Meet Tre Holloman

Will Wade continues to build his first roster in Raleigh with the addition of Tre Holloman, the fourth new face to jump onboard and, at least in my opinion, the biggest one yet. Holloman comes to Raleigh with one year of eligibility after spending a lot of time in East Lancing as an initiator and ball-screen operator for Tom Izzo. 

The most important role on any basketball team is the initiator, the straw that stirs the drink, as some might say. Sometimes this can be a lot of guys, sometimes it can be just one, but you have to have somebody who can put some pressure on the rim, force a defense to rotate and help, and then make that defense wrong. That’s the fundamental basketball theory. Get the ball into the paint and then be able to take what the defense gives you in response. This applies in almost every situation from Markell Johnson in the pick and roll to DJ Burns posting up.

State, to this point, has added a couple players that have paint touch ability, but both present serious question marks that deflate confidence in their ability to consistently make a defense wrong. Holloman is a big addition because his flaws are more minimalized. He doesn’t do everything super well, few do, but he also doesn't come with a huge red blinking sign on his head that says "defenses, make me do this." He’s a polished basketball player that plugs right in and can be effective as a high usage guy. 

There’s no question his strength is as a passer. He had the 77th best assist rate in college basketball (giving State two guys in the top 80). As mentioned, he ran a lot of pick and roll for Michigan State, and he’s really good at it. The best ball-screen guards have some explosiveness off the bounce, are patient but decisive, obviously see the floor really well, and have enough shooting and scoring punch to keep a defense honest. Holloman checks a lot of these boxes. 

The senior guard can absolutely get a piece of the paint, especially using a screen. He sees the floor very well and consistently makes good reads, and importantly does not make them too early. He is patient, and that’s really important to keep a drop big on the ball longer and create rim run opportunities.

The scoring is not prolific. Last season, he shot 46% at the rim, 38% from the mid-range, and 33% from three. None of those numbers are horrible, but none are good. As a sophomore, those numbers were significantly better, but at a lesser volume. 

To be effective, you have to present at least some kind of scoring threat, otherwise it’s just too easy to minimize rotation and force the lead guard into a scoring role. Holloman is far from a prolific scorer, but he does enough that you have to account for it. He is not going to be 2018 Markell Johnson, but he has enough versatility to not present defenses with obvious answers, a problem State dealt with when running Michael O’Connell and Marcus Hill last season. 

O’Connell really struggled to score in general and Hill made eight threes all year, so you got a lot of defenses cheating under ball screens and having an easy time neutralizing with drop coverage and minimal rotation. I do not think you have to worry about Holloman falling to this level of susceptibility to “prove it” ball-screen coverages.

Holloman comes off the spread ball screen reading the drop coverage. The big continues to gain depth and tries to maintain contact with the rim runner, so Holloman floats the ball over him. If the big doesn't gain as much depth, Holloman should and could throw the lob. This is what State will need from him. He does not have to be Steph Curry, but be able to make the shots you're given.

Holloman isn't going to take contact at the rim from a 6'10 giant and finish through it. He doesn't have the stoutest frame, and that's not really his game. He does have decent touch around the paint though, and you will get some extended-arm finishes around bigger players and an ability to get the ball high off the glass. He will give you the occasional acrobatic finish around a shot blocker, and that's a product of having decent touch in the paint, which shows up in other areas as well. If you give him the space, he feels pretty comfortable hitting a shallow runner or floater and finishing over guys that way, which you can see above. This type of scoring is not where he lives, but it's not absent either.

I don't think Holloman is suddenly going to become an elite finisher at the rim. He will give you stuff like the above sometimes, but he made about one shot per game at the rim and shot a sub-par percentage. The more reasonable step forward would be an increase in efficiency as a shooter, both from the perimeter and in the mid-range. He's such an effective passer and his timing is so good when paired with rim-running bigs against drop coverage that a reliable jumper would really start to further stretch drop coverage and draw weakside help.

The thing you love the most is how developed of a passer he is. He is one of the best lob throwers you’ll see, and if State can pair him with an athletic rim-running roller (who can hopefully do more than just rim run), you’ll get to see a lot of this.

I just love Holloman’s patience and ability to see the floor. This is a high-level example that stood out to me. 

It's a horns set with corner spacers. Holloman comes off this screen against a high drop coverage, and he has to quarterback the whole floor here. There are a lot of things that could happen here. 

If the drop big sinks deeper to protect against the lob, Holloman can shoot.

If you get a roller tag from the weakside corner, the ball can go over there for a 3.

If the slot defender carries the roller, ball should go back to the slot area (more of the point here) for a 3.

If the drop big stays high and help doesn't come from the corner or the slot, lob that baby up there.

This is Holloman at work with floor spacing. He’s good enough to read this out and, provided he has the shooters, he’s able to quarterback a set that the defense can’t really be right on. I really like the little deceleration coming off the screen. There are times when you want to come off the screen like a bat outta hell, but drop coverage isn't always one, and the little two-foot stop freezes the big. He’s really good at engaging and reading drop bigs, and his timing and patience in these types of situations is the most impressive thing about him. 

We’ve also touched a little on his ability to get downhill. Even though he isn’t a prolific scorer at the rim, the ability to get into the paint and threaten the rim is certainly in play.

Minnesota hedges the ball screen here and he’s able to turn the corner on it. The worst thing that can happen to a hedging defense is allowing the guard to turn the corner on the big, as it essentially creates a 5 on 3. Holloman's ability to turn the corner on this big creates the numbers advantage and forces the corner defender into help, and then it's just a matter of making the right pass.

This is Holloman creating a paint touch from just a pure isolation. This is not a player who can't put pressure on the rim.

Winning off the bounce here forced the big to pick up the ball and Holloman takes advantage with an easy drop off pass. He is capable of getting downhill, and a lot of these examples result in him moving the basketball. That's at least one component of his at-the-rim shooting volume.

This is a 77 action that Holloman can't quite turn the corner on (it's harder to do that when they hedge the second screen), but he does get a switch. Once they reset, the big tries to set a ball screen and Holloman waves him off to play through the mismatch instead of just allowing them to switch back. Then he throws a bangin' entry pass.

It's just little things like calling this screen off and knowing exactly what he wanted to get into that stand out to you. It's leadership on the floor.

Holloman is great reading out halfcourt sets, but his passing on the break is probably even better. He is excellent running the fast break. I think if you wanted to get even more specific, this would be the best part of his game. He is really excellent seeing the whole floor and finding guys in transition, and he's fast in the open floor as well

Wade's first two portal additions offered some ambiguity with regards to role fit in Raleigh. This one does not. I'd expect to see Holloman as a primary initiator for a large portion of the season's minutes. He's PG1, and State will look to involve him in various ball-screen sets because he thrives in those types of things. He's a higher level operator, and if you can pair that with shooting, a quality roll man, and scoring efficiency increase from Holloman himself, you've really got something. All of that is still to be determined, but this is a good step.

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