Quick clip of his involvement. Only played ~15 minutes which will be interesting to track as far as how the rotation shakes out. I assume they were trying different angles because it was a friendly.
Feel like he has a lot of “hidden skills” including setting good screens and making good entry passes. Should be effective as a high-low guy for U-M this year.
Did Olivier ever defend Jonas Valančiūnas? Would be interesting to see how well he could defend him
Yeah, Jonas scored a couple of buckets on him early and then missed a post-up shot later.
We’ve got our second Edey stopper next to Jace now
Good news is that Olivier hit a bunch of threes with Jonas guarding him and those are shots he’ll be able to get when guarded by guys like Edey.
“Threes guarded by Valunciunas”, as the tape shows, are near indistinguishable from “wide open” (which will be the same vs Edey)
Just gonna keep watching this and ignore the noise
That last three looked like it was a pretty big shot based on the score.
Yeah, it was weird. He started the game, then didn’t play a ton of minutes in the second half, then came back in and had a really solid shift in the 4th.
They have more warm up games on the 9th, 14th and 16th.
Two quick observations: (1) I really like how he moves after the sets the screen. Does a really good job of moving into the gaps and looking for the ball. (2) I believe it was in the 4th quarter but he did a fantastic job of closing out on an opponent that wasn’t the guy he was guarding and closing the gap to block his 3-point attempt. He has a really nice wingspan to cover so much ground. Just my opinions.
That was Iggy Brazdeikis!
I swear I heard his name mentioned
Took this as a reminder to look up his G-League Elite Camp measurements and they really are excellent for a high major 4. 6-8.25, 233, 7 foot wingspan and 8-10.5 standing reach.
He actually compares reasonably well to Trayce Jackson-Davis, who came in at the exact same height, 240 lbs, 7-1 wingspan, and 8-10 standing reach.
Would guess TJD is the better athlete but I feel a bit better about the idea of Nkamhoua having the physical tools to protect the rim at the 5.
TDJ was a really good rim protector right
Last year: 24th in the country in block rate (9%) and caused fewer than 2 fouls per 40 minutes and IU was 20th in 2pt FG% D. Think the word “elite” is prob a bit too strong? But that’s definitely good, yeah.
All that and Nkamhoua can actually shoot the basketball outside of 12 feet!
With or without a jumper, if Nkamhoua can somehow reproduce TJD’s production last year we’ll be absolutely thrilled. That’s the tip top of what I could possibly imagine him doing next year.
I think I can squint and see what you’re going for there but TJD was genuinely the best player in the country for like a good month and a half at the end of the season.
Way more dynamic off the dribble, they both have vision but TJD had so much more 1v1 gravity that allowed him to utilize the passing. Freak athlete in a way Nkamhoua isn’t. Shot blocker in a way Nkamhoua isn’t.
Don’t really love that one. I don’t think I’d even say I can see a 0.1% outcome where Nkamhoua is the second best player in the country in a do it all superstar role for Michigan
Yeah to be clear TJD just is not very likely at all as an outcome for Nkamhoua. And I’m fine with the idea that it’s just not even on the table. TJD was 3rd in KPOY last year and I genuinely think it’s plausible that’s how good he was. He was awesome the year previous—a level Nkamhoua has never played at—and still got way better.
The physical measurement comparison was just really obvious.
My 90th percentile for Nkamhoua is something like 55% TS on 25% USG w 25%, AST to 15% TO, and 5% BLK on 3 FC/40. Like, he takes on more usage and stays at about his career efficiency but figures out how to pass AND defend at a whole new level. I think Juwan + Eisley + consistent reps puts that within the realm of possible?