I took an in-depth look at 2021 signee Tarris Reed to get a better feel for what Juwan Howard is getting from his big man of the future. The St. Louis native transferred to top-10 ranked Link Year Academy for his senior season, so this was a great opportunity to see him square off against some of the premier competition in the country for three games. 

The first contest came against top-5 ranked Sunrise Christian Academy in early February, where Tarris went head-to-head with Duke signee Mark Mitchell and 3-star big Bobi Klintman. The very next day, Reed battled with top-150 big man Keba Keita of Wasatch Academy. The final game came against top-10 ranked Arizona Compass Prep, which featured Tarris going up against top-100 center Sadraque Nganga and 4-star sophomore Aiden Sherrell. 

FACE-UP GAME

This is the most polished facet of Reed's offensive skillset at this point. Reed excels getting the ball on the elbow/wing against legit bigs and taking 1-2 dribbles right before changing direction with spin-moves/jump-stops to create separation before going with short jumpers or finishing at the rim. 

The second possession in the clip above is the most intriguing though. Tarris pivots, rips-through and blows by Sadraque Nganga and then avoids a charge by jumpstopping around the help defender before Nganga is forced to foul or give up a dunk. Nganga has above-average agility for a big and Reed absolutely went by him with ease and changed course in a very tight window to avoid the offensive foul. Quite impressive for a kid that big. 

Reed also has the Anthony Davis-esque jab-step + midrange package. That threat is very useful for creating space as the defender has to be concerned with the jumper to the extent that he can't sag off for fear of the same. And if the defender decides to sag, he looks really comfortable with that shot type.

Tarris has just enough acceleration + handle + strength to be a real face-up threat at Michigan, particularly in the B10. The conference generally has a plethora of traditional bigs that aren't all that agile, and Reed has enough juice to exploit that matchup. With improved athleticism via Camp Sanderson, Reed projects to be a legitimate scorer from the elbow/mid-post area that can create his own offense. 

SHOOTING

I'm more encouraged by Tarris' perimeter shotmaking potential than the results indicate. He went 1/4 from distance and 1/3 from midrange, but the shooting mechanics make me optimistic. 

The first shot clipped above is in slow-motion to provide you a better visual of what of I'm looking at. Reed doesn't dip the ball below the waist before commencing upward motion, elbow is aligned with shoulder/tucked-in, the release point is high, the arch is great and the balance is absolutely outstanding for a big. You wont find many HS bigs with shooting mechanics that clean and consistent. 

Reed projects as pick-and-pop shooter with decent volume based on what I see in his mechanics. Even his misses are generally on-line. It's rare that his shot is wide right or left, it's very consistent for a HS big. Call me bullish, but I think there is some real potential there. 

FINISHING

Tarris is a good finisher when he has space and/or a running start as seen above. In a bit of a surprise to your author, he's proficient as a roll-man and in lob scenarios. The second possession in the clip above is promising, as Reed finishes a lob in the same Spain PnR set that Michigan runs with regularity. While he doesn't get a ton of elevation, his length/wingspan makes the catch radius big enough that he's at least an adequate roll-man finisher. 

On the other hand, I'm not quite as high on him converting contested finishes despite the results in the clip below. Reed consistently head/shot fakes when he's got deep position at the rim. That's probably not ideal since he doesn't have a ton of explosion as a leaper. A quick-hitting attempt is likely superior to the extent the defense is caught off-guard.

To exacerbate the issue, he consistently attempts to finish with his right hand while the defender is on his right side after he seals. Functionally, that means he's not creating space by using his body to get into the defender's chest and finishing with the off-hand to negate shotblocking. He gets away with it at the HS level because of superior size/strength to get his defender off-balance, but these shot attempts likely get blocked in the B10. I'm sure this is something the staff will work on with him. 

[After THE JUMP: Let's talk about defense]

POST-UPS

Not a ton of volume (or successs) here, but I've seen enough to know that Tarris is an above-average post-scorer. In the clip above he does a good job of establishing position, but doesn't convert at the level we're accustomed to seeing.

The jumphook is something I haven't seen until now, and the touch looks solid. One thing I'd like to see is Reed getting in the restricted area on these attempts and leaning forward rather than fading back. 

Still, I project Tarris as a legit back-to-the-basket scorer at Michigan. In tandem with the aforementioned face-up game, he's going to be a load from 15 feet and in. He has good footwork/pivoting and it comes very natural to him. Reed will be able to get defenders off their feet to compensate for the lack of vertical explosion and sheer size. 

FREE THROWS

Not a lot to add that's not covered in the shooting section above. Reed went 10/17 in the clip above, but he projects to be a 70+ shooter from the charity stripe as a Wolverine. The shot mechanics are very good and with repetition he'll be solid there.

 

PERIMETER DEFENSE

I was baffled as to why Link's coach consistently had Tarris blitzing/showing high against ballscreens. It's fairly obvious he doesn't possess great agility and that played out in the clip above. The opposition wasn't able to cash-in for some of these, but the roll-man is generally wide open for relatively uncontested finishes at the rim that would be easy conversions at the college level. Reed simply doesn't possess the requisite deceleration/acceleration ability to be a guy that shows high against ballscreens + recovers to the roll-man in good time. 

He did show some flashes defending the perimeter against bigs and when switching on to guards. In the first possession of the clip below, Tarris beats Sadraque Nganga to the spot on two separate occasions and then stays engaged with 3-star Baylor commit Dillon Hunter with a bit of corner help. The distinguishing factor here is Reed isn't forced to stop/go in space to the extent he was in the clip above. If he's going in a straight line and not forced to change direction/speed, he's surprisingly nimble. 

Reed displays good anticipation when jumping passing lanes. In tandem with his wingpan/length, he's able to generate steals that turn into transition baskets when he gets a hand on the pass. But when the gambling doesn't pay off, Tarris simply can't turn his hips quick enough to recover and it places his team at a serious disadvantage as seen below. 

Most young bigs are naturally inclined to go shotblock hunting. We saw this a lot from first-half-of-the-season Moussa Diabate this season before he cleaned it up a bit down the stretch. Well, Reed is no different. He leaves his feet when closing out to shooters and when rotating to cut off dribble-drives. You can expect this to happen at Michigan early on, but it should fade out with time.