Age

20.5

Height

6'1''

Weight

200

Workload

MIN%

78.3

USG%

25.1

TS%

59.4

Per 70 Possession Stats

PTS

19.5

REB

7.6

AST

7.7

STL

4.5

BLK

0.0

TOV

2.9

Efficiency

RIM FG%

65

MID FG%

43

3PT FG%

41

FT%

66

Jump to full report

Report by: Matt

Tamin Lipsey

Guard Iowa State

High-feel steal maven exploring his offense

Age

20.5

Height

6'1''

Weight

200

Per 70 Possession Stats

PTS

19.5

REB

7.6

AST

7.7

STL

4.5

BLK

0.0

Positions Defended

Offensive Role

 

Defensive Role

   

Meet Tamin Lipsey

At 6’1”, Tamin Lipsey has an uphill battle to be an effective pro at the NBA level. However, armed with the fastest hands and quickest feet among draft-eligible prospects, that doesn’t mean he isn’t special. A floor general on both offense and defense, Lipsey is one of the most productive players in college basketball as a second-year player.

Lipsey will get steals at any level he plays at, and a lot of them. It’s where his offensive game lands that determines his ceiling. With tools on offense as well – elite quickness, creative passing, effective shooting, bruising physicality – Lipsey has the makings of an NBA rotation player, in spite of his height.

The Pedigree

  • Big 12 All-Freshman Team
  • Big 12 Commissioner’s Honor Roll
  • Academic All-Big 12 Rookie Team
  • Led Iowa State with 146 assists and 73 steals as a freshman
  • Named Iowa Mr. Basketball
  • Won a gold medal with USA Basketball at the 2019 FIBA Americas U16 championship

The Offense

Lipsey is an elite floor general on offense, popping in wherever his team needs him. Not every conductor needs to be ball dominant, as Lipsey makes quick reads to kick off Iowa State’s movement-heavy offense, then gets the ball back prepared to find a scorer. He makes these reads with accuracy and timeliness but most of all, speed.

Lipsey is a good passing student, with a variety of no-looks, live dribble feeds and well-placed lobs in his arsenal. This combines well with his speed, as it is difficult to contain him in a predictable way. If he’s slinging hit ahead passes or hitting cutters amid his dribble, how does one also stop his dribble?

Despite all of his touches, Lipsey hardly gets a chance to create from nothing, especially as Iowa State is one of the most adamantly anti-isolation teams in the country. But he fits in this quasi-connector, quasi-traditional PG role in a way that suggests he could be effective in either.

The swing skills are related to the shooting. Lipsey’s numbers are not good here but far from a lost cause. In particular, the pull-up midrange shooting has been valuable to Iowa State, hitting 43% of his midrange attempts with only 13% assisted.

He has shot 70% from the line and 33% from three in his two seasons so far, though with three point percentage rising from 30% on miniscule volume as a freshman to 41% on okay volume as a sophomore.

Lipsey has been particularly effective spotting up, where he is shooting 43% from three on 2.4 attempts per game. Not game-changing, but building blocks to work off of.

Finally, Tamin Lipsey is a blur attacking the rim. He attacks mostly as a bail-out option for his teammates, as typically able to find a better shot with his passing and activity. But when he does attack, he is a lightning bolt as he throws his body into rim protectors exploding off of one foot with ultra-quick strides. At 6’1” Lipsey will get almost no dunks, but has finished 65% of his rim attempts, the majority of which were self-created.

Lipsey is surprisingly physical, popping in for offensive rebounds (again, speed x activity) where he snags the second most offensive boards for someone his height or shorter in all of college hoops.

He uses this physicality to draw fouls, too, with a strong 0.45 free throw rate (FTAs/FGAs). He seems to relish the contact, welcoming it from even much bigger players.

Lipsey is an ideal guard connector who can step into primary duties. While he is unlikely to be a major scorer at the NBA level, he has access to enough tools to keep advantages going, regardless of his limitations. If the shot continues to improve, as we’ve seen with both his pull-up and spot up, Lipsey could be a more than a merely effective offensive player, but rather one capable of greasing the wheels of (and occasionally steering) a high-level offense.

The Defense

Now for the really fun part. Tamin Lipsey might have the best combo of quick hands and quick feet I’ve ever seen (rivals being Briante Weber, Jose Alvarado). That is not an exaggeration. Lipsey has been claiming the opponent’s ball as his own on 6.5% of opponent’s offensive possessions. He is the definition of a ballhawk.

There are many ways to get a steal, and Lipsey does all of them. He pokes the ball away; strips them on digs and wraparound swipes; he intercepts ball in the open court; he pulls the chair out from under his opponent; he, somehow, seems to coax the ball out of his opponent simply with his foot speed. I am not exaggerating when I say there were three steals on tape legitimately not visible when going frame by frame. That’s how fast Lipsey is at getting steals, and why he has the second highest steal rate since 2008, only barely behind Matisse Thybulle (and while two years younger).

Beyond the steals, Lipsey has everything you’d want in a small guard defender: size to handle bumps, speed and awareness to dodge screens, the anticipation to make the right rotation. Iowa State plays a fairly complex defensive scheme, a matchup zone where all players have to re-adjust to where your teammates are constantly. Lipsey is key in that as well, the most capable of balancing out any schematic disorganization. He is vocal telling his teammates where to be, too.

He also contributes on the boards, another Alvarado-esque trait. Lipsey has the 12th highest rebounding rate of anyone 6’1” or shorter since 2008. The speed, the awareness, the specificity of movement all come into play. Lipsey is not just capable of getting anywhere, but also finding a creative path to do so.

His physicality and surprising strength allows him to hold his ground against much bigger players, and also why he’s so comfortable drawing charges.

Lipsey is a menacing point of attack defender, only lacking a long wingspan to better contest or block passing lanes. The rest is all you could ask for, and why he is setting steal rate records. You are not beating Lipsey with speed, nor is your path safe if he is nearby.

The Outlook

I have no doubt that Tamin Lipsey is an NBA-level point of attack defender. It’s an uphill battle to be a positive defender as a small guard, but Lipsey has the exact tools needed, and then some. He is dangerous to drive near and difficult to avoid. He will end a lot of the opponent’s offensive possessions while also kicking off his own team’s offense.

Given the elite defense, the bar for Lipsey to be an effective offensive player is lower. But we have also seen him utilize tools like passing, speed and some self-creation ability to keep defenses honest. Despite my hand-wringing and his limitations, Lipsey has been one of the best offensive players in the NCAA. Having a physically gifted player who can make the right read, slash some and shoot some is likely to have some offensive value. Get him next to good play finishers (like we’ve seen at Iowa State) and Lipsey supports a very good offense.

Given his outlier speed and quickness, even among the NBA’s elite, Lipsey can combine his athletic traits with a high level of feel in many, interesting ways. He will give you transition offense as he makes every little task more difficult for an opposing offense. He will help from distance without gambling. If he continues to develop his pull-up, as he should given his age, he could become a strong pick and roll conductor, as well.

Lipsey has more upside than your typical guard prospect, with day one bankable skills. Don’t let him go unnoticed.

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