Scouting Report on Newest Spur Derrick Byars

[SilverSpur]

There is a reason why Derrick Byars was named SEC Player of the Year in 2007, and he didn’t take very long to show why here at the Showcase. Byars has quietly been having an excellent season in the D-League with Bakersfield, both individually and from a win/loss standpoint. As a 6-7 wing player with a terrific frame and length, Byars is always going to draw NBA interest. Beyond that, his skill-set continues to improve as well.

Byars is one of the best shooters the D-League has to offer, connecting on a ridiculous 49% of his 3-point attempts this season, on over 5 attempts per game. He is excellent with his feet set, and can get his shot off against most defenders relatively easily thanks to his terrific size. He’s also pretty effective pulling up off the dribble, as well as posting up and fading away for a turnaround jumper. Off the ball, he is extremely smart finding open spaces from which to cut to the basket and get easy looks at the rim. The fact that his team plays unselfishly and really knows how to space the floor definitely helps in this regard.

Just an average ball-handler at best, Byars is pretty limited in terms of creating his own shot from the perimeter. He has good strength but isn’t a great athlete, although he could certainly be considered above average at this level. He’s an unselfish player, though, who feeds off his teammates and looks content being a role-player, which is obviously what he would be if called up by an NBA team.

Defensively, Byars had a very positive showing here at the Showcase, as he has excellent physical tools to get the job done, but also displays nice fundamentals. His length allows him to contest shots effectively, and he slides his feet pretty well when defending the ball. He isn’t a very fiery or intense guy, though, and is surprisingly a relatively average rebounder, not always showing the type of hustle you might expect. This passivity seems to be something that shows up in his entire game, and might be what is holding him back from truly breaking out.

Byars isn't going to wow most people with an incredbily versatile skill-set or phenomenal athleticism, but he is a solid player with good tools and two very important NBA-level skills. Teams looking for a role-playing wing player who can step into a rotation, make shots and defend either the 2 or the 3 will probably give him a long hard look.

DraftExpressProfile: Derrick Byars, Stats, Comparisons, and Outlook

[Rodny21a]

At what point as a perennial NBA D-Leaguer do you not go overseas to make some decent money?
I mean Net income contracts.

Expresses Paid

Great Houses and Food.

Expanding cultural Horizons.

16 years work would equal a great retirement.

[SilverSpur]

Comment from a blogger who covers the DLeague team:

.

"It's an encouraging call-up after Tuesday's less-than-stellar signing of Xavier Silas by the Philadelphia 76ers. Hopefully he gets a chance to showcase his talents and, not to toot my own horn or anything, but this is a signing I've been advocating over the last couple of months."

Derrick Byars To Be Signed By San Antonio

Some video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SJ4R-U65xcM

[mckennaspur1]

Plan B if Danny Green decides to move on?

[Jose_TheGenius]

Originally Posted by mckennaspur1

Plan B if Danny Green decides to move on?

more like "we're gonna sit our best players and we need one more person to spot one of our other players" type of deal. we'll look into him more next year, but right now he's spotting minutes since the guys played last night.

[JuanCaca]

its the james anderson replacement...

[KAD]

he's just insurance and unlikely to see action unless something drastic happens

[Spurd_On]

I get the impression he could be useful after spending some time with Chip Engelland.

[grizzly_bexar]

Yeah, this isn't a guy we would have seen if we weren't sitting the big 3 and Neal got hurt.

[Guapo]

I agree that this could become James Anderson's replacement, but I would much rather see us replace James with a legit big and I'll just pretend that Patty Mills took his spot. :-)