Tristan da Silva Thrives Doing the Little Things
Tristan da Silva may not have the eye popping numbers of most first round picks, but few players in the 2024 NBA Draft contribute to winning basketball as much as he does.
One of the more important aspects of a prospect’s translation to the NBA that often gets overlooked is how much they elevate those around them. The tricky part about this is that it can come in many different forms. The most obvious version of this is with stars who can put their team on their back, create for others, and consistently take over games. The more subtle version is with role players who do the dirty work, make the extra pass, are on point with their rotations, and can reliably finish a play when called upon. This latter group typically has the less impressive numbers, but their presence allows the stars on the team to do what they do. Few players in the 2024 NBA Draft personify the latter group as much as Colorado’s senior forward Tristan da Silva.
This season, da Silva is averaging 16.2 points, 5.4 rebounds, 2.4 assists, and 1.8 stocks while shooting 48.4/37.5/84 at 6’9” and 220 pounds. Those numbers are solid, but they don’t jump off the page and floor you like you’d hope they would. Additionally, properly weighting an upperclassman’s numbers can be really tricky. There’s a fine line between legitimate skill and opportunity development and simply being older and more experienced than the bulk of the competition.
With da Silva specifically, this process gets even more frustrating as his numbers have been uniquely consistent and efficient over the last three seasons. The pessimistic view would be that there was never a major jump, so what type of potential is really left? The optimistic view is that we have a significant sample size of 94 games where da Silva has been consistent and efficient with every step in increased responsibility.
As we can see from the above numbers courtesy of ESPN, there are very few fluctuations in da Silva’s game. He’s never been the go-to offensive option, but even when his volume increased, there wasn’t any change in his efficiency. Even when we look at Barttorvik.com for some of da Silva’s more advanced numbers, the consistency is shocking. He isn’t littered with the dark green classifications (very good) we’d hope for, but there is a lot of light green (above average to good) and very little red (below average or bad).
If you live and breathe by the numbers, then da Silva may not be your cup of tea. However, so much of da Silva’s value and upside comes in all the stuff that he does that doesn’t show up in the box score. His constant boxing out, defensive versatility, weak side rotations that force misses and kickouts, and his quality decision-making don’t always lead to numbers. They do, however, make life easier for those around him and eventually lead to winning basketball. Da Silva doesn’t have the skills that you’d build a team around, or even a rotation, but his game is littered with complementary skills on both ends of the court that make him a seamless fit in any rotation.
One of the biggest selling points of da Silva is his defensive impact. He’s incredibly reliable on the weak side, can switch nearly everything, and has fantastic fundamentals. Over the last three seasons, Colorado’s defensive rating has never ranked lower than 50th in the country (out of 362) when da Silva was on the court with this season being the worst at 98.8 (the previous two seasons were 95.2 (38th) and 94 (35th)). However, the disparity between when da Silva has been on the court compared to off the court has never been great. When da Silva is off the court, Colorado’s defensive rating jumps from 98.8 (50th) to 103.2 (122nd). Additionally, their net rating with him on the court of 26.4 plummets to -1.6 when he sits.
Da Silva’s defensive impact rarely shows up with his individual box score numbers, but it is more than present with the team’s numbers. As we can see below, da Silva is more than capable of playing sublime defense that doesn’t always generate steals or blocks. His near-perfect footwork allows him to stay attached to ball handlers to either force reckless shots or kill drives entirely. As a weak side defender, da Silva’s gap help is perfectly measured with annoying the ball handler while not overhelping to leave a shooter open, his rotations are timely and consistent, and his verticality creates turnovers and wild misses.
With that said, it’s not like da Silva is incapable of being a defensive playmaker. He has terrific hands and instincts that continue to elevate his defensive effectiveness. On the rare occasions he gets beat on a drive, he has the footwork and length to recover and turn away shots at the rim. His screen navigation allows him to fight through traffic to get to spots that surprise ball handlers, and he frequently turns great defense into quick offense.
Like most players, though, the offensive end will likely be what is the ultimate determination of da Silva’s NBA career. If you’re looking for an on-ball creator and dynamic bucket-getter, you’ll be disappointed. That simply isn’t who da Silva is or has ever been. This season, only 3.6% of da Silva’s possessions came in isolation, and he only drove it 8.4% of the time, per Synergy. His mediocre handle, especially in traffic, limits what he’s willing to initiate, which is entirely ok. Da Silva knows who he is on offense and has always played to his strengths, which lie in his off-ball effectiveness.
In the NBA, da Silva’s most likely role will be as a spot-up shooter and cutter. This season, da Silva ranks in the 94th percentile in spot-up scoring with 1.237 points per possession (PPP). He also ranks in the 82nd percentile shooting off the catch with 1.19 PPP while shooting 40.3% from three (48.1% when unguarded). Da Silva’s spot-up effectiveness isn’t a one-year fluke either, as last season, he scored 1.11 PPP spotting up (84th percentile) and 1.21 PPP shooting off the catch (85th percentile) while shooting 39.6% from three. Da Silva is rarely going to force shots, and his effectiveness, consistency, and comfort in finding open pockets on the perimeter make him a great outlet for primary creators who attract significant defensive attention.
While da Silva’s handle limits him as an on-ball creator, it doesn’t mean he is incapable of putting it on the floor. There are a myriad of situations where this proves to be an effective skill for him, but the most important when looking towards his NBA role is how it allows him to attack closeouts. Da Silva’s spot-up shooting threat frequently attracts aggressive closeouts. Da Silva is more than capable of attacking the defender’s momentum to either get to the rim where he’s shooting 64.6% and scoring 1.29 PPP (78th percentile), knock down a pull-up jumper where he’s scoring 0.85 PPP (61st percentile), or use his passing vision to create for others.
While da Silva’s NBA role will likely consist mostly of spotting up, that shouldn’t diminish how effective and comfortable he is moving without the ball. In the below clip, watch how much ground da Silva covers. He constantly flows from open pocket to open pocket trying to exploit the defense and create a passing lane for a teammate. Once he receives the ball, he leverages his shooting threat and ability to attack a closeout to finish through the foul at the rim.
We saw how effective da Silva is at finding open pockets on the perimeter as a spot up shooter to exploit ball watching defenders, but he’s been nearly just as effective doing the same on cuts. This season, da Silva is scoring 1.265 PPP (61st percentile) on cuts. When defenders turn their head, he constantly bolts to the open spaces and uses his scoring touch and size to consistently finish at the rim.
The other area in which he provides a ton of versatility is on dribble handoffs, where he’s generating 1.16 PPP (87th percentile). In these actions, da Silva is capable of executing both roles. He can receive the ball and effectively navigate the screen to knock down an open pull-up. Conversely, he can act as the screener and leverage his ball skills to attack on keepers.
The aspect that gets most slept on with da Silva’s offense, though, is his passing. He has tremendous vision, is consistently accurate, and creates for others out of a myriad of situations. His assist rate of 13.5% and assist-to-turnover ratio of 1.27 are fine, but don’t scream that he’s an elite passer. However, his interior passing, passing vision, decision-making, and ability to pass out of any situation will allow him to elevate the overall ball movement of any rotation he’s in.
Tristan da Silva is one of the most intriguing complementary players in the 2024 NBA Draft. His numbers will rarely be overly impressive, but he has some of the most impressive tapes of any upperclassman in the country. It sounds cliché, but da Silva simply knows how to play. His decision-making, feel for the game, and two-way versatility have been on full display for multiple years at Colorado. Through his stellar defense, off-ball scoring versatility, and passing ability, da Silva has made himself worthy of a first round pick, especially for a playoff team looking to elevate their second unit.