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Tbird Analysis, 2022 NBA Draft Profile #4: Bennedict Mathurin

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  • #1

    Tbird Analysis, 2022 NBA Draft Profile #4: Bennedict Mathurin


    Today on a beautiful Saturday in early June we continue the 2022 NBA draft profiles for Pacers digest, with a long look at the highly touted sophomore guard from the University of Arizona, Benedict Mathurin. In previous features this draft season, I have taken deep dives on Keegan Murray, Johnny Davis, and Dyson Daniels….you can find those profiles on this site.


    Stories like the one Mathurin has are the reason I love and continue to do these in depth articles on players, as it gives us a deeper understanding of the kinds of unique situations some players come from. The path that Mathurin has traveled to be on the brink of becoming an NBA player and millionaire should give you more perspective on his makeup and potential success in the league.


    Born in Haiti, one of the poorest countries in the world, his mother took their family from the Caribbean nation to the debonair city of Montreal, Quebec, while pregnant with Bennedict. Already a young mother, that decision started a chain of events that lead us to where we are today.


    Growing up in the French province of Quebec is better for a future basketball player than in Haiti, but like you’d expect, Bennedict much preferred sports like hockey and soccer as a youth. It was both his older brother Dominque, and big sister Jennifer who had focused on basketball to that point. Then at age 15, Dominque was tragically killed in a bicycle accident. Bennedict was 12 at the time, and decided then that he would become a basketball player at the highest levels he could attain, in part to honor his brother and in part to emulate his sister, who he still calls his greatest hero today.


    —------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


    It still took a strange confluence of events to get Mathurin out of obscurity and into the national spotlight of being a very high NBA draft pick.


    First, while on the AAU circuit, Mathurin felt he wasn’t getting the attention he deserved, playing in relative basketball purgatory in Montreal. So, after being seen by an NBA scout, he was convinced to bet on himself, leave Canada and his family, and move to Mexico, on his own, to attend school at the NBA Latin America Academy….the second straight player I’ve profiled who went to an NBA Academy in High School (Dyson Daniels graduated from the Australian version you may remember). Guys like his coach Walter Roese, who no one probably knows, deserve a ton of credit for getting Mathurin to the point he is today.


    Being a part of one of the 4 NBA Academies world wide exposed Mathurin to high level coaching and exposure, as those teams travel all over to play basketball. Doing that on your own, as a young French kid who didn’t speak the language, I do believe says a lot about his potential character and mental toughness. Eventually, his burgeoning game caught the attention of college basketball's biggest programs at Arizona, and then Coach Sean Miller convinced Mathurin to reclassify and enter college a year early, and play D1 basketball for the Wildcats.


    Mathurin showed flashes and signs as a freshman, but still being very young gave him the cover to stay in college and try and improve his draft stock during a second season in Tucson. Then I believe he got a huge break, when Miller was forced to resign in disgrace in a cheating scandal, and Coach Tommy Lloyd came in, the former longtime assistant at Gonzaga. Lloyd, an offensive guru and international basketball expert, was well suited as a coach and from a personality standpoint to maximize a player like Mathurin, and that is exactly what happened. Becoming an All American at Arizona, Mathurins’ numbers were 17,7ppg, 5.6rpg, and 2.5 apg, doing it on a squad that was highly successful and that really played offensively with an NBA level system.


    Declaring for the draft after receiving lottery level buzz, Mathurin heads for the top league in the world with a 6’6 height, 6’9” wingspan, and a solid 205lbs. Born June 19th, 2002, Mathurin turns 20 just before the NBA draft. For perspective, despite having played 2 years of college basketball, keep in mind that Mathurin is almost 2 months younger than another highly touted player this year, Gonzaga’s Chet Holmgren.


    —----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


    As we take our deep dive inside the game of Mathurin, let’s examine his offensive game first.


    Mathurin profiles as one of the better shooters in this draft from outside the lane and beyond the arc. He shot 37% last year from distance, which was actually worse than he shot as a freshman, when on lower usage he made over 40%. While I don’t consider his form as pristine as others may do, I still recognize that it is a high quality, and clearly Mathurin has been well taught at a young age and worked hard to groove his mechanics into the repeatable, consistent stroke he possesses. He stands out as a shooter in that he has a very high release point, although I’ll point out that he will drop the ball lower when he dips it than is ideal. That will be one of the reasons he has slumps someday, the tendency to have “loose arms”, and let the ball dangle too low before he starts to get into his shot. It’s fixable, it’s not a big deal….but that flaw is there, and it can potentially slow your release, cause you to struggle against length and against defenders who will crowd you. Crowding Mathurin will be exactly how teams try to stop him at the next level.


    Mathurin clearly was taught the outstanding fundamental of “holding your followthrough” as a youth, and he does that on almost every jump shot. I think all coaches enjoy watching that in a player and I do too. Now, when you really really slow down the tape, you can tell that he slightly thumbs the ball and that his shooting wrist goes to the right slightly. He does it every time, it is not fatal, but it is less than ideal. To me this is an indicator that, at the highest level against elite length and defense, that he may not be as accurate as his numbers suggest.


    Mathurin relies a ton on elevation for his jumper. And at this point in his developmental curve, he can do that…this player gets HIGH on his jumper off the ground. At this point though I don’t actually like that as well as most evaluators, because as your legs come and go, and fatigue becomes a factor, your shot success can wax and wane if you get tired legs. Jumping as high as he does also means you have to land obviously, which again can lead to injury problems and struggles with savvy defenders getting in your airspace. Add to this that he has this one legged landing he does sometimes, which is annoying to me because it is unnecessary.


    To be clear, I’m not complaining about his jump shot really, I still rate him as average to above average as a shooter. I just don’t know that I would call it “elite” as a skill.


    I do love that he seems to be able to shoot well off of movement, coming off certain screen actions that are very applicable to what he will potentially get in the NBA. Arizona under Coach Lloyd runs high level, sophisticated NBA actions offensively, so it makes it easier to a degree to be able to forecast what he will look like at the next level. Mathurin can shoot moving in either direction, and can be accurate even if slightly off balance. I still think that is true even with the caveat that I thought most of the Pac 12 defenses he played against on tape were pretty bad.


    I like Mathurin off a dribble pullup, as long as he only has to take 1 or 2 bounces. Again, obviously well taught and schooled, he gets super low with his dribble when splitting a double team and pounds the last bounce hard, which shows how well he has been coached (that is not a natural skill, it must be taught and drilled). I actually think his pullup and midrange game is underrated at this point, because he didn’t get to show it much playing for the analytically driven Arizona coaching staff. So that might play up depending on what team ends up with him in a few weeks…but it also might not, so keep that in mind.


    Mathurin can be effective off of a ballscreen I think against certain coverages, but it won’t be something you can hang your hat on. Make a mistake on him, and he is dangerous, but not necessarily able to create something when nothing is really there. I think he has minimum utility as a ballscreen recipient at this stage, though I think this is worth exploring to see if he can develop in this area. Still young and raw, if he can add being an offensive weapon off a ballscreen, that could theoretically jump him up a level.


    His ability to pass, like most of his game, shows flashes but isn’t quite there yet. He is late to “see” things, like a quarterback who has to have a receiver wide open before he will pull the trigger. It isn’t that I think he is selfish, because I don’t at all, but I think he is slow to process information. That is probably my biggest overall concern for him as a player….I don’t know how instinctual he is, and I don’t know how good he projects against guys who possess his own level of athleticism and talent.


    —--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


    Really, almost all of his offensive talents could be greatly enhanced by improving his handle and ability to play in a crowd. Right now his handle is bad, especially going to his left, and it is really the only purely below average skill he has….but right now it makes all his other skills play down.


    As an attacker with the ball, if the read with the ball isn’t pre ordained or designed, he struggles. If he gets crowded, bumped, surprised, jostled, or faces great length, he makes mistakes, misses people, and misses shots. Mathurin has the body and explosiveness to be able to handle much more physical play, but right now physicality really bothers him. Mathurin loses his balance quite a bit, and has an annoying habit of falling down a ton. He definitely is much more comfortable if plays are designed for him, situations are predetermined, and he knows exactly what to do because he has practiced it. Mathurin strikes me as an actor who likes lots of rehearsals, a stage performer who knows his part down cold but who struggles to improvise. He got a ton of points on cuts this year….but they were almost all designed cuts for him. He scores well off movement….but it was almost all off set pieces the coaching staff prepared for him.


    Mathurin doesn’t ever project to me to be an isolation scorer, or a creator with the basketball. He is almost for sure more of a play finisher than play maker.


    Mathurin is young, raw, with a great NBA body. He has translatable traits and good attributes, and a mostly high ability jump shot that translates to multiple areas of the court. But his weaknesses are there too, and how you think both these pros and cons ebb and flow at the next level probably determine who you think he ends up being as an offensive player.


    —---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


    Let’s go to the other end of the floor and discuss the positives and negatives of Mathurin on the defensive end.


    Pros: theoretically, there is no reason why Bennedict Mathurin cannot be a good NBA defender.

    Cons: A theory is all it is at this point.


    First, the pros: he has all the physical attributes. He is long, he jumps high, he has quickness, he can move laterally. By all accounts he seems to be a hard worker. Based on other skills he has on offense that I know are teacher-driven skills (the “leaving the flag up” follow through, the hard last dribble before a jumper), I know he is coachable. There is material here, and a certain kind of coach will decide that he loves his offensive game enough, and that he can teach him to defend.


    But the negatives are there too. His effort waxes and wanes throughout games. There are alot of “old man” defensive possessions where he plays matador defense and then tries to get steals from behind. Worst for me, his concentration level and attention to detail on defense comes and goes, sometimes even within a possession. You see a bunch of good defense early in a possession, then he will relax, just to get burned by clever offensive schemes and teams.


    The numbers say he was a really effective defender, relative to his league. I believe that to a degree but my scouting eyes say differently. I see the shot blocks in college…do they translate? Maybe, but I don’t know. I see some steals…..but those mostly came I thought on pre-read, predetermined rotations where the coaches designed things well for him to get them.


    Also, just like contact bothers him on offense I thought, he doesn’t like it on defense either. Good players will get into his chest, and Mathurin will likely let them go by and try and recover instead of physically leveling them off. He will probably be better than this as he ages and fills out, but still it is a factor in my evaluation of him. One thing he does well at an NBA level defensively is complain to the officials, which I know isn’t a big deal but it probably does annoy me more than most.


    Ultimately, I can’t reach the conclusion that some others likely will that he will end up being a plus plus or even above average defender in the NBA. I think his most likely defensive outcome is an average defensive player who flashes more potential but doesn’t consistently give it to you. He may or may not be in the game for you in a “must stop'' defensive situation, and if he is playing for you, you either don’t really trust him or don’t have any other options.


    —----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


    So, what do we have in total in Bennedict Mathurin?


    I think we have a high character, tough minded kid who has been well taught and well coached on the offensive end, but still has a ton of potential room to grow as a player. I see a toolsy player with a higher ceiling but lower floor than some of the other players who are in his tier. In an offensive era, but also while teams are watching how far high level defense can take you, I expect opinions on Mathurin to vary more widely than than on most other players.


    As positives, his jumper is pretty pure, his age is in his favor, high character, strong athlete. To the down side, we’ve already seen him in an almost perfect role for him, and still some definite flaws exist as well. It just depends on how you as an organization think you can develop him, and what kind of plan you have in place to make that happen. A world exists that has a creative coach that puts the ball in his hands some, develops him as a ballhandler even it means sacrificing winning some right now, and he takes a leap.There is a word where a team does that same plan, it fails, and he ends up bouncing around the league. There is also a world where a team pigeon holes him into a specific role, uses his strengths without trying for expansion of his games, and just hones in on what he is already good at. In that case, he ends up being a somewhat limited, inconsistent, but effective role player as a shooter/floor spacer.


    If you are teams outside the top 4, you have to be discussing who you like better between who I believe are players at the same tier, but who have different qualities….guys like I am trying to provide analysis of. For me personally, while I believe it is somewhat close I prefer Dyson Daniels to Mathurin, but I certainly see how an argument can be made the other way. I would expect that arguments about Daniels and Mathurin may in fact be raging in Pacers offices as we speak. Ultimately I think Daniels is the better of the 2 players, but your mileage may vary. I will say that I think Indiana currently likely favors Mathurin more than Daniels, and I believe there is a strong chance he does in fact end up in Indiana. Not what I would do, but I think it’s justifiable for Indiana to feel that way even if I personally don’t.


    Other interesting fits for Mathurin include Sacramento at #4 (never underestimate the crazy Kings), Detroit at #5, San Antonio at #9, or Washington at #10, or the Knicks perhaps at #11. Ultimately I think the most likely spot I see him landing is Detroit at #5, assuming the first 4 players off the board are who everyone expects.


    —-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


    Who do I think Mathurin compares to? I can see a few comparables, but this one has been harder for me than the others profiled so far this year.


    If you love Mathurin, you probably can see some Orlando Victor Oladipo in him. The Magic tried to develop him as a ballhandler early, and while it failed for them, it eventually led to him being a really high level for a time for our own Pacers. As injuries hit and his athleticism waned, his abilities fell but he is still a good player for a very good team in Miami. I could see something like that coming true for Mathurin.


    If you like Mathurin but don’t love him, you might see some Eric Gordon to his game, assuming you think the defensive upside for Mathurin hits home. Gordon is slightly smaller than Mathurin, and has had a very good and long career.


    If you don’t like Mathurin at all, you might see some J.R. Smith or Archie Goodwin to his game. Smith was an inconsistent, kind of airhead player who nevertheless was capable of big scoring nights, just not every night. Goodwin was highly athletic, and it felt like he should have been a much better player than he turned out to be…somehow, the sum of his parts added up to less than they should have.


    Ultimately though I landed here:


    NBA comparable: Tim Hardaway Jr.


    As always, the above is just my opinion. Let the discussions begin!


    Tbird




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    • 16 likes
  • #2
    Is he better than Duarte? He seems to be a younger version of the guy we drafted last year.
    • 1 like

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    • #3
      Keep trying to tell people that just because a player is an elite dunker, does not necessarily mean they are a good finisher. When contested either at the mid-range or rim, Mathurin STRUGGLES, which is in fact heightened by his poor ball handling. The positives about him though, are his off ball movement and shot making ability along the perimeter, in addition to his apparent passion and desire to improve. That fire to be great burning inside him, is why you should consider looking past many of his flaws and why I personally have him as one of the few players I'd be ok drafting.

      He and Duarte together though? If no deals are made and we are thus forced to pick at 6 without the option of Ivey or Paolo, I'd almost rather take the chance with Eason over Mathurin.

      Comment

      • #4
        Mathurin has certainly been a popular pick among many, myself included. I feel that he has potential to develop into a high level starter, and definitely Sixth-Man of the Year. He’s going to need some polish, but he certainly seems to have some passion in his game. Based on his athleticism and aggression, I like his fit for our Pacers. I’m not sure exactly what his ceiling is, but I could see him getting an All Star game, certainly in the Dunk Competition, and more importantly being a nice high-speed running mate with Haliburton.
        It's a new day for Pacers Basketball.
        • 2 likes

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        • #5
          From the Daniels thread
          1. If the Spurs offered something like #9, and #20, and to take a bad contract from us for #6, they might very well be targeting Daniels and I might be tempted to do it, based on what other info I might have on who might be available at #9.
          I wonder who the player TBird likes at 9 is? Griffin? Sochan? Ochai? Branham? Unless Mathurin was that player.
          Last edited by Pacersalltheway10; 06-04-2022, 11:26 PM.
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          • #6
            Damn....what TBird has said is what a lot of the podcasts that I have heard about Mathurin. He's an atheltic 3pt shooting Wing that has the tools to be a solid perimeter Defender but ( currently ) lacks the defensive awareness to get to that level.
            Ash from Army of Darkness: Good...Bad...I'm the guy with the gun.

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            • #7
              Well I'm a little higher on Benn than Tbird. I personally don't see that low floor. He seems like one of the safer players in this class to me.
              • 1 like

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              • #8
                Originally posted by Pacersalltheway10 View Post
                From the Daniels thread


                I wonder who the player TBird likes at 9 is? Griffin? Sochan? Ochai? Branham? Unless Mathurin was that player.
                Sleeper pick for the T-Bird "Likes at 9"

                Eason
                "man, PG has been really good."

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                • #9
                  TBird, I put a high value on players who show up in the clutch. Some guys can be great in every way but choke when it matters. Do we have any stats besides the eye test that can be factored in for these analyses?
                  "Look, it's up to me to put a team around ... Lance right now." —Kevin Pritchard press conference

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                  • #10
                    I see Jaylen Brown in Mathurin.
                    @WhatTheFFacts: Studies show that sarcasm enhances the ability of the human mind to solve complex problems!
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                    • #11
                      Dion Waiters. Meh, with the 6th pick. The Pacers should target Ivey. The fans are restless and are tired of average.
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                      • #12
                        I have a feeling this analysis may temper the recent Mathurin hype train on PD.
                        Danger Zone

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                        • #13
                          Originally posted by eldubious View Post
                          Dion Waiters. Meh, with the 6th pick. The Pacers should target Ivey. The fans are restless and are tired of average.
                          I don't see it. Mathurin's a much more decorated collegiate player and simply better than Dion Waiters was coming into the league (same for Tim Hardaway Jr).
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                          • #14
                            Originally posted by vnzla81 View Post
                            I see Jaylen Brown in Mathurin.
                            Hadn't heard this one, but I like it.

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                            • #15
                              Originally posted by Pacersalltheway10 View Post
                              From the Daniels thread


                              I wonder who the player TBird likes at 9 is? Griffin? Sochan? Ochai? Branham? Unless Mathurin was that player.
                              I'm wondering who he has at 6 if not any of the guys he's already profiled. Griffin's unlikely with the injury concern and Eason's probably too erratic for a coach like Tbird to pick that high. Sharpe maybe, but Tbird doesn't seem like the type of guy to take a mystery bag.
                              Last edited by CJ Jones; 06-05-2022, 02:37 PM.
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