Tyrell Terry's former coach: 'His shooting is real'

Stanford assistant Stanford Adam Cohen watched Terry's rapid ascent from under-the-radar recruit to the school's first one-and-done player.

With less than a month remaining until the NBA Draft, Valley Tales will publish a series of profiles on prospects that could be a fit for the Suns, featuring exclusive interviews with a college coach or personal trainer. 

These are the people who discovered and recruited these players, who were around them every day, who observed their development into a potential lottery pick. Sure, these coaches/trainers want to support their guy, but I also generally found them to be honest about where their player needed to improve to have a successful NBA career.

Tyrell Terry is another point guard who rapidly ascended from three-star recruit to potential lottery pick. The biggest optimists compare Terry’s long-range shooting and playmaking potential to Steph Curry and Trae Young. Others are concerned about his small frame, though he says he is now 6-foot-3 and close to 175 pounds. 

Stanford associate head coach Adam Cohen provided insight about Terry. His answers are edited for length and clarity. 

First impression

It’s kind of a unique story, as a lot of our recruiting stories are, I think. One of our former players, Reid Travis, went to the same high school as Tyrell. He had worked out with him in the summer a little bit, and he kind of gave us the heads up and said, “Man, he’s pretty good. You should go take a look.” I end up flying out there to see him, and I saw him in a 6 a.m. workout, like a pickup game at his high school. He could always shoot, but he had a competitive spirit that was different. At the end of every game, the ball was in his hands. Literally every single time he played. From that day, I knew right away. I remember I called our head coach (Jerod Haase) and I said, “He’s the guy. It’s that simple.” He was the only point guard we offered a scholarship to in the class. We basically made an agreement pretty early on that, if he was going to be admitted to Stanford, this was kind of what he wanted to do. It was one of those unique deals where we committed ourselves to him, he committed to us and it worked out really well. 

Strengths

The number one thing is just his ability to shoot with range and obviously be able to stretch the defense. His shooting is real. He shoots NBA 3s with ease. He can shoot it off the bounce. He can shoot it off the catch. He can shoot it in transition. So those are the things that definitely separate him. Obviously, he shot 89 percent from the free-throw line and scored 454 points for us. His playmaking ability, I think, is underrated. Two years ago, when he was a senior in high school, he led the Adidas AAU circuit in assists, and we needed him to be a little bit more of a scorer.  

Biggest improvement at Stanford

Defensively, he grew a lot. He was always a kid who was in a good culture in high school. He won three state championships, so he was kind of a part of a winning team all along, which I think was pretty valuable for him. But overall, I would just say his ability to play under pressure and still be able to make the right plays and reads. We kind of gave him the ball Day 1, and we allowed him to fight through mistakes and physicality and he was able to overcome his physical limitations. 

Game that best captures Terry

The game we played at home against Utah. He hit seven 3s and just kind of willed us to that win. It was almost, in his way, you can see how Steph Curry can go on runs on his own, and that’s kind of what Tyrell did for us in that game. He was making 3s in transition. He was making 3s off ball screens. He was able to get to the paint. We ended up having a big win at home, and he definitely led us to that. 

Underrated trait

I know this has been kind of well-documented, but his basketball IQ is really high. It’s not just that he can understand a play or something like that. When he’s in the midst of the game, he can really make the right reads at the time that it needs to be made. The thing I would say is just different about him with that is a lot of guys can see the play, but they can’t actually execute them. He’s capable of executing them. And I think as he gets stronger and he can take the bumps and physicality a little bit more, it will really help him. 

Next developmental step

The strength is the biggest thing, and I think that’s what he’s been spending his time on. I noticed him almost at 174 or 175 pounds, which is awesome that he’s working on that. Athletically, he’s getting a lot better, and I think that also comes with the strength and the power and everything else. Then the next step for him is just to become an elite defender, where he can take a hit and still be in front of his man, keep him in front, guard different positions a little bit more. He’s always going to be a little bit limited physically, but he has great instincts. Just kind of being able to understand the importance of keeping his guy in front and that kind thing. 

Ideal NBA fit

With him, it’s kind of unique. A lot of kids just aren’t ready or mature mentally. He’s not really like that. He handles his business. You don’t ever have to worry about anything with him. Being around vets is always great for guys like this. But at the same time, he’s gonna handle his business and it’s not gonna be something where any team’s gonna have to worry about what’s he doing at night or how’s he gonna work and that kind of thing. I would say this: An established culture where the expectations are really clear and the standards are what they are will definitely help him, because he’s gonna fit into whatever team he goes to and he’s gonna make a big impact on them because he’s a winner (and) he cares about the right things. And his game is just gonna continue to develop, because he wants to be really good. 

Personality

The biggest thing I would say is he’s a low-key kid. He doesn’t need a lot to make him happy. He works hard on his game. When he was here, he did great academically and took care of his business. He was actually on pace to graduate in three years, and that’s not easy to do at Stanford. Just having that kind of mature approach to him. He just kind of studies film and watches the game. Way low-maintenance. Very easy to deal with. Kind of a coach’s dream in a lot of ways. We’re really proud of him. It’s pretty exciting. He’s the first one-and-done in Stanford history. We all kind of wish him the best and stay in constant contact. He’s just a kid that you’re gonna root for, because he’s helped our program. We feel like we’ve been good to him, as well. We want him to get the most out of everything.  

Suns draft prospect profiles

Tyrese Haliburton (with Iowa State assistant Daniyal Robinson)
Desmond Bane (with TCU assistant Ryan Miller)
Killian Hayes (with skills development trainer Tyshawn Patterson)
Obi Toppin (with Dayton assistant Ricardo Greer)
Jalen Smith (with Maryland assistant Bino Ranson)
Kira Lewis Jr. (with Alabama assistant Antoine Pettway)