MY PG2 in this class comes in at 9 on my board, elite driving talent and shot creator with diminishing defensive upside. PRO: Philon's been a super impressive scorer this season. Highlighted by his 98th percentile 9.1 OBPM, TS% of 62.6% in the 95th percentile Philon is a super efficient scorer of the ball. His self creation talent is shown by his elite guard rim pressure, 82nd percentile in attempts 78th in percentage but he does that with 86% of his rim attempts being unassisted self-created looks. Philons pace of play has improved so much, calm as he approaches the rim. When you move away from the cup, Philon still boasts impressive efficiency. While fairly average volume from mid range, he's 87th percentile in efficiency. The 3pt shooting boost has been very impressive, one of the biggest issues with Philons game in last year was his 3pt shooting. Philon really wiped most worries about that this year with a 39.9% 3pt shooting season on 74th percentile volume, these are incredibly strong guard numbers, good split of assisted to unassisted volume it's much more comfy to project Philon as an outside shooter now, much more is probably an understatement. Another huge improvement of Philons game in the previous year was his playmaking. Philon didn't have first option usage last year, he was a complimentary mostly off-ball guard next to Sears. Throughout this season we've seen more and more development on the season to his passing game. Philon was always a stronger self creator but this year the TOV% dropped and AST% rose dramatically. While I don't view Philon as an elite creator for others at the next level he can definitely be a positive impact player in ball movement and creation for others for example as a ball handler in PnR situations. Philon's perfectly fine playing off the ball too, while his 29.9% USG% describes a heavy on ball usage, his previous season and in moments this year has shown flashes of strong perimeter movement to CON: The biggest issue this season has been the weak defensive numbers, 2% STK% in the 24th percentile, 0.5% BLK% in the 27th percentile and a 31st percentile DBPM. It's been a very weak defensive season for Philon which is annoying knowing what position we were in with Philon's defence a year ago. Obviously the usage on offence and his increased offensive role has him struggling on the other end which shows it's rather unlikely Philon will be able to maximise his potential on both ends and carry high offensive loads while being a plus defensive player. Philon's rebounding is pretty expectedly weak, 24th percentile DREB% and 34th percentile OREB%. Philon not being a super athlete or having plus positional length and strength would make that an expectation in his game. Rebounding is something becoming more and more valuable so you would hope for more rebounding from him. Interestingly, his OREB% was much higher last year could just be more shots this year less opportunities to get an offensive rebound and he just makes more shots. And then linking into that overall size, 6'4 175lbs, last combine his scores were pretty disappointing, only a +2 inch wingspan there's not really any biometric helped potential for Philon on either end its an easy explanation for why Philon hasn't been good defensively you can attack him with more physical players. NARRATIVE:DEFENSIVE_DROP: Issue: After a very positive defensive year where he really impressed on that end Philons seen a steep drop off in defensive impact shown by his -2.1 swing in DBPM going from 80th percentile to 31st percentile, dropped in STL% and BLK% in big chunks. How big of a concern with this? It's by far the biggest concern in his profile. To me, if Philon can't trend towards the impact he had his Freshman year (Not replicate it I doubt it at this point) its going to put him in a similar class to where I see Acuff as this guard who's defensive concerns are too much to win championships if your gonna trust with a big role + big money. That really reduces the upside with a guy like that. While I love Philon on one end the weight concerns and this defensive year is why I tend to be more hesitant to put him above others and why Im not totally sure where i will have him on my board come draft night. But I do have some cofidence that for Philon, reduced role will lead to increased defensive impact and if so it could definitely lead to average to plus defensive impact. More and more I buy into that as I remember his freshman year that I was really quite high on. The NBA has to force him to put some size on but his off ball movement as an offensive player makes me feel comfortable taking the ball away from him more and utilising the improved offensive skills from this year in different avenues so we can focus on adding two way value on top of it. PROJECTION: Current Nickeil Alexander-Walker with less length is my favourite comparison for him. Super efficient offensive player who's shown his creative abilities this year, not a super athlete but more intelligence base offensive game. While I think NAW is a better defensive player I think when Philon is a complimentary option on offence like how NAW is at times for Jalen Johnson and CJ McCollum, he will shift defensively more to his Freshman year capabilities. Thats my idealised hope for what could happen when we try to balance the load of Philons offensive play to boost defensive impact. Running plays to let Philon use his scoring advantages off the ball and step away from a true point guard role.