Koby Brea is set for an NBA Future, as the Phoenix Suns selected him in the second round of last week’s NBA Draft.
When Phoenix drafted Brea, they selected a player with the potential to be a high-impact role player — and one that could have a long-tenured career with the Suns.
Brea is widely known as a shooter — having shot 43.5% from three in Lexington. And all of that is fair, especially when you have a career three point average above 40%. That skillset undoubtedly will translate to the league and make him a lot of money. But few know about his limitations.
Despite being 6’7″ and long, Brea doesn’t project as much of a defender. He’s limited with his quickness, which means at most he can be a system defender. He’ll never be a primary on-ball guy, and likely not a secondary defender either.
With respect to height, shooting, and defensive limitation, Brea’s game most closely translates to that of Duncan Robinson. There’s a lot of money to be made in being a Duncan Robinson archetype (he did just sign a 3-year, $48 million contract with the Detroit Pistons), but he is very much an offensively-minded role player.
With fellow Kentucky alum Devin Booker — an offensively minded superstar — set to stay in Phoenix for the foreseeable future, Brea most closely projects as a role player off the bench. The main problem is that Brea would also share that space with Grayson Allen, who is an established player for Phoenix on a high-value contract. Allen functions as Phoenix’s sixth-man, featuring as a sharpshooting guard off the bench.
Being that Allen’s role is the archetype for what Brea should be for Phoenix, it’s unlikely that the Kentucky guard plays heavy minutes his rookie year. What’s more likely is that the Suns take the time to develop Brea, and as Allen’s time in Phoenix dwindles Brea’s will rise.
Regardless, he’s a sharpshooting guard with major potential. No matter what, that skillset will always translate to the NBA — so Koby Brea is here to stay.