Trentyn Flowers Scouting Report
Wing-sized ball handlers who create paint touches in bunches are candidates to be early selections in the draft. But what else does Flowers have to offer? Find out more below.
When it comes to projecting a high-end outcome for a prospect, the combination of size and key intangibles is likely the one to succeed. At least this will lead to NBA franchises being more willing to give the player the ball touches and reps that it needs to be able to fulfill its potential.
The decision to change course and de-commit from Louisville to make the move to the NBL and play professional basketball was solely done to prepare Flowers much better for the above-mentioned scenario.
Physical Profile
At 6’8”, Flowers has a solid frame which he’s continuing to fill out as he gets older. The combination of explosiveness, hip mobility, and footwork is the first building block of a top-tier wing at the NBA level.
As an 18-year-old, Flowers is getting better at matching the intensity of professional basketball. While he’s visibly stronger as of today than compared to this past summer, Flowers continues to grow into his role as a solid starter for his team
Despite a 6’10” wingspan (+2 inches), Flowers plays with more length on both ends with the way he’s actively initiating contact, which is something the NBL referees allow more than their colleagues in the ACC would do.
Offense
Being able to consistently knock down three-pointers off-the-catch is something that’ll keep Flowers on an NBA floor early on in his career. After twenty games, he’s averaging 35.7% from deep on 1.4 attempts per game. That’s a decent number when taking the intensity of the NBL game and the lack of spacing into account. However, the sample size makes it less feasible in terms of shooting consistency in the long run.
When looking at his mechanics, Flowers does well by moving toward the ball instead of waiting for it. Despite him taking a tad too long to set his feet, the release is high, which he is showing consistently throughout the season, with the three plays below being examples of what to expect.
His explosiveness and burst are what sets Flowers apart from most of his peers. With generating paint touches being one of the most important things to create advantages for others, Flowers shows that he is fearless in attacking the rim. He has shown consistency when it comes to finding his looks down low.
However, with a finishing rate of 47% on almost three rim-attempts per game. Flowers tended to force the issue at times. This combined with his preferring to finish the play himself instead of making the pass, led to avoidable misses. NBA decision-makers should take this into account when creating their developmental plan for him.
A positive in the above-mentioned is that Flowers reacts very well to help the defense coming in, which led to him showcasing his footwork in the first play. But the lack of experience leads to tunnel vision when he feels like he has more space to finish with help defense sagging off, which was the case in the second play.
For someone who gets downhill as easily as Flowers does, having only two free-throw attempts per game would cause concerns. However, taking into account that the NBL allows more contact, that’s an important nuance to add.
However, while shooting 67.6% from the line, he shows that he has to improve to make his rim pressure translate to a higher offensive rating once he’s playing on an NBA floor.
When it comes to his foul-drawing abilities translating to the NBA level, Flowers shows that he’s improving in baiting opponents to allow him to initiate contact before his rim finishes. He’s consistently looking to enter the paint before he does so, which is another area that gives confidence to project that Flowers will be able to get himself to the foul line whenever he wants to at the next level.
The trend of more NBA teams prioritizing big men as hubs on the perimeter via hand-offs or action plays, fit well with Flowers’ strengths. With space to operate, it’s getting clear how dangerous his burst can be as a scorer.
While the lack of spacing makes it harder for Flowers to be consistent in finding enough room at the rim, the translation to the NBA will be easier with the three-second call being in place. With opposing big men being allowed to keep the paint occupied, Flowers is being challenged to be more creative in his ways to find his looks, which drastically helps his development.
The two plays below are examples of him having enough confidence to continue forcing the defense to accept that he’s getting deep in the paint, instead of settling for early runners or floaters.
The other side of the medal is being able to adjust when the offense isn’t working. And with Flowers, an NBA team is getting themselves a good passer and decision-making when creating for others.
The consistency of his executing live dribble passes isn’t there yet. And considering his age, that’s not an issue at this stage of his career. However, Flowers does show that he can execute basic reads and turn his ability to generate paint touches into easy looks for others.
In terms of his role as a playmaker, there is serious untapped potential in him being able to consistently make live dribble plays for others, as his handle is tight enough to be able to handle a larger amount of ball touches.
However, with that being further along in his career, Flowers should start with dump-offs after getting downhill and serve as a ball-mover on the perimeter, as shown in the two plays below.
On the offensive end, Flowers shows that he has a scalable game with serious long-term potential as a wing-scorer in the NBA. The handles combined with his ability to get self-created paint touches make him a dangerous offensive weapon that teams can utilize early on in his career.
Being able to consistently knock down open shots is a must to not hurt the team’s offensive rating too much, combined with his ability to move without the ball and to naturally get to his sweet spots on the court.
Defense
On the defensive end, it’s challenging for young players to consistently get enough trust from the coaching staff to keep continuing to play through mistakes. To build up some leverage, Flowers has to show that he has key intangibles that make it feasible that he’s improving the team with his presence on the court.
His defensive rebounding will be one of these intangibles. When evaluating his film, there was consistency in his boxing out on each play and using his quickness to add pace to the game by either being quick to get set on offense or carrying the ball upcourt himself, with the two plays below being examples.
However, Flowers will likely struggle early on in his career in defending against opposing pick-and-rolls. With him being the youngest player on the court in almost every game he’s playing in, there is a trend of opponents targeting him in halfcourt settings.
Although these are valuable reps for his development, Flowers is consistently struggling with his screen navigation. The lack of feel for the game in terms of where the opposing screener will lead to Flowers losing focus while he’s busy looking around to avoid the ball screen on time.
The most common effect of this is Flowers taking more risks after allowing the ball handler to get his separation, with the second play being a good example of the above-mentioned.
What’s encouraging for his development is that Flowers is more comfortable defending against actions run by opposing big men, such as hand-offs. By having to focus less on the ball handler, he’s much better capable of knowing where the potential rotation will be, leading to him showing more confidence on the defensive end.
The area of development in the next few years is his defensive footwork. Flowers is playing too reactionary on-ball defense, leading him to not slide his feet as well as he could, due to him being more vulnerable to losing his balance as he’s too aggressively trying to keep his man in front of him.
When considering the consistency of Flowers contesting hard on each shot and challenging ball handlers to beat him off the dribble, he will likely improve as a defender when actions are run against him.
Where we saw that Flowers can show tunnel vision when it comes to his rim finishes, the same applies to his rotations on defense. There’s a consistency of him rotating late, or being caught ball-watching. A part of it is related to his will to get stops and make winning plays himself, but another part is his lack of defensive awareness when it comes to his surroundings.
With opposing NBL teams making him the target in halfcourt settings, this aspect of his game may not stand out when evaluating his film. However, in possessions where he’s a team defender, Flowers shows that he’s late with his rotations more often than not. When preparing a developmental plan for him, this is an area that NBA decision-makers have to take in mind.
Another area of development is related to his upper-body strength. While he’s still filling out his frame at 18 years old, Flowers has shown that he struggles at defending bigger and stronger players down low.
When defending against cutters, Flowers shows that he’s recognizing his rotations much better than when opponents are actively switching and running motion offenses. This leads to Flowers being forced to switch from the three to the five, leading to him giving up easy baskets down low.
However, this part of his defense is something that’s expected of a young player still growing into his body. In the long run, improvements are imminent, but it’s still something that could be used against him by opposing scouting reports in the early stages of his NBA career.
NBA Draft Projection
There aren’t many NBA wings that can generate paint touches in bunches at 6’8”, which makes Flowers an intriguing prospect from an athletic point of view. Important intangibles such as executing playmaking reads and finding good looks near the basket give him a path to be able to be a potential high-end scorer further down his career.
On the defensive end, Flowers has things to clean up, with his ability to rotate timely and continue to get stronger than be able to switch to bigger players at the next level. Partially, this will improve with more reps, but the feel for the game on the defensive end is something Flowers has to improve if he wants to take the most out of his physical tools.
What makes the offensive potential feasible in the long run is that Flowers has tight enough handles to make his plays and that he’s a respectable shooter in a professional league. This makes it easier for teams to scale his role up and down to remain flexible in the early stages of his career.
Looking at his total profile and taking the above-mentioned into account, Flowers has the opportunity to be selected in the latter stages of the lottery of the 2024 NBA Draft, especially if he continues to improve throughout the second half of the season.