Meet Marcus Sasser
The Detroit Pistons added Marcus Sasser with the 25th pick in last week’s draft. They went into the night with the 31st but traded up to 25th in exchange for a (I believe still undisclosed) number of future 2nds.
Who is Marcus Sasser?
Marcus Sasser is a 22-year-old (almost 23, born September 21, 2000), 6’2, 200 lbs guard coming out of Houston where he starred for the Cougars. Sasser is Texas through and through, born in Dallas and raised in Dallas suburb Red Oak. (At least it is classified as part of the DFW metroplex so does that count as a suburb?) He played his high-school ball there in Red Oak where he played for his Uncle. Marcus was named player of the year for his district but wasn’t a overly highly touted recruit before committing to play for the Houston Cougars.
His freshman year in Houston was a bit up and down but by the end of the season he had won the starting job at point-guard. This kicked off a highly successful college career. Other than an toe injury that cut his junior season short he never relinquished the starting role and the Cougars won the American Athletic conference in 3 of his 4 college seasons, finishing second in his sophomore year. He capped of his career by being the leading scorer for an excellent team last season and is one of the best shooters in school history and likely has that toe injury to blame for not holding the school record for career three-pointers. Last season he averaged 16.8 points and 3.1 assists per game while shooting 38.7% from deep on high volume.
Offense:
There is some very good and some very bad here. On the plus side, Sasser is one of the most proven shooters in the entire draft. To borrow from the esteemed Sean Corp:
Shooting 46% on catch-and-shoot opportunities is great, shooting 40% on guarded opportunities is unreal. As we talked about with Ausar Thompson’s defense there is no such thing as “can’t miss” but Sasser is as proven a shooter as you can be from the college level. He can shoot as a spot-up guy or off the dribble and should be among the Pistons’ best shooters from the moment he steps on the floor. When you are picking someone at 25th, for them to have a skill that proven is an excellent starting point. It’s also worth noting that his shooting also extends inside the arc as well where he shot 50% despite basically never getting to the hoop.
Never getting to the hoop?
Yeah this is the bad news. Sasser is not very big and by the standards of the NBA almost comically unexplosive as an athlete. He has decent quicks (as we will see in the defense section) but he struggles to get by guys, can’t finish over anyone, and even when he gets space he struggles to hit layups. He is such a good shooter that it worked for him in college but it is a GLARING weakness that a guy who is ostensibly a point guard is a total non-threat in the paint.
Although that may be a bit unfair given that he didn’t really play point-guard even last year at Houston. Marcus averaged just 3 assists per game, more than 2 per game behind the even smaller Jamal Shead. This brings us to ultimately the biggest issue that Sasser has, he is a pure shooter in a point-guard body, the wrong sort of tweener. You can get away with being just a shooter in the NBA if you’re like 6’7, its much harder to do when you’re 6’2.
Even though he isn’t really a point-guard he is still obviously capable of handling the ball and doing basic point-guard stuff and he isn’t a terrible passer. But he is not a guy you want initiating the offense with regularity.
There is a touch of concern even with his shot as well, it isn’t the quickest release as he takes a beat to load it up which adds with his short stature to bring some concern as to how effectively he will be able to get shots off against NBA defenders but that is a lesser concern.
Effectively he should be viewed in a similar vein as some pure shooter white guy who does nothing else beyond some basic ball-handling stuff on offense.
Defense:
Woof. Sasser is a guy who, as the kids say “Got that dog in him” on the defensive side of the ball. HE gets into guys jerseys’ is nearly impossible to shake, and is stronger than his short height would suggest. The height will limit his versatility as he will likely struggle to hold up against even most off-guards and today’s NBA has more big ball-handlers than ever before, but even so he should be a nightmare to deal with at the point of attack.
He really is the whole package at the point defensively. Gets his chest into guys and gets heaps of steals without fouling, competes every possession at a high level, just a dog.
There are occasionally guys who are awesome college defenders that are not awesome athletes that don’t really pan out as high-level defenders in the NBA (Pistons fans can think back to Khyri Thomas here, who was one of the best defenders in college before being drafted) but Sasser should at least be a plus defender.
Intangibles:
By all accounts an excellent leader who works exceptionally hard. Once again he was not an overhyped recruit and basically worked his way into becoming a first round pick. Passing with flying colors here.
Where does he fit on the floor?
Sasser profiles as exactly the wrong sort of tweener where on offense he can only work as an off-guard but he is too small to defend as an off-guard. The good news is that the Pistons have (as of now) three guys on the roster who can work as lead guards on offense while having the size to defend wings with Cunningham/Ivey/Hayes and if things break right we can even give Ausar Thompson a mention here as well. The Pistons’ collection of large humans who can handle the ball means that Sasser’s tweener status is not as much of a concern as it would be other places. A theoretical bench backcourt of Hayes and Sasser should be terror defensively and effective on offense.
The upshot for the rest of the roster?
Many have equated the arrival of Sasser to the end of Killian Hayes in Detroit but between my assessment of Marcus as a player and some decent info, I heard that isn’t the case. Killian Hayes’ status with the Pistons remains the same as ever, they love his defense and as long as he doesn’t get included in some larger deal they want to give him one more season to find a more defined role. Sasser and Killian are, in fact, a rather ideal pairing for the backcourt, and hyper-defensive players coming off the bench is a good formula. Sasser will likely be competing with wing players for minutes and if anything this makes it more likely that the Pistons will trade Alec Burks or bump the likes of Isaiah Livers out of the rotation or solidify Hamidou Diallo not returning to the team. If Sasser plays well he will have a role as a shooter playing off of any one of the Pistons’ large ball-handlers and if not he will be sitting outside of the rotation at least to start. There seems to be minimal hope of him ever being a true point guard, even coming off the bench, so he will need the Pistons to stay committed to large ball handlers in the long run.
Best NBA doppleganger:
I’m drawn to Langston Galloway here. Galloway was an even more prolific shooter in college (Galloway had an absurd 42% clip from deep on 6 attempts per game in his college career against 37% on 7 attempts for Sasser) and Galloway didn’t have Sasser’s defensive reputation. HOWEVA, an undersized guard who isn’t really a point guard but plays hard defensively and can shoot the living hell out of the ball is a pretty straight comparison. And if Sasser ends up having the career Galloway had, playing to his 30s as a solid rotational piece, that isn’t a bad outcome for a 25th pick overall. In addition by most accounts Sasser should be a superior defender to Galloway who was okay due to his absurd wing-span but never crossed much beyond a decent defender.
Best Case Scenario:
The defense is legit and despite his size he is one of the best point-of attack defenders in the league almost from day one (he is almost 23 after all) and the shooting carries over. He is a meaningful contributor from day one and is capable of handling more ball-handling duties than most have thought even if he’s never a proper PG. He has a long Pistons career as an integral bench-cog wh comes in and provides suffocating defense and spark-plug shooting.
Worst case scenario:
The defense is only okay as any time he has to face bigger dudes he just can’t hold up. The shooting is okay but nothing more, doesn’t even make it to the end of his rookie deal.
Verdict:
Sasser seems like a plug-and-play guy. It’d be nice if he was bigger but if he was bigger he wouldn’t be getting drafted 25th. The Pistons needed more defenders and shooters and he is both. Given that coming into the offseason I have repeatedly harped on the need to add guys who can do both of those things I would be a hypocrite to not be happy with this addition even if it comes in an odd package. Add in the fact that as a 4 year college player who is almost 23 and he should contribute sooner rather than later. I would like it better if they had been able to add him at 31 without giving up any future assets to move up a few spots but whatever.