Profile of Kyle Guy who ‘executed’ Real Madrid: His stats, rookie season and playoff blast

Kyle Guy (26 years old, 1.85 m) is the face of the day in Europe. THE 30 with which he defeated Real made him viral. The American had certainly shown his rehearsals a few days earlier, when he scored a direct hit with 9 threes against Baskonia and then helped Badalona complete the surprise elimination of the Basques.

Guy seemed like he was suddenly in the spotlight. It makes sense that this would happen when a player suddenly loads two EuroLeague teams’ baskets with three-pointers. In addition, in the playoffs – after three games – the American has an average of 29.3 points, 2 rebounds and 3 assists, with 56.8% three-pointers (7/12.3 per game) in 32 minutes of participation while he was in The regular season had 11.5 points, 1.7 rebounds and 2.1 assists averaging 34.5% on 3-point shots in 22 minutes of participation.

The Sportish introduces Kyle Guy who has been driving people nuts for the past few weeks.

The NBA draft pick and why he didn’t make it to the NBA

Kyle Guy came to the fore in leading Virginia College to the NCAA title in 2019 when he was named the Final Four’s MOP (Most Outstanding). This led to him being picked 55th by the Kings in the 2019 NBA draft, which wasn’t exactly ideal for him.

Guy played in an organization that struggled a lot until last year (this season the team lifted its head and returned to the playoffs) and never found his role. Being practically an undersized shooting guard rather than a pure point guard, he had few chances.

The Heat, a team traditionally taking chances on players that some other teams…threw away, gave him a chance last season, but he didn’t fit in there either, as his offensive strengths were good enough to offset his defensive weaknesses . . Badalona popped up somewhere there last summer. And the facts have changed.

Badalona was the ideal team to start it

In Badalona, ​​Guy found a team that suited him. A team that gave him the freedom of movement he needed in a league like Spain’s and could help him play to his strengths. This also led to an excellent rookie season.

As an undersized shooting guard, he initially had the ideal partner at his side for his characteristics: Guillaume Vives, a pass first point guard of good height (1.92 meters) who can cover any defensive weakness. At the same time, the explosive Dominican Andres Feliz (25 years old, 1.88 meters) completed an explosive guard trio that combined speed and execution.

The problem for Guy wasn’t just the two guards flanking him, however. There were four tall players in the squad (2.17m Ande Tomic and 2.09m Simon Bigrander in center and 2.08m Henry Ellenson and 2.10m Vladimir Bonjanski as power forward) who gave enough size in Badalona to the problems of the “short” perimeters are not visible, while the rest of the players who had time to participate in the positions of shooters and forwards (Parra, Busquets, Krag are all 2 meters tall and Pau Ribas is 1.94 meters tall) , were also large .

After overcoming Guy’s biggest mistake, Badalona was now able to play to his strengths as well as those of Ande Tomic.

Its competitive profile and the way it was used

Guy is a Guardian with great execution skills. He can shoot great when dribbling, he can play pick and roll as a secondary creator (he practically prepared the pick and roll in Badalona this year). But his main advantage is that he’s a demon off the ball.

The way he moves and captures screens is superb, reminiscent of other players who – not coincidentally – have had a career in Spain. That means players like Jaycee Carroll, Kyle Curic or Matt Thomas. Guy isn’t at that level when it comes to off-screen execution, as evidenced by his 34.5% 3-point shot rate this year in the regular season, a result of several difficult shots he’s made. But he’s a player who can perform very well in such situations and give his team options.

Playing on a team that supports a lot of handoffs and off-screen plays, Guy shone as the perfect complement to Ande Tomic, who made … known under the basket. With this style of play, Badalona made it all the way up to 7th place in the regular season and eventually shocked Baskonia in the playoff quarterfinals while also aiming to do the same for Real.

Is he a EuroLeague player?

Whenever a player is fired against EuroLeague-level teams in a league, that’s the first question that comes up. Can he pass to the next level? In Guy’s case, the answer lies more or less in how he behaved in his rookie season at Badalona.

The American Guard was in the ideal environment for him. A team that was big enough to cover his defensive weaknesses, that has a lot of systems and plays that can take advantage of him and give him enough freedom when he has to do what he wants.

The short answer is yes, there is definitely a place in the EuroLeague for a player with Guy’s qualifications. Players with their own contact with the basket, the panic they bring to opposing defenses as soon as they leave a screen, and the ability to create situations for their teammates to some extent, have a place anywhere.

The question is how much role a team would be willing to give him in order to use him and get the best out of him. Badalona did it. And he was confirmed.