Phoenix Suns Got One Of “Best Shooters” In Kentucky HISTORY In Koby Brea

Phoenix Suns Got One Of “Best Shooters” In Kentucky HISTORY In Koby Brea

Did the Phoenix Suns get a steal with the 41st pick in the draft? And Kobe Brea talking about it is a massive Kentucky fan, also big sports media personality. It’s Trill Withers aka Tyler Imam, aka probably the best in the game when it comes to those Twitter, the Twitter streets, man. I appreciate you uh taking some time, Tyler.
No, thank you for the for the kind words and for having me. Always honored to to talk some cats.
Yeah, absolutely, man. I I think that the main thing that Suns fans are excited about with Kobe Brea is obviously the shooting. The dude is just an an absolute dead eyee sniper. Do you feel like the way that he shoots, how he gets it either off the catch or off the dribble is something that will easily translate to the next level?
Uh, absolutely. I think it 100% will because he’s like you hear like a guy can shoot, but there’s so much more. But we know how complex the game is getting and has gotten. Um, you have to be like, can you shoot only off the catch? Can you shoot moving to the left? Can you shoot moving to the right? Do you need to get one or two dribbles before you get it up? And with Kobe B, I think he’s just good to great at all of those. Like I’ve been in Kentucky. I’ve seen a number of shooters from Tony Delk Reed Shepard. I don’t know how old excuse me, Jeff Shepard I should say, and then to Reed Shepard, but to Devin Booker, Malik Monk, and Kobe Bray as a guy like it seems like it’s going in every single time.
Where would you Where would you rank him?
As pure shooter, like ball leaving the hand. It’s tough because I I’m factoring in the one year he played for UK, but also he’s got four years at Dayton where he was as good or better than that. So I he’s he’s definitely one of the best, maybe number one at the ball leaving his hand cuz free throws he’s like 88 90% plus. He’s I think 43% career at range at volume again off movement off the dribble if needs to. So I he’s very very high. I’m sure I’m forgetting somebody, but he’s I’d have to say top two or three to to give myself a little little grace, but he’s up there.
Yeah. I mean, obviously when you watch a player recently, there’s always a little bit of Definitely. I was watching the highlights this morning and to get ready, so I was like, he’s the best shooter I’ve ever seen in my life.
Oh, especially when you only pull the makes. Oh, man.
He’s never missed.
No. I mean, basically all of his shots were makes anyway. So, the highlight reel is is not that far off. Are you Are you pumped to see him play with your other Kentucky boys, Devin and and Nick? Oh, absolutely. I like I was drafted by like Golden State, so I was like, “Okay, new Klay Thompson. Let’s let’s go.” And then to Phoenix, I was like, “Okay, new Devin Booker, let’s go.” And y’all got Nick Richards. Uh, y’all had Archie Goodwin. So, the Suns have been Sun’s been pretty good to the Cats.
Oh, man. We could we could talk a little we could talk a little Archie at the end here. We’ll do a little portion for our dieards. Archie’s a friend of the program. He’s been on a couple times. Good dude. uh that that poster that on uh I forget who it was, but that was like number one on Sports Center top 10. I mean, that’s that’s a play that will live in in Sun’s infamy because it happened when we just sucked. Absolutely.
Uh so with with Kobe specifically, you know, obviously the shooting is the thing that everybody looks at and I think rightfully so as far as like percentiles go. He’s like high 90s on catch and shoot off the dribble. All of that is incredible. Of course, it’s an NBA, you know, skill, but we see a wide variety of shooters in the league, right? You you mentioned Devin Booker, obviously Steph. I don’t think anybody’s expecting Kobe to come in and be like that. On his offensive game, do you have any concerns about the other parts of the game, like getting to the rim, moving off the dribble, play making as far as this guy could go from being like a bench shooter to, hey, this guy could maybe start if he can add these other parts to his game.
I I do the first one you meant like getting to the room. He can do it if there is like a runway. He’s not going to, you know, snake with his handle. And to be fair, like it’s not something you want him to do. I think he has that IQ to his game where he’s like, I need to get in my bag and get to the rim. The playm he’s not much of a playmaker. I I I do think something that will translate, I think he’s pretty risk averse, which I mean can be a good thing, can be a bad thing, but I think a good thing on offense, he’s not going to have a lot of turnovers. he is willing to like he I think he processes things quickly like I’m gonna get the shot up or I will move it like the ball’s not going to stick in my hands. Uh on defense there’s not a lot of like gambling like he’ll never be a great defender but just his IQ I think will allow him to one get minutes early because of the shooting and two hopefully develop some of those other things uh wellround out his game like you mentioned.
Did you see him improve defensively over the year at Kentucky? I did definitely definitely he’s someone I think he struggles with like if you got a quick first step you will get past him but to his credit he fights back he contest a lot like he’s back in the play he’s blocking shots from behind like toward the end of the year Kentucky battled a number of injuries especially at the guard position and the defense was not great and it ticked up to like average slightly above average and he was a part of that because he’s I know you hear a lot about not a lot of athleticism he doesn’t have a great wingspan But he’s still 6’5, 66 with that kind of wingspan. And when you’re willing to compete and move and run through screens like that, it I think it raises the floor of your defense.
Yeah. Do you do you see him as somebody who has the potential to eventually start in the NBA? Because some of the stuff that you mentioned obviously like you don’t like to make mistakes, that’s good, but if you’re not making big plays, that might hold you back from a starting lineup. You can be scrappy on defense, but if you don’t have the athleticism or somebody’s got that quick first step on you in college, well, they only get quicker on the next level. Obviously, this is not a lottery guy. This isn’t somebody that went in the first round, but we’ve talked to some draft people and some did have late first round grades on him. Do you think that it has to be like the situation’s perfect for him to start or could he be one of those guys that four or five years down the line it’s like, “Holy crap, how did Kobe Brea go 41st overall?” I think he again me Kentucky fan I’m optimistic for that but I do I see and hope just some of these guys like I was looking at guys pick like second round just in the last five years or so and you can get like rotation to starter player guys like a Jaylen Wells from the Grizzlies last year Kamar was a late second round pick Davis her
we can’t talk about Tumani Kamaro over here man we can’t do that that’s tough man that’s tough
that’s fair but it’s It’s water under the bridge. Uh y’all got new Tummani Kamar. His name’s Kobe Brea. Um hey, there you go.
But just a number of guys I I think he c it would have to be a like a unique fit. Um I think around his weaknesses, but with his strength is so strong. It’s like, yeah, you’re making up for me on defense. I’m spacing the floor for you. So, I could see him a like if he’s your your fifth starter, but I really could see it like a very high caliber bench rotation player, a sixth, seventh, eighth man, a I like a Sam Hower right now. Like I think of like a Duncan Robinson, a guy that’s like, okay, you could like shoot so well it gets you on the court early to allow you to figure out those other things. Now, is Duncan Robinson ever going to be like a 35 minute a game guy or allstar, all NBA? No. but he’s played for some winning teams. He’s made himself a lot of money. Uh he’s had a pretty good career. So, if you can shoot for something like that at pick 41, I I I think you’re thrilled.
Yeah. Is there anything about his game that you feel like people don’t talk about as much? Like, man, like the conversation always goes to shooting. We’ve touched on a couple other things. Is there anything else that it’s like we’d be doing him a disservice if we didn’t bring this up today? I it’s over used now, but I do think he’s got that dog in him. Like if you know if again I don’t know about oldheads, his godfather is Felipe Lopez. They used to ball for St. John’s back in the day. So I think he like inherited that gene. He’s just like a New York cat. He’s a trash talker. You will see him like fire a shot and turn around. He’s saying something to the other bench for the balls in the basket. He’s going back up court. So that amount of like get somebody blows past you like never giving up on the play and if I if not okay I’ll get you back the next play. So like just that I think that mentality especially like as a second rounder scrapping to to make a way scrapping to make a team I it can be infectious. I think we see like OKC and Indiana have to be the standard right now. We see the continuity they’ve built. you see the chemistry they’ve built and you look up and see a guy uh like Nimhart, it’s like that guy’s a second round pick now. He’s making a lot of money starting on a finals team really uh developing his game. So, I I’ve got got some high hopes for him.
Awesome. I I love to hear it, man. We’re going to get to a couple pro comps for Kobe Brea. We’re going to talk a massive Devin Booker extension coming up. Little Nick Richards in hell. might just do the Archie Goodwin deep dive if we have a little bit more than an hour because I mean how could you not spend an hour on that guy? Listen, this is Tyler Amam aka Trell Withers. Uh do you want to let the people know before we we sign off? We head over to a dieh hard only portion here, but for those on YouTube who are just catching this casually. Anything you’ve got going on? I know that you’ve got a shirt that just came out based off of again one of those uh iconic tweets that you’ve put out there. Uh anything you want to let the people know you’ve got going on? Uh, just follow me Tyler am. I’m on the Twitch uh Twitch partner at Trilly Whiskers and yeah, was able to partner uh with the goods.com. That beer hit my hand on a Friday like Milner. Uh, if you know, you know. If you’re a Friday beer drinker, you might need that on your chest this summer. Um, again, that’s on the gushers.com or at my Twitter bio. I think I think you know that you had an elite tweet when it’s like the quote retweets happen consistently and obviously you got a couple of them, but I know it’s the weekend officially when my timeline is is filling up with people quote tweeting that and all the different gifts and stuff like that. So go support our guy Tyler on Twitch. Go get the shirt, help him out as well. And of course give him a follow, too. Hit that like button. Hit that subscribe button if you’re here on YouTube. If you’re on audio, five star reviews, they go a long way to help the program. And for those of you that aren’t die hards, you’re missing out because we’re about to dive into Devon Booker, Nick Richards, and more. So, let’s get into that. [Applause] [Music]

Phoenix Suns fans were thrilled with their 2025 draft haul, but some were hesitant on taking Kentucky’s Koby Brea over Duke’s Tyrese Proctor. Erik Ruby is joined by Kentucky fan and media personality Trill Withers (@TylerIAm) to break down why Brea was the best shooter he’s seen for the Wildcats, what his other strengths and weaknesses are, and why he might be able to be a starter in the NBA. If you want more from Erik and Trill, become a Diehard today for ten extra minutes of Brea, Booker and more basketball talk!

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