Oh, friends. My X account got hacked and stolen from me. X’s “customer service” is an exercise in anti-communicative art. So, it’s possible that this piece won’t make it to you if Twitter was your method of finding it. I hope it does. In the immortal words of Jeff Goldblum (RIP Sam Neill), “Life, uh, finds a way.”
Quick Note: The new official Cuts Twitter account can be found here: https://x.com/CutsCornerBBall
So, here we go. We’re taking a break from the Tracking A Transfer series to resume the, very similar but based on different competition, International series. Specifically, this will be the second “Grading A German” piece after Johann Grünloh was the first entrant last year. That makes the count two Germans to one Belgian for players directly lured from playing professionally overseas.
Adekunle played for Trier, a team in Germany’s top league, the Bundesliga, very similar in stature to Vechta (where Johann played). Trier finished 8th of 18 teams this past season with a 17-17 record, being the last to qualify for the playoffs (we’ll see clips from one of their playoff losses to top-seeded Bayern Munich) where Vechta finished 7th. They did this despite their point differential being -98, which would have put them 13th on the table. Amusingly, they were the highest-scoring team in the entire Bundesliga, while simultaneously giving up the most points of any of the teams. They could really fill it up… and they couldn’t stop anyone. That latter point was not due to any shortcomings or lack of effort on Adekunle’s part, though. Frankly, his defense, while not perfect and sometimes having some mental mistakes, was a beacon of hope and quality for the team. Opposing teams mostly avoided him when they could, opting to try to stash his man away from the play and operate on the other side of the floor. Trier’s Centers were both big, slow, and unathletic, and so Adekunle often had to try to work his way into plays while not being challenged as the primary defender – typically crashing down from help side, where able. Trier would frequently put Adekunle on the primary ball handler to try to disrupt their opposition – but they also switched every screen across all five positions so teams would normally respond by bringing ball screens over. Nevertheless, his ability to support a play and be disruptive as either a help or primary defender regularly popped on screen.
Trier was primarily stocked with (offensive) talent at guard between Steven Ashworth (who previously played with Odom at Utah State and tipped him off to Adekunle), Eli Brooks from Michigan and Jordan Roland from George Washington. There was no shortage of ball handlers nor willing shooters from outside. Adekunle’s offensive role was primarily to camp the corner and to take open threes on kickouts – which opponents were not eager to concede considering that he shot 42% from deep on the season. With such ball-dominant players on the team and with little movement from the scheme in relation to his role – and the threat that he represented, he only got 86 looks over 29 games. Combine that with his 67% shooting from 2 on 71 attempts, and you get a very efficient 54% shooting from the floor that amounted to just over 8ppg despite very few offensive touches comparatively.
I’ve seen Adekunle listed at both 6’7″ and 6’6″ depending on the listing – and I wouldn’t be surprised with either. With a lot of mid-major guys, you’ll see their listing and then watch them play against other major players at similarly listed heights and think that they’ve been a little generous with their measurements. Elijah Saunders, Devin Tillis, Malik Thomas from recent seasons and even Christian Harmon and Jurian Dixon from this year’s tape all feel like they play about an inch or two shorter than their listing. Adekunle does not. He is imposing. Long. Strong. He moves very well for his size. He had the ability to slide with smaller PGs and bang with big Centers and could be effective at either (although you did see some vulnerabilities against the quickest guards and biggest Centers).
On Trier, he absolutely had a role that he adhered to, and it was the epitome of the “3 and D” wing. But he played that role incredibly well, such that Bart Torvik had him tied for his top international recruit for the upcoming class. Just like it’s a role that we needed on this roster last season, it was one that Trier desperately needed. In a game against Jena that we’ll see in a bit, which ended up as a 1-point loss, Trier was trailing by single digits when Adekunle went to the bench late in the 3rd quarter. They saw that deficit balloon to 18-points while he sat. Then, when he returned with about 7 minutes left in the game, Trier proceeded to climb all the way back and take a 1-point lead (on Adekunle’s put back) with 5.8 seconds left in the game. The difference in their quality with him on the floor was obvious, and it mostly boiled down to his competitiveness and intensity on the defensive end. You were left impressed by how he could impact a game individually on that side while imagining how that could translate onto a roster where there weren’t so many defensive leaks.
Worth mentioning, Adekunle’s stats in the playoffs (which, for Trier, was basically just a 5-game series against the best team in the league, Bayern Munich) were improved over the regular season. He led the team with 1.3 blocks per game (a full block per game over his average), and was 3rd on the team in scoring. You like to see it when guys play up against the best competition they’ll face and in the games that count the most. You also like to see it when their teams rely on them more as the skill/quality intensifies.
Fortunately, unlike when I was covering the Bundesliga last season and had to go off of a bunch of shortened games (which I don’t like doing because it doesn’t give you a great sense of how a player contributes in non-highlight ways throughout a game) – I was able to get quite a few full games from Trier. So, I do feel as though I’ve got a good lens on what he’s bringing to the table and how it should transfer at UVa – but I also think there’s potentially some untapped ability hiding beneathe the surface, as well, due to the nature of how role-specific his team played on the offensive end.
Let’s go ahead and get after it!
Offense
This is going to be a piece where the offensive section is much shorter than the defensive one. As I mentioned earlier, he wasn’t asked to carry a huge load on the offensive end. Hang out in the corner for spacing, occasionally slide up to the wing, knock down open and contested threes was his primary function. As such, there were many possessions where he just didn’t touch the ball. To be clear, though, it’s not that he didn’t show the ability to have more going on with his game – it’s just that those opportunities weren’t often there. We will take a look at those, too, though, the examples just weren’t as plentiful. Let’s first go ahead and look at his primary responsibility, though, which was his….
Outside Shooting
Adekunle was a very efficient shooter from deep. 42% is a great rate in any league, let alone a professional one. It is important to contextualize his looks, though. He was a fantastic catch and shoot guy, most efficient from either corner. This look below is representative of where most of these shots were generated. Trier did sometimes run him through some of these multi-screen actions; but you see him pretty quickly go take his place in the bottom corner. The ball gets reversed back to him and he simply rises up quickly over the close out and knocks down the shot.
When first digesting this, things that jumped out to me – his release is quick, smooth, and high. He shows no hesitation when he’s open and doesn’t appear to be overly bothered by contests on his shot – especially when it’s smaller guards closing in.
Here’s another look, below. You can see Adekunle hanging out at the top of the screen throughout the possession. All he’s doing, per his role, is being available… but when the defense is drawn in and the pass does come, that’s a nice, compact motion and quick release to punish the defender for helping.
No wasted movement, without rushing.
Here’s one more, less difficult, but every bit as comfortable opportunity, taking the pass from the paint touch and calmly knocking it down.
I think we can say that you get the point here. His shooting was deadly from his spots and his ability to get that shot off quickly was punishing for defenses trying to help on drivers. More often, the opposition would choose to stay attached to him out there in the corner, which made for better driving lanes from his teammates.
I will say this, though, when we say that Nolan Adekunle was a great shooter at Trier, it is contextual. He’s very good at the catch and shoot – smooth and practiced and, I thought, better from the corners – but he’s not just like a purely wired shooter that you’ll see from other players with possibly lower percentages but higher volumes. This isn’t a Christian Harmon situation where you expect him to be shooting effectively off of the move or pulling up off of the dribble, or anything like that. I did think that there was a visible fall off in quality and comfort when he was playing off of the move. Here’s an example, below, of him cutting baseline, and he’s not quite set when the ball gets to him, with his momentum still moving away from the hoop. Rather than catching and being ready to shoot, he gathers himself a little and attempts to compensate for his momentum – and really isn’t that close on this one:
Here’s another look, below, where the pass to him is poor and he’s got to kind of stoop down to collect the pass and re-gather himself:
That kind of pass is going to, at least slightly, bother any shooter – but you can tell that it throws Nolan off a bit and makes him less comfortable. He’s fading away from the shot just a bit when he takes it and the follow through has a recoil on it that you don’t see from the makes. Basically, he is rushing there because he was thrown off on the catch.
This is one, below, where I thought he was uncharacteristically impatient. He hadn’t taken a shot yet, or really touched the ball all that much on the offensive end, at this point in the game, and this was with four minutes to play in the half with Trier trailing by two against Braunschweig, the second worst team in the league. Their offense had not been playing well and teammates were taking bad shots. As such, Adekunle forced this shot, coming off of the move again and then pulling up as his man tried to shade him behind a screen.
I like the confidence here, especially because forcing shots was something he almost never did. If this is something he starts to add to his bag, look out, but, again, he’s much more potent as a set shooter than a movement or pull-up guy.
One last look, this time against “Science City” Jena during that comeback I wrote about earlier. He’s feeling very confident and motivated to help the team here, collects the errant dribble from his teammate, and then launches into his shot while fading to his left with six seconds left on the shot clock.
This just isn’t really his shot. He’s got a significant size mismatch on this play, and I’d much rather see him curl off of grabbing this ball and drive the lane with his left hand there, shielding the smaller guard off with his body.
Really, the main takeaway I’d like to leave with you around Adekunle’s shooting is that it’s absolutely a weapon that commands attention and offers fantastic spacing, but I think it’s going to be limited more to that pro-style, corner-spacing kind of offense… which, by the way, we love to run! You’re not going to be running BLOB plays for him to pull up off of the dribble, nor are you going to have him pull up from deep off of isolation much, though. He’s going to have to be an elite conversion point for the many opportunities that will likely come from being on a team full of good and, unlike his previous stop, unselfish players. And, not to mention, his presence on the floor is going to give them much more room to work their own magic.
Self-Creation
Nolan Adekunle isn’t going to be the guy who hits his man with three combo-dribble moves on the perimeter. In fact, when he puts the ball on the ground, it’s likely going to be moving in a relative straight line and with purpose. We’ll see some of his exciting transition prospects in a bit, but I do think that he has more potential as a slasher than he regularly showed at Trier.
This is the very first play of one of the playoff games against Bayern (Trier was swept in that series). We start the possession with Adekunle in his familiar corner pocket but, as the play progresses, he slides up to the wing. Note the gravity of him as a shot-maker from out there when he does take the kick-out. His man goes flying at him… and Nolan does a really nice job of selling the shot and then exploding into a drive that leads to an easy layup at the rim.
Here’s another look, below, where this time he’s not attacking a close out, he’s decided to drive on the catch. Trier motions him to the corner again, but this time he cuts toward the hoop, takes a pass that’s actually a little behind him, but keeps that momentum going to force the foul on his shot.
I’d like to see him do this a lot more. We’ll see in the facilitation section, below, that he also had some nice moments feeding teammates from similar slashes. It’s very possible that, since this just wasn’t really his role, he wasn’t inclined to force the issue that much – but I dare say that some of it had to do with aggressiveness.
Here in this clip below, for example, you get a look at how sometimes he does get his dribble bothered because it’s not the tightest handle against quick hands. He gets the ball back here, but his dribble is a little high and slow to hope to split two defenders like this.
The problem is, I think that thought process/limitation keeps him from attacking in situations where he could/should sometimes. Here’s a great example of what I mean, below. Trier is running out in transition and Nolan has momentum moving toward the bucket. He’s actually very good in these situations where he has a head of steam and he’s surely looking at that – but the pass is behind him, killing that momentum. Still, when he catches the ball it’s basically a 2-on-2 situation with two trailing defenders and the defender guarding him is smaller and considerably less athletic. Instead of facing up and attacking toward his right hand away from the trailing defenders, Adekunle keeps his back to his defender, lets the defense catch up, and kicks the ball back out for a reset.
This is where I want him to have more confidence and attack. Go at this defender and make him guard you. At the very least, I bet he’d have drawn a foul if he did here.
Now, part of me is encouraged because if there’s one thing we’ve seen about Ryan Odom as a coach – he uses the offseason to let his players show him what they can do… and then he lets them do it. I suspect he would have been shouting at Nolan on this play from the sideline to attack just as we see him constantly waiving his arm at his guys to get the ball up the floor faster. Good things often happen when players with Adekunle’s skill, size, length, and athleticism are aggressive at going to the rim when the opportunity presents itself. I am hopeful (and optimistic) that he will be a little less passive in this way this coming season. He doesn’t need to set the world on fire with his handle – just burst into a hard dribble or two toward the bucket when he has an advantage.
I also expect that we’ll use him a little more as a cutter without the ball than Trier did. Candidly, Trier was pretty unimaginative with their offensive sets which often involved some kind of ball screen or isolation play with their talented guards up top, an active post player, and then mostly stationary shooters (like Adekunle) away from the ball. I think he has real potential as a cutter without the ball. I’m thinking of some of the back door actions that we ran for Sam Lewis last season – but there’s a lot of creativity within Odom’s bag. Adekunle is quick and strong and catches the ball very well.
Here’s a look, below, where he’s stationary in the corner again, but this time as the ball is dribbled toward them he steps toward the ball and then jukes into a back door cut. His man is caught off guard and fully grabs him in response, which isn’t called, but Adekunle shows his strength by fighting through the grab and making a pretty slick one-handed catch, on the move, while being held. He maintains body position through the contact and is fouled from behind on the way up.
Again, we didn’t see Trier do this much – but I expect that we’ll find some opportunities to get Nolan the ball in these situations.
Lastly from this section, one thing that Jena tried was to put some of their smaller guards on Adekunle and some of their better defenders on Trier’s primary ball handlers. It made sense to me because of his role – if he’s going to be in the corner either way, you might as well try to leverage your better players defensively. I was pleased to see that when they tried this, Trier did not shy away from punishing it and Adekunle was very capable of doing so. This next clip below is probably the best example of a SLOB design where Trier just doesn’t muck about, throws the ball into Nolan in the post, and clears out.
Of course, you’d rather he hit the first shot, but I do appreciate how he simply overpowers this defender and sticks with the play to grab the miss and put it right back.
Point being, Adekunle has a role at which he’s very good and I expect that he’ll mostly be used in that way – but he’s not just a one-dimensional shooter who you can put your worst defender on. He’s got the ability to punish mismatches and, dare I say, there are more layers to how he can score for us than he was regularly able to display. I don’t expect him to be a volume scorer or to ever be overly high in usage. I do expect him to be ultra-efficient with his own offense while making things much easier for everyone around him.
Facilitation
For Trier, Adekunle’s facilitation for others came more within the flow of a play than it did by any kind of design. They weren’t putting the ball in his hands and asking him to create, they were putting the ball in his hands and asking him to convert. I don’t expect that’s the wrong way to think about it (aside from being more creative about how you can get him to convert). As such, there aren’t a ton of clips for this section. That being said, I liked what I saw from him as a passer when the game flow allowed it and there are some additional things that he can do to free up others that Trier should have leaned into more often.
Here, against Berlin, he takes advantage of some help defense and drives his man from the wing. He’s taking two steps and fighting through his defender, but has the wherewithal to leave the ball in pretty much the only place his teammate can collect it and go up with the shot.
I like that one because not only is it a rare look at him creating something for another off of the dribble, but the touch on the pass and how he puts it out into space while on the move is promising.
Here, below, is another look. This time he’s open in the corner after a rotation and you can see (I feel like I’ve used this term a lot this off season, which is a good sign) the shot gravity that he commands. He does a nice job of attacking the close out, but starts to lose his footing a bit as two defenders collapse on his drive. Despite staggering out of bounds, he leaves a nice pass to his Center for the lay-in.
This one is a little out of control into the double team, but I liked how he was still able to adjust and make the correct play despite it.
Just like with the self-creation section, you won’t put the ball in Adekunle’s hands with the goal of having him create something from scratch – but as a slasher who can take advantage of late rotations or overly-aggressive close outs, I think he’s going to be capable.
Despite the lack of opportunity/design, I did think he had a pretty natural feel as a passer, though. We saw the two looks above while driving, but here, below, he shows some nice game feel. Adekunle, having slid up to the opposite wing and seeing his teammate being fronted in the post, flashes to the elbow to take the pass and deliver an easier lob. At least, this is how the defense reads the play, but instead, Nolan fakes the lob look and baits the reaction and then makes the pass into the corner for his relocating teammate.
This one shows intuition, to me, but also shows patience. He had an idea when he flashed to the elbow, but wasn’t married to it and let the play evolve, didn’t rush, and it payed off for him.
One additional thing I just wanted to point out that I caught from the Bayern game that Trier didn’t do that frequently, but showed real promise, was to use Nolan as a screener. Here, below, they dust off a nice Spain screen action with Adekunle as the third screener who back screens for the ball screener and then pops out as a shooting option. On this play, he catches the back screen solidly and frees up the driver for an easy layup.
I really have no idea why Trier didn’t run more of these sets and played as much hero ball as they did. Adekunle is solid as a screener and you can see him take the defender out here but, as we’ve established, he’s lethal in the catch and shoot so he’s the perfect player to try to get lost in the scramble for a spot up. If the back screen hadn’t worked so well in the play above, he was also wide-open on the pop.
I won’t belabor this section or try to make the case that this is where Adekunle’s strength will come on the offensive side, but I do think that there was much more that Trier could have played around with to take advantage of his strengths on that side of the ball. I fully expect that, while we’ll certainly camp him in the corner for some sets (as Odom offenses will do), we’ll also run a lot more of this kind of stuff to try to free both him and others up (as Odom offenses will also do).
Okay, moving on….
Transition and Finishing
I combined these ideas into one section, but we’ll start by focusing on transition and then round out with some additional finishing. Without exception, Adekunle’s biggest offensive asset is his spot up shooting, we’ve covered that. This is a sneaky area where he could thrive, though. Nolan was a little hesitant to try to take his man off of the dribble from a stationary position in the half court, but when he got out into the open floor, that changed. He didn’t often get the ball in his hands while running. Trier was more apt to put the ball in the hands of a point or shooting guard and they were very aggressive about looking for their own shots. As we saw last season, Odom likes everyone to start a fast break when they have the ball and the team is very unselfish with their looks. But, when he did get the ball in the open floor, like in this clip below after recovering an errant pass, I liked his speed and aggressiveness combined with his finishing chops. Here, he pulls away from the trailing defenders while dribbling the ball and knifes through the final two defenders for a nice layup.
This next clip, below, could be most representative of him picking up some quick buckets for us. Watch on the rebound, he starts breaking out ahead of the play while looking back for the ball. He takes the outlet just past halfcourt, which isn’t really a good one as Nolan has to reach behind while sprinting forward to secure the catch. Undeterred, he doesn’t break stride, splits the defenders, and takes on the contest, finishing with strength while shielding the defender off with his body.
I appreciate the finish in that clip below, and I can easily imagine him turning and going after a defensive rebound, using his speed and strength to get right to the rim. That being the case, I think the clip showcases two additional areas where Adekunle excels – catching difficult passes, and body control. He fluidly receives that pass behind him without really breaking much of his stride. If he has to take a beat there or bobbles, that opportunity would have dried up. The body control comes into play in two places – on the catch, being able to so easily reach behind while keeping momentum, but also in how he takes the contact and still finishes smoothly.
In this next clip, below, he isn’t able to finish the shot at the rim on the secondary break. Not ideal, he probably tries to do a little too much on the finish – but, to reiterate, he was normally quite efficient. It’s worth showing because of his cut to the ball, though. He doesn’t ball watch on his teammate’s drive on the other side of the floor, but starts working down past the defender (who is ball watching), takes the pass well-away from his body in traffic so as to nab it ahead of the defender, and doesn’t break his stride to dance around the contest.
You’d rather he finish this, obviously, but that movement and catch, along with the one above and that on the backdoor cut earlier shows off some really nice hands. I think he’ll be a bit of a sponge as a target who will clean up some difficult ones and help to max/min assist to turnover opportunities from his teammates.
Okay, moving away from transition, two more to demonstrate his spatial awareness and motor around the rim. This next clip, below, shows off another good catch where he needs to be quick to cleanly receive the pass at such short distance. From there, though, you see him go from being double teamed around the rim to weaseling his way to the other side for a nice reverse layup.
This last look, below, came at the end of the game against Jena. I discussed earlier the massive comeback that he triggered throughout the majority of the fourth quarter. This was a HUGE offensive rebound at the end of the game in the biggest moment – and it’s mostly motor and physicality. Watch his anticipation and burst from the corner before his teammate even gets the shot off of his leaner. It’s like a swim move. He gets cleanly by his cover, and then quick jumps twice to first come down with the rebound in traffic cleanly, and then to go up with it on the other side of the rim before the contest can bother the put back.
Trier ended up losing this game on the next play at no fault of Adekunle’s, but I thought that clip was just so representative of the fight he displayed throughout the comeback. He was such a spark in this game and, ultimately, made what should have been its biggest play on the offensive end with his hustle and determination.
That’s going to wrap the offensive section. He was a role player on a professional team – but he played that role incredibly well. His spot up shooting will be a massive asset and we shouldn’t need him to be a huge offensive usage guy who is the engine driving things. I do think that there’s considerable room for him to contribute in a variety of other ways, though, that complement our system very well. The main point is that he should be a very efficient player on this end capable of converting his chances inside and out at a nice rate. He should be well-equipped to support our lofty offensive rebounding goals with the motor and physicality that he displayed above given that he’ll surely be turned loose to do so. And I think he’ll also just have more opportunities going toward the bucket on the catch/being open from outside due to design/flow of the offense more so than relying so much on the help defender just leaving him from a stationary position in the corner. That being said, if and when he does hang out down there, he’ll also provide great spacing for the rest of the team to use.
All of that is great, but it almost feels like icing on the cake that you’re getting as a bonus. The reason I expect we’re going to love having him in the lineup is his….
Defense
Adekunle is a fantastic, though not always consistent, defender who is capable of guarding up and down the lineup. A fully switchable asset. I would say that he’s fully capable, in a pinch, to switch onto all five positions – to fight with Centers, to slide with Point Guards, and everything in between. We’ll see all of it within this section, but of all of that, I’d say he’s least well-suited to switch onto Centers. He’ll bang and fight admirably, but is still facing a bit of a mismatch if they can catch and settle in the paint on him. Fortunately, that’s the position to which he should have to switch the least in our system, as we typically switch 1-4 and then drop our 5 into deeper coverage.
Secondarily, the ultra-quick PGs could sometimes turn a corner on him or force him to go under a ball screen and shoot the three. Again, though, the latter shouldn’t be too common in our system as he’ll typically be either passing off his man or chasing over the top of the screen. This was not a common issue, though, and he much more commonly was able to bother his cover – so much so that teams mostly tried to avoid him on the defensive side and just keep his man out of the play. Trier would often counter this by switching matchups and allowing Adekunle to pressure the ball handler as they crossed halfcourt – because he was flatly just their best defender so they tried to look for ways to insert him into the play.
Let’s not beat around the bush any longer and just jump right into some of the positives. Here’s a look against Bayern in the playoffs. He starts the play by shading a back door cut and then jumps out onto his man at the point. You can immediately see his size at play. He’s big and strong and, as we’ll see more later, he moves really well despite carrying some muscle. You’d think that (#11) on Bayern is maybe a 6’3″ or 6’4″ guard – no, that’s 6’8″ Vladimir Lučić from Serbia, one of their team captains. Adekunle isn’t actually taller, about an inch shorter – but he sort of just hulks over Lučić on the perimeter here… you don’t feel like Lučić has many options as he briefly sizes Adekunle up with his dribble and he immediately turns his back to Nolan to shield the ball and try to move into a dribble exchange. Let’s pause there for a second (around five seconds into the clip). Quality players not really appearing to want much to do with testing Adekunle was common. It wasn’t just that their sets mostly tried to avoid him or screen him off of the ball, their discomfort was palpable when he pressured them. Case in point, as we continue the clip, Bayern attempts to dribble exchange, but Adekunle stays home, slides well, and completely cuts off/disrupts the momentum of Andreas Obst (#13), a 6’3″ shooting guard. Obst makes body contact with Adekunle who maintains very good defensive positioning, now having pushed Obst out much farther, closer to the logo, and starting to pressure the ball. Obst just decides to cut his losses and picks up his dribble right there. True, Lučić now has a size mismatch in the mid-post while being fronted, but he makes no attempt at getting a better driving angle. He stays at quite the uncomfortable distance and attempts a long lob pass. Trier is able to get the steal on the inaccuracy and Adekunle is rewarded with the runout.
That play makes me salivate. It’s Adekunle blowing up an entire defensive set with his mere presence. He didn’t actually have to work that hard on that one aside from the quality anticipation, slide, and strength on the exchange. The players he was guarding thought better of testing him and their discomfort was punished because it led to an overly cautious mistake.
Here’s another look, below, this time against Berlin. Trier was trailing by 10 early in the second quarter so they put Nolan, who had been mostly playing away from the ball, on Martin Hermannsson (#15), the 6’2″ Icelandic PG and had him pressure the ball full court. Watch how cautious and uncomfortable Hermannsson is while doing so. Adekunle looms – able to keep a pretty decent buffer between them so that he can react (quickly) to the cuts while using his wingspan to make the dribble uncomfortable and bother passing lanes. Hermannsson passes early from near the logo to set up the offense and relieve the pressure, and Adekunle actually gets his hand on the pass and slightly deflects it on the way in. Hermannsson is no slouch – he averaged 11ppg and 5 assists – but is visibly uncomfortable dealing with Nolan. From there, we see Adekunle be physical, wrapping him up a bit, keeping active hands when the ball returns to him, keeping good defensive depth when the ball rotates away, and then being there again on the catch to deter any thoughts of a shot. The play ends with Berlin attempting to set a ball screen with their 7’1″ Center, Norris Agbakoko (#17). Trier switches the screen and Adekunle rolls with Abgakoko, fronting him nicely and forcing too tight of a window for the errant pass – creating a turnover.
That’s a really nice look at his positional versatility. He simultaneously took the opposing teams PG out of the possession, making him uncomfortable handling the ball, and then switched onto a 7’1″ Center and was effective at chasing down the roll and fronting/obscuring the passing lane. His defensive thumb print was all over that play and, once again, able to be involved, he blew it up.
Here he is mid-comeback against Jena. Trier has cut the lead to 7 after being down 18. They have tried to put Adekunle on the ball as much as possible throughout to keep his energy and disruption in plays. Here, he is covering the 5’11” Eric Washington (#33). Initially giving him a little space, watch the Trier coach motion wildly for Adekunle to pick up the ball pressure – and pick up the ball pressure he does. He first full-on buckles Washington’s knees as he tries to stop on his first move, looms over him, then attacks and pushes him out far away from the perimeter. Science City Jena (hey, it’s the name!) attempts to set a ball screen, but Adekunle fights through it and draws the offensive foul in the process.
That stop was all Adekunle, and what a luxury to have a 6’7″ player who can absolutely hound the opposing PG like that because of how mobile he is to complement his length.
A less high-leverage situation, but here’s another look at it against Berlin. That’s Boogie Ellis, the 6’2″ Guard from Memphis and USC (#8) that he’s picking up full court. Ellis feels compelled to turn his back to Adekunle as he crosses the timeline. Berlin initially tries to set the ball screen, and it catches Adekunle at a good time, during his retreat step and catching him high up near the logo. Ellis has an initial advantage, but watch Adekunle fight through the screen and then chase down Ellis, regaining leverage on his hip and forcing the pass back out. That’s smothering and a really nice way at chewing up an advantage. Berlin tries it again, this time Adekunle does a better job of getting over the screen and not having to recover – Ellis attempts to put on the brakes and step back outside of the free throw line, but Adekunle is able to stop his momentum and recover well, using his length to deter any idea of a shot.
I’m really impressed by that ball screen defense at 6’7″ against a guard like that. Specifically, that first defense where he actually gets caught on the screen but fights through it and is still able to shut down the driving angle within a few steps… that’s the chef’s kiss. Consider, we pressure the ball up the floor on nearly every possession. Also consider, if Chance is playing more minutes this season and will be initiating the offense a lot, you could give him a break by putting him on the opposition’s least offensively inclined guard and let Adekunle expend the energy on the defensive side pressuring the ball up the floor. Not that you’d always do this because Chance is such an asset doing it as well, but it’s added flexibility and should help to keep his energy reserves higher – plus, it’s really disruptive in its own right!
Here’s another look against Berlin, this time watch him pressure the ball up the floor against Hermannsson again. He’s causing bobbles and is unworried about the blow by. At one point he may have gotten lucky not to get called for a reach, but I like how if he’s not scared about being beaten off of the dribble, he’s aggressively looking to bother the ball. You get a look at some nice positional help defense at the end.
Trier falls asleep on the back end and gives up the bucket, but not from lack of positive contribution from Adekunle.
And here’s a look, below, against Bayern where the 6’7″ Niels Giffey (#5) decides to challenge him off of the bounce. Giffey attempts to set up the ball screen toward his left and then cut back to his right. Check how Adekunle is physical with his hands on the screen, and then quickly response to the drive, sliding to shut down the baseline. With Nolan retreating, Giffey attempts to dislodge him with his shoulder, but Adekunle absorbs the contact well and gets a great contest on the jump shot, forcing the miss.
One of the things that pops off of the screen, to me, is just the versatility on display. He’s hounding the small and quick guards on one hand, while making guys his size or even slightly taller look small and overwhelmed.
Let’s take a look, then, at his ability to guard the post. Here’s a look at him defending a player who roughly matches his size. That’s 6’8″ Isiaha Mike (#22) from Duquesne and SMU who Adekunle switches onto after a ball screen. Watch them together and tell me that Adekunle is more than an inch shorter, if that. Anyway, Nolan does a nice job of fronting the post here and forcing a pass with too much air under it so that he can recover and play behind on the catch. Mike is sped up trying to make a move off of the bounce that far away from the hoop, and travels in the process.
This next one below is pretty interesting. This time in transition, he gets matched up against the 6’9″ David N’Guessan (#1) from Tech and Kansas State (and Dutch national team) fame (infamy?) in the post. You can see the height difference this time – but Adekunle doesn’t feel mismatched. He stays low to defend his ground while keeping his arm high, is quick enough to maintain good positioning throughout, and uses his strength and lower body to knock N’Guessan off balance during his move to force a travel.
Pretty much most players in this under 6’10” range Adekunle could bother in the post by using his strength and superior quickness as well as his length to stay in front of, keep off balance, etc. Which, think about that in terms of defensive versatility – you’ve seen him chasing PGs all around the floor effectively and now flummoxing a 6’9″ guy who scored 13+ppg on a major college program last season in the post.
Watch him string together both on this next clip – pressuring the PG initially, then switching onto their Center. That’s the 7’2″(!) Philipp Hartwich (#15) who played at Portland in college. A significant size disadvantage, the most we’ve seen yet for Adekunle, but watch him jam Hartwich down the lane ride in front of him, lean in hard for box out positioning, but still be alert enough to help and contest the shot at the rim.
That’s the full range of size of players he could cover on the floor – and he has the ability to bother all of them.
Now, a player like Hartwich has impressive size and it’s great to see Adekunle be able to hold him off, but he also only averaged just over 5 ppg as a lesser team in the WCC (8 rebounds per game, though). Despite the wide array of players who he can defend, Adekunle is least ideally suited to guard more skilled true Centers in the paint for prolonged periods of time.
Here’s a good example, below against Berlin where he starts off guarding Boogie Ellis (#8) but then gets caught on a high ball screen from a Center, forcing a switch. That Center is the 7’2″, 243lb Norris Abgakoko. Watch Adekunle fight with him for position inside throughout about a full 10 second window of time. It’s good! He makes it hard for the ball to go in there but, eventually, working behind such a large player with Berlin moving the ball around the perimeter doesn’t work out. Abgakoko gets a seal and then quickly turns that into a little baby hook.
Adekunle is too small to be left on an island with players like this for such an extended period of time… which makes sense! He’s giving up 7 inches in height and about 35lbs. That being said, I love the fact that it’s not out of the question for him to guard the 6’2″ Ellis and the 7’2″ Agbakoko on the same possession. And he hung tough for quite a while on the Center, too!
Fortunately, he shouldn’t need to switch with our Center position very often within Odom’s scheme… but you love to see it that he could switch 1-5 if he had to and compete well. Simultaneously, he likely will be asked to switch 1-4 which will play to his strength. I remember how frustrated teams would get last year when we’d leave De Ridder at the point and allow him to switch those screens. He was, at times, our best perimeter defender! Now, you’ve got a player who may be even better at it or at least a second option who you can throw on the floor to do that….
Three more quick clips on another point – I also really like Adekunle’s defense in transition. Again, he slides and moves better than he really should have any right to at his size, which allows him to often shut down opportunities when the opposition has a head of steam. Here, below, that’s Boogie again from Berlin and Adekunle does a really fantastic job of moving his feet, staying in front of the drive, and allowing time for the help defender to collapse on the ball.
Adekunle looks a little off balance when he’s partially obscured within this clip, but he’s actually swiping at the ball himself, having shut down the drive.
And then here’s another, below, while covering in transition. First, he does a nice job of positioning himself in the driving lane as a help defender. Then the ball is kicked back out to his responsibility. That’s Grant Sherfield (#25), the 6’2″ guard who played at all of Wichita St., Nevada, and Oklahoma. He averaged 16ppg in his last season for the Sooners and over 14ppg in the Bundesliga. From about 2 seconds into the clip until about 5 is the most impressive from Adekunle. He’s turning and opening his hips to his right, facing Sherfield, and then Sherfield attacks across his body to Adekunle’s left. Nolan is also moving toward his man, initially unsure if he’s going to have to contest. I’ve said this a few times previously on this website, but responding to a drive when you’re moving toward the offensive payer or when you’re opening your body one way and they attack the opposite side is one of the harder things to do. But Adekunle is able to open back up to his left and use a solid retreat angle to cut off Sherfield’s drive, jumping up with both hands in the process to force a difficult shot that misses. Extra credit for securing the rebound and starting a quick outlet pass.
One more look, against Science City Jena, below, at how he corrals the opposing player while attempting to go coast-to-cost. This is Naz Bohannon (#15) from Youngstown State and Clemson; a 6’6″, 230lb forward. Watch how easy Adekunle makes it look to sprint ahead of him, and then ride his right hand while retreating; ultimately forcing a turnover in transition.
Light work, and very smooth from Nolan there.
Now, if there’s one small note for him on the ball on the perimeter – and there weren’t many – I would say that it would be not going under screens. I don’t anticipate that this will be a significant problem for us, because he’ll just be coached to chase over the top. We have seen him do that effectively previously across many clips, drawing an offensive foul once on a screen, too. Here, in this clip below, though, he ducks under two consecutive screens – one while away from the ball and not quite spotting it, and then chasing on the way back. I think he believes in his ability to contest at times, and does still get a pretty decent one here, but he just gets washed a little too far away from his man and concedes the shot in the process.
Again, I expect that this will be one of those things that’s drilled into him, and it hasn’t been one of those things he’s proven is a crutch or how he has to defend – but it’s worth noting as a habit to break.
You all know, if you’ve read any number of these, that I try to be as accurate as possible with these reviews. I try not to oversell (or undersell) how player’s games are likely to translate. Last year, for example, I was very excited about De Ridder’s all-around game (first team All-ACC) and Ugonna Onyenso’s potential as a rim protector in Ryan Odom’s system (had wanted him to start at the beginning of the year – which earned some side-eyes but feels vindicated). I pumped up Jacari White as a microwave offensive option who fit into Ryan Odom’s system better than Isaac McKneely. On the flip side, I cautioned about Malik Thomas’s defense and was worried how most of Devin Tillis’s game (outside of his shooting and passing) would translate even as a backup. Point being, I am gushing a little bit here about Nolan Adekunle’s potential as a multi-positional defender on the ball in this system. Consider the range of offensive players you’ve just seen him defend and his ability to throw them off their game and, sometimes, downright smother them. That’s going to be hugely valuable as an option this season which, now you start adding De Ridder in there, you have Kalu Anya, if Sam Lewis continues to make strides on that side… that’s SO many more potentially imposing defensive options and increased length on the perimeter. With a defense that should be able to bother passing lanes more effectively with their length, and pressure ball handlers, there’s a lot more of that VCU defensive system that Odom should have the ability to tap into this season.
Alright, now let’s take a look at him away from the ball, which has every bit as much promise but isn’t nearly as consistent.
Off Ball
Adekunle has the tools to be every bit as good of an off-ball defender as he does on, but he wasn’t as consistent in this area. Perhaps it was because, often, if they didn’t start him on the point, he’d end up guarding a man just camped in the corner and not have much action. I think he struggled to keep his concentration, at times. That being said, he was, again, fully switchable, and often was able to impact plays positively.
Let’s start off with a couple of looks against Braunschweig that put it all together. In this first clip, below, he starts off guarding a wing in the corner but then fights and slips through an attempted screen moving toward the ball. Trier then proactively switches Adekunle onto the ball handler despite his man not really setting a ball screen and just crossing in front. N’Guessan (#1) then sets a ball screen and Adekunle switches onto him; making it wing, PG, and post he’s guarded on this one possession. Nolan does a nice job of fronting N’Guessan and Braunschweig does not make much of an effort to get him the ball, recognizing that it’s not a mismatch. Trier loses the rebound opportunity here, but Adekunle has effectively sealed N’Guessan low only to have the Braunschweig guard crash in for the board.
That’s a nice taste to start out as his ability to guard across positions, Trier almost trying to force opportunities to get him into the play on this side of the ball, and Braunschweig countering by trying to get him away from the ball.
Same game, here’s another look, below. This time it’s a German shotty violache. Adekunle starts in the corner again, but this time they bring his man into the play. He fights over the screens only to have a ball screen set on him when his man starts to dribble. Adekunle now switches onto #5, the 6’10” Luka Ščuka. We then get denial of a cut and Nolan resetting on Ščuka in the corner. He does a nice job helping down on the subsequent drive, contesting the pass and then recovering quickly out to Ščuka, before smothering his back down attempt from the perimeter before the shot clock goes off.
Again, you’re seeing the opposition trying to screen to get him off of the ball early. That #8 he initially covered was the 6’5″ Joshua Obiesie who had a cup of coffee with the Houston Rockets but no real playing experience. Braunschweig wanted him in the play but not guarded by Adekunle. Nolan was able to switch to cover the big, still bother Obiesie’s drive with his help, and then lock down on the recovery. Guards are bothered by his length and many bigs, as you saw at the end of this one, don’t feel confident putting the ball on the ground from the perimeter around him/don’t have the mobility to get by him or the strength to overpower him from out there.
His ability to contest at the rim isn’t elite PF or Center-level, but it’s very good and disruptive. It should be a luxury from the SF position. Here, you see him start on the ball again, but get switched off onto the screening Center. Braunschweig attempts to run some isolation, but Adekunle is able to slide over and strongly contest the shot/force the miss.
This next clip, below, you’ll see a similar impact when he’s under the hoop with his man on the opposite side of the floor. His teammate is beaten by the perimeter, but Adekunle stepping up is an effective deterrent that forces a pass across the floor rather than an attempt at the rim.
And here, below, when a teammate gives up yet another offensive rebound, Adekunle is able to tie up the opposition’s shot on the way up, from behind, without fouling, and forcing a travel:
There are some better blocks from other games I’m not featuring, as well. It’s a nice luxury to get some ancillary rim protection from your SF who can either hold ground on the interior while still making shots difficult or who can rotate over and make a play in the air on the ball.
His length and presence when he’s able to sag into the lane is a considerable deterrent, as well. Check out this clip, below, where he starts defending the near corner but then switches a screen away from the ball. His new man, #13, is Alagie Njie, a 6’3″ guard who only shot 17.6% from three on the season. Nolan knows his scout and that he doesn’t have to play as closely, so watch how deep he sags into the lane with both feet under the free throw line. It’s really nice depth and it discourages any drive attempts – with Braunschweig tossing the ball to the corner and attempting a three instead, which Adekunle then rebounds.
That’s knowing the scout and using his defensive presence to his advantage but he can get away with helping like that sometimes because he does have nice recovery, combined with length, to the perimeter as well as the body control/acceleration to pick up drive attempts (like we saw in the previous section).
Here’s a good look, below, at his ability to rotate. Jena gets a basket at the end of the possession, but watch how Adekunle slides in from the corner to help stop the slip screen and then still recovers back out to the corner to stonewall his own man on the kick out, offering him nowhere to drive. Quick reaction and movement both ways, and then bonus credit for switching onto Great Osobor (#1), the 6’8″ 245 PF who played at Washington and Utah State before that (also Montana St. but who’s keeping track?).
His ability to change direction quickly and then just take up space with his reach, allows him to play passing lanes well and make what should be pretty easy plays difficult for the opposition.
Here he is, below, against Bayern in the playoffs, having to defend two guys on the perimeter because Trier’s attempt at a double team on the perimeter didn’t work out. He starts off defending his man at the point and then as a cutter down the lane, but Steven Ashworth (#15 on Trier) leaves his man to try to trap the ball on the other side of the floor. Adekunle is left having to help Ashworth while also dealing with his own man, and I thought he did a masterful job here of faking the close out, trying to bait the pass to the corner and jumping that angle, but then still being able to step up on the wing while then spinning and recovering to get a nice contest on his own man for the three in the corner.
That’s a terrible position to have to defend but the threat of his movement as well as that cat and mouse game he was playing did a really nice job of keeping the 2-on-1 from getting a shot up without a solid contest on it.
That kind of ability to rotate has him getting his hands on a lot of balls, if even just to force deflections…
…or even just causing a bobble from a driver to throw off their rhythm:
He has the ability to be proactive around the ball, try to make a play on it, and then still get home on recovery – which is exactly what Odom loves from his perimeter defenders and I think he’ll utilize that disruptiveness this year.
I loved, for example, how he baits and then breaks on this pass in transition. He looks like he can be beaten, but he’s aware of where the offensive player is and then swoops into action when the pass comes.
Finally, we’ll close out the strengths in this section by focusing on his ability to cover up in size again. We covered it in the “On Ball” section and have shown it with his switchability throughout this section; but here’s a really nice and focused look at it. He’s in transition and has to pick up Great Osobor (#1). This happens quite often for Virginia as our full court pressure comes after misses, as well, and we often matchup nearest when the opposition brings the ball up the floor. Watch Adekunle’s fight to deny the ball to Osobor. So active and physical! It’s enough to force Jena to look elsewhere with their pass and, ultimately, create a steal.
And then, here’s another look, below. This time it’s not in transition, but Jena forces a switch on the ball screen so that their PG is guarding Osobor so, instead they communicate and proactively move Adekunle onto him. Smart stuff. While Osobor only has an inch on Adekunle, there’s a significant weight difference here; around 30lbs. Nolan fronts the post throughout, but is then out of position on the rebound as a result. Undeterred, he scraps with Osobor, pretty much holding him (but tastefully?) and tips the ball back away from the hoop despite playing from behind. Trier are able to draw the charge and get the ball back for what would be Adekunle’s go ahead put back that we saw earlier to cap the come back.
I’m sure that some refs would have called Adekunle for holding or over the back on that possession – but many wouldn’t, as well. They are often reluctant to decide games with whistles. It wasn’t called here. Either way, what I love is the fight and the grit on display, though. He wasn’t going to give in despite giving up position, height, and muscle to this player – he was going to make the ref blow the whistle and, otherwise, was going to scrap for that ball. That kind of toughness is contagious and will be welcomed on this roster.
So, we just saw a lot of good and, I’ll lead here by saying that I believe that the impact of the good considerably outweighs the opportunities for improvement. And, aside from that, I believe that Odom gets a lot of juice out of his guys on the defensive side of the floor. The most important thing to look for from guys in that area are those with ability, athleticism, and fire. I’ve spoken about Malik Thomas’s vulnerabilities on that end both prior to and during last season – and it cost him some paying time throughout – but he was a much better defender by the end of last season in terms of positioning, technique, and fight than he was at the beginning.
Where Adekunle can stand to improve is in two main areas – and they both fall under the mental category: he’ll lose his concentration at times and lose track of a rotation or where he should be and, more commonly and perhaps the biggest thing that could impede his ability to contribute this coming season – he often gives some unnecessary fouls by being overly aggressive trying to make a play on the ball.
When I first started taking notes on my piece (keep in mind the commentary is in German and there isn’t good access to game box scores), I jotted a quick thought down that the Trier coach was making some odd subbing patterns by pulling Adekunle out for longer than you’d expect in junctures during the game. These gaps would often be killers for Trier and they’d find themselves down by a considerably larger chunk when he returned. What I began to realize is that this really just boiled down to Adekunle getting into foul trouble. The bigger problem is that a lot of it was avoidable and was a result of him taking a really nice play on his end just a little too far.
A great example, below, it’s a clip that shows a similar look to what we’ve been seeing from Adekunle. He goes from defending the ball to switching on an opposing post player and fronting, which puts him in a great position to contest the following drive at the rim. He does so well at first, making the shot difficult, but then he swings his arm over in an attempt to block and fouls the shooter.
Sure, he has a higher chance of getting his hands on the ball with his action there, but this is about restraint and risk/reward. He’s already made the shot awkward for his opponent, better to let him try it and then fight for the rebound than to try to actually get the block from an awkward position and concede the free throws here. That shot with him contesting straight up but not raking the arm is still more difficult than the free throws.
Here, below, is another look from the same game where Adekunle, again, has good defensive positioning but gets in trouble swiping at the ball.
He’s already forced the driver to take the ball away from his body with the left hand. Allowing that to be the difficult shot attempt and then working to secure the rebound would be better here. Instead, he swings down with his arm and makes contact, giving up the easy foul call. Another good help position play where he bails the other team out and doesn’t just force them to make the attempt.
Similarly, here’s one at the end of the game against Berlin where he’s, once again, in fantastic position to help contest a shot, but this time gets lured into the offensive player’s body on the shot.
This is just the difference between thinking you might be able to block a shot, but then realizing that you miscalculated and then trying to course-correct and go straight up – giving a foul – vs. just reading the offensive player’s driving angle and actually just going straight up while trying to contest – like we saw earlier in the “On-Ball” section against Sherfield.
These next two are fantastic examples of his hustle, movement, and ability to be disruptive – but he also concedes a cheap foul at the end. In this first one, below, he does a really nice job positionally getting over screens and bothering his man on the DHO – but reaching on the catch concedes a cheap (and, I’d argue, soft) foul call.
This next one, below, actually appears on that highlight reel that I’m sure many have seen. You can see why, as the ability is excellent. He switches men with his teammate, identifying the threat, takes the screen contact, and still closes out marvelously; blocking the three-point attempt! The trouble is that he was actually called for a shooting foul on this for making contact – and it’s because of the big swing and follow through with the arm, primarily, along with the temptation to call contact when he runs that close to the shooter’s body (and the shooter flops).
This was a great display of defensive capability, but it’s probably also called a three-point shooting foul a good chunk of the time. Simply giving this a quality contest with that closing speed, trying to get the ball still but not following through so wildly or near the shooting hand would be the more disciplined and higher-percentage play here.
For what it’s worth, I prefer the aggression of these previous plays to that of the rest of this section. I’d rather guys play really hard and aggressive than overly cautious – but there’s a line where you don’t need to go quite so far and availability matters. We certainly want to force our opposition to make these tough shots, especially from outside, instead of allowing them to take free ones with no defenders.
Okay, the last element I did want to discuss is that there is still room for him to be more mentally consistent away from the ball. Sometimes it’s diagnosing and identifying a switch more quickly. For example, in this clip, below, there’s a slight delay in communication between he and his teammate on a switch and he gets beaten back door off of a Spain screen action.
That one, that’s going to happen – and it’s unclear how much of that rotation was on him vs. his teammate/whose responsibility that should have been. I’m guessing it was probably more on his teammate given Trier’s tendency to switch – they switched the first but not the second so Adekunle was probably caught off guard. It’s a tricky set to defend. If anything, when I see that set, I feel like Adekunle appropriately defended and diagnosed the multiple screen action, there was just a miscommunication on responsibility. So, this is something that should improve with reps at the team level (at Virginia with his new teammates and scheme) and I’d think of as a solid foundation.
These next looks, below, though, came from some lapses in concentration and will need to be cleaned up on a team whose defensive expectations are higher than Trier’s were.
This first one is him just getting a little too complacent with his man in the corner. Again, we’ve focused almost exclusively on sets where he has been in the thick of the action for example purposes, but there were many possessions where he was just away from the play in the corner defending a static man. It is easier to let your guard down in these situations, especially when trying to help, as he is here. This time, he just loses track of his man while having his eyes on the ball and his attempt to recover starts to the corner before realizing that his man is cutting back door.
Most of the mistakes were a result of that – an eagerness to help and miscalculating his recovery. Here, for example, he does a nice job trying to shade the lane, but allows his man to get too much depth and doesn’t have a good recovery angle for the box out on the shot. As a result, he ends up shoving and fouling on the rebound (which ties into the avoidable foul theme).
Here, below, we see him remaining on his man in the corner… but he lets up on the box out assuming that his teammate is about to secure the ball. He doesn’t and the ball is deflected to his man, who kept his motor running toward the basket.
This is the type of mental concentration that it’s hard to sustain, especially when you aren’t finding the ball often on either end of the floor. He did what he was supposed to do for the majority of the play – untested – but just didn’t keep his foot on the gas throughout the finality.
And the last thing I’d call out that wasn’t glaring but that did happen on occasion was this type of face-guarding box out, in the clip below. I’ve called this out for other players previously, and Adekunle didn’t often do this as you’ve seen in previous clips – but it did happen enough that it’s worth mentioning. Because he’s shading the pass to his man so aggressively, he gets caught having to have his back to the ball when it’s rotated and the shot goes up. This means that he’s attempting to box while facing his man, and doesn’t see the ball until it’s too late coming off of the rim. The result is an eventual three-pointer conceded.
Again, I love the aggression, but there’s a balance between trying to help overall team defense and getting restless in attempting to do so. Most of Adekunle’s mental lapses appeared to come from not being tested enough so he’d venture a little too far or lose sight of his own man just a little too much because he was trying to make something happen.
I will say, I’m not very concerned about this. Sam Lewis is a great case study for this concept. I wrote last year about his lapses away from the ball, as well. They were more concerning than Adekunle’s lapses by a long shot and were more common. While it’s not like Sam Lewis became a completely lock-down defender last year, his overall defensive quality and consistency showed night and day improvement from his time at Toledo. For a player with Adekunle’s defensive jumping off point, I have very little doubt that he will thrive with his consistency (and involvement) under Coach Odom.
In Conclusion
I just love this addition. Nolan Adekunle isn’t going to be the offensive engine of a player like Thijs De Ridder or Chance Mallory, so it can be tempting to sleep on the value of adding him to the roster. Ask the Knicks the value of having a role player like OG Anunoby on the roster, though. Sometimes, the right role players are what make an entire roster click. You don’t need everyone to be able to do everything. Adekunle will offer elite spacing, as you shouldn’t be able to cheat off of him effectively with that quick (and high) release and his ability to knock down outside looks is threatening. He offers significant upside in play design as a finisher moving toward the rim, a slasher taking advantage of slow rotations, a mismatch creator if the opposing team skews small, a screener who can roll or pop, and as a weapon running the floor. On the defensive side, he offers you someone who can switch 1-5 at the collegiate level and give you confidence that he will defend well. He gives you a third layer of supportive rim protection behind your frontcourt that should make our 2-point defense very formidable, and his mobility, length, and movement should allow our defensive scheme to gamble more comfortably – either it being Adekunle freelancing to make something happen himself or his defensive coverage allowing other teammates to do so.
This is the kind of roster piece that gives Coach Odom so many different ways that he can design a lineup. The offensive spacing complements anything. The defensive presence can allow us to play bigger with Sam Lewis at the SG if he’s ready to do so (and the coaching staff have been advertising that he is all offseason), or enable more time to go to another frightening shooter like Christian Harmon who may benefit from the defensive support. Adekunle’s presence also makes the prospect of Chance Mallory as the full-time starting PG more exciting. Mallory is a complete spark plug on both sides of the ball, but there still were times last year, and will be those this year where his lack of size mattered on the defensive side of the ball. Surrounding him with so much athletic length (imagine him with Lewis, Adekunle, De Ridder, and Grünloh behind him) will unlock Chance to play even more aggressively and chaotically while pressuring the ball.
For all of these reasons, I will be surprised if Adekunle isn’t the starting SF on this team when the first ball tips. If he’s not, it will likely be because Sam Lewis doesn’t offer quite enough ball handling at the SG – in which case, Adekunle will be an absolute luxury defensive bolster off of the bench. I’m expecting the former, and eager to see it!
Alright, thanks to everyone for weathering this Twitter situation. As a reminder, the new account there is @cutscornerbball. I can be found all of the other usual places aside from that. The final Tracking A Transfer piece will be on Jan Vide and I’m targeting the end of August for it. Until then!
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