Rookie big man Tyrese Samuel flashed early in the Valley Suns’ inaugural season, but he has started to emerge as a real prospect over the G League team’s last few games.
Samuel, who worked out for Phoenix in last summer’s pre-draft process, has now posted four straight games of double-digit points. Over the prior seven games, he reached double-digits once.
In the Suns’ most recent game, a 121-118 overtime win over the Santa Cruz Warriors, Samuel got the start for the first time in his professional career, as Mamadi Diakite was out (illness).
His impact in the pick-and-roll game is more felt as a screen slipper than as a screener at this point, which works well to mitigate switch-heavy defenses and keeps the offensive motion flowing.