“Tyrese would be a perfect fit in Golden State,” Prohm said. “In my mind, that’s not even a question.”