Will Riley

Offense

Will Riley is a young whose flashes of athleticism and shooting touch are intriguing, but whose offensive game is still largely a work in progress.

Riley is mostly a straight-line slasher with a strong first step and good acceleration. He can go from a slow dribble or standstill and burst quickly towards the hoop, but he otherwise has a very basic handle and can attempt a crossover or spin, but they’re don’t typically help him to actually advance the ball or beat defenders. If Riley can’t beat his defender with speed, he struggles to create separation.

If Riley can’t get to the hoop, he doesn’t have much of a midrange game at the moment.  He has a nascent step back jumper, but at this stage it is more theoretical as it doesn’t really go in much. He will also try to turn his back to the basket and post up, but doesn’t really have the strength of move defenders or the moves and footwork to be crafty inside, so it normally just leads to a tough fade or step back

When Riley does get inside, the results are a mixed bag.  The first thing that stands out is he has poor functional strength. Riley bounces off people inside and can miss some seemingly easy layins due to contact that disrupts his touch. However, he also has good speed, length, and can jump quickly to get an advantage and score.  However, he really struggles to finish versus length or congestion. He is a bit stiff without much bend although he has some fluidity with his arms. So when he can’t use some of his natural tools to get a good look, he doesn’t have good counters or answers and can put up some really bad shots.

Riley is a good shooter with a high release point and shows good touch when stationary or shooting in rhythm. However, the mechanics can break down off movement or off the dribble, as he struggles to square up and loses accuracy on the move.  He shot can also be a bit stiff at times.  And a few times he had to adjust to get his balance and it slowed down his release allowing the defense to contest.  But overall, he’s strong from the outside.

Additionally, Riley is an active off-ball mover. He’ll cut, relocate along the perimeter, and crash the offensive glass. His hands are reliable, and his quick second jump makes him a threat for putbacks and dunks.

He is just an ok rebounder who is better offensively than defensively.  He crashes the boards well on offense when there is a seam.  On defense, he mostly get balls that bounce out to the perimeter or fall right in his area largely uncontested.  He can get to the ball quickly, but doesn’t really have the strength or fight to rip the ball away from bigger players.

As a passer, Riley is solid. He’s unselfish and makes lots of passes to cutters and bigs, especially when he senses a double team or help coming in rotation. He can also make some kick outs, skips, ans baseline passes to the opposite corner when he drives. At a minimum his passing is certainly functional enough to fit as part of an NBA offense

His turnovers fall into three broad categories: First, poor passing judgment or accuracy. He made a few poor throws and either overestimated his abilities or missed the target badly.  Second, he can over-dribbling, which can lead to him getting stripped or committing travels and offensive fouls. And finally, he has a tendency to get sped up under pressure.  And when trapped or pressed, his decision-making can decline, leading to rushed or sloppy mistakes.

Defense

Defensively, Riley flashes tools and effort, but his impact varies with his matchups and physical limitations.

Riley has good lateral speed and is able to guard even quick perimeter players.  He covered Braden Smith at times in the Purdue game and did a credible job. He can play pretty far back off players.  Has hops and length to close the gap quickly on shots, but still may not be able to get away with that on the NBA. However, he’s is great at contesting shooters, as he has the speed, quick jumping, and length to react quickly and get a good contest.

Riley also demonstrates a strong ability to rotate and help and then still get back outside to offer at least a good contest.   However, his footwork and technique could use some refinement at times.  He doesn’t always take great angles which can leave him vulnerable to counters and blowbys.  Additionally, his lack of strength can get him caught in screens at times, but he mostly does a nice job as he can get skinny or quickly run under them.  And even if he gets hit, he can accelerate quickly coming off them to get back to his man   He also has good recovery speed to help cover for mistakes and get back in play to try to contest shots at the rim or from midrange.

One issue that hurts Riley on defense is he has a thin frame and lacks functional strength.  Players can get outside his frame to either turn the corner or get an angle to score inside.  Also they can bump him as they drive inside to get space to score. And in response if Riley prepares for contact and tries to push back, he makes himself vulnerable to counters like spin moves that players used to get some easy buckets at the hoop.  The question is how his frame will develop and how much strength he can add as he gets older 

Inside the arc, Riley’s effectiveness drops. While he has length and timing to contest shots, he lacks the size and physicality to offer much resistance in the paint. He’ll often try to avoid contact and instead swipe or contest from the side. Against stronger wings or bigs, he tends to get bumped off balance or drift away from the action.  To be clear, I don’t think he’s contact averse, as he will bump and be physical with guards and wings, this is specific to dealing with big me in the paint.

Off-ball, his awareness or focus can waver. He gave up several backdoor cuts and looked a step late recognizing some actions. He’s not low feel or consistently bad, but just sped up a bit. He’s very fast and at times his body can move faster than his processing. Hopefully as game slows down for him he can make better decisions and more of an impact.

He does have the tools to generate steals, using his length and speed to poke balls loose or shoot into passing lanes, but he oddly just didn’t seem to get many.