![]() Watching James will be a lot easier from El Segundo. ![]() I like to watch a lot of basketball, try to take from anybody that I can watch.” “So like LeBron and Draymond (Green), watch two-guards like Bradley Beal. “I actually watch a lot of guys who do a lot of things,” he said. He doesn’t model his game on any specific player – he prefers to draw from a variety of influences. While he was just a 31 percent 3-point shooter last year, he said NBA teams have told him they think he can improve that figure over time with relentless repetition. He thinks he can play up to four offensive positions and guard two or more positions on defense. Of course, the sunny interpretation of all these characteristics is that Horton-Tucker typifies the “positionless” basketball profile that every NBA front office professes to desire these days. He’s more a crafty shotmaker than an athletic finisher, somewhat streaky from deep, and while his reach has helped him make defensive plays, it’s unclear how well that will translate to the next level. No particular statistical category stands out for him, and at a stocky 6-foot-4 with an uncommonly long wingspan, he doesn’t fit a particular physical profile. Positional uncertainty has followed Horton-Tucker for much of his career. ![]() “Whenever we talk, they always talk about staying consistent.” “Always keeping the chip on your shoulder is probably the most important thing they always tell me,” he said. Horton-Tucker only played one season for the Cyclones, but he said he’s plugged into some of the ISU alums in the NBA. 2 in the Western Conference in the regular season. Iowa State is a blue-collar Big 12 program that has produced under-the-radar NBA talent, most notably Monte Morris who had a strong season as a rotation player for a Denver Nuggets team that finished No. As a senior, he scored 26 points against top-ranked Monteverde Academy and future No. He was a three-time Chicago Public League champion at Simeon High School, the proving grounds for Derrick Rose and Jabari Parker. He comes from established Midwestern basketball pipelines. Horton-Tucker’s selection is the realization of a childhood dream for the 18-year-old Illinois native, who said he first thought he could be an NBA player when he was four.
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