Kylan Boswell defies the modern NBA's small-guard dilemma

While small guards have mostly fallen out of favor in the NBA, vertically challenged contributors are still sprinkled around the league. Kylan Boswell is one of those exceptions.

Photo by Zachary BonDurant/USA Today Sports

---

Last week, legendary WNBA coach and player Becky Hammon went live with a controversial statement regarding small guards in the NBA, stating that — with exceptions — you aren’t going to win a championship with a small guard as your top player.

Hammon’s statement holds historical validity, with few exceptions to the rule throughout the history of the NBA. Since the Finals MVP award was introduced in 1969, there have only been two guards 6’3” or under who have led their teams to championships and won Finals MVP: Isiah Thomas in 1990 and Stephen Curry in 2022.

However, there are still plenty of contributing guards in the NBA today, who fall between that 6’0”-6’2” height range, ranging from key bench pieces to flat-out All-Stars and primary offensive weapons.

Kylan Boswell is one of those potential contributors in the 2024 NBA draft class. Standing at just 6’2” and 200 lbs, Boswell is not the most imposing guard in the class, but despite not turning 19 until April, he is one of the most experienced and polished guards among his peers.

Boswell’s birthday is April 18, 2005, making him one of the youngest prospects in this year’s draft cycle, yet it’s his second season with Arizona. Boswell spent his junior year of high school with AZ Compass Prep before classing up to join the Wildcats, becoming a rotation piece for them into March.

In his sophomore season, though, Boswell has blossomed into a full-time starter, primary ball handler, and one of the better guards in the country. Offensively, Boswell combines elite passing with consistent shooting and a tough slashing game, while being a strong positional defender.

Perhaps the biggest reason for belief in Boswell despite the size concerns is his flexibility on- and off-ball. As Hammon suggested, winning a championship with a small guard as your primary initiator is increasingly unlikely, and I’m not here to suggest that Boswell is an exception.

Despite this, Boswell contributes to winning regardless of what he’s asked to do or who he’s asked to play alongside, making him an incredibly versatile offensive tool. This season, he’s started in Arizona’s backcourt next to UNC transfer Caleb Love, a high-volume, on-ball guard who likes to put pressure on defenses with his scoring.

Boswell has produced despite this, and it’s in no small part thanks to his elite percentages from behind the arc. Currently, Boswell is shooting 43.1% from three on 5.3 attempts per game, including a ridiculous 55.2% on catch-and-shoot looks.

As a small guard, one of the only avenues to value off the ball is through being able to shoot at an elite level. Boswell’s jump shot is not only efficient but compact and quick. He generates great elevation off the floor, squares his shoulders to the rim, and has a beautiful follow-through with a soft flick on the end of his wrist.

These mechanics, along with his ability to shoot off of movement and feel for relocating to open space, allow him to synergize far better in lineups with other ball handlers or ball-dominant players.

Off-ball shooting, especially at the guard spot, is such an important ancillary skill for offenses, especially those that already feature a superstar. For instance, the Celtics feature guards like Derrick White, Jrue Holiday, and Payton Pritchard to surround their wing scorers in Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown.

All three of those guards can pass, make a play on their own, and are crafty off-the-ball movers with the ability to shoot lights out from beyond the arc. These skills allow them to not only play alongside one another but fluctuate between on- and off-ball without their team sacrificing offense because the ball is in or out of their hands.

Boswell can function in a similar role with his off-ball prowess, while also functioning as a playmaker and ball handler when necessary. He’s not the shiftiest player in the world off the bounce, but Boswell routinely gets to where he needs to be on the court, and even more consistently finds who he’s looking for.

While he doesn’t put consistent pressure on the rim, resulting in a more collapsed defense from which advantages can be found, Boswell has made a habit of probing and using misdirection to keep defenses guessing.

His assists per game average on the season isn’t going to wow anybody, at 4.4 assists per game to go along with 2.0 turnovers per game, but his passing pops on the film. In last Wednesday’s matchup against Alabama, Boswell put on a passing clinic that only resulted in three assists. He consistently found open shooters, utilized no-looks to send closeouts in the wrong direction, and was excellent at finding his bigs sealing off defenders, or posting up.

Boswell is consistently able to blend his skill as a live-dribble passer into his scoring game as well. As a scorer, he’s most threatening out of spot-up situations where he scores a blazing 1.200 points per possession (PPP), but his highest volume set is out of the pick and roll.

The pick and roll can be a great weapon for smaller guards, especially with the style of basketball that is played in the NBA today. A fully spaced floor gives guards room to work with a screen, finding open spots in the middle of the floor, skip passes to shooters or dump-offs to big men, or getting their man on their hip or back to do whatever they please.

It allows guards who lack elite size, power, or agility to create advantages as a dual-threat scorer and playmaker, and leaves offense up to their ability to make a shot or decision; two things that Boswell excels at.

Boswell’s favorite ways to attack out of the pick and roll and by denying the screen or getting the defender on his hip to create space for a mid-range pull-up, create a switch to attack a slower-footed defender, or weave around bodies to get to his floater. He’s also liable to pull up from behind the screen when defenders go under, and in my opinion, the volume on those types of attempts is bound to go up in the NBA.

On offense as a whole, Boswell is seemingly the perfect candidate to defy the small-guard dilemma that has run its course through the NBA in the last decade or so. He doesn’t project as an All-Star by any means, but a glue piece with a handful of necessary ancillary skills to go along with the ability to light teams up with a lethal jumper or pick the defense apart with his passing. Not all players have the type of skill set that will only be heightened in the NBA, but Boswell seemingly does.

Defensively, Boswell puts his bulldog frame and quick mind to work. There will always be issues presented with smaller guards on the defensive end. You’re playing with one less player who can protect the rim or switch onto bigs more often than not, and a general lack of size and length limits the potential of your defensive five on the floor.

From a philosophical perspective, guard defense is typically at the bottom of my checklist as a scout. What a guard brings to offense significantly outweighs what they can potentially bring defensively, making guard-sized defensive specialists a hard sell for me.

However, Boswell’s on-ball defense is just another additional plus on his resumé as a prospect. His 1.9 steals per game, along with the defensive metrics paint him as a clear positive despite his size.

He positions himself in a strong, athletic stance, slides his feet with precision and quickness, and is smart with his hands. On top of that, Boswell possesses sneaky strength, especially in his core and chest. This strength allows him to take contact, and play close to the body without being over-aggressive.

Overall, while small guards are rarely ever primary fixtures on championship teams, there are many examples of players with similar builds to someone like Boswell providing value in many different ways and at many different levels.

Through his shooting, both on- and off-ball, playmaking, and ball-handling out of the pick-and-roll on offense, he can function in a wide variety of roles in a wide variety of lineups. Additionally, Boswell is a competitor on defense with a solid frame for his height, and the tools to be a solid on-ball stopper, despite the shortcomings that small guards typically bring on that end. Because of all this, I believe that Kylan Boswell is deserving of a TOP-20 PICK in the NBA draft in July 2024.