The modern state of the transfer portal surrounding NIL is in its infancy. The large majority of media attention regarding the portal concerns blue blood and power-five programs. While that does make sense considering the majority of impact transfers are moving to those programs, some impressive transfers are sticking with the mid-major lifestyle. This is the case for former Arkansas-Pine Bluff guard Kylen Milton, who will be continuing his collegiate career at Murray State University. The Arkansas native actually began his college career at Western Kentucky, where he spent his freshman season before heading home to play for the Golden Lions. He has since spent three successful seasons at his second landing spot, and he's gotten better and better every year. This past year, Milton put up some very impressive numbers, numbers that seemingly caught the eye of Steve Prohm and the Racers. This makes sense considering that Murray State is known for producing league-quality guards, and Milton is a hyper-athletic and skilled guard who may just need a little extra exposure to catapult his professional career. I believe he has what it takes to be the next dominant guard for the Racers, and here's why:
pc: UAPB Athletics
Kylen Milton is a three-level offensive threat with elite athleticism and a great touch around the rim. He's also an impact player on defense, using his physical tools to create difficult matchups for opponents. He's not a point guard, but he's a solid passer who will fit alongside floor general JaCobi Wood as a secondary playmaker. While he's only 6'4", his length and athleticism allow him to play both as a two-guard and as a wing. Depending on matchup, expect to see him starting at the two or three for the Racers.
Rim Pressure:
While Milton is a really good three-point shooter, I think he's most effective when attacking the rim. He's an elite finisher both under and above the rim, who has a deep bag of moves that allow him to find the best possible shot available. He's great at finishing through traffic when he has to, or he can use his soft touch to put shots up and over rim protectors. He finds these opportunities in a multitude of ways, but no matter how he gets there he usually will end up either making the shot or drawing a foul.
In this first clip you'll see Milton score at the rim using a combination of impressive traits, some of which we've already talked about. He starts his drive with a decisive movement to the basket as soon as he catches the ball, something that great rim attackers do to catch their defenders off guard. You'll also notice how high up the defender is despite Milton being several feet behind the arc. This is the respect that he's earned because of his catch-and-shoot prowess. Defenders have to guard up on him when he's receiving a pass like this, because if they don't, he can pull up from deep pretty comfortably. That decisive motion and subsequent acceleration leaves the defender a step behind, forcing him to swipe at Milton as he surges to the hoop. No foul is called, but in a lot of these cases the foul call is given. Milton then uses his length to finish on the opposite side of the rim just in case the defender, who he can no longer see, has the ability to block his shot from behind.
The following clip is another example of his ability to change pace while attacking the rim. Here he shows off his ability to quickly change directions and throw off a back-pedaling defender. I also like how early he leaves the floor for his floater, throwing off his opponent's timing. Finally, and there will be several more clips showcasing it, but I have to point out his soft touch on the shot. To move into the lane at that speed and take a relatively awkward shot with such a soft touch is incredibly impressive.
Now for the real fun stuff, the above the rim action. I've already mentioned it several times in the first few paragraphs of this write-up, but Milton is hyper-athletic. When he's on the drive without a ton of body-to-body defensive pressure there's a good chance he's going up for a dunk. With a head full a steam he's incredibly difficult to stop. In addition to his vertical pop, Milton has long arms that further enhance his ability to throw these down. Take a look at him shot-faking a three before posterizing the interior defender against the best team in the country.
The next clip is one of my favorites because it's not something you see a ton of. Milton cuts back on his defender on the baseline once he receives the pass, again showing off his quick and precise movements when attacking the hoop. He's able to accelerate both forward and upward with only three steps to go up for the dunk. He just has a wildly impressive quick first-step that he's able to utilize no matter where he's at on the floor.
I've got one more above the rim clip for this section, and this one may be the most impressive. I think this clip showcases his first step better than any of the ones I've shown so far. He goes from almost completely still to full speed with one step. It's also a unique look because he doesn't have a line drive to the rim. The defender forces him to loop out before driving in, but it doesn't matter. He only needs one step in the paint to elevate for the contested dunk. This one clip is just an overall showcase of his ability to attack the rim and finish with dunks using his floaty athleticism.
That's it for the actual rim pressure section of this article, but there will be more at-the-rim finishing in a moment. These have all been examples of him attacking the rim in the half-court, but he may be even more dangerous on the fast break. We will go over that aspect of his game in just a bit.
Overall, Milton is about as solid as you can get at putting pressure on the rim and challenging interior defenders. I didn't mention it in that section, but he is fantastic at drawing fouls on these plays. In fact, he scored more points at the free-throw line this past season than he did from anywhere else on the floor. Where does he generate the majority of those trips to the charity stripe? On plays like the ones I just showed you. His ability to finish around the rim in every way imaginable, including contortionist-like under the rim looks, causes defenders to basically take a guess on how to contest his shot attempts. This aspect of his game is relatively flawless and is the part of his game that I'm most confident will translate to better competition both at Murray State and in a professional landscape.
Three-Point Shooting:
Milton's second most valuable trait is his three-point shooting. Not only because he's an efficient deep threat, but also because it bolsters his ability to slice through defenders on his way to the rim. He shot a respectable 35.1% from deep this year, but I actually think that that percentage was hurt due to a questionable shot diet. What I mean is that he's a far better catch-and-shoot operator than he is shooting off the dribble, and yet he still takes quite a few of these shots. If he took less threes off the dribble and more coming via off-ball actions I think he would shoot 40+% from beyond the arc. That said, he's a very good shooter either way, and I still do think he can get better at creating his own shot.
As I said, he's at his best on catch-and-shoot looks. His mechanics are super fluid and consistent, and on these looks he's able to set his base before the ball gets to him. On the shot itself, he has good lift, allowing him to get these looks off over contests. He does jump forward and kick his legs out, but a lot of times this is a good thing for drawing fouls. He's great at moving off-ball to find his spots, and once he receives the pass and gets into his shooting motion there's a good chance he's going to knock it down. You see all of those things in the following clip.
He's so good on catch-and-shoot looks that he really doesn't even have to catch it cleanly. As long as the ball is in his general vicinity, he's able to move it into his shooting pocket and get his shot off. In the following clip you see him gather the ball near his feet, and he's still able to get a good look from three. In addition to him making the shot, he gets his legs taken out of under him for the foul and the four-point play.
I want to include a couple of clips of him knocking down threes off-the-dribble. While I am of the opinion that he's significantly more effective as an off-ball shooter, he is still capable of making these shots. There are a few differences that stand out between his shots that come via off-ball actions and his self-created looks. I think he looks sped up in the following clips, and I don't think his mechanics look as fluid as they do in the previous two clips. That said, because the differences are obvious, there's a good chance that he can fix the issues and become a better off-the-dribble shooter.
As I said, Milton shot a respectable 35.1% from three this past season. Three-pointers made up about 38% of his shot diet and 20.7% of his point total. Needless to say, this is a very important aspect of his game. It's an aspect that he's progressively gotten better at over the course of his three years at UAPB. I expect this trend of improvement to continue once he gets to Murray State. Why? Because he'll be in the perfect situation for that to be the case. As I've said multiple times, off-ball shooting is his true bread and butter. Now he'll be in a system where he has to handle very little of the ball-handling duties. He can operate almost exclusively off-ball, which should result in improved shooting splits. Will this for sure be the case? I'm not sure, but I like to think that the stats point in that direction.
Transition:
I'm going to use an odd mix of transition clips to illustrate how effective Milton is in the open floor. I'm also going to include the one defensive clip I decided to save for this article, because it results in a fast break opportunity. All in all, I just want to paint a clear picture of his ability to produce in these situations. It does make sense that he's as good as he is here, because the speed and athleticism that we've already gone over translate directly to this aspect of the game.
The first clip I'm going to show is an example of Milton attacking in a slower transition opportunity. Here, the majority of the defense is already back in the play, but they aren't fully set and most of them are still back pedaling into their spots. He sees that his defender is off-balance and subsequently attacks because of that. He then utilizes his advanced finishing skill to actually get and make the shot. I wanted to include this clip because it's a good example of his advanced IQ, as instead of resetting into the halfcourt offense when he sees that the defense got back in time, he takes an advantage that's being given to him as soon as he sees it.
In the next clip Milton receives a pass down the floor instead of operating as the ball handler in transition. He's already streaked down the floor, beating the defense to their end. By the time he gets the ball there are only two defenders between him and the basket, and only one who can actually make it over to him in time to contest a shot. He immediately accelerates into the paint before the second defender can enter the picture, uses a slow euro-step to create the space he needs, and he knocks down the soft touch floater.
Finally, I have Milton getting a hand in the passing lane, picking up the steal to start a legitimate fast break, and throwing down an emphatic dunk. I'll go ahead and talk about his defense while we're here. He's not a gamebreaking defender, but his physical tools allow him to be a capable one. His length and athleticism are huge positives on the defensive end, and they make plays like this a possibility. He averaged 1.2 steals per game this past season, and while that isn't an incredible number, it still shows that he contributes. He will also pick up a block here and there. Opponents can't target him, especially if he and his matchup are comparable in size, which is what really matters.
Passing:
Milton is a relatively solid passer and playmaker considering he's not a point guard. This past season he averaged 2.9 assists per game but did pair that with 2.1 turnovers a night. While that is still a positive ratio, it's nothing to write home about. That said, I think his passing will shine in Murray State's system as he will be asked to operate as a full-time secondary playmaker. This should lower both of those averages, but the hope is that it limits his turnovers far more than it does his assist output.
I'm not going to spend a ton of time on his passing, mainly because most of his playmaking comes in similar situations. A ton of it is generated via pick-and-roll actions where he's able to hit his roller either on the roll or with an entry pass. I assume that he will still be involved in a decent amount of these actions at Murray State, which should generate a decent number of points per game for the Racers. Again, other than this he will likely be more of a connective passer and secondary playmaker to JaCobi Wood, but that's not a negative at all. If he can pick up a couple of assists a night on plays like these while limiting more risky passes it's going to better him as a net positive on the floor.
I actually do think there's a world where Milton gets better as a passer simply by really focusing in on his decision making from a playmaking perspective, I just don't think that's going to happen at Murray State. This is only because it's not something that's going to be asked of him. His primary role in this offense is going to be off-ball shooting and on-ball rim pressure. For the most part he's not going to have the ball in his hands, so he's not going to be expected to rack up assists. That said, let's say he plays some minutes with the second unit where he's given more playmaking responsibilities, he's capable of shouldering that load.
Summary:
Before I give a full summary of Milton's game, I'm going to list any weaknesses or questions I have regarding his game. I'm not going to dive deep on these weaknesses, but I think they're definitely worth noting if you want a full picture of his game.
I have questions about his positional size. He's only 6'4" and will be asked to play a significant number of minutes at the three this season. While his wingspan and physical tools make up for some of this lack in height, he's still going to face mismatch problems.
For shooting as many free-throws as he does, he isn't the greatest at making them. He only shot 73.7% from the line this season.
Can be foul prone at times, especially for a guard. Plays himself out of games due to foul issues.
Had a really hot scoring stretch in the middle of the season this year, but apart from that had inconsistent scoring outings. Finding that consistency is going to be key.
Will his off-ball shooting still be elite against bigger and better defenders? He's going to have to adapt to higher level competition quickly.
Those are really the only questions/weaknesses that stood out to me, but they are all important. I think Milton finding a consistent role with the Racers is going to be the most important factor for his production. I would also like to see him really focus in on knocking down his free-throws at a more efficient clip.
To summarize, Kylen Milton is going to be a major impact player for Murray State next season. He brings a new look offensively to a team that struggled in that department last season. The Racers have pieces that should fit well alongside him, namely JaCobi Wood and Nick Ellington, who are going to be very important in getting the best out of him. He's an elite off-ball scorer with all of the physical traits necessary to succeed in a role that's built for him. If he can quickly adapt to MVC competition, and then follow his trend of yearly improvement, he could be one of the better players in the conference. Some things are going to have to go his way for him to reach his full potential next season, but I think I would bet on him being successful in the long run.
A huge shoutout to college basketball scouting on YouTube, where I got most of these clips. Their videos save me from having to cut up entire games, which is much appreciated.