Desmond Bane Is Much More Than A Shooter
The 2020 NBA Draft was an interesting one. Smack dab in the middle of the Covid-19 pandemic, teams had limited resources when scouting talent. There were no tournaments. No combines. No Group Workouts. It was a hellish landscape for the scouting departments of all 30 teams.
Looking back three years later, there were a few obvious mistakes. Tyrese Haliburton fell to number 12. Devin Vassell fell to number 11. Tyrese Maxey fell to number 21. Isaiah Joe fell to number 49 (It is my fiduciary duty to talk about Isaiah Joe constantly. Deal with it).
But maybe the biggest and most egregious steal of the draft was Desmond Bane. He fell to pick 30. The last pick in the first round.
The fact that 29 teams passed on him still haunts him to this day. He sat down for an interview with ClutchPoints earlier this month and had this to say:
“I will never let it go. I feel like teams had their chance to get me and knew who I was. It wasn’t like I was one of those one-and-done guys. You had four years to do your research on me. All my background stuff was checked out. That’s on them.”
Three years later, this mistake also haunts the 29 franchises that made the mistake to pass on him. Oh, the irony.
Midway through his third season, Bane is averaging 21.6 points, 5.1 rebounds, and 4.2 assists on just under 60 TS%. He’s a career 43% from downtown on high volume and it is automatic at the free throw line — shooting 90% last season and just a few tenths of percentage points away from doing it again this season.
But that’s not all he can do.
One of the main reasons that led to teams passing on him earlier in the draft was his short wingspan. I know, we’ve all seen that picture of Bane at the free-throw line. It doesn’t even look real.
Despite this limitation, he’s been an above-average defender. Across 2,000+ minutes last season, he ranked in the 80th percentile with a steal percentage of 1.7% and the 60th percentile among all other wings with a block percentage of 0.7%. That’s impressive for someone with a 6-foot-4 wingspan.
But rather than boxscore watching, tune into a Grizzlies game. What you’ll see is a player with a ferocious basketball IQ. His steals aren’t because he overpowers other defenders, or smothers them into oblivion. Bane simply watches. He reads the defense.
Take this steal for example earlier this month against the Hornets. The ball is swinging, and Bane senses the ball is going to be swung into the corner. So he rotates instinctively and makes a play that leads to a fastbreak three for Memphis.
Plays like this are commonplace when turning on the Bane tape.
Offensively, he’s not just a shooter. He’s deceptively fast when handling the ball and coming off the PnR. This past Monday, the Grizzlies faced off against the Sacramento Kings with Morant sitting out. As a result, Bane was tasked with handling more on-ball duties. There I sat at midnight (shoutout to all the East Coast Dads out there), mesmerized by his control and speed with the ball. It’s not talked about nearly enough. It’s simply a disservice to Bane.
Despite dropping their last four games, the Grizzlies are 2.5 games back of the Denver Nuggets for the number seed out West. They are legitimate contenders. Of course, having Morant run the show and Jaren Jackson Jr. defend it gives you a good foundation. But Bane is the engine that puts them over the top.
Don’t get it twisted, Memphis is 19-9 with Bane in the lineup this season and 12-8 without. And with the West bunched up from seeds 4 through 13, he could be the very difference between home court and play-in territory.