Surrey’s season has a clear dividing line. Before Tyrin Lawrence arrived, they looked like a bottom-two team. Since then, they have played like one of the league’s best.
Lawrence’s arrival at the start of the year has let Surrey pick a new identity. They can go small — three guards, with Lawrence as a de-facto three — and build around three ball-handlers and the shot quality that follows.
Surrey’s Midseason Turnaround
Since Lawrence joined, Surrey rank third in the league by net rating. Only London and Cheshire have been better over the same stretch.
| Team | Net Rating Since Lawrence Joined | Net Rating Change |
|---|---|---|
| London Lions | 18.1 | +5.1 |
| Cheshire Phoenix | 9.0 | +5.3 |
| Surrey 89ers | 8.6 | +17.5 |
| Leicester Riders | 3.3 | +7.4 |
| Sheffield Sharks | -1.5 | -4.3 |
| Bristol Flyers | -6.2 | -9.6 |
| Newcastle Eagles | -7.6 | -7.2 |
| Manchester Basketball | -11.9 | -14.0 |
| Caledonia Gladiators | -24.9 | -13.9 |
Surrey’s +17.5 swing has moved them into the same band as the league’s best teams, not just closer to the middle. That improvement has come at both ends of the floor: they’re scoring 7.9 more points per 100 possessions and conceding 9.6 fewer.
Why Surrey Went Small
On The SLB Show, head coach Lloyd Gardner explained the roster construction this season and how Lawrence fits.
Tyrin’s come in and almost become a de-facto three, even though he isn’t that three man. But we’ve gone with three guards and it’s been really working.
Three-guard line-ups are a simple wager. You lose size, you gain skill. More players who can start a possession, keep it alive when the first look is taken away, and punish gaps in the defence.
When it clicks, the ball doesn’t stick. Surrey keep generating good shots.
Advantage Basketball
Since Lawrence joined, Surrey’s assist rate has risen from an already league-leading 68.0 percent to 70.1 percent — comfortably the best figure in the league.
Gardner summed up the benefit of the ball movement:
It’s allowed guys like Nedas to get more quality shots, Tayo the same, which we struggled with at the start of the season
Surrey’s three-point percentage has risen from 29.4 percent before Lawrence to 42.3 percent since. The assist rate tells you the offence is creating looks for each other. The three-point percentage tells you those looks are good.
There has also been a small lift in fast break scoring, from 12.9 to 14.8 points per game — more evidence of what a functional three-guard offence is supposed to do: create more advantages, and cash them in more often.
The Rebounding Trade-off
Earlier in the season Surrey’s constant was rebounding — they crashed more than any other team in the league, keeping games alive with second chances.
Three guards changes the line-up. Surrey are smaller across the floor, and the first cost shows up in offensive rebounding.
Since Lawrence joined, their offensive rebounds per game have dropped from 15.4 to 8.7 — the price of swapping a wing-sized body for a guard-sized one.
The other side of the trade is speed. Smaller line-ups can get back quicker and give up fewer run-outs. Over the same split, opponent fast break points have fallen from 15.1 to 11.3 per game, one of the biggest drops in the league.
The trade-off in plain terms: fewer second chances for Surrey, fewer transition points for Surrey’s opponents.
What to Watch Next
Opponent three-point percentage against Surrey has fallen from 36.2 percent to a joint-lowest 28.8 since Lawrence joined. That might reflect better defensive execution on the perimeter, but it is also a noisy statistic. If it creeps back towards the mean, Surrey’s defensive gains will shrink.
Even so, the underlying shift still feels solid. Surrey are moving the ball at a league-leading rate and turning that movement into better shots. On the other end, their smaller line-ups have come with a cost on the boards, but a clear benefit in transition defence. The improved defensive rating suggests the balance is working.
Lawrence has made a new version of Surrey possible. Right now, that version looks like a problem.
