Svi Mykhailiuk: Not a Pistons season review

Where he was

Born in Central Ukraine, in 1997,  Sviatoslav Mykhailiuk showcased his talents early in his teenage years. He started playing professionally for his hometown team at the age of 15 and joined the men’s’ national team as early as 17 years old.

He impressed scouts in 2013 with his play and mentality when he dominated the U-16 Euro Championship, leading all scorers with 25.2 points per game. He doubled down next year (U-18) when he leads his team to a silver medal, earning MVP honors. He was the leading scorer again in 2017.

His performance on the national stage earned the attention of a number of colleges at a very young age. He was 17 years old during his freshman season at Kansas, attended four years of college and was still 21 years old when he was selected with the 47th overall pick in the 2018 NBA draft by the Los Angeles Lakers.

In his career up until the draft, he had proven that he could operate both as a leader and as a role player. He could run the offense and play off others. However, a secondary role seemed more suitable for his skill set because even though he showed elite IQ, his playmaking skills weren’t quite refined yet.

Here’s what Jackson Hoy of the Stepien had to say about him right before the draft:

"Mykhailiuk only recently turned 21, which makes him extremely young for a senior. If he makes it there, he’ll be a shooting specialist in the NBA, as his hilariously short arms don’t really inspire confidence in his defensive acumen. That said, he improved his ability to create his shot off the dribble this past season and does a surprisingly solid job battling with larger players on defense. If he can make strides as a passer, as he’s shown in international play at times, he could outperform this slot. With his Ukrainian roots, Mykhailiuk may make sense as a draft-and-stash candidate in the late second round."

Hoy notes the significance of Mykhailiuk’s playmaking capacity in his talent trajectory. Svi has made those strides, but we’ll talk about that later. Another interesting note is the one he makes about Svi’s defense. While his length is a major weakness to his ability to contest shots, he had shown some positives on that end.

At the time of the draft, the soon-to-be rookie had drawn a lot of comparisons to Klay Thompson, mainly due to his acumen behind the arc. In his four years in college, Mykhailiuk made 40.9 percent of his threes at a volume of 10.7 per 100 possessions. That’s insane. To put that into perspective Thompson made 39 percent, shooting 11.8 per 100.

He also got the second most votes for “best shooter” by his peers in the 2018-19 NBA rookie survey trailing only Trae Young. The comparison becomes even more clear when looking at what Thompson’s weaknesses were thought to be before the draft. Concerns about his athleticism, finishing at the rim and defensive prowess was common.

Joseph Treutlein of DraftExpress explained at the time:

"Thompson’s effort level on the defensive end has improved during his time in college, and he shows solid awareness and makes good rotations off the ball, but his lack of quickness is certainly something that can be exploited. His problems can be hid somewhat on good defensive teams, and his apparent effort level and capacity for playing good team defense will certainly be useful, though he’d have a lot of work to do to even become an average NBA defender overall. – Source: http://www.draftexpress.com/profile/Klay-Thompson-5490/ ©DraftExpress"

It’s comical to look back now, that Thompson has become one of the league’s premier defenders, but before the draft, his defense was questioned due to his physical shortcomings. Klay weighted 206 lbs at the time, 6 lbs less than Svi at the same age. His slight frame was a major concern at the time, along with his lack of speed and explosiveness.

The young Detroit Piston shared the same criticism, a big reason he fell to 47 in the draft. Then came the summer league and Mykhailiuk shined, as Dan Lovi of Hoops Habit writes.

And then he did this in the G-League: