Tre Mann's Passing Abilities Add to Promise

While Tre Mann has shown plenty of promise in the shot making department, his passing warrants attention too.

Thunder rookie Tre Mann has been on a tear as of late, exceeding his rookie year expectations. He continues to make highlight play after highlight play with his elite creation skills.

Mann has garnered a lot of attention with his smooth jump shot and his step back buckets. He’s showcased his range, stepping back well behind the 3-point line, and finished around the rim well too.

The Florida product is averaging 18.5 points per game over the last six games. With Josh Giddey sidelined, along with seven other Thunder players, Mann’s role has expanded and he’s answered the call.

On the year, he's averaging 9.1 points and 1.3 assists while shooting 35% from 3-point range.

While Mann has impressed with his scoring abilities lately, his passing is an extremely underrated aspect of his game. When he runs the pick-and-roll, or the offense in general as the lead guard, he seems to always make the right pass.

WHAT A PASS BY TRE MANN pic.twitter.com/chR8Vy99WH

— Thunder Film Room (@ThunderFilmRoom) November 13, 2021

Mann has great vision and has serious velocity on some of his one-handed passes. His dribble-combos and shot creation skills allow him to blow by his defender, causing the defense to collapse and Mann to find the open man.

He has now recorded multiple assists in six straight games and has as many highlight passes as he does highlight shots.

Tre Mann rips the ball from Jokic, leads the break and then behind the back pass to Aaron Wiggins for the flush

Wow… pic.twitter.com/aUd4jDpGWR

— Andrew Schlecht (@AndrewKSchlecht) January 10, 2022

We’ve seen Mann break out the behind-the-back pass on multiple occasions drawing the praise of the crowd. When he gets going, he draws so much attention from the defense which allows him to get his teammates involved and find the open man.

In the past six games, the combo guard is averaging 3.6 assists. His body control on drives to the basket allow him to make passes on a dime to big men under the basket. Mann’s vision and passing skills have become an underrated aspect to his game and his future fit with the Thunder.

This could potentially be big for Oklahoma City moving forward, as Mann may end up being the long term sixth man. If he can orchestrate the offense and find his teammates, manning the second unit should be no problem.

---

Want to join the discussion? Like SI Thunder on Facebook and follow us on Twitter to stay up to date on all the latest Thunder news. You can also meet the team behind the coverage.