Why you should be buying stock in Bones Hyland

Bones Hyland made one glaring mistake on the offensive end of the floor in last night’s fourth quarter. It was this costly turnover with a little under two minutes remaining in regulation that the Kings capitalized on to tie the score at 122.

That was it. Don’t believe me? Here’s every one of Hyland’s 15 fourth-quarter possessions in the Nuggets’ 127-126 loss Wednesday in Sacramento.

Denver scored on eight of those 15 possessions. Hyland assisted on five of Denver’s six made baskets and committed only one turnover over the last 7:30 of regulation. He also delivered Nikola Jokic the ball on the two shooting fouls that the back-to-back MVP drew over that stretch.

Hyland missed an ugly fall-away jumper from the baseline with 6:36 left in the fourth, but it was at the end of the shot clock and well-guarded by Davion Mitchell. He then answered with a tough, contested drive and finish at the rim with 2:24 on the clock to give Denver a four-point lead. Hyland also mixed in an assist to Michael Porter Jr. and a perfectly placed left-handed dime that led to Chrisitan Braun’s baseline dunk. Hyland got Jokic the ball where he wanted it throughout the fourth quarter too. His passes were on time and accurate.

I heard a lot of criticisms about Hyland winding down the shot clock and dribbling the air out of the ball during most of his fourth-quarter possessions before he got into the two-man game with Jokic, but that was by design. The Nuggets were looking to milk the clock. It’s the same strategy Denver would have deployed if Jamal Murray was on the floor. Looking back at the film, I think it was pretty impressive how Hyland handled the full-court ball pressure from Mitchell, who’s one of the NBA’s best on-ball defenders.

Should Hyland have gotten this ball to Jokic earlier in the shot clock on the potential game-winner? Maybe a second earlier, but it didn’t put Jokic in that different of a position than a couple of possessions before when Hyland delivered him the ball in nearly the same spot. The only difference was Jokic missed the shot (and got fouled). Maybe Jokic shouldn’t have floated as deep into the paint and stayed closer to the foul line and further away from Domantas Sabonis.

Both clips are here.

The idea on that second possessions was to get a great look and leave as little time as possible for Sacramento to score. Denver accomplished both of those tasks. Worst case scenario, you head to overtime. That of course didn’t happen. Malik Monk hooked himself around Kentavious Caldwell-Pope on the Kings’ ensuing possession and hit 1-of-2 free-throws to ice the game. The NBA’s Last Two Minute Report said the officials made the correct decision to not whistle Monk for an offensive foul on this play, in case you were curious.

Hyland, who was starting in place of Murray (left knee injury management), in the second leg of the Nuggets’ back-to-back in Sacramento, finished with 20 points (8-16 FG, 3-6 3PT), 5 rebounds, 11 assists, and that one turnover. On the season, he’s averaging 13 points (38.9 FG%, 38.6 3P%), 2.2 rebounds and 3.4 assists per game.

All of this isn’t to say that Hyland was flawless in the fourth quarter. He wasn’t. He did commit that one turnover. He could have looked to feed Jokic again instead of swinging the ball to Caldwell-Pope with 1:32 left in the fourth and the score tied at 122. His defense could have been better. You could kill every Nuggets player for their fourth-quarter defensive effort. Denver could not get a stop. Sacramento also just got hot. The Kings scored on 14 of their last 16 possession. De’Aaron Fox couldn’t miss, and a lot of his looks were well-defended by Caldwell-Pope and Braun. Hyland didn’t guard Fox that much in the fourth.

But this is a second-year point guard who Wednesday in Sacramento flashed some of the playmaking and lead ball-handler qualities that get you excited about the player he is right now and the one he can become. The criticisms I heard last night about Hyland were similar to the critiques many had regarding Murray in his second season.

“He’s not a point guard.” “He has to play the two.” “He’s not a good enough ball-handler.” “He needs to play off the ball.”

Look what Murray has become. He’s part of what I think is the best pick-and-roll duo in the NBA.

At his core, Hyland is an incredibly talented and gifted scorer with a plus 3-point shot. He has that unlearnable, natural scoring and playmaking gene that only a select few have when they enter the NBA. At 22-years-old, Hyland can get by most of his matchups off the bounce. He has an elite dribble package and a long first step that allows him to get into the lane at will. Hyland has to improve his two-point efficiency and make real strides as a defender, but I’m buying his eventual impact on that end of the floor. His 6-foot-9 wingspan can be a real factor. Just eight months ago, Hyland’s 15 points and seven assists off the bench catapulted the Nuggets to their Game 4 win over the Warriors in the first-round of the playoffs.

So far this season, Hyland has underperformed the expectations many had for him after a strong rookie campaign. But last night was a step forward.

If you want to sell me your Hyland stock, I’ll buy all of it.