Chandler Hutchison was the 80th ranked prospect in the 2014 high school class[1].

Through 121 appearances over his four-year stay at Boise State, the six-foot-seven wing has accumulated 2,883 minutes of college ball experience up until this point.

Hutchison saw a big jump in production from year two to year three but opted to return for a fourth year hoping to refine the edges of his game before turning pro. It worked out well, as his numbers improved across the board, with the exception of his three-point percentage, which dipped a bit in trade of him getting up a higher volume of shots.

The 21-year-old [2] is averaging 25.3 points per 40 minutes on a 57.1% true shooting and posting a 25.7 player efficiency rating this season [3]. He also has the best defensive rating among rotation players [4] on a team that ranks 34th in the country in adjusted defensive efficiency, even if against only the 101st toughest schedule [5].

Hutchison is not the primary shot creator at Boise State but has proven himself able to run side pick-and-rolls to keep the offense moving and initiates offense with some regularity when he brings the ball up the court himself on grab-and-go’s. He has only basic skills and instincts handling the ball at this point of his development, though.

Hutchison projects as a spot-up shooter in a ‘shoot it or move it’ role away from the ball but who can take some advantage of a scrambling defense and run a break.

On the other end, he performed well within what was asked of him: a basic role guarding similarly sized players where he was away from the ball more often than not, so what he did the most was closing out and pitching in on the defensive glass, the latter of which he did at an elite level for a pure wing.

Hutchison wasn’t asked to pick up smaller or bigger players on switches often, so it’s unclear how much versatility he offers. Boise State also played quite a bit of zone, which took away some opportunity for him to showcase what other skills he has that can be expected to translate to the pros.

Overall, Hutchison has excellent measurements for what the NBA looks for in its wings these days and put together a strong collegiate career where he managed to improve every year. As a result, ESPN currently ranks him 25th in its top 100.

Shooting

Hutchison is only an open shot spot-up shooter at this point of his development. He’s capable of crossing over into pull-ups but is more effective for now off the catch out of a standstill without an opponent rushing his release. Thirty-three of his 43 three-point makes this season were assisted [6].

Hutchison fully extends himself for a high release but his motion, while pretty fluid, features a pronounced dip for rhythm, which slows down his trigger some.

He’s nailed 35.3% of his 315 three-point shots over his four-year stay at Boise State, at a pace of just three such attempts per 40 minutes, though that rate is up to a more encouraging 5.3 average this season.

Hutchison has also hit just 68.2% of his 488 foul shots over his collegiate career, which puts into question whether he has the touch to eventually develop into more than just an average outside shooter.

In terms of complexity of shots, Boise State had him coming off pindown screens to the top of the key every once in a while but didn’t have him take other types of tough shots on the move very often.

Shot Creation & Finishing

Hutchison has posted a 32.8% usage rate and assisted on 24% of Boise State’s scores over his 896 minutes this season [7], so he’s had plenty of opportunities to create offense every way possible; in transition, out of triple-threat position, off a live dribble, against a set defense.

Out of all of those, he does best off the catch against a scrambling defense, meaning attacking a closeout or on dribble hand-offs on the side of the floor. He’s pretty smooth on a straight line and can get all the way to the basket in a split-second due to his long strides.

Though he is not often an explosive leaper in a crowd, Hutchison has flashed some power going up off one foot with momentum. But his most impressive scores tend to be when he leverages the strength in his 197-pound frame [8] to finish through contact or double clutch in the air and finish on his way down.

He’s also shown to be a somewhat resourceful finisher in traffic, able to stop on a dime and shot fake to get the rim protector out of the way, and make some off balance scoop layups with his off hand with a body between him and the basket as well.

His touch on these lefty finishes doesn’t always look great but Hutchison has converted an excellent 70.5% of his 132 shots at the basket this season.

His work off multiple dribbles against a set defense is more of a mixed bag.

Hutchison has a loose handle, lacks an explosive first step to lose his man on speed, doesn’t have particularly impressive side-to-side quickness and is yet to develop a versatile collection of dribble moves to shake his man off balance. As is, he struggles to create separation one-on-one and can’t split double teams at the point of attack.

But Hutchison still managed to put a good deal of pressure at the rim in college – taking a third of his live-ball shots at the basket and averaging 8.8 foul shots per 40 minutes this season. He has a light hesitation move and an in-and-out dribble to snake his way into his spots out of the pick-and-roll or weave his way through traffic in the secondary break. He can also gain ground in isolation on a decently coordinated spin move or maintaining his balance through contact.

His in-between game, however, has looked rougher.

As mentioned earlier, Hutchison has shown the ability to crossover into pull-ups when the opponents sags off him some. He is capable of hitting the eventual uncontested dribble-in three-pointer out of the pick-and-roll as well.

But Hutchison hasn’t yet shown much dexterity setting up step-back jumpers in isolation, as he struggles to get separation to rise up comfortably. And since most opponents don’t respect his quickness and suddenness, they play up on him, so the elbow jumper is pretty much never available either. His running floater and his floater off a jump-stop are also 50-50 propositions at best.

Therefore, he’s hit just 35.1% of his 148 two-pointers away from the basket this season.

Hutchison is a willing passer on the move, particularly on drive-and-kick’s, passing ahead in transition and moving the ball quickly around the horn. He’s also shown flashes of interesting court vision making a crosscourt pass to the opposite end or a simple pass over the top out of the pick-and-roll and feeling double teams when he takes a smaller matchup into the post.

But Hutchison is more of a robotic than an instinctual passer right now. He hasn’t yet developed the control to play with pace in the pick-and-roll, making the pass he’s supposed to make to the opposite wing simply because that’s what he’s told to do, rather than looking to tie up the big defender as much as he can to stress the defense to its breaking point and create a tangible advantage before kicking out.

His assist percentage is impressive but on the other hand, Hutchison has a 1.08-to-1 assist-to-turnover ratio this season and a 1.1-to-1 over his four years at Boise State.

Defense

It’s hard to project Hutchison’s individual defense in the pros. He is not noticeably quick but was up to the standard for the level he played against.

Hutchison mostly hunches rather than bends his knees getting down in a stance but shows adequate quickness sliding side-to-side to stay in front of similarly sized players in isolation. He can’t get skinny navigating screens cleanly at the point of attack but puts in the effort to slide over and hustle back to his man, though he needs to rely on his big teammate preventing the ball-handler from turning the corner right away in order not compromise the scheme.

His biggest problem on this end is that he’s been caught more than a few times ball-watching and gave up some bad-looking backdoor cuts. Having said that, Hutchison’s off ball defense tends to be more of a strong point than a weakness.

He is vocal communicating switches and is attentive to his responsibilities rotating in to box out a big man when the last line of defense has to step up to the ball within Boise State’s zone defense.

In a normal man-to-man scheme, Hutchison has shown he’s alert rotating inside to bump the roll man and coming off the weak-side in the help defense. He is not a shot blocker but has a quick jump going up off two feet to challenge shots at the basket via verticality.

His closeouts are not perfect, as he hasn’t shown particularly impressive speed running shooters off their shots regularly but Hutchison at least puts in the effort to challenge catch-and-shoots as well as he can, which is also seen in instances where he’s forced to stunt and recover back to the three-point arc. That lack of impressive speed is also on display when he has to chase shooters around staggered screens but Hutchison also at least puts in the effort to try cutting corners.

His most tangible impact on this end comes when he uses his length and leaping ability to create events in the passing lanes and pitching in on the glass. Hutchison is rumored to have a seven-foot wingspan and has shown quick instincts reacting to the ball – averaging 1.9 steals per 40 minutes and collecting 25.7% of opponents’ misses when he’s been on the floor this season.