Ryan Dunn has already made 1 massive development months after being drafted

Ryan Dunn has already made 1 massive development months after being drafted

Heading into the 2024 NBA Draft, one of the best defensive playmakers was athletic Virginia forward Ryan Dunn (my draft profile him). He possessed great length (plus-7 wingspan) that he leveraged into averaging a remarkable 3.6 stocks per game as a sophomore and 6.1 stocks per 75 possessions for his career.

His biggest knock, however, was his shooting–or lack thereof. Dunn attempted just 51 3-pointers over his two-year career, converting them at a 23.5 percent clip; he attempted 99 free-throws and only made those at a 52.5 percent clip.

Though mere months after being drafted, Dunn, drafted No. 28 overall by the Phoenix Suns, has already made significant strides with his 3-point shooting.

After going 0-for-2 from deep in the season opener, he’s drained a rookie-most six triples on 11 attempts after going 13-of-30 (43.3 percent) from long-distance in preseason. That included him making six 3-pointers in a single preseason game against the Denver Nuggets … after knocking down just seven total 3-pointers his entire sophomore season at Virginia.

When you do pre-draft evaluations, one of the many things you’re looking for is translatable skillsets. Whether it was watching film or examining a few of the aforementioned indicators, shooting wasn’t one of them for Dunn; if anything, both in college suggested either his shooting touch and/or form were significantly askew.

It’s significanly difficult–borderline impossible–to teach the former, and it’s not always easy to teach the latter, either. There are times where working on someone’s shooting form has done more harm than good–look at Markelle Fultz, for example. I still need a bigger sample, but Mikal Bridges‘ current shooting form is also worse than it was in Phoenix or Brooklyn, too.

It also goes to show that reps and confidence go a long way. I’m anything but a shooting doctor, but his shooting base and release appears to be more consistent (and fluid). An inconsistent lower half–particularly with the footwork–can limit explosiveness and accuracy within the shot. It never looked poor, per say, but I’m sure the lack of confidence he had Virginia with his shot had something to do with it, too.

Upon my initial analysis, I haven’t found myself questioning his shot since he’s arrived in the NBA; whatever Phoenix prescribed, it worked … and it’s translated beautifully into a ridiculously confident, athletic 3-and-D role player.

Quality shooting is one of, if not the most valuable skill that teams covet. In today’s pace-and-space nature that the NBA’s inherited, if you can shoot, you’re not as likely to have a successful NBA career. Regardless if it was containing ballhanders in space, being a weakside rim protector or wreaking havoc in the passing lanes–Dunn has it defensively. It was the offense as a functional threat was my biggest question from him; it’s difficult to play 4 v. 5 at the NBA level, and that’s what teams were doing to him at Virginia.

He’s shut down any conceivable criticism in an unprecedented timeframe. I want all these guys to succeed to where it’s come to a point to where I’m tuning into Suns games to watch Dunn–not Kevin Durant, Bradley Beal, Devin Booker or Tyus Jones–to marvel at this development. This is one of my favorite stories in not only the NBA, but in sports. You could’ve told me that he was on a Herb Jones-esque development in 2-3 years and I would’ve believed you … not 2-3 months.

That said, we haven’t even seen Jones’ ceiling yet, let alone Dunn’s. But if he continues this trajectory, he could very easily be looking as one of the steals of the 2024 draft … and potentially more.

My pre-draft eval was dead wrong, and I couldn’t be more happy to be. Though I am also not sure if anyone could’ve predicted this super quickly. Keep flamethrowing, Ryan!

***

Click Here for more NBA Content

Subscribe to Vendetta’s Twitch

Subscribe to Vendetta’s YouTube

Check out the Vendetta Shop