https://www.theonlycolors.com/2021/6/25/22541587/nba-draft-profile-michigan-state-spartans-aaron-henry-scout-and-statistical-profileHenry projects as a rare plus on-ball defender at the next level — even more so than he did last year. He has terrific feet, hands, length, timing, and understands when and where to use his physicality. There were games that Henry simply dominated on the defensive end where he improved his steal and block percentages to 2.4 and 4.1, respectively. He proves adept at reading the game, understanding other teams’ actions, and blowing up plays on-ball and off-ball. This will be his calling card initially as a professional.
Henry’s off-the-dribble creation improved dramatically this season (evoking his high school years where he played as a point-forward). Often going against set-defenses, Henry proved able to beat players off-the-dribble, and to slash off of catches and curls from the wing.
Henry remains an excellent and confident finisher with both hands on a variety of reverses, off-foot finishes, push shots, tear-drops, and hooks. Significantly, Henry also showed the ability to play off of two-feet and off of one-foot in the paint — an athletic dynamism that is important in the NBA. Henry had 10 dunks this year (on 13 attempts), but he continues to finish well around the rim when he isn’t dropping off passes, which is one of his underrated skills: for his entire college career Henry has been a terrific paint-area passer through and around help— and this will really maximize his NBA role as a secondary creator and paint-breaker....After this past season, Henry’s ball-handling and individual shot-creation and finishing (in the mid-range and at the rim) should put NBA teams on notice. In fact, Henry finished as a top-five mid-range shooter in the entire nation....Henry’s mid-range output (roughly six mid-range attempts per game at 46 percent) is in the same range as guys like Khris Middleton, Jamal Murray, and Jeremy Lamb (current NBA players) — I am not saying he will be those guys, but from a mid-range scoring perspective he is not dissimilar coming out of college, and, in fact, is a better mid-range shooter than those players were in college.
After a more quiet year last year in terms of dunks, Henry amped up his transition dunks and landed (and attempted) far more dunks in the half-court (almost all off of one foot; to complement his jump-stop finishing). Henry’s self-creation and efficiency at the rim and in the mid-range is impressive, particularly considering the awful spacing he had to deal with.
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While the three-point percentage looks ugly on its face — especially given Henry’s solid 35.6 percent mark over his first two seasons (129 attempts) — the granular detail of Henry’s shooting season tells a far different story. In non-conference play, adjusting to the absence of fans, a new, much-larger role, an unexpectedly bad team, and dire shot-quality due to poor point guard-play, Henry started the year making just six of 26 shots from three-point range (23 percent). But over the rest of the season, Henry shot 18-of-55 from three point range, for 32.7 percent from beyond the arc. In fact, in the second half of the year (from the Iowa game onwards; i.e. the last 14 games of the season) Henry shot 15-of-38 from three-point range, for a superb 39.5 percent — while maintaining a high degree of shot-difficulty.
On the offensive end, Henry was given a larger role after Cassius Winston left for the League. His usage took a major bump, going from 19.7% to 27.2%. His true shooting barely took a hit, from 52.7% to 52.1%, which is not a spectacular number, but it does suggest scalability. Starting with the outside shot, Henry has been trending in the wrong direction. From 38.5% 3P% his freshman year to 34.4% and finally to 29.6% this past season, Henry has now settled in at a 33.3% career three point shooter on 210 attempts. The shot obviously hasn’t progressed the way that he or anyone who has been scouting him over the years would have hoped. To add further context, Michigan State’s roster was much more complete in his first two seasons, especially at the point guard position, where Cassius set the table skillfully for Henry and everyone else. According to Synergy, Henry was in the 92nd percentile on catch-n-shoot attempts (1.299 PPP on 67 possessions) his sophomore year with Cassius and 26th percentile (0.818 PPP on 55 possessions) this past season. Going from an All-Time college point guard to a couple underclassmen will probably diminish the quality of looks that shooters get. Still, at the end of the day, those are shots that have to fall. As a career 72.9% free throw shooter (221 attempts), I choose to be optimistic about the standstill shooting, considering it will be paired with his tremendous defensive value.
He ranked in the 71st percentile (0.901 PPP on 81 possession) on off-the-dribble shots, per Synergy. The 46 unassisted two point jumpers may be somewhat skewed, as some of those may have been better categorized as jump hooks. It should also be noted that the perimeter shots were not without some bad misses.....In general, the finishing touch right at-the-rim was questionable, but his floaters were actually very strong for him, ranking in the 93rd percentile on runners, per Synergy (1.173 PPP on 52 possessions). Henry also showed some nice chops in the post, elevating over defenders for short jump hooks. I like the idea of him taking on smaller or even like-sized guards in the post with that ability. Overall, he uses pretty good footwork and a decent amount of pump fakes, but sometimes he can get caught in a tough spot with over-pivoting. I like the fundamental foundation of his finishing ability.
7/11/2021 8:48 PM