Devin Carter, Ryan Dunn, Reece Beekman, Trevon Brazile
Brian breaks down guard Devin Carter, wing Ryan Dunn, guard Reece Beekman, and big Trevon Brazile
Providence, Virginia, and Arkansas had some underwhelming seasons this year but they all have some good prospects to look at for the 2024 NBA Draft. Most of these guys are known for their defense on an elite level. Though all of them have some questions offensively. So let’s jump right into it.
Devin Carter/Providence
(Player Page)
Devin Carter is the son of former NBA player Anthony Carter. Devin Carter is an extremely athletic guard that is a tenacious defender. He’s taken a storm this season due to his increased offensive abilities which has made him one of the best two way players in college basketball this season.
My Personal Opinion
There is a lot to like with Devin Carter. He does get quite a bit of highlight reel bias but it's hard not to like him when he’s pulling up from the logo and hitting 3’s, then on the other end just making life miserable for opposing guards. The biggest name I think of when I watch him is Davion Mitchell. I can’t get it out of my head because just looking at the numbers, they are extremely comparable. Then you watch him and their games are just as similar. Davion has had an up and down start to his NBA career, but his Junior season at Baylor was full of the defensive plays, 3PT shooting, and athletic flashes. I see the Davion comparison as both a good at bad thing. Davion has struggled and I wonder if Carter could really struggle as well.
Fantasy
As a guard, Devin Carter can provide a lot of rebounds and blocks which makes him interesting in dynasty leagues. If he hits, he can provide a lot of value in certain builds. If Devin Carter hits, he probably won’t have as high of a usage but could still provide value with blocks and rebounds and possibly 3 PT%. So there is potential for a top 70 player best case scenario but Carter will play better with a big ball handler.
If Devin fails in the league, Why?
The shot doesn’t come around and his value is solely as a defensive guard, which makes him an occasional rotation player. On top of that, his lack of playmaking could hurt him run an offense which could make him pretty fit dependent on the bench which could further lower his chances of succeeding.
These are the people that have been drafted with a similar statistical profile. I could put stuff closer to what Carter actually has because no one has done the stuff he’s done at his size. Kris Dunn stands out a bit as a similar player to Carter. Same with Suggs.
Big Performance Highlights
28 Pts, 11 Reb, 6 Ast, 4 Stl, 1 Blk, 2 To, 10-19 FG, 5-8 3PT, 3-4 FT
This was another really good game against another really good team and Devin Carter was an absolute monster in this game. Kalkbrenner isn’t a high level rebounder so it makes sense that Carter was able to rebound. But the passing and 4 Steals were very interesting.
24 Pts, 15 Reb, 4 Ast, 2 Stl, 2 Blk, 2 To, 9-19 FG, 2-7 3PT, 4-6 FT
Statistically it wasn’t the most impressive but it's up there. This was against the best team during the regular season for UCONN. This was a really impressive line against UCONN’s defense. Then on top of that, 15 rebounds with Clingan playing. That is beyond impressive.
Ryan Dunn/Virginia
(Photo Courtesy of Virginia Athletics)
Ryan Dunn is a redshirt sophomore who is known for his defense at Virginia. He was a relatively known High School recruit that committed to Virginia. He played sparingly his first season off the bench and then this season was given a starting role where he took the scene early for his defensive ability, being ranked as high as the top 10 in a few spots. He has slowly started to lose some stock till where we are at now.
Personal Opinion
He is who he is. His defense is special. It’s one of the best in the past 15 years I’d imagine. I’d take Dunn’s defensive playmaking ability over Matisse Thybulle who was known as an elite defender. Matisse was an elite off ball defender whereas Dunn is elite on ball. The block percentage for a wing is absurd. He’s averaging 3 blocks per game per 36. At 6’8. That’s incredible. Before in conference play, he was averaging 3 steals per 36 but that declined a lot in the ACC. It’s all on that shot. Some people compare him to Herb Jones but even he had more offensive pop than Dunn. Herb could handle the ball more too but he was a senior. An argument can be made that Dunn is a better offensive player than what he got to show because of Virginia’s system and I think there’s a real case for it. The problem is to what extent? Recent examples of Trey Murphy and Sam Hauser, who played at Virginia, were really limited offensive players who have shown a lot more pop than they got to show. Then you can look at DeAndre Hunter who wasn’t that much better of an offensive player than he got to show at Virginia.
Fantasy
Well, this is a monster in the making in fantasy. If the steals come back and a coach uses him in the ways where he’s most effective, he could be a massive x factor on a team because he can get the low volume stats without killing your FG. He might be the difference between a win and a loss in a lot of matchups. Blocks are 100% real. I also thought about the possibility of him playing alongside someone like Myles Turner where defensively Dunn is at the center spot, he could really rack up the numbers. The lack of scoring and 3PT shooting right now is a concern and he will receive a decent amount of criticism among casual fantasy players due to the fact he doesn’t score. But good rebounding and he knows what he’s good at. He won’t try to do too much. If the shooting comes around, there is potential for a top 50 player at the minimum, maybe going top 25. Think what Jonathan Isaac was before his injuries really caught up to him. Dunn could maybe be that, but to a worse extent. But this is the absolute best case scenario and I wouldn’t be banking on it.
If Ryan fails in the league, Why?
No offensive ability and he’s basically a glorified version of Semi Ojeleye or Admiral Schofield on the court. His lack of shooting could make him very close to unplayable at times in the playoffs. The defense is that elite where he’ll get some playing time, but it will be hard to play him for many minutes at a time due to his offense.
To illustrate how crazy Dunn’s defensive playmaking is. This is in the past 16 years. Just 3 filters. Only guys that really made any impact in the league were Nerlens Noel and Willie Cauley-Stein. Both had a bit more ability offensively but Nerlens in particular was heralded as this great defensive big. Dunn is doing this at 6’8.
Big Performance Highlights
January 24th vs. North Carolina State
13 Pts, 12 Reb, 1 Ast, 6 Blk, 1 To, 6-10 FG, 0-1 3PT, 1-2 FT
This was a monster game from Dunn defensively. 6 blocks is a lot and getting a double double is pretty good from Dunn as well. This was an overtime game and Virginia won this game by 6.
6 Pts, 9 Reb, 1 Ast, 1 Stl, 7 Blk, 3-8 FG, 0-2 3PT, 0-3 FT
This game showed the good at the bad about Ryan Dunn. Terrible game offensively but getting 8 stocks in a big win at the time against Wake Forest. They only won this game by two and Wake Forest was looking like a tournament team at the time.
Reece Beekman/Virginia
Photo by Khuyen Dinh | The Cavalier Daily
Reece Beekman has been on the draft radar for the past couple years as a very good defensive guard. He’s a senior at Virginia and we know who he is and what he’s good at this point.
Personal Opinion
There is an element of security with Beekman that you can’t really find in the second round. He’s a very good defensive PG with some very good size. He was at the combine last season, so those measurements are what they are. He can really run an offense and defend. It’s all on that shot and honestly, I think it’s relatively close. If he can bump up his 3PT shooting to around 38% consistently, I think there’s a real chance.
Fantasy
There’s a lot to like here for fantasy. The assists and steals are very interesting for him. He won’t be a high usage player normally and he will have less usage in the NBA. If he hits as a starter, he could be a top 100 player but the upside isn’t that high. But as a backup, he could have some top 250 seasons.
If Reece fails in the league, Why?
The jumpshot never comes around and it’s hard to keep a smaller guard on the court. Beekman doesn’t have bad size but it’s not good enough to play him if he can’t shoot.
And this is very very interesting. Very simple filter. Dunn and MCW played off ball quite a bit as their careers progressed and Frazier was really small. But watch this for Jamal Shead too. (Who will be getting a report at some point.) But as a guard that could hang around for a few years at least, Beekman has that ability.
Big Performance Highlights
February 28th vs. Boston College
18 Pts, 5 Reb, 8 Ast, 1 Blk, 2 To, 5-8 FG, 0-1 3PT, 8-10 FT
Boston College wasn’t very good this year either but I like how Beekman was able to be effective without the ball and not taking as many shots. This game is a lot more indicative of what could happen at the NBA level, minus the FT attempts. So maybe a 10 Pt, 10 Ast or at least close to that could be an average. Virginia won this game by 4.
21 Pts, 6 Reb, 9 Ast, 3 Stl, 1 Blk, 1 To, 8-10 FG, 3-4 3PT, 2-4 FT
Beekman could hit whatever he wanted against a pretty bad Georgia Tech team. Beekman did his thing, setting up the offense for everyone else and defending. Virginia won this game by 15 which is a lot for Virginia.
Trevon Brazile/Arkansas
https://razorbackswire.usatoday.com/lists/twitter-reacts-arkansas-vs-south-dakota-state-trevon-brazile/
Trevon Brazile has had an up and down college career. He started out at Missouri before transferring to Arkansas. He had a good start to his sophomore season before tearing his ACL and redshirting. This year has been largely down but that’s expected coming off a major injury like that.
Personal Opinion
Teams have seen him when he is healthy. He had a good start to the year but injuries killed him this season. Personally, I don’t know if him going back is going to get him first round consideration, even if he improves. He’s got enough physical tools and size to warrant interest this year as a 3PT shooting big man. I think there’s a potential role for him in the league but it depends largely on what Brazile wants to do. He could very easily stay another year and be one of the top big men in the country next season. I think it’s going to come down to how much NIL he can get.
Fantasy
As we can see, right now, there isn’t a lot of fantasy appeal. In previous years, you could see the makings of a decent fantasy player but I doubt he will ever be a stat stuffer. The appeal is the 3PT shooting from the big man position with good potential to get better when he gets healthy. In dynasty, he’d be a really interesting late draft pick or UDFA.
If Trevon fails in the league, Why?
One of the more obvious reasons is health. If he can’t get healthy, then it will be tough to get on the court. The defense could also hold him back from playing heavy minutes. Both things will need to improve if Brazile is to have a chance.
Link to the Tankathon
You can see here a bit of the type of players Brazile is similar to. Brazile still has a bit to go but remember the injury.
Big Performance Highlights
12 Pts, 6 Reb, 1 Stl, 2 Blk, 2 To, 6-12 FG, 0-3 3PT
This was one of Brazile’s best games all season against a team that made the tournament. Yeah…nothing crazy but he did help them out quite a bit. This game went into overtime where they lost by 4.
13 Pts, 12 Reb, 1 Ast, 2 Stl, 4 Blk, 5-10 FG, 3-6 3PT
This was Brazile’s best game of the new year so far. He really made his presence felt in this game as Arkansas went on to win in OT by 5. Brazile played better defensively and even was efficient from the field in this one.
Final Thoughts
Devin Carter is a tough nosed guard that makes some extremely athletic plays that get him on highlight reels. He can really defend and hit big shots in the heat of the moment. There are questions about how real the shot is but there’s no doubt about the defense. I have Devin Carter at 22 on my board currently and I feel really good about him in this area. In the recent Dizzle Dynasty Mock, Devin Carter went 15th overall to the Miami Heat.
Ryan Dunn is an extremely one dimensional wing that can play defense to an elite level already. His offense is a big work in progress but there’s a real chance Dunn could come in day 1 and be one of the 2 best defenders on the team. I have Ryan Dunn at 24 on my board. The high end outcomes for Dunn keep him from slipping too far down my board for me. In the recent Dizzle Dynasty Mock, Ryan Dunn went 24th overall to the Milwaukee Bucks.
Reece Beekman is a pass first guard that is also very good defensively. There are questions about the shot as well, but he has good length for a guard and has been really consistent throughout college. I have Reece Beekman at 45 right now, but he does fluctuate on my board, and has spent most of the year outside the top 60 for me. In the recent Dizzle Dynasty Mock, Reece Beekman went undrafted.
Trevon Brazile is an extremely athletic big that has shown an ability to hit 3’s. He’s got good size and has the tools to be a good player, but has been hampered due to injuries this season. I have soured quite a bit on Brazile throughout the season and he is currently inside my top 80 on my board. In the recent Dizzle Dynasty Mock, Trevon Brazile went 54th overall to the Indiana Pacers.