Now in his third NBA season, Taurean Prince is starting to look like a promising young player for the Hawks. He’s the perfect definition of a modern wing player. His ability to drain catch-and-shoot threes helps space the floor, but he’s also gifted at finishing around the rim.
Prince has solidified himself as the second option in Atlanta’s offense. So far this season, the 24-year-old has put up numbers mostly consistent with last year, although his impact on the floor has continued to improve. As he matures, it’s difficult to determine what Taurean Prince’s potential truly is, but it’s pretty obvious that he’s talented.
Let’s start by breaking down his game.
Strengths
Throughout the last two years, Taurean has been a consistent spot-up shooter. Last year, he shot just under 40% from beyond the arc and drilled seven threes (a career high) on two occasions. These stats have stayed mostly the same this year, as he’s making slightly more shots on a worse percentage. However, he’s still proved himself to be a weapon from deep.
Prince’s athleticism is also a large strength of his game. He’s able to blow by most defenders with his explosiveness and is already a pro at absorbing contact under the rim. His fearlessness when attacking the basket, paired with his arsenal of finishing techniques, is a great skill to have when his shot isn’t falling.
Another benefit of Taurean’s game is his passing IQ. Although he only averaged 2.6 assists last season, his court vision is quite impressive for a wing player. His defensive awareness has also improved this year, now averaging 1.3 steals a game (second on the Hawks).
Ceiling: Bradley Beal
Both Beal and Prince are reliable shooters from deep, whether off the dribble or catch-and-shoot. The two share the ability to finish almost anywhere in the paint, although they tend to live outside of the arc. Another similarity is their underrated passing talents, and their assist numbers don’t do their court awareness justice. Although not being All-NBA caliber defenders, both players show the ability to lock-down opponents and make them think twice about challenging them.
Should Prince continue to take steps in his improvement, I can easily see him making a handful of All-Star rosters and become a Bradley Beal-type player.
Concerns
Taurean Prince’s strength and physicality is a great benefit as a wing player, but unfortunately, he fails to use it enough. His ability to get to the rack, and finish once he gets there, is rather impressive, and as I mentioned before, he’s fearless under the basket. But Taurean has the tendency to stray away from the paint and instead hide out on the three-point line.
If Prince continues to live in three-point land, he may develop into more of a role-player than an All-Star. His athleticism could be used for so much more, but he’s seemed to settle into the role of a spot-up shooter. The SF averages the second most touches per game on the Hawks (42.1) but only averages 1.25 dribbles per touch. While this may work for Klay Thompson, Prince doesn’t take enough threes to justify the low amount of dribbles, especially when he has the strength to bully his way to the hoop. If he continues playing like this, Taurean will become a valuable role player in the league, but he’ll have wasted a boat-load of potential.
Basement: DeMarre Carroll
The point of a basement is to determine who a player would be like if he capitalized on the least amount of potential he could. You could probably make an argument that Prince, right now, is better than Carroll has ever been, and I’d probably agree with you.
His athleticism is remarkably superior to DeMarre’s, and his court vision is without question better. But, if Taurean doesn’t learn how to use his talents inside the arc and take more of a ball-dominant role, he’ll never progress into the player that he was drafted to be. Both DeMarre and Taurean are consistent shooters from deep, and both possess the ability to absorb contact, although they aren’t great at drawing fouls. If Prince’s progression slows or stops entirely, he’ll end up becoming a role player similar to Carroll, and we’ll be left to wonder what happened to all of his potential.
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