Nov 4, 2015; Salt Lake City, UT, USA; Utah Jazz forward Trey Lyles (41) holds the ball during the second half against the Portland Trail Blazers at Vivint Smart Home Arena. Portland won 108-92. Mandatory Credit: Russ Isabella-USA TODAY Sports
#3 Trey Lyles
Coming in at number three is the glue guy. This player could make your team thrive with a 15 foot jumper to stretch the floor, or make them worry by “missing” the airplane. I am talking of course about Trey Lyles.
A natural power forward at 6 foot 10, Lyles was forced to develop his outside game a little more this season to play the 3 for Coach Calipari. From watching his highlights from high school, Trey was a a polished post player who scored most of his points then off of a spin or drop step.
This season would have seemed to be a challenge for him, but he proved to be up for the challenge. Where Lyles thrived the most was from about 15 feet out. When the second unit came in, sometimes the offense could become stale unless Devin Booker was feeling it from deep, you could always depend on the mid range game from number 41. His .536 percent from two point range proves his offensive worth.
It was not only his offensive game that made that Bluegrass fans love lyles, he could make you smile with his off the court antics as well. He started a trend when he photo bombed a John Calipari after a regular season win making everyone hit reverse on their dvr’s to see if that really just happened.
Who could forget traveling down to LSU for a huge game and the twitter phenomenon that struck of “where is Trey?” The tweet stirred up many false reports when all along Lyles was on the back of the plane.
Lyles made a great impact on the court and the fans in his one season and could have even persuaded some to become Utah Jazz fans.
Next: Home State Hero