Could Delaware transfer Ryan Daly be a fit at NC State?

As the good folks over at Backing The Pack noted two weeks ago: Omer Yurtseven’s decision to leave NC State means the basketball program has an open scholarship for the 2018-19 season. If he so chooses, Kevin Keatts has a few options to fill that void; one of which would be to use the scholarship for a transfer.

On Monday night, in the midst of the national title game, it was announced that an early name linked to NC State is 6-foot-4 Delaware guard Ryan Daly. (It’s quite the time for basketball in the state of Delaware, by the way.)

Ryan Daly has already scored 1,000 points across 60 career games; in 2017-18, he ranked 10th in the Colonial Athletic Association in scoring — 17.5 points per game. Daly, who just finished his sophomore year at Delaware, would not be eligible to play next season; however, he has two more years of eligibility, starting in the 2019-20 season.

 

Wing Production

In terms of percentage, Daly’s three-point number don’t jump off the page — 108-of-331 (32.6 3P%) in his career. It’s important, though, that he got those shots up — nearly 39 percent of his career field goal attempts have come from beyond the arc.

He’s a productive player coming off of screens, too. According to Synergy Sports, over 16 percent of Daly’s possessions this season came off screens; he scored 1.11 points per possession (54.7 eFG%), which ranks 12th nationally amongst Division I players with at least 75 possessions.

Next season, NC State will have to replace two key offensive cogs on the wings — Al Freeman and Sam Hunt. Freeman, NC State’s leading scorer in 2017-18 (16.1 points), and Hunt help create one of the nation’s top spot-up offenses this season in Raleigh.

In Keatts’ debut season, the Pack scored 677 points on spot-up possessions, per Synergy; Hunt and Freeman combined for 286 of those points. Hunt, especially, was awesome on spot-ups: 1.34 points per possession, 68 eFG%. Daly wasn’t remarkably efficient this season in Delaware clogged offense, but he did record 121 spot-possessions — 23.3 percent of his possessions.

Obviously, in this hypothetical, he wouldn’t be able to help replace that production from day one. Daly could, however, help down the line.

 

Pockets of Efficiency: Diamond in the Rough

The Blue Hens had all kinds of issues offensively this season — they rank 227th nationally in terms of adjusted offensive efficiency. Ryan Daly was a high-usage guard for this team, too. While on the floor, Daly used 25.5 percent of Delaware’s possessions — an above-average rate.

Despite the high usage rate, Daly really didn’t turn the ball over too often; instead, he usually got up a shot or got to the line. Daly posted a paltry turnover rate of just 8.1 percent, which ranks in the 98th percentile nationally of Division I basketball. Considering his minutes, and usage, that’s excellent.

According to KenPom, he drew 4.5 fouls per 40 minutes, which is solid. Daly isn’t a great free throw shooter — 65.6 FT% for his career — but he attempted nearly eight per 100 possessions. That’s a positive sign.

 

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