Entry Draft Spotlight: Ryan Lee
By Joe Keegan
PLL Analyst
Mar 19, 2021
Ryan Lee is not your average off-ball scorer. Most camp out on the crease C-cutting and evading fills. Lee cannot be contained in one area.
The RIT grad (by way of The Hill Academy) is always on the move. He runs around like a spot-up shooter in the NBA, hustling off screens and searching for some daylight. Lee often joined in the Outlaws’ three-man games at X (yes, three!).
These Outlaw three-man games at X — often ending with Ryan Lee soaring above GLE for a diving finish — test your defensive rules. If you’re not switching (or a half-step late switching), Lee makes you pay. pic.twitter.com/cAV78Q0BpW
— Joe Keegan (@joekeegs) March 7, 2021
Switching everything is a nice scheme until the offense sets one more pick than you anticipated. Lee’s man switches onto the ball; then Lee runs his new man off a screen on the opposite side of the cage. That’s a Spain pick-and-roll – a pick-the-picker look.
Those three-man games were dynamic. Lee wasn’t always the original picker. If his man sat on his heels awaiting a switch, Lee kept cruising for a fly-by.
I respect Ryan Lee’s dedication to going fully horizontal every time he shoots. pic.twitter.com/VSDaEMAMdB
— Joe Keegan (@joekeegs) March 7, 2021
He’s fearless as a rim-runner. Most pickers pop to space in lacrosse. The crease is crowded. Open sets have created opportunities for true rolls; still, it takes guts to run inside and trust that your teammate’s pass won’t get you crushed by a filling defender.
Lee would fit on a lot of PLL teams as a right-handed, rim-running picker/finisher. With Schreiber on Archers? Dickson/Dhane on Chaos? Wolf/MacIntosh on Chrome? pic.twitter.com/raF3tyC09m
— Joe Keegan (@joekeegs) March 7, 2021
Lee’s nonstop motor makes him a unique off-ball scorer. He would fit in a lot of offenses. Archers LC needs a new picker for Tom Schreiber. Chrome LC could be a fit – sign me up for a Jordan MacIntosh-Ryan Lee two-man game (or MacIntosh-Lee-Jordan Wolf three-man game!). Chaos LC’s righty side featuring Dhane Smith and Curtis Dickson would work, too.
Wherever he winds up, bet on Lee to play a big role down the stretch this summer. In the past two years, two offenses have started playing at a championship-level after inserting an off-ball scorer into the lineup full-time: Whipsnakes with Jay Carlson in 2019 and Chaos with Miles Thompson in 2020. As exciting as having six dodgers sounds in the offseason, teams keep coming back to crease attackmen.
