Jaylon Tyson | Point Forward | Cal

SG/SF Pick and Roll operator, off the bounce scoring wing

6"5.5' (not in shoes) 6"7 (in shoes) | 218 lbs | 21 years old (1.2.02) |

Stats in '24

20 pts | 7 rbs | 4 assists | 47% fg | 36% 3pt | 80% ft

Background:

Four-star recruit coming out of John Paul II High School in Piano, TX

Brother is a WR at Colorado

Played at three schools in his collegiate career

Mark Madsen (Cal HC) is known for his talent development, Tyson looked like a different player at Cal

Overachieved at Cal, carried a roster with multiple walk ons to a 13 – 19 record

Named All-Pac-12 First Team in '24

Strengths:

• played Point Forward at Cal, massively increasing his usage (30.1% usage, led his conference), and his assist % exploded while his to% actually reduced

• PnR operator capable of hitting the big, (83rd% in PnR)

• toughness: can rebound like a Forward (7 per game, 1.8 offensive), can drop a shoulder vs a college center and create space on the block

• strength finishes through contact with a soft touch at the rim (88th percentile: at the rim)

• speed/size combo makes him efficient in transition (94th percentile: transition)

• keeps his defender off balance hitting them with setups and counters, keeps defenders reacting to him to get to the rim

• shoots off the bounce well (76% percentile on pull ups off the dribble)

• Defensive versatility: guards PGs/SGs/SFs at times

• mid-post bag, has a back door spin that gets him to the rim before the rotating big can recover, can hit the fade-away, or can back you down and hit a hook

• smooth and long athletic wing (6'8 wingspan), defensively uses length to get into passing lanes (1.2 stls per game), capable of put back dunks

Weaknesses:

• not an elite athlete, quickness is good but not great, verticality is again good not great

• was forced into taking a lot of shots at Cal, needs to go on a shot diet in the NBA and cut out the tough takes

• played a completely different role at Cal than he will in the NBA

• 1 year of big time production in 3 yrs of NCAA ball

• more of a bucket-getter than spacing shooter, 1.6 three-pointers made per game

• 1:1 defense was, understandably, affected by his usage on offense at Cal, a bit of a projection that he will improve here with more focus on D

• position on defense? Does he have the foot speed to keep up with guards and strength to keep up with forwards?

• If he's not efficient off the bounce, he doesn't have a role in the league

Conclusion:

Jaylon's skillset of playmaking, efficient shot creation off the bounce, and rebounding on the wing are tailor made to some of our biggest needs

However, his usage at Cal leaves some questions:

Can he play off-ball on offense?

There's reason to believe he can:

• active cutter at 97th percentile cutting efficiency

• can space with 90th percentile catch & shoot efficiency

• has effortless range on his 3ball

Can he embrace his new role?

We won't know this till at earliest Summer League

• When he's no longer doing it all on offense will his 1:1 defense improve?

• Does he need the rhythm of being high usage to score efficiently?

• Can he cut out the bad shots/decisions he was, at times, forced into at Cal?

We have 10 to 11 guys vying for minutes as of now, Kenny Atkinson will play whoever plays the best regardless of age/locker room status, it will be hard for a rookie to be one of those guys this year in my opinion

The road to surpassing expectations and becoming part of the rotation starts in a few weeks in Las Vegas

Summer league is going to be really fun I would bet Porter Jr / Tyson/ Mobley / Emoni / Travers (Maybe Nance bc Diop is injured?) play in summer league and that's a good squad

Playing with a talented summer league team might be the best thing for Tyson, i'll be very interested to see how he plays around better talent

Comps:

ceiling: Kelly Oubre Jr / Josh Hart

likely: Caleb Martin

floor: Chris Douglas Roberts

Thanks for reading all the way through the profile! Be sure to share your thoughts in the comments!

Other odds and ends:

Tyson has said he models his game after Josh Hart and Caleb Martin

Take it from our GM "fills a lot of needs", "can play with many combinations of guys on our roster", "bpa", "too good to pass up"

I saw reports that the "cavs wouldn't take a 4 or 5 no matter what" – cbs sports

Tyson left Texas Tech in the wake of racially insensitive comments (HC Adams referenced Bible verses about workers, teachers, parents and enslaved people serving their masters, according to school officials.)

watch Tyson make this 60 foot shot at the end of the half, a lot of guys don't take that shot as to protect their 3pt percentage

I saw a Tums ad when the pick was in, shades of Joker and the taco bell ad?

source for percentile data