Up and Coming

Trey Lyles is a 6'10 power forward that was born in Canada, but played his high school ball at Indianapolis Technical High School. Lyles is in the class of 2014 and is attending the University of Kentucky to further his education and basketball career. Tech High School was the best high school in Indiana this season leading them to a State Championship and the first time an Indianapolis Public School (IPS) school has won a state championship in 30 years. Tech High School also finished as the number three team in the country which is pretty remarkable considering there a public school. Lyles also took home the Mr. Basketball award in Indiana which I disagreed with, but I am not getting into that in this blog. There is no doubt that Lyles had a phenomenal senior season and career, but I though another player was more deserving (Trevon Bluiett).

Lyles is plays a stretch four, which means at 6'10 he is able to shoot from the perimeter and handle the ball on the perimeter. When Tech faced pressure this year they would throw it in to Lyles to let him bring it up because he can handle the ball and see over the defense if he need to advance the ball ahead. Lyles has pretty good athleticism and is aggressive on the boards and blocks. The only weakness I see is toughness sometimes. I noticed a couple games that I've saw him that if you kind of push him around in the post and bother him he will fold up sometimes. I noticed that if you push him out to the perimeter and stay out that and in high school if you're 6'10, you should be dominating on the block. I think Calipari will straighten that up at Kentucky and Lyles will be a great player for them. I see him being a first round draft pick someday that makes himself a career in the NBA.

Trey Lyles is important for Canadian basketball because he plays for his national team and that is big time. A lot of players that were born in a country, but play in the US for high school, will not go back and play for their national team. I am not saying that the guys who do this are bad dudes, but that really means a lot to a country if they come back and play. Kyrie Irving is an example that could play for his Australian National Team, but instead plays with the US National Team. Trey however, played with the U19 Canadian team this past summer and was actually their leading scorer. He was hurt in the final game vs the US and the US ended up winning. I think Trey Lyles will continue to represent Canada well as he goes to the next chapter of his life at Kentucky and then in the NBA.