Taylor Hendricks

Offensively, Hendricks is a very easy player to slot into an NBA role, but a bit harder to figure out if he can deliver on further upside.  Hendricks primary value is as a shooter.  Hendricks moves well without the ball and is able to set off ball screens and get to his spots, making him a versatile weapon even without the ball in his hands.  Once he gets the ball, he is a good outside shooter who can get his balance and into his motion quickly and who has the length to utilize a high release point.  He shows some potential as a movement shooter relocating or popping out and getting his balance quickly, though he is not darting off screens or using motion like fellow draftees Gradey Dick or Jordan Hawkins anytime soon.  Hendricks is also strong when taking 1-2 dribbles to get into his rhythm or even utilizing an escape dribble.  However, even there he can be a bit more insistent with his balance and landing.  And if he tries to shoot off of any type of more advanced move, his accuracy declines and he has some pretty bad misses.  Hendricks has solid handles for a wing, but he’s fairly mechanical and tends to lean on straight line drives with the occasional spin or crossover, but he does not have much in the way of shake or great countermoves.  Once inside, Hendricks can finish with a viscous dunk if he has space, but plays more below the rim when there is even mild congestion blocking his path to the hoop.  He also doesn’t have great hops in traffic, hangtime, or touch for socing inside.  And he is not very fluid with little bend on his drives or attempts, looking a bit stiff.  However, he does already have good size and strength to absorb contact and still score and this could develop further as he matures.  With his size, Hendricks can do the occasional post move, especially when cross matched, but at this point in his development, his post moves are mostly rising to shoot over his defender.  When matched with someone closer to his size and athleticism, he struggles to create from the post.  It’s hard to see him as a major post weapon at the next level, but he can use this tool opportunistically on smaller players.  Hendricks is a solid passer, he’s unselfish and willing, but most of his passes were pretty basic tosses around th eperimter or an escape valve when he couldn’t get an good scoring lane.  He flashed some high post passing, but also doesn’t appear to have great vision yet an dmade some poor passes when clear angles weren’t there (or there was some congestion).  He also struggled a bit when he needed to make a quick decision or read.  He also needs to tighten his handles as he had some turnovers when he tried to do more than a straight line drive.  Hendricks doesn’t seem to really “feel” the defense or sense where pressure is coming from and was vulnerable to digs and help.  Hendricks does also show some potential as a cutter and can score hitting the offensive glass.

Defensively, Hendricks has the tools to be an impactful defender.  He has long strides that allow him to cover ground quickly.  And he has the length and springiness to help on the perimeter and contest shooters.  His long arms and good timing help him to contest and block shots both on his man and providing weakside help inside without fouling at a high rate (does a good job of going straight up and not hacking at the ball).  In fact his great timing, coupled with his length and solid hots allowed him to get some very impressive blocks on high arching runners that seemed to almost defy physics.  Hendricks overall is a solid help defender, who does a good job of rotating and communicating with his teammates.  What shines here is he is an absolute hustler on deense with a great motor who is always looking to contest shots and help his teammates.  Hendricks also has the strength to absorb contact inside and will provide good congestion and rim protection as he continues to add strength.  One small issue is that he does have a tendency to get caught ball watching and loses his man at times.  Players don’t always get punished for that by NCAA shooters, but he will need to clean that up at the next level. Hendricks is also a good perimeter defender.   His lateral speed is good, but not great.  And he only has a decent ability to change direction and react to countermoves.  Because he is so long and springy, he is able to play a couple steps off of quicker, smaller players and still contest their shots.  However, he can be vulnerable to quick blow bys from speedier guards or susceptible to countermoves and he can play back far enough that he is a bit susceptible to pull ups and step backs from quicker players.  Hendricks appears to be a solid P&R defender.  But UCF switched a lot of screens, which is both a credit to his versatility, but also made it a bit tougher to see how he navigated screens or would operate in situations in the NBA where he couldn’t just switch and wanted to avoid being hunted.  Overall, Hendricks