Meet Kyle Evans

Justin Gainey’s first portal class started with a heavy dose of backcourt action. The Pack added Christian Hammond and Preston Edmead, and it continues to pursue Paul McNeil. I’ll admit, the player profile is different than I expected to see. State has overindexed on offensive skillset to this point with these guards. If it can add McNeil back, it will have some serious spacing and shot-making juice. None of these guys are great defenders, though. The early acquisitions and targets really highlighted the demand for quality rim protection to provide a backstop for the defense. Welcome Kyle Evans.

Evans enters his fifth year, which will be his first year in a power conference following sequential two-year stints at Colorado State and UC Irvine. His last year at Irvine, he was America’s leading shot blocker. If he would like to be America’s leading shot blocker again, that would be dandy. His best contribution to the game is his minimization of the dribble drive. A high percentage of dribble drives afforded by UC Irvine's perimeter defense turned into mid-range shots, blocks, or just outright bails from the ball handler. He provided a great safety net to the Irvine guards.

This is his game. Help side blocks, drop coverage blocks, and erasing dribble drives.

Evans is large at 6’10, and his shot blocking is attribute one for Gainey with this add. For Irvine, he played a lot of drop coverage and was really locked into the rim protector role on defense. Irvine was pretty happy funneling the ball to him, and it created a lot of opportunities to be an eraser. He averaged 3.4 blocks per game, which is a crapload, and his impact on the game was felt on every possession in the Big West. There is a lot of “no thanks” from opposing guards after coming off a ball screen

6 for Hawaii gets a great screen and is able to come downhill, but Evans' presence cancels the drive. Evans then rotates to the back cut and prevents the layup with his arms straight up to not commit a foul. Great play.

I expect you’ll see a lot of this type of coverage from him at NC State, but I am curious to see if the scheme fit is 1:1 for Gainey. Evans moves well enough that you can play other coverages with him, but you diminish the rim protection doing so. The drop coverage would make Irvine vulnerable to shooting bigs. Hawaii had a seven-footer named Isaac Johnson who could shoot some. He averaged 3.6 three-point attempts per game, but that number was over seven in his three games against UC Irvine. It's a natural vulnerability when you keep the big at home this much. The Anteaters didn't care about this, so they gave up a lot of looks like the one below.

Evans aggressively stays low on ball screen actions. Pick and pop and stuff and a roll-replace adjacent action like this could get him. Worth thinking about when you consider his usage at State and specific matchups.

Evans only averaged 2.5 fouls per 40 minutes, a number that seems totally impossible after years of watching NC State bigs find foul trouble like it's loose change. For reference, Scottie Ebube committed 17 fouls per 40 minutes. Ebube is a terrible benchmark because he's on the opposite extreme, but I just wanted an excuse to use this stat.

This works because Evans is a disciplined shot blocker. He doesn’t bite on shot fakes and is consistently the second player off the floor, which is how to avoid fouls a lot of the time. Evans is also really good about keeping his arms straight up when he needs to. He doesn’t flail around aimlessly while in mid-air. That's a skill that he's really mastered, which is neat because sometimes it seems like the hardest thing in the sport.

The biggest knock on Evans right now is his physicality. He's a technique-forward big, and while he’s excellent displaying range as a shot blocker covering drives, where he can be attacked is in the post. Opposing bigs can find success moving him, creating space, and getting shots over him. Despite his eraser persona against drives, I actually did not find him to be that good of a defender in the post. My chief concern is how he matches up down there with ACC-caliber size and athleticism.

Offensively, Evans is an interesting player. He is a capable two-way guy, not just a rim protector. He does have some post-up game, although I kind of doubt you’ll see much volume for this, but he can get to it. He uses the drop step well, and he has decent footwork and can counter into a baby hook, which he does have the touch to make. I think the more likely offensive contributions will come from pick and roll. He is a good short roller and very comfortable catching the ball and one-dribbling to the rim where he can finish. He has decent touch and finishing ability in these situations.

Irvine runs an empty side "get" action. Evans slides to the open space and floats it in off the catch.

Empty side ball screen. Evans gets the ball on the short roll and is able to step and finish. He's looking to finish when he catches in these situations.

The skill level is solid on both ends of the court with Evans. He's good at rolling and maintaining availability in the passing window, and he's strong at playing out of the dunker spot and knowing how to move through the lane from the dunker spot to make himself available. I find him to be a high floor but low ceiling player offensively. He'll give you functionality within the scheme and he knows where to be and what to do. He doesn't catch the ball looking like he got caught holding something he wasn't supposed to be. Too many bigs have this problem. He's a smooth player. However, he'll rarely be a matchup problem on the offensive end. That's not why you added him.

When I look at an add like this, I think about fit with the other players on the roster, and it stands out as a good complement. State is really adding a lot of shooting, diverse offensive skill sets, and complementary scoring tools to its backcourt (again, this will hit hyperdrive if McNeil returns). It's thin and small in the backcourt, though, and it's at risk of being leaky on the perimeter. Adding Evans gives you a tool to provide support to the most obvious weakness of the backcourt. While State is not out here adding five-star transfers, it is selecting for skills that can complement each other well.

Check our scouts of State's other portal acquisitions

Preston Edmead

Christian Hammond