Sy Chatman Scouting Report
With a continuously changing four position, teams look to add talent to their G League roster. Chatman is a candidate. What's the intrigue? What will be his role? Find out below.
Connecting forwards are becoming one of the most wanted commodities in the NBA. Being able to differentiate both roles as an off-ball screener and ball mover while also being ready to convert open threes is what NBA decision-makers look for. In the case of some areas of development, teams are likely betting on it to develop in the G League while signing them to a two-way or Exhibit 10 contract. That’s if the feasibility test shows a positive outcome with this scouting report being a part of it.
While scoring over 18 points per game on 54.8%, Chatman shows his durability while starting in all 31 games this season after taking a medical redshirt in the 2022-23 season. The fifth-year senior took on a high-usage role, showing important flashes for a scalable game at the pros. He took great care of the ball at a 13.8% turnover rate and took on the role of the de facto leader of his team.
Chatman is mentioned earlier in the Undrafted Free Agency Guide Part II piece which was published a few days ago, where the focus in this scouting report will be on Chatman’s potential role in the NBA.
Physical Profile
At 6’8”, Chatman plays as a bruiser-typed forward. He has a great frame and a strong upper body that helps him absorb contact from the average NBA forward and center. Despite being heavy-footed at 227 pounds, Chatman shows good hip mobility and footwork makes him an effective post presence.
While he can play both as a four and a five in college, Chatman’s length and toughness led to playing as a help-side defender while roaming to the perimeter as well. That’s what opens up his NBA potential, with NBA decision-makers likely intrigued by his 7-foot-1 wingspan1. With decent footwork, Chatman compensates for his heavy feet.
Laterally, he has decent quickness, with a strong last step that helps him to serve as a closeout defender in the NBA. With a non-consistent pivot foot placement in his last step, there’s room for improvement at the next level.
Defense
Chatman’s defense against closeouts will be crucial for his NBA potential. With his decent footwork and lateral quickness, he quickly gets to the perimeter. However, there are two areas of development for him to work on at the next level: positioning and his pivot foot.
In the first play, Chatman shows good flashes of getting better in the future, as he does well to put his pivot foot upon the ball handler changing sides. However, he was a tad too slow on his recovery after the strong side was attacked as a quicker NBA-level guard would have blown by him on this play, despite the block at the rim being an impressive reward for his defensive intensity.
The second possession shows Chatman losing his closeout battle as he’s focusing on getting at 270 degrees of his assignment, whereas forcing the ball handler to go one direction would have helped him to recover. In this play, the ball handler could choose both sides, leading to Chatman having to compensate for the ground. That made him more vulnerable to getting brought out of position after the hesitation move.
We see the same lack of positioning on the closeout in the third play below, leading to a wide-open baseline drive and dunk attempt. An issue in both plays here is Chatman not setting his feet quick enough, leaving him more vulnerable to getting beaten off the dribble with the driving lane given up. His overall defensive footwork is decent, which will quickly get better if the last step on closeouts improves with better positioning. That’s an area of development for NBA decision-makers to add to his developmental plan.
In the fourth play, Chatman’s issue positioning-wise becomes clear. Instead of relocating from the interior, he’s staying around the three-point line, making it hard for himself to stay at 180 degrees against his closeout assignment. Despite decent ground recovery on the dribble penetration, he’s positioning himself at a disadvantage by letting the scorer have a clear path to the hoop after the jump-stop. If he closes out by staying in front of his assignment instead of being at the side, Chatman can ensure a decent look to contest its shot at the rim. Positioning-wise there’s much to gain for him at the next level.
As a pick-and-roll defender, Chatman uses his length to his advantage, while playing in a drop-coverage-focused scheme at Buffalo. In the first play, the deep ball screen leads to Chatman correctly dropping to crowd the paint with the dribble penetration being the likely outcome. However, he did well here to attack the ball handler after he utilized the ball screen and got separated, where Chatman took away the pull-up jumper while forcing his opponent to beat him off the dribble.
Another area of development for Chatman is that he’s often caught ball-watching. In a quicker NBA game with more fluid ball movement, plays as the second possession below will hurt a team’s defensive rating. Another concern NBA decision-makers will address in their evaluation is the lack of effort at times, especially when getting blown by as shown in the third play below. Instead of going for the defensive box-out or at least switching to cover a potential drop-off or kick-out pass, Chatman watched the outcome of the play instead.
The last play below shows the intensity of Chatman when he’s putting all his energy into the play. Despite sliding his feet decently, the burst from the ball handler was too much to stay in front of laterally, whereafter Chatman corrects his play with the block from behind. This will likely be a scenario that will continue at the next level.
Against cutter, Chatman is well-positioned to impact passing lanes and serve as a help-side defender to strengthen the interior. In the first possession, Chatman does well to rotate to the roll man who exploits the ball-watching pick-and-roll defenders to come up with the block. The same applies to the fourth play below, where Chatman is the de facto rim protector, using his defensive awareness to rotate to the roller to get the block by using his strong upper body as a brick wall. His instincts as a help-side defender are what NBA decision-makers will see as an asset.
Plays like these are where Chatman thrives on making winning plays on defense. It resulted in 49 blocks throughout the season, ranking him fourth in the MAC in that category With good awareness, Chatman comes up with the steal after impacting the passing lane in the dropoff pass to the cutter, piling up the steals throughout the year by averaging over one per game.
We see a positive display in Chatman’s rotations as well. The second possession shows him staying committed to his assignment despite the switch attempt via the off-ball screen, whereafter he uses his decent lateral quickness to keep the scorer in front of him, where he doesn’t have to leverage his strength advantage, thus minimally risking picking up a foul. Chatman completes the play with an impressive rebound in traffic.
When defending against spot-up shooters, Chatman is often caught overcommitting with his rotations and help defense. This leads to him having to cover more ground in his closeouts, opening up open shots for his opponents. In the first play below, he has a teammate rotating to cover the dribble penetration, whereas Chatman has to cover the weak-side in case a kickout pass occurs, with the elbow and corner being open. After closing out, Chatman had to cover the corner instead of the shooter so as not to get burned by a potential touch pass, leaving the opponent with either an open three or a wide-open driving lane at the baseline.
The second play is where NBA decision-makers will hold the lack of interest and effort on the defensive play against him. As one of the team’s more experienced players, he has to set an example and show leadership and all the effort he can where Chatman gave up on the play, not even getting into defensive box-out mode after the three-point shot got off.
Despite being in the same game, we see a better closeout from Chatman in the third possession below, where he burns himself as overcommitting with his help defense leads to him having to cover up for too much ground on the closeout. The last play below shows a similar outcome, where Chatman again overcommits with his help defense after the entry pass, bailing out his opponents by offering them the opportunity to kick the ball out. His positioning and help defense are two major areas of development an NBA decision-maker has to address in its evaluation of Chatman’s draft profile.
Offense
After taking only 35 three-point attempts in his first four seasons of college, Chatman used his medical redshirt season to expand his game with a three-point jumper. He increased the volume to 144 threes attempted in his fifth year, converting them to a 25.7% rate. However, in this stage of his career, the efficiency is less relevant due to him becoming a shooter after being a non-shooter for the majority of his career.
While having the first year playing over 1,000 minutes, Chatman knew that he had to become a knockdown shooter to eventually play consistent minutes at the next level. An NBA decision-maker will be intrigued by his development and has to further invest in offering him reps by letting him play for their G League affiliate. When looking at his jumper, the consistency of his jumper stands out.
Chatman is slow to set his feet, which forces him to use jab steps and fakes to get more room to launch for the jumper. With decent footwork, he must become more fluid by setting his feet to power up for the shot. Another positive is that Chatman is strong enough to power up for his jumper while keeping the ball high. He bends his knees while powering up for the jumper with the ball above his chest, rather than powering up from his waist, which you often see with most other prospects. The third and fourth plays are examples to show the consistency of his jumper.
To make improvement more feasible, Chatman should experiment with starting with popping to the midrange as well, as he did in the second play below. While shooting at 34.3% from the midrange, the below-average number does give enough flashes that future improvement is imminent. Another positive is that despite the slow release, Chatman is consistent with it, which is the base to eventually become a more consistent shooter via more reps. One season of college basketball shouldn’t fully decide his future as a shooter, thus making the first alinea in this segment an important one for NBA decision-makers to consider in their evaluation.
At 1.3 assists per game, the numbers don’t suggest activity as a playmaker. However, an NBA scout will be intrigued by Chatman’s ability to serve as quick decision-making and ball-moving duties at the four. With most NBA teams wanting to play fast while keeping the ball moving, a four must respond to opponents’ hard-hedging or even blitzing opposing point guards.
Therefore, having a playmaking hub in the middle who can execute basic reads with good court vision will lead to a team committing fewer turnovers and raising its offensive rating by finding better opportunities. This will also lead to the opponent seeing less incentives in scheming to attack the ball handler early in the shot clock.
Another advantage is that Chatman gives signs to be able to play inverted pick-and-rolls or serve as the ball handler. Eventually, when he’ll be more consistent from three, teams can’t sag off him too much, opening up his playmaking ability as a pick-and-roll creator. In the first play, he does well to timely hit the rolling cutter to the basket. Executing basic reads consistently will lead to a team trusting him with more ball touches. His reps to improve as a shooter in the G League will also be used to find more comfort with his playmaking duties.
In the second play, we see an example of his quick decision-making after the entry pass. With the decent doubling him to take away the post-game, it opened up the corner shooter who got timely fed with the pass, as it took Chatman less than a second to kick the ball out. Keeping the ball high is what opens up the game for Chatman, giving it a Marc Gasol-esque style of execution.
There’s a similar execution in the third play below, where the entry pass to the short corner area leads to the opponent immediately doubling him, whereas Chatman again looks composed in his decision-making to hit the shooter located above the break. The same composure is shown in the last possession below where he’s keeping the ball moving with a quick pass from the corner. His court vision is what an NBA decision-making will see as a plus value for his role as an NBA four.
Chatman’s strength advantage and fluid body control made him one of the better interior finishers in the Mid-American Conference. He seals off his opponents very well, using his activity to generate easy looks down low, where his teammates feed him the ball consistently. At 41 dunks on the season, while finishing his rim attempts at 64.2%, that’s a good number for Chatman to show the effectiveness of his play-finishing nature. The last play is an example of how smart he relocates in the interior, focusing on making himself the forgotten man.
For the next level, Chatman has to continue to play as an active cutter, where his shooting gravity will lead to him operating from outside more often than not, opening up his cuts and drives to the rim, with defenses having to respond, rather than focusing on post-ups or fighting through contact from the inside out. Therefore, it adds value to his shot development as he can use that as leverage to continue to get easy looks, as shown in the second and third plays below.
Chatman has a good feel for the game when it comes to recognizing how plays evolve and when it’s the right moment to cut. As an active cutter, NBA teams focusing on motion will see his activity as a positive. After the ball handler gets doubled, Chatman does well to relocate to the weak side in the third play, making it easy for the teammate at the short corner to hit him with the pass with the good cut through the middle, getting the and one. Being a reliable shooter at 69.4% on over five free-throw attempts per game adds value to his play-finishing nature around the arc.
To solidify his chances to be on an NBA floor, Chatman has to develop his self-creation out of closeouts. In a reduced role, closeouts are an effective way to show why he should earn more usage in the future. However, the outcome as of today is underwhelming. And that’s okay. NBA decision-makers can freely bet on it to develop via their G League affiliate. As a part of the context, Chatman was never asked to be a self-creating scorer via closeouts, whereas it was a natural outcome due to his role expanding at Buffalo this year.
In the first play, he shows tunnel vision due to forcing the shot despite the opportunity to kick the ball out to the upper corner. That’s an area an NBA decision-maker will hold against him in terms of short-term value. Being able to make the right play and keeping the ball moving is essentially his role as a connecting forward. However, the second and third plays show flashes of Chatman making the right reads offensively with the fake handoff (second play) and timely closeout attack in the third possession.
In a reduced role, that’s how the effectiveness should look like. On a better-spaced NBA floor in the G League, Chatman’s focus on developing as a shooter will lead to him being in the corner more often than not, opening the opportunity for him to improve his plays out of closeouts. In terms of recognizing value, his attacking the closeout rather than settling for an open three with his percentages was the right decision in the last possession below.
NBA Draft Projection
At 23 years old2, Chatman fits the mold of a connecting forward who will continue to develop in the G League. After playing over 500 minutes in his first three years, he compensated for the lack of playing time by putting over 1,500 minutes played to his name in his last two seasons of college.
For an NBA decision-maker, here are the above-mentioned areas summarized:
Strengths
Great connective passer. Makes quick decisions as both a ball mover while able to execute basic reads consistently. He shows flashes of short-roll playmaking that NBA teams can experiment with.
Chatman is a developing shooter with consistent mechanics. He piled up the volume in his last year while barely shooting for four years straight. He needs time to develop his jumper to an NBA level.
He uses his length and defensive reads well to impact the game in his defense against cutters; an area he will impact in right out of the gates. Chatman shows good promise as a team defender but lacks consistency in effort, raising questions about his work ethic and motor.
Areas of development
Chatman doesn’t show flashes of being able to create his offense, either off the dribble or via closeouts. This makes him a utility player that has to be facilitated to be productive. That’s a risk to a team’s offensive rating, thus lowering his chances to play NBA minutes early in his career.
His defensive positioning is underwhelming. Chatman struggles to use his pivot foot to his advantage in his overall defensive footwork and positions himself at a disadvantage more often than not when he is closing out to the perimeter. That’s the most crucial area of development an NBA decision-maker should focus on improving.
Is often caught ball-watching. This puts pressure on a team’s defensive rating as it leads to the defense collapsing both when defending against cutters or the pick-and-roll.
Based on the above-mentioned strengths and areas of development alongside the details in this scouting report, I project Sy Chatman to be an undrafted free agent. He’ll garner interest in signing a two-way contract. But I eventually expect teams to focus on raising his value via the G League first before committing with NBA minutes in the form of a two-way contract. That makes him signing an Exhibit 10 contract the most likely outcome.
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The source for the wingspan is Sy Chatman himself. There’s no third-party measurement available to confirm the number.
Sy Chatman’s date of birth is July 8, 2000, personally confirmed by him. There’s a date of birth floating around online which is a false one.